Sometime back in the 1970s when Paul Rivera was working out of his garage, I had him build me an attenuator along with some of the mods he was doing on all the amps I used to bring over to him. I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this video. Rhett, your videos are some of the best I've seen. If I were still working in TV, I'd try talking you into becoming a TV show host doing pretty much what you're doing now. Not everybody has that ability. You do. I really enjoy your work on TH-cam. Keep on keepin' on, man. And stay safe.
Actually, thanks God he’s on TH-cam. This way, guitar players from all around the world can watch him instead of he’s just being part of a generic tv schedule grid with some tv executive guiding his way of communicate.
Ciao Rhett. I am 56 years old ... I still remember the day when a friend of mine brought me the first Rockman from America ... having a nice distorted sound on my headphones, being able to play at night without disturbing anyone ... amazing, just try to think of mine mom, go from someone who exercises many hours a day with a Marshall JCM800 and a 4X12 ... to not hear anything anymore....she went to light a candle in honor of Tom Sholtz in the church near her house .... Greetings from Italy mate.
Great recommendations. Good attenuators rock. On this note, I still went forward with a divorce a few years back. It's by far the most expensive solution, but in the end, I now do whatever I want. Volume is loud and good. Cheers.
I was so excited to run a wet/dry rig for the first time when I got a Fender Supersonic 22 and Marshal DSL40, but I live above a restaurant. So I ended up getting a Boss Katana and just ran it USB through a FocusRite - not the same experience at all. I needed this vid in the worst way. Thanks!
For the reactive or even passive attenuators, far too many people try to squash a 100watt non master amp down to bedroom level, then complain when the tone sucks. The human ear hears things differently at different volume levels. So when their powerful amp is attenuated to a lower volume, their ear hears it differently, and they think the attenuator is changing their tone. (I'll admit, some do) I've heard guitarists do a recording 1) bypass, 2)slight attenuation, 3)full attenuation...and people could not tell the difference. I only use an attenuator to take 'a little off the top' when gigging. I have a Dr Z Brakelite and I've compared it to others. The brakelite is the most percussive I have found. Another trick for live gigging is rather than blast loudly at the beginning of the night, start a few 'clicks' down instead...then as the drinks flow and the venue fills up (and your drummer hitting harder), you can remove the 'click' of your attenuator and it doesn't seem too loud. This is SO much better than the club owner yelling at you during the first song or two to turn down!
I can get great tone at low levels with my half stack but it's still not driving and moving the speakers. Once I turn it up a few notches, a whole new sound comes alive. Driving those speakers just a little bit is how you hit those sweet spots.
I have a Laney GH30R (which has unfortunately been discontinued). Channel 2 on this amp is supposed to be the crunch channel. BUT! On chanel 2 this amp has a volume control between the pre-amp tubes and the power amp tubes. This allows you to keep all the tubes in the sweet operating range (not sweet "spot" which is a misnomer, unless your an over drive maniac). You can power up the pre-amp tubes then attenuate the signal and power up the power amp tubes without blowing your head off. I have a 15 by 25 studio with plenty of foam on the walls and unbridled the 30 watts in this amp can be pretty intense. Turn down that intermediate volume and you get the sweet tone with out the house raising volume.
Hey Rhett! You are amazing!!! I am a church player and for past year I have been struggling to reduce the sound of my amp without getting the quality down. You my friend just gave solution to it and I try it today. What a sound my tube is giving me. For the first I really enjoyed the sound of my Marshall at a low volume and without breaking the quality of the tone. Thank you so much for making this video!!! May God richly bless you and give you more wisdom
A cool tip for recording at home: If you own a looper pedal record everything at room volume and get every take on the pedal. Once you've got the correct take, crank the amp to the sweet spot level and replay the take with the looper. You can even make several takes with different tones and buff it up.
I think there's a big trade-off with any approach like this though, because you react to the way it sounds while you're playing. If I'm playing a cranked amp I'm going to be picking and muting differently to hit the sweet spots of the current settings than I would if it was quieter or if I was just playing unplugged.
I recently moved house to a place with a big garage at the bottom of the garden. First job was to wire a 25 metre multi core cable from my office to the garage so I can send the output from my amp head to my amp cab down in the garage (which is inside an iso-cab), then have two mics send the signal back to my audio interface. Works amazingly well and I can blast my amp nice and loud without anyone being able to hear it!
Yeah, sure, but.....the absolute king of causing a musical divorce???? Drums. Just staert putting a drum kit in every room, and follow your significant udder around, and beat the crapp out of those things.
I use a TedWebber attenuator and it is fantastic! Helps me a lot, i can even play at night in my apartment at low levels in my fender blues junior. A great tool.
Great video with lots of great options. I have an Orange Crush 35RT that just wants to play LOUD. I have a small bedroom man cave that doesn't work well with my super loud amp. I ended up purchasing a Mission Engineering VM-Pro volume pedal and putting at the end of my effects loop. Works a dream! Now I can crank the amp, overdrives, distortions, etc. to get the best sound and not blow out my eardrums.
As the orange crush is solid state, does running it at a higher volume change the tone? I thought one benefit of solid state amps was they sound the same regardless of volume.
@@graemedixon6314 The volume of the amp doesn't change the tone, but some of my pedals can do more when I tweak their volumes. I just use the volume pedal to drop the overall volume, as the Orange doesn't have too much volume control at the lower end of the dial.
