DIY Attenuator For Guitar - Great Low-Volume Tone
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- Welcome to Tone Twins TV!
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Tone Twins TV is home to all thing’s 'vintage guitar tone' related;
vintage guitars, vintage amps, DIY, pedals, boutique and more!
You will have seen this little box in most of our videos, it's a simple but effective attenuator.
It allows you to crank your valve amp that bit more without the accompanying volume, great for home playing or studio recording. There are many great attenuators out there, some really expensive but for many situations where you just want to reduce the overall volume by a few db we've found this simple box as effective as any.
In this episode we'll teach you how to build your own. Building your own attenuator is simple and it doesn’t cost a lot. Hopefully this will help you achieve better tone!
Huw built one for Guitar.com a few years back and we thought a video would be a great accompaniment to the article.
guitar.com/guides/diy-workshop...
The article shows how to add a resistor for 4 Ohm operation but you can now buy a 4 Ohm or 16 Ohm L-Pad here...
willys-hifi.com/collections/l-pad-attenuators/products/4-ohm-l-pad-attenuator-50-watts
willys-hifi.com/collections/l-pad-attenuators/products/l-pad-attenuator-50w-16-ohm-wirewound-volume-control
Key timings
0:10 Intro
2:00 Components
4:37 Prepping The Box
8:04 Drilling The Box
14:07 Doing The Decal
18:29 Wiring Up
26:16 Demo
28:28 Outro
Parts List For CPC UK - cpc.farnell.com
L-Pad 8 Ohm 100W - order code LS00547
ON/OFF/ON DPDT switch - order code SW04204
ON/ON DPDT switch - order code SW04202
2 x open frame mono jack sockets - order code AV09109
Hammond 10758PSLA enclosure - order code EN81988
10uF Electrolytic Capacitor - order code CA07192
4.7uF Electrolytic Capacitor - order code CA07193
Search online for water slide decals and acrylic lacquer spray cans.
Let us know how you get on in the comments and if anyone would like one of these they will be available soon in the Tone Twins Store or lea ve us a message here or on Instagram / tonetwinstv
or @tonetwinstv
Happy tone hunting guys!! - เพลง
Great project guys, thank you. Interesting that there is such a small difference in tone as the amp is turned down, and without inductors..... I agree with the Guv, step drills leave the nicest edge to their holes. Peter
Thank you very much for this advice.
This could be the perfect project to accompany my 5E3 build just completed. I cannot believe how loud that 12w circuit is!
Same here. I built one 4 years ago and will blow the neighborhood away. Did you build this kit ? If so how is it?
I built this attenuator and it's great!
Glad to hear it Mart.
Thanks for sharing
Great project, can't wait to build mine. By the way that is one of the most handsome Les Paul's I have seen.
That was before I polished up the lacquer and relic'd it. If you check out our 5E3 restoration video, you can see and hear the finished guitar.
Defo interested in making a purchase chaps. Tidy job👍
You can message Huw directly on Instagram - huwpriceguitar
Very handy. You can deburr the ventilation holes by using your step drill bit after drilling the initial hole. They apply a slight chamfer and deburr at the same time.
Saves time, looks neat, a file or medium grit paper knocks off the internal burrs.
A great tip. Thanks.
Be aware Preston is currently under local lockdown, (CPC is located in Preston) there may be some disruption to sales. 👍🏼
I love the channel and info guys thankyou! would you consider doing a show on relicing. for example, tarnishing metal and dulling/checking glossy nitro etc. would love to see how you would approach it.
Thanks Jesse. We did some metal relicing in Part 7 of the Chris Buck restoration series. You can skip straight to it using the timing link in the description. And yes, we'll almost certainly be covering finish relicing at some point.
Having never done anything like this before, or even done any soldering, I made one of these this week. Brilliant! I took my time so that I didn’t make any silly mistakes, and it was all pretty straightforward.
I just tested it on my Fender Pro Reverb and not only does it work (!), but it comfortably brings volume down to sensible levels whilst cranking the amp (2 6L6 valves, 40w).
Really happy with it, thanks for the great tutorial Huw. It’ll be a useful tool to keep the amp in the sweetspot whilst adjusting volume to suit wherever I’m playing.
How does the bright switch work? That is, how does it sound?
@@nedim_guitar it’s pretty subtle, useful at really low volumes. But I rarely use it, as my amp is just used for band rehearsal & gigs, so I use the unit to help drive the amp that little bit harder whilst keeping the volume sensible, but still loud!