Hey im a little late lol, but did you just run your whole pedal board through the effects loop? with the volume pedal at the end of your pedal board?@@thejonathandoan
@@matthewhanson3204 I run my compressor, distortion, fuzz, overdrives and amp sim pedals before the amp, and my chorus, reverb, delay, and volume pedals through the effects loop of the amp. That really only means all the pedals on my pedal board are run in the typical manner: comps, ODs, fuzz, etc. before the amp (pre-amp section) and modulation pedals + volume pedal through the effects loop (power amp section). That way, the volume pedal is able to affect the overall volume of ALL the pedals before it, and the amp still reproduces the sounds of the pedals but the overall volume is lowered significantly. I guess you can think of this setup as a Master Volume. The Orange Crush 35RT doesn't have a Master Volume.
I have a 85 watt Fender 65 twin. Its very heavy, very loud. I no longer gig but love those clean tones. I used aYellow Jackets conversion on the amp. Basicly, its a lowered output volume. Allow EL84 power tubes to be used in place of the most common guitar amp power tubes. It changed the tone a little, but i can now use the amp at home worrie free. Everyone is very happy in my house
Easy way to decouple an amp from the floor is to use 2 pieces 12mm or 1/2" MDF or ply, drill 5 40mm or 1 3/4" holes 25mm or 1" in from the corners and another in the center of each. You then sandwich tennis balls between the MDF/Ply where the large holes are, drill a few smaller holes near the edges to tie it together with zip ties. Job done. I've made a few of these and added carpet tiles to the top, total cost for me was about AU$20 for a platform big enough for a Fender 1 x 12 combo
I play my Marshall DSL100HR head with a Marshall 2x12 cabinet. You an cut this heads wattage to 50w. Its plenty loud for a bedroom giving a really nice sound. Mine is in my closet. I also use 3 essential pedals to cheaply change my amps sound. 1- MOOER Radar 2 - BOSS GE7 EQ 3 - MOOER012 Preamp pedal that really can cut the level of the amp down and I run all 3 of these in my effects loop.
Rhett, this has been the best video. I want to buy a new amp but drhought I was going to be limited with the amps I could choose. There’s no way I can have an amp blasting in my apartment. Thanks for showing me some techniques I hadn’t thought of.
I use the closet technic. My Line 6 212 Mkii Bogner Sprider Valve sets up on coasters. So it already sits above the floor. The only thing I have done, is treatment. Good idea.
I built the iso booth version of the closet solution. I have it in the garage with a 4x12 in it and use it with cranked 100W and 200W amps. Works incredibly well.
@@natalievelasquez2664 No, its not a power reduction attenuator like a Ironman. It limits signal from preamp to power amp. Full attenuators lower the power from power amp to speakers. So the Little Black Box will allow you to push the front of the amp, but you cant push the power amp.
@@natalievelasquez2664 What Josh said I have two love em one on a Vox AC30 and another on a Fender HR Deluxe, and I have not noticed any tone degredation. They are know as "passive" preamp attenuators that plug into your effects send/return loop, as opposed to speaker-connected "reactive load" Rhett discussed. I generally push my volume on both to about 11 or 12 o clock and gain 1- 2o clock. If I had a proper studio, however, I would consider one or two RLA boxes. They require power.
I've been using the Tone King Ironman 2 Mini attenuator for a year now and it's stellar. I can get all my luscious tube amp tones from my Marshall DSL20HR, my Orange OR-15 and my Fender Vaporizer and the volume is reasonable enough to keep the next door neighbor from wanting to chop my head off. Excellent demo Rhett! Keep up the great work!
I’ve got an old Tom Schults “Power Soak” I bought new in the ‘70s I use and it still works Great! Please keep up the Good Work and Cheers from Salem, Ohio!
Thanks for this video Rhett I love your content, me and my tube amp have been separated for a while now, this video will help us establish a healthy relationship again.
I bought the JHS little black box and I run it in the loop at the end of the chain. Works FANTASTIC. Then it’s just a single volume knob in a mini pedal, couldn’t get easier. And at $65~ it’s very affordable.
Miss my old place where I could blast till volume 7 on 120 watts have a band jamming and it didn’t bother anyone because the walls and floors were so thick. Yeah still could hear the music through the air. It makes a diff if ppl gather around your place to listen to your band playing in your home, usually no complaints back then.
My trick is I put my big amps through a small 6” champion 600 speaker. That makes it a lot quieter and you can get better sounds at low volumes. Also sounds better than a big speaker for recording
Yes that works great. I use a 4 inch speaker mounted to a dresser drawer for a cab. I put that “cab” and 2 mics inside another box wrapped in blankets. Then tweak the mics on the DAW.
My current solution is a Blackstar HT5R plus a Fender Rumble 40 bass amp. The combination of the 8" speaker in the Blackstar with a 5 watt tube amp, can scream and wail and the Rumble I use fed from an aux output of the HT5R into the aux IN of the rumble. Then you use the second speaker to dial in enough feeling of Amp Loud in a Room without really actually being very loud. The results are astonishingly good, much better than any attentuation scheme I have tried. The thing is headphones do not make me happy. I want to feel the music. I stand quite close to the fender Rumble and blackstar combination, and the rumble is working like a powered cab as the aux in does not hit the rumble preamp.
I bought an amp with power scaling and a master. I'm pretty much a purist, don't use drive pedals under any circumstances, but it's an invaluable feature for me. Yes, it will not push the speaker as much as running full up, but the tubes will compress and distort beautifully. Completely different from a built in attenuator, it dials back the voltage to the output section while still letting you drive the signal to it. Last amp I'll ever buy
I have three really loud amps . Fender Mustang III , Peavy Delta Blues and my favorite believe it or not is a 6 watt VHT special 6 ultra head and it's pretty dang loud coupled with a 12" Celestion that's in the Fender Mustang combo . So loud that my roommate starts bitching every time that I strike a cord ! LoL A sound proofed man cave / studio is in my near future ! By the way I really enjoy watching your videos , I especially enjoyed the one from last week with Phil X and Rick . Keep the camera rolling !
I heard a studio guy say on youtube that he used to put a bunch of moving blankets over the mic'd cabinet in the studio to contain the volume. It did not interrupt the sound or quality of the mic'd cab, just quieted the rig down for the bystanders.
Awesome video, covered all the bases! I have a couple of other tools for you. While they DO change the tone of the amp, the tone will be different, not better or worse. 1. exchange 6L6/5881 tubes for 6V6. This will require rebiasing. 2. On many one hundred watt amps such as Fender Twins with four power tubes you can pull two tubes, usually the middle tubes. Half power now. 3. Combine #1 and #2 above. You are now pushing 15-22 watts depending on a lot of variables. 4. Replace octal tubes such as 6L6, EL34, KT88 or 6550 with EL84's by using THD Yellow Jacket adapters. Your Twin is running around 40 watts and these are self biasing. 5. Pull two tubes as in #2 above but switch to two EL84'S using the Yellow Jackets. You now have a souped up AC-15...sort of... # 5 was a life saver for me with one of my clients who I mixed live. The guy is an elder statesman of rock guitar and had the hearing to prove it. His stage amp was one of the red knob twins which were nefariously and euphemistically dubbed "Evil Twins" not to be confused with "The Twin" of the late 90's which Fender called the "Evil Twin in ad copy. The red knobbed Twin was loud...and not much else. The evil Twin was always dimed regardless of venue. We would be at a festival one day and a small club the next...everything on 10. I had to do SOMETHING....stage volume was insane and our statesman would not be budged on settings. I confess that I made the EL84 swap secretly during sound check. It was just enough though and sounded great. Most importantly the client was extremely happy as well and we later shared the deception so he kept the Yellow Jackets. Check with your tech before pulling tubes by the way...not all models can do this and with some you may risk sucking an output transformer. There is some good information about these techniques in The Tube Amp Book by Aspen Pittman. Opinions will vary. This stuff worked in my amps and no smoke. Great content as usual. Cheers!
Couldn't agree more. The CaptorX is the best thing I've picked up since ... the moon turned a fire red :-) Drive it with a 5E3, JTM45 and 66 Bandmaster ... does it all from spanky clean to heavy dirt. Worth every penny.
I've had all of the attenuators...well, most of them, as well as some of the iso-boxes (Rivera Silent Sister, Demeter, etc.). For my money the UA OX is by far the best recording setup for my 1-room studio out of all of them. Sounds exactly like it will end up when you use it without a cab and listen through your studio monitors. No decoupling necessary and no rumble that makes you think the amp sounds better than it does only to find it's sort of thin when you monitor back. It's just "that good". Great video Rhett!
@@SteveOuimette as in the quality of the reactive load. Lot of high gain users have been complaining about the quality of the reactive load in the ox itself compared to stuff from fryette, boss and suhr
@@prasanthselvadurai3450 Very interesting, thank you for sharing that. Most of my amps are from the 60's and 70's...Marshalls, Fenders, etc. but that's something I definitely will check out. I will say that so far both the Fryette and RockCrusher sounded more open as attenuators than the OX. But I do love the OX for recording..didn't love the models on the BOSS and haven't tried the Suhr yet.
@@SteveOuimette yeah the digital part of the ox is world class, just the analog part (loadbox) is controversial among heavy gain users. My dream loadbox would be the fryette ps2 with the digital portion from the ox box
For $100 I picked up a Bugera PS-1 attenuator. By default it knocks the power down by half. It has an XLR DI out with an emulated cabinet w/volume control. It's a great option to have.
I’ve got a twin reverb that due to it’s weight I don’t take it out on gigs anymore. I use it at home all the time, I use a ts9 when my wife is home and it drives it nicely without turning up the volume. Of course when she’s out I rattle the windows. On a side note, my gig amp is a new Fender Pro Reverb, single channel plenty of power and only 35 lbs.
I've been extremely interested in the pro reverb, I need something smaller that still sounds great (I have a two rock classic reverb and a fender hot rod deVille which I bought to gig but it's a heavy beast). I love my amps but the pro reverb looks very tempting and sounds good from what I've heard.
@@michaelrash1478 It’s a great amp. It’s the ‘68 pro reverb. Call Sweetwater they are doing a 36 month no interest if you qualify. Ask them for they’re best price, they usually will give a discount, and if you don’t like it you can send it back.
Been pretty happy with my twin reverb tone master. Only non tube amp I have but fixes the weight issue and you get built in attenuation and a line out. You might start gigging a TR again with that
Bugera PS1 Power Soak - $109 on Amazon right now. I paid like $130 last year, and it is the best money I ever spent. If you are dealing with wattage under 50 watts, you can't beat this thing.
I love my Ironman II attenuator. It’s perfect with my Fender Supersonic 22. With it, I can set the “Normal” mode of the clean channel to sparkly clean, the “Fat” mode to edge-of-breakup, and the drive channel to as much crunchy or creamy overdrive as I want with some added power tube beef without driving everyone out of the house.
I use seperate pre amp/ power amp units- i can crank my power amp (50 tube watts) and lower all of the channel (preamp) volumes all the way down to taste, and its like having an attenuater. No one in the house knows when I'm playing sometimes.
I connect the send plug of the FX loop in the amp to the computer (via an interface) and then mute the amp with a dummy jack in the return plug of the FX loop. Then, in the DAW I can use cabinet simulations or IRs. With this I lose the power amp component of the tone, but for room practice works well.
I built a box just a bit bigger than my 2X12" cabinet . I put the cab facing inside the box that has insulation with thick blankets stapled on the inside . I have a steel pole in the box to stick the mic on . I put towels around the space where the speaker cab meats the box . It's pretty good , not amazing but the best thing I can do in my house .... with the wife upstairs and the neighbours .