Thinking about do this one, I am new to guitars, amp and pedals. Just bought ar orange micro terror, would be nice to crank it and not be evicted.
I'm going to build one. I don't have a tube amp, it's a solid state Peavey Modeling Amp. I like building stuff like this anyway.
Blue Peter for gear geeks, love it!
Living in a flat this would be super useful and I prefer something I made.
Being called the Elevenator I will need to make 2; one I use and one I don’t ever play or even look at!
"Blue Peter for gear geeks" - praise indeed ;)
A very good building video, but do you think hot air will flow side wards without a fan? The ventilation holes should be in the top and in the bottom, even if it
does not look so nice. That is what supports convection cooling.
Just ordered all the parts I need. Going to build this in a pc power supply enclosure with a cooling fan Thanks for the video and schematics!
Good luck!
Interesting show, I am not a DIY person but I enjoy watching it. I play in stereo with two small combo amps. I guess that I would need two of these? The idea of really opening the amps up but at an acceptable volume level, for the neighbors, has always appealed to me. Any idea of when the store will open?
Thanks Dave. You can get stereo L-Pads, so it would be possible to enclose one of those in a single enclosure with 4 jack sockets to run 2 amps. You'd need longer speaker cables, but that's about it. Store coming soon but just message us via Instagram if you want one built.
I'm planning on building one myself. But I will need help with drilling. And I will have a hard time finding the right parts. I will have to import them to Sweden, it seems. And some parts are sold out at places where I've found a lot of components.
Excellent video and demo, was thinking about this for a long time. Could I use this with a PRS MT15 that has master volume for lead and separate volume for clean? Luckily it has the 8Ohm output option.
Great video guys! Can you tell me where you got the parts from please?
Many thanks, this helped, i find the Tone control does not have much effect though ?
Great vid how do you wire things like this up at the amp? Effects loops, effect out, multiple ins/outs on pedals and a little puzzled. Same for all pedals ie Wha and an attenuator?
I only need -10db lower. My Two Notes Torpedo Captor 8 has full or -20db. I just need an in between setting.
So, I would think the Wattage of the L-pad needs to be 100w for larger outputs, because that lil sucker will get real toasty if there is no heat dispensation.
I’m wondering what gauge of wire to use? Thanks
Cool. I'd like to get a Marshall amp with a 16 ohm speaker and 1 watt of amp power . How do I know if I'm using the right capacitors. I have 4.7uF orange drop for my guitar. will that work? What about the 10 uF?
For a Solid State Transtube Peavey do I also need a L-Pad? or I can just simply use one of those big dimmer pots. Im trying to reduce the output volume while maintaining the saturation and body on the clean channel.
What are the volt ratings for the capacitors ????
Came across this and looks like a nice project to tame my tube amp for playing at home. It will certainly get me what I need without spending 100's of $$$. Looks pretty straightforward but I have a question. The one shown at the start of the video has a couple of rivets on the cover, but I do not see that as part of the build. What is their purpose?
I'm not gonna lie, those switches made my bum twitch. PROPER switches they are son. Bloody hell.
Are the capacitors Polarized or Non-Polarized as in crossover caps?
excellent wok guys, one thing, as i have 1984 Marshall JCM800 100W Master Lead full stack i only have the slanted cab connected, would this attenuator build be ok regards the ohms selected on my amp which is 16ohms ? cheers ...
Hi nice project. Really tempting to do one myself.
But, my amp of ye old is the head of Super Twin Reverb with 180Watts output. Is there an Lpad that might work?
what gauge wire did you use?
But what about 100w amps? I want to build one for a 8ohm 100w amp... i supose i dont need the resistor and the switch for the 4ohm. But 100w... how safe will it be? Could i use one output of a 200w stereo L pad?
Hello, can i make the on/off switch footswitchable? Thank you and keep up the good work!
Not sure we would recommend it in case the switch fails and you fry your amp. In theory you could do it and it would be a great way of getting a volume cut/boost. But at your own risk...
Could you use a trimmer cap instead of a regular cap to add even more versatility to how you want the attenuator to behave in regard to tone?
You could, but at the values used they would probably be massive.
Is this project available in a kit? :)
Great attenuator! Did I miss the build cost?
About £50 - £60 for the parts.
I'm a bit confused, can you clarify something?