The EHX signal pad works great too. The biggest difference is it has a an on/off button, which can be helpful or hurtful depending on if you’ve had a few drinks
Renovate the closet. Split the long rectilinear closet into 2 individual “closets” with separate doors to the studio/bedroom. One is for storage and the other becomes the booth. You can then add the foam lining on the walls, ceiling etc. you and a friend could it in a weekend. When it is time to sell the house you don’t have to change it back. It is a bedroom with two closets for kids to share the room
Some great advice in this video. Interesting about the Captor Attenuator. Though with my very much loved Wem Clubman amp which is now rather long in the tooth. It’s probably not in reality much younger than I am and not sure I want to interrupt the speaker wire on the little combo. It may only officially be a 5 to 6 watt valve amp, but it gets damn loud when pushed to the point where the tone really starts cooking. Being an open backed amp the old method of a soundproofed box in front of the amp for recording. (Something you didn’t cover ) wouldn’t cut it entirely. Therefore the complete mini booth in a converted cupboard or wardrobe, does seem to be the best home solution. Not one I can use in my current practice/ recording space. But would certainly avoid going digital or completely digital. Something i played about with 20 years ago. And soon got very bored with digital modelling back then. Over all your video is really useful in reminding many of us about options we do have. Some fairly cheap. Others less so, but perhaps us exploring more, such as attenuation of some form or other.
Good usable Home playing set/ups have more to do with speakers and compression than wattage. Totally different eq needed. Clean transients are teh debbil
I have a Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 Stereo amplifier. I haven't got any divorce papers yet, but it does make ALL the windows rattle easily. 😋 Usually when she's not home.
One thing not mentioned about the cab sim setup is that this will sound like a miced cab, which is distinctly different from hearing the cab in the room. While the miced sound is familiar to us from any record ever, it does sound different and how you set up the cab sim will make a huge difference. I like running two different cab sims with different mics to make for a fuller sound, not unlike many real cabs get miced. When using this setup with headphones, you want to add some room reverb in there so it doesn't sound like you have your head pressed against the speakers.
Great video Rhett! My favorite way to play quiet is a JHS Little Black Box in the fx loop. EQ underdriving with a GE-7 or similar also works into the front of the amp (as long as all your dirt is coming from pedals).
That's exactly what I have going on with my 100 watt Marshall and 4x12 cab. As long as I'm using the clean channel and pedals. I have fantastic tone and my amps volume is under control. If I wanted the (true tube) amp distortion. I would have to go the way of the attenuator.
Here's what I did: I got a Marshall studio tube head that has a master volume that you can turn it down without changing the tone. It's my best purchase ever. (besides getting my ebony sg out of an out-of-state pawn shop)
For low-volume nighttime playing, I just use a distortion pedal (an MXR prime 69) through the clean channel of my Carvin MTS in 50w mode, and it sounds great. For daytime playing, I just use the Drive channel set at low volumes, which sounds fine for high-gain sounds. I also keep the amp in a closet with a bunch of clothes in a carpeted befroom, which dampens volume considerably, though I do occasionally have to scale back the bass control / boost highs.
I use a multi-effect (boss me-80) in the fx loop of my 50 watt Marshall. The multi-effect has a headphone out I use for actual headphones or small commercial speaker and provides me with the sound just before hitting the speaker. I turn master to 0 as even 1 is loud in the middle of the night.
I use a couple of pedals as an input attenuator. It works fine for a little 4w Vox AC4 and a Champ clone. I can crank the amp and get saturated tones but still at volume that won't get me evicted. It's not as good a solution as an Iron Man, but doesn't cost $600. I picked up the trick from Dan and Mick of TPS.
Depending on the amp, you can use something like the HX Stomp or any other device that can load cabinet IRs to run the amp completely silently. Run the amp's effects send into the IR loader and IR loader into whatever speakers or headphones you want to use. It is important to note that you still must have a real speaker plugged in, even though no signal will pass to the speaker, otherwise you will damage your amp. This is a nice solution for some combos, though it does eliminate the power section of the amp completely.
Just a comment about using the closet isolation approach. In a small closet especially with clothes in it the acoustic is usually not very flattering to the guitar sound. It can sound small and boxy. I'm fortunate to have a small room next to my main studio room that I put my amps in. Even that sounds a bit boxy but if I hang a heavy padded drape immediately behind the mics so the amp is firing into it that cuts the boxiness right down while still allowing some sense of not being in a tiny closet. It really makes a lot of difference to the sound.
Man! I love your content, your playing and how you present stuff. Huge fan. Some time ago I was using a cheap power attenuator from Harley Benton on my Marshall plexi when rehearsing then stopped using it because... well I like it loud. I have a smaller Marshall DSL at home which gives you the option of switching between 5 watts and 0.5 watt. At 0.5 though the cleans lose in quality way too much. Gonna try that HB attenuator at home, thanks for making me think of that. I also recommend folks to go check it out. It's from Thomann, Chinese built but German engineered. About 70$ that will allow you to keep the cranked tone of your tube amp.
Thank you for this , Rhett. I tried the Rhandall Isolation Cab as a quiet solution.The problem I had with it was that it was still very loud at "break up" volumes, the wood of the cab would moan and squeal under certain frequencies, and the recording quality would sound "boxy". So I sold it. My Torpedo Captive 8 has two on-board presets: one for guitar and one for bass. I like those two better than anything the "Wall of Sound" software has to offer. The Torpedo is pretty good--BUT--I want to feel a real cab pushing air in the room. The Torpedo's attenuation settings are way too low. So, I am buying the Bugera PS1 attenuator for my Princeton Reverb. Hoping this is the answer cranking the amp without going deaf ;) Peace!
Eminence makes an attenuating speaker that gives you the ability set your amp like you prefer. There is a dial on the back of the speaker to adjust the amount of attenuation. This also eliminates possible cabling mistakes because there’s nothing to plug or unplug.
I have one of these but not crazy about the tone. There’s another, more expensive option of speakers than have an independent control to reduce the magnetic field using an electromagnet, not a fixed one to reduce the SPlL. I haven’t tried this but some session players have found them excellent for taming the volume while retaining their tone.
I remember when my kids were in their early teens, I was practicing guitar in the basement. My oldest daughter opened the basement door and yelled down, “Dad, I’m on the phone! Turn it down!”
I've had my volume pedal in my effects loop for years. One of the major benefits (imo) is volume swells that have consistent gain levels. You can get that smooth violin like swell with quite heavy gain simply because the attack is missing and it remains a consistent tone.
I bought the REVV D20 and I'm incredibly pleased with it. I use headphones when my wife and kids are home, and cabinet when they're elsewhere. It's easy to record,, has loads of options on virtual cabinets and takes pedals really well. I agree with Rhett; tube amps along with virtual cabinets is the future
Good video. I bought some cheap cork tiles that I rest the cab on in my bedroom, and I turn the cab a full 180 so the rear is facing me, and the outside wall. You can also use a wireless kit and wander around your property seeing how it sounds to the rest of your family when you play.
Forget about turning it down. I built a sound proof box a bit bigger than my amp, with a hole in it big enough to put my head in. Make the hole a little bit bigger where your ears are or they will get stuck when you try to pull your head out. This system can be adapted for the stage by hauling the box up on a pulley to approximately head height.
Rhett just doesn’t understand the raw tone you get from a crushing divorce
adds authenticity to the blues...
You had me in the first half, not gonna lie
I frequently joke that gear acquisition is really pointless unless there's a substantial risk of alimony being part of the TCO of the gear.
Damn this hits home
Nothing like starting over
That tone is straight up fire! The smoke was evidence.
I was thinking the same thing!
I noticed that, too!
I was thinking damn he's on fire today. Literally.
Pro tip: don't get married and you won't get divorced👍🏻
Modern problems require modern solutions.
And studies show that marriage is the #1 cause of divorce!!! 😂
Tell your wife to get a good job to buy you new gear
This is why matt has all the cool gear.
Or marry a guitarist!
Sometime back in the 1970s when Paul Rivera was working out of his garage, I had him build me an attenuator along with some of the mods he was doing on all the amps I used to bring over to him. I'd forgotten all about it until I saw this video. Rhett, your videos are some of the best I've seen. If I were still working in TV, I'd try talking you into becoming a TV show host doing pretty much what you're doing now. Not everybody has that ability. You do. I really enjoy your work on TH-cam. Keep on keepin' on, man. And stay safe.
Actually, thanks God he’s on TH-cam. This way, guitar players from all around the world can watch him instead of he’s just being part of a generic tv schedule grid with some tv executive guiding his way of communicate.
Well said
Ciao Rhett. I am 56 years old ... I still remember the day when a friend of mine brought me the first Rockman from America ... having a nice distorted sound on my headphones, being able to play at night without disturbing anyone ... amazing, just try to think of mine mom, go from someone who exercises many hours a day with a Marshall JCM800 and a 4X12 ... to not hear anything anymore....she went to light a candle in honor of Tom Sholtz in the church near her house .... Greetings from Italy mate.
Ditto this. I actually have the Power Soak that Tom made and it made my parents SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY !!!!! I still have it actually
Hey Rhett! Remember the golden rule - if you see smoke, you've let the magic out of the box :)
Ya, what was that smoke in the background?
@@timbaxter9932 or that weird electrical smell 😂
Every machine is a smoke machine if you handle it wrong enough.
Looks like incense…or a doobie that’s just taking a little rest.
Leaving a joint burning is just wasteful.
Great recommendations. Good attenuators rock. On this note, I still went forward with a divorce a few years back. It's by far the most expensive solution, but in the end, I now do whatever I want. Volume is loud and good. Cheers.
I was so excited to run a wet/dry rig for the first time when I got a Fender Supersonic 22 and Marshal DSL40, but I live above a restaurant. So I ended up getting a Boss Katana and just ran it USB through a FocusRite - not the same experience at all. I needed this vid in the worst way. Thanks!
For the reactive or even passive attenuators, far too many people try to squash a 100watt non master amp down to bedroom level, then complain when the tone sucks. The human ear hears things differently at different volume levels. So when their powerful amp is attenuated to a lower volume, their ear hears it differently, and they think the attenuator is changing their tone. (I'll admit, some do) I've heard guitarists do a recording 1) bypass, 2)slight attenuation, 3)full attenuation...and people could not tell the difference. I only use an attenuator to take 'a little off the top' when gigging. I have a Dr Z Brakelite and I've compared it to others. The brakelite is the most percussive I have found.
Another trick for live gigging is rather than blast loudly at the beginning of the night, start a few 'clicks' down instead...then as the drinks flow and the venue fills up (and your drummer hitting harder), you can remove the 'click' of your attenuator and it doesn't seem too loud. This is SO much better than the club owner yelling at you during the first song or two to turn down!
I can get great tone at low levels with my half stack but it's still not driving and moving the speakers. Once I turn it up a few notches, a whole new sound comes alive. Driving those speakers just a little bit is how you hit those sweet spots.
More people should know about ELCs and the Fletcher-Munsen curves.
For that last part, as a mixing engineer. No.
I have a Laney GH30R (which has unfortunately been discontinued). Channel 2 on this amp is supposed to be the crunch channel. BUT! On chanel 2 this amp has a volume control between the pre-amp tubes and the power amp tubes. This allows you to keep all the tubes in the sweet operating range (not sweet "spot" which is a misnomer, unless your an over drive maniac). You can power up the pre-amp tubes then attenuate the signal and power up the power amp tubes without blowing your head off. I have a 15 by 25 studio with plenty of foam on the walls and unbridled the 30 watts in this amp can be pretty intense. Turn down that intermediate volume and you get the sweet tone with out the house raising volume.