In your original 2016 article you connect the input's hot wire from the bright switch to the L-Pad's lug on the RIGHT and the lug in the CENTRE. In this video you connect the input's hot wire from the bright switch to the lugs on the LEFT and CENTRE. The L-Pad in the original article and this video is the same - a Monacor AT-62H. Why is it different?
Another thing confusing me is that I'm making an attenuator using a 16ohm/50w L-Pad (from same supplier as yours) but looking at its bottom, with control rod facing down, the lugs are numbered left-to-right, 3 - 2 - 1. But the lugs of your L-Pad in this video, facing the same way, you have them marked left-to-right as I - II - III, the opposite way around. Which suggests I should do the reverse wiring to your video but maybe the same wiring as in your original 2016 article? Also, I have no idea what I'm doing.
Follow the instructions provided with the L-Pad you're using.
Apparently it’s impossible to get an l-pad.
The two DPDT switches in the video appear to be the same, each having six contacts. If so then could you use two of the same type?
They're not quite the same. The On-Off is a simple DPDT but the other has a centre-off position, so DPTT, if you will
I loved it but , you could have mentioned what part types/specifics , you used for the switches. Using the wrong types will not be a good thing.
I used a 8 ohm and when I measure on the input it goes from 8 - 40 ohms. I thought it should stay the same
I just looked at this one more time. I have an AT60H 8 ohms from Song Huei Electric and took the time to look at the datasheet. The ´60´ probably means that it is rated at 60w. The data sheet
says that it can attenuate from 0 - 40 dB ... but the power rating falls scarringly according to attenuation: (I assume it is 60w @ 0dB), data sheet says 50w @ 2 dB, 35w @ 6 dB, 25w @ 12 dB,
so what would that be at 40 dB?? A few watts??. It would probably be safer just to buy one of the cheap loads out there.
Hi, do you spray clear coat on the box after the decal has dried? Or just leave it?
I spray it after the decal has dried - H
would the parts needed be the same for 100W 16ohm L-Pad? switches and capacitors?
You'd need to get an L-Pad rated for more than 100W Jason - just to be safe.
If the secondary Output transformer is 8 Ohm, then the L-Pad may be 8 Ohm too, right? And if I use two 16 Ohm speakers in parallel, then the L-Pad will be the same 8 Ohm?
With no attenuator connected, you would use the 8 Ohm output of your transformer with an 8 Ohm speaker. Two 16 Ohm speakers in parallel is equivalent to a single 8 Ohm speaker. So, you would retain the 8 Ohm output of your transformer and use an 8 Ohm L-Pad - exactly as you say Emanoel. If you were using just one of your 16 Ohm speakers, you would need to select the 16 Ohm output of your transformer and use a 16 Ohm L-Pad.
Might be a stupid question but how to use this?
Is the amp speaker signal connected to the attenuator input and the attenuator output connected to the speaker?
You've got it. Speaker output from the amp to the input of the attenuator and then the output of the attenuator to the speaker. Just like a volume control between your amp and speaker.
If your project box was plastic, or your in/out jacks were isolated, it wouldn’t work. You’re missing a jack ground in your wiring. (Notice missing connection on the ground lug) Your schematic is correct, though. Nice project!
Yes but since we built it with non-isolated jack sockets on a metal box, it's fine. If you use a plastic box and or isolated jacks, your observations are correct.
I use 120 watt heads, is there anyway to make one to tame my beasts? I can't find a brand who sells an attenuator that can handle 120 for less than 500 dollars so I was hoping maybe I could make one!
You'd probably want something like a 150w to 200w L Pad. I'm not sure if they even make one with that high of a wattage rating. You could probably find another way around it to provide a load to the amp and eat some volume. Various resistors perhaps and a stepped circular switch.
I’ve just built one of these, using the instructions on the website and I’ve noticed that you have wired the l-pad backwards to how you have done it in this video. Is that going to cause an issue? Which was is the right way. Currently when I have my attenuator on full I get no volume through, which doesn’t feel right.
I’ve just rewired the l-pad like the video (not the website) and checking with a multimeter, I get consistent 8 ohms across the whole range of the l-pad, instead of getting quite high resistance, even open circuit as I increase the attenuation. A bit frustrated though that the website appears different.
already seen in guitar magazine.... hummmm
What is the recommended wire gauge for these?
asking the same, I have high gauge speaker wire on hand, but in tight spaces that's even tighter maybe not practical given the lengths. More concerned about the load capacity rather than impedance and signal loss
Oops...you forgot the negative on the cabinet out jack...based on your schematic, how is this thing working???