Hey Rhett! You are amazing!!! I am a church player and for past year I have been struggling to reduce the sound of my amp without getting the quality down. You my friend just gave solution to it and I try it today. What a sound my tube is giving me. For the first I really enjoyed the sound of my Marshall at a low volume and without breaking the quality of the tone. Thank you so much for making this video!!! May God richly bless you and give you more wisdom
I respect that most of these options are not focused on buying a product
A cool tip for recording at home: If you own a looper pedal record everything at room volume and get every take on the pedal. Once you've got the correct take, crank the amp to the sweet spot level and replay the take with the looper. You can even make several takes with different tones and buff it up.
this is genius
You can also just record DI into your interface and then send the signal to the amp when you want to record.
Wow great tip, thanks man!
I think there's a big trade-off with any approach like this though, because you react to the way it sounds while you're playing. If I'm playing a cranked amp I'm going to be picking and muting differently to hit the sweet spots of the current settings than I would if it was quieter or if I was just playing unplugged.
@@danieljensen2626 That's true, indeed.
Rhett was literally SMOKING! Someone call the fire department!
I recently moved house to a place with a big garage at the bottom of the garden. First job was to wire a 25 metre multi core cable from my office to the garage so I can send the output from my amp head to my amp cab down in the garage (which is inside an iso-cab), then have two mics send the signal back to my audio interface. Works amazingly well and I can blast my amp nice and loud without anyone being able to hear it!
4 minutes in and Rhett is literally on fire. This is the content I'm here for!
The advice for using an eq is gold. Gonna swap that out on the signal chain of my pod since I can only have 8 effects at one time. Thanks man.
I have a captor x for my tube amps and its honestly changed my life. I love that thing.
I never thought about tube amps and divorce. You just gave me a great idea! Thanks Rhett!
Yeah, sure, but.....the absolute king of causing a musical divorce???? Drums. Just staert putting a drum kit in every room, and follow your significant udder around, and beat the crapp out of those things.
I use a TedWebber attenuator and it is fantastic! Helps me a lot, i can even play at night in my apartment at low levels in my fender blues junior. A great tool.
Great video with lots of great options. I have an Orange Crush 35RT that just wants to play LOUD. I have a small bedroom man cave that doesn't work well with my super loud amp. I ended up purchasing a Mission Engineering VM-Pro volume pedal and putting at the end of my effects loop. Works a dream! Now I can crank the amp, overdrives, distortions, etc. to get the best sound and not blow out my eardrums.
As the orange crush is solid state, does running it at a higher volume change the tone? I thought one benefit of solid state amps was they sound the same regardless of volume.
@@graemedixon6314 The volume of the amp doesn't change the tone, but some of my pedals can do more when I tweak their volumes. I just use the volume pedal to drop the overall volume, as the Orange doesn't have too much volume control at the lower end of the dial.
Hey im a little late lol, but did you just run your whole pedal board through the effects loop? with the volume pedal at the end of your pedal board?@@thejonathandoan
@@matthewhanson3204 I run my compressor, distortion, fuzz, overdrives and amp sim pedals before the amp, and my chorus, reverb, delay, and volume pedals through the effects loop of the amp. That really only means all the pedals on my pedal board are run in the typical manner: comps, ODs, fuzz, etc. before the amp (pre-amp section) and modulation pedals + volume pedal through the effects loop (power amp section). That way, the volume pedal is able to affect the overall volume of ALL the pedals before it, and the amp still reproduces the sounds of the pedals but the overall volume is lowered significantly. I guess you can think of this setup as a Master Volume. The Orange Crush 35RT doesn't have a Master Volume.
I have a 85 watt Fender 65 twin. Its very heavy, very loud. I no longer gig but love those clean tones. I used aYellow Jackets conversion on the amp. Basicly, its a lowered output volume. Allow EL84 power tubes to be used in place of the most common guitar amp power tubes. It changed the tone a little, but i can now use the amp at home worrie free. Everyone is very happy in my house
Easy way to decouple an amp from the floor is to use 2 pieces 12mm or 1/2" MDF or ply, drill 5 40mm or 1 3/4" holes 25mm or 1" in from the corners and another in the center of each. You then sandwich tennis balls between the MDF/Ply where the large holes are, drill a few smaller holes near the edges to tie it together with zip ties. Job done. I've made a few of these and added carpet tiles to the top, total cost for me was about AU$20 for a platform big enough for a Fender 1 x 12 combo
that beauty in your hands and the subject matter we are about to get into is exactly what draws me in to stick around for the video
I play my Marshall DSL100HR head with a Marshall 2x12 cabinet. You an cut this heads wattage to 50w. Its plenty loud for a bedroom giving a really nice sound. Mine is in my closet. I also use 3 essential pedals to cheaply change my amps sound. 1- MOOER Radar 2 - BOSS GE7 EQ 3 - MOOER012 Preamp pedal that really can cut the level of the amp down and I run all 3 of these in my effects loop.
Rhett, this has been the best video. I want to buy a new amp but drhought I was going to be limited with the amps I could choose. There’s no way I can have an amp blasting in my apartment. Thanks for showing me some techniques I hadn’t thought of.
I use the closet technic. My Line 6 212 Mkii Bogner Sprider Valve sets up on coasters. So it already sits above the floor. The only thing I have done, is treatment. Good idea.
I own an ENGL Screamer combo amp, so I swapped out the 12AX7 phase inverter tube for an 12AT7 tube, cleaned up the amp, less noise and less hum.
I built the iso booth version of the closet solution. I have it in the garage with a 4x12 in it and use it with cranked 100W and 200W amps. Works incredibly well.