It's a metal enclosure Chaz, and the jack sockets are metal open frame. So there is ground continuity through the enclosure. Hope that helps.
Could you build me one for my 100 Watt Marshall heads! Also what is the DB(Decibel) spread reduction in sound pressure could I expect?
Hi José. I think 100W is probably too much for one of these. You might be better off talking to a tech about running the amp with two power tubes rather than four and adjusting the speaker impedance setting accordingly.
@@tonetwinstv2863 Or talk ro Rivera Amplification here in Burbank. Or just buy there "Rock Crusher" attenuator! Thank you!
Hi Tone Twins. Thanks for the video. Great editing and production. I've got a 100 watt el34 amp. I've reduced the power by half by pulling 2 output valves. Do you think that a 50 watt or 100 watt 16 ohm L pad (if I can source a 100 watt one) will cope with the power? Thanks
My Vox is 16ohms, so I ordered a 16ohm Lpad , match the ohms output ? am I understanding this correctly so far? Thank you in advance if you get time to respond, one other thing, what if I want to have a switch from 16ohms to 8ohms? what caps for the bright and brighter options switch?
Yes, you'd need a 16 Ohm L-pad. For 8 Ohms, place a switched high wattage 16 Ohm resistor across the L-Pad input and ground.
@@tonetwinstv2863 Thanks so much for the reply, you folks are the exception not many guys answer questions, maybe I should put a ? at the beginning , anyway thanks great vids
Don't rub your fingers on the drilled metal right after you are done! 1. you WILL burn your fingers if you've been drilling it long. 2. you WILL cut your fingers if there are any attached shavings. (Think red-hot razor blades going into your fingertips...)
Thanks for the tip
Yeah, never wipe metal shavings with your hand. Metal Shop 101. Also, wear safety glasses.
Brilliant....share on instagram? I’m getting old
I cannot find the Hammond box that you used. Do you have the approx. dimensions of that box?
9.5cm x 14.5cm x 5cm - hope that helps
@@tonetwinstv2863: Yes it did, thanks
You forgot to connect a ground to the input jack!
It's a metal casing so if one of the metal jack sockets is grounded, they both are.
Does anyone make a 200 Watt L Pad ? Would like to build a Guitar Attenuator - The Guitar Amp is 100 Watts - Rule of Thumb is double the wattage of the L Pad.
HEY GUYS YOU CAN BUY A CHEAP COMPUTER FAN TO HELP KEEP IT COOL. FOR AROUND 5 BUCKS ON EBAY OR AMAZON
Can i use this L-PAD 8ohm into 16ohm Cabinet?
you need a different L-Pad then ... (AT-60H 16 Ohms)
@@DJFalkoHannover DJ is correct
What did it cost you?
About £60 - £70 all in...
Thanks for the great video. This version doesn’t use the 8ohm wire wound resistor that is used in the article. Is there a reason for the difference? Thanks
Anyone who knows where I can buy the L-pad in Europe?
Hi Mikkel, we're pretty certain the company that sells the 4 and 16 ohm L-Pads - that we provided links for in the description above - will ship to Europe. They do 8-Ohm L-Pads too.
just google for MONACOR L-Pads. Thomann has them too. eBay as well ...
Any chance you can provide schematic for a 16 ohm speaker?
SAne circuit with a 16 Ohm L-Pad instead of an 8 Ohm L-Pad...
Sooo isnt having an on-off switch a no-no? It'd be like unplugging the speaker from a tube amp while it's on.
I think the on/off switch is actually an on/on switch. You'll notice that the two pegs are bridged in one of the switch positions, which I believe to be the bypass/"off" mode where the signal just goes from input to output and does not get attenuated. At around the 20:00 mark, he's wiring this up
@@dumbdickler670 Oh ok thanks. Geez I hope so haha
DIY Attenuator: buy an attenuator and slap it in an aluminium enclosure. Cool.
Why can't you just use the Guitars Volume Knob to turn down the sound level?
Are you an acoustic player by any chance?
:)@@tonetwinstv2863
now we can see companies rob us
I see you don't like inches so much when you have to divide, that's why metric rules /10 or X10 easy.
The first 18:00 is about the metal box holes and decal. I'll never get that time back. I'm 18 mins closer to death.. or maybe I'm In purgatory..
Relax. Youre not that important