Love my JHS little black box for attenuation purposes as well! That second solo RIPPED
Do they have the same function as a regular attenuator? Just curious as I've heard of these before
@@natalievelasquez2664 No, its not a power reduction attenuator like a Ironman. It limits signal from preamp to power amp. Full attenuators lower the power from power amp to speakers. So the Little Black Box will allow you to push the front of the amp, but you cant push the power amp.
@@natalievelasquez2664 What Josh said I have two love em one on a Vox AC30 and another on a Fender HR Deluxe, and I have not noticed any tone degredation. They are know as "passive" preamp attenuators that plug into your effects send/return loop, as opposed to speaker-connected "reactive load" Rhett discussed. I generally push my volume on both to about 11 or 12 o clock and gain 1- 2o clock. If I had a proper studio, however, I would consider one or two RLA boxes. They require power.
Will the Little Black Amp Box work if you don't have an effects loop on your amp?
@@randolphgallagher7942 No, your amp needs an effects loop.
I've been using the Tone King Ironman 2 Mini attenuator for a year now and it's stellar. I can get all my luscious tube amp tones from my Marshall DSL20HR, my Orange OR-15 and my Fender Vaporizer and the volume is reasonable enough to keep the next door neighbor from wanting to chop my head off. Excellent demo Rhett! Keep up the great work!
I’ve got an old Tom Schults “Power Soak” I bought new in the ‘70s I use and it still works Great! Please keep up the Good Work and Cheers from Salem, Ohio!
I have one too!
Thanks for this video Rhett I love your content, me and my tube amp have been separated for a while now, this video will help us establish a healthy relationship again.
I bought the JHS little black box and I run it in the loop at the end of the chain. Works FANTASTIC.
Then it’s just a single volume knob in a mini pedal, couldn’t get easier. And at $65~ it’s very affordable.
Miss my old place where I could blast till volume 7 on 120 watts have a band jamming and it didn’t bother anyone because the walls and floors were so thick. Yeah still could hear the music through the air. It makes a diff if ppl gather around your place to listen to your band playing in your home, usually no complaints back then.
My trick is I put my big amps through a small 6” champion 600 speaker. That makes it a lot quieter and you can get better sounds at low volumes. Also sounds better than a big speaker for recording
Yes that works great. I use a 4 inch speaker mounted to a dresser drawer for a cab.
I put that “cab” and 2 mics inside another box wrapped in blankets. Then tweak the mics on the DAW.
A small cab would be my choice. Desktop amps like the Yamaha THR use very small speakers.
My current solution is a Blackstar HT5R plus a Fender Rumble 40 bass amp. The combination of the 8" speaker in the Blackstar with a 5 watt tube amp, can scream and wail and the Rumble I use fed from an aux output of the HT5R into the aux IN of the rumble. Then you use the second speaker to dial in enough feeling of Amp Loud in a Room without really actually being very loud. The results are astonishingly good, much better than any attentuation scheme I have tried. The thing is headphones do not make me happy. I want to feel the music. I stand quite close to the fender Rumble and blackstar combination, and the rumble is working like a powered cab as the aux in does not hit the rumble preamp.
I bought an amp with power scaling and a master. I'm pretty much a purist, don't use drive pedals under any circumstances, but it's an invaluable feature for me. Yes, it will not push the speaker as much as running full up, but the tubes will compress and distort beautifully. Completely different from a built in attenuator, it dials back the voltage to the output section while still letting you drive the signal to it. Last amp I'll ever buy
I have three really loud amps .
Fender Mustang III , Peavy Delta Blues and my favorite believe it or not is a 6 watt VHT special 6 ultra head and it's pretty dang loud coupled with a 12" Celestion that's in the Fender Mustang combo .
So loud that my roommate starts bitching every time that I strike a cord ! LoL
A sound proofed man cave / studio is in my near future !
By the way I really enjoy watching your videos , I especially enjoyed the one from last week with Phil X and Rick . Keep the camera rolling !
By far the most enlightening explanation about attenuating tube amps, thank you
Dude i hope many people tell you that you have an amazing speaking voice, because you do!!
My Tone king Gremlin (5 Watt with a great attenuator) has been an amazing apartment amp. It can go super quiet and still get some tube OD.
My solution has been to use a klone set pretty clean at the front of my chain. Gives you back some of that "opened up" amp sound and tightness.
I heard a studio guy say on youtube that he used to put a bunch of moving blankets over the mic'd cabinet in the studio to contain the volume. It did not interrupt the sound or quality of the mic'd cab, just quieted the rig down for the bystanders.
That is a very old school method but works great. Moving blankets are very thick and inexpensive.
Awesome video, covered all the bases!
I have a couple of other tools for you. While they DO change the tone of the amp, the tone will be different, not better or worse.
1. exchange 6L6/5881 tubes for 6V6. This will require rebiasing.
2. On many one hundred watt amps such as Fender Twins with four power tubes you can pull two tubes, usually the middle tubes. Half power now.
3. Combine #1 and #2 above. You are now pushing 15-22 watts depending on a lot of variables.
4. Replace octal tubes such as 6L6, EL34, KT88 or 6550 with EL84's by using THD Yellow Jacket adapters.
Your Twin is running around 40 watts and these are self biasing.
5. Pull two tubes as in #2 above but switch to two EL84'S using the Yellow Jackets. You now have a souped up AC-15...sort of...
# 5 was a life saver for me with one of my clients who I mixed live. The guy is an elder statesman of rock guitar and had the hearing to prove it.
His stage amp was one of the red knob twins which were nefariously and euphemistically dubbed "Evil Twins" not to be confused with "The Twin" of the late 90's which Fender called the "Evil Twin in ad copy.
The red knobbed Twin was loud...and not much else.
The evil Twin was always dimed regardless of venue. We would be at a festival one day and a small club the next...everything on 10.
I had to do SOMETHING....stage volume was insane and our statesman would not be budged on settings.
I confess that I made the EL84 swap secretly during sound check. It was just enough though and sounded great.
Most importantly the client was extremely happy as well and we later shared the deception so he kept the Yellow Jackets.
Check with your tech before pulling tubes by the way...not all models can do this and with some you may risk sucking an output transformer.
There is some good information about these techniques in The Tube Amp Book by Aspen Pittman.
Opinions will vary. This stuff worked in my amps and no smoke.
Great content as usual.
Cheers!
Couldn't agree more. The CaptorX is the best thing I've picked up since ... the moon turned a fire red :-) Drive it with a 5E3, JTM45 and 66 Bandmaster ... does it all from spanky clean to heavy dirt. Worth every penny.
I've had all of the attenuators...well, most of them, as well as some of the iso-boxes (Rivera Silent Sister, Demeter, etc.). For my money the UA OX is by far the best recording setup for my 1-room studio out of all of them. Sounds exactly like it will end up when you use it without a cab and listen through your studio monitors. No decoupling necessary and no rumble that makes you think the amp sounds better than it does only to find it's sort of thin when you monitor back. It's just "that good". Great video Rhett!
OX sounds bad
@@gffg387 In what way? As an attenuator, the sounds of the cab and mic models?
@@SteveOuimette as in the quality of the reactive load. Lot of high gain users have been complaining about the quality of the reactive load in the ox itself compared to stuff from fryette, boss and suhr
@@prasanthselvadurai3450 Very interesting, thank you for sharing that. Most of my amps are from the 60's and 70's...Marshalls, Fenders, etc. but that's something I definitely will check out. I will say that so far both the Fryette and RockCrusher sounded more open as attenuators than the OX. But I do love the OX for recording..didn't love the models on the BOSS and haven't tried the Suhr yet.
@@SteveOuimette yeah the digital part of the ox is world class, just the analog part (loadbox) is controversial among heavy gain users. My dream loadbox would be the fryette ps2 with the digital portion from the ox box
Where has this video been my whole life. Finally bought an attenuator though. Loving it
For $100 I picked up a Bugera PS-1 attenuator. By default it knocks the power down by half. It has an XLR DI out with an emulated cabinet w/volume control. It's a great option to have.
I’ve got a twin reverb that due to it’s weight I don’t take it out on gigs anymore. I use it at home all the time, I use a ts9 when my wife is home and it drives it nicely without turning up the volume. Of course when she’s out I rattle the windows. On a side note, my gig amp is a new Fender Pro Reverb, single channel plenty of power and only 35 lbs.
I've been extremely interested in the pro reverb, I need something smaller that still sounds great (I have a two rock classic reverb and a fender hot rod deVille which I bought to gig but it's a heavy beast). I love my amps but the pro reverb looks very tempting and sounds good from what I've heard.
@@michaelrash1478 It’s a great amp. It’s the ‘68 pro reverb. Call Sweetwater they are doing a 36 month no interest if you qualify. Ask them for they’re best price, they usually will give a discount, and if you don’t like it you can send it back.
Been pretty happy with my twin reverb tone master. Only non tube amp I have but fixes the weight issue and you get built in attenuation and a line out. You might start gigging a TR again with that
Best video title to date!
Bugera PS1 Power Soak - $109 on Amazon right now. I paid like $130 last year, and it is the best money I ever spent. If you are dealing with wattage under 50 watts, you can't beat this thing.
I love my Ironman II attenuator. It’s perfect with my Fender Supersonic 22. With it, I can set the “Normal” mode of the clean channel to sparkly clean, the “Fat” mode to edge-of-breakup, and the drive channel to as much crunchy or creamy overdrive as I want with some added power tube beef without driving everyone out of the house.
I use seperate pre amp/ power amp units- i can crank my power amp (50 tube watts) and lower all of the channel (preamp) volumes all the way down to taste, and its like having an attenuater. No one in the house knows when I'm playing sometimes.
I connect the send plug of the FX loop in the amp to the computer (via an interface) and then mute the amp with a dummy jack in the return plug of the FX loop. Then, in the DAW I can use cabinet simulations or IRs. With this I lose the power amp component of the tone, but for room practice works well.
Thumbnail is absolutely fire. I’d frame that and put it on my wall.
I built a box just a bit bigger than my 2X12" cabinet . I put the cab facing inside the box that has
insulation with thick blankets stapled on the inside . I have a steel pole in the box to stick the mic on . I
put towels around the space where the speaker cab meats the box . It's pretty good , not amazing
but the best thing I can do in my house .... with the wife upstairs and the neighbours .
JHS Little Black Amp Box in the effects loop of my Friedman JEL 100 watt, works great
That's what I use for my Frontman 212R 100 watt. It's unusably loud, even when at 1. The Little Black Amp Box pulls it right down.
The EHX signal pad works great too. The biggest difference is it has a an on/off button, which can be helpful or hurtful depending on if you’ve had a few drinks
@@j.r.242 haha
If I had a proper studio I would get a RL A box, but for now my LBBs tame AC30S1 and Fender HR deluxe just fine.
Will this device work if you don have an effects loop on your amp?
Renovate the closet. Split the long rectilinear closet into 2 individual “closets” with separate doors to the studio/bedroom. One is for storage and the other becomes the booth. You can then add the foam lining on the walls, ceiling etc. you and a friend could it in a weekend. When it is time to sell the house you don’t have to change it back. It is a bedroom with two closets for kids to share the room
Your playing is on fire! I mean really there's a fire behind you! 4:20
You’ve had that bluesbreakers riff in your head for a bit! Which is AWESOME! But now I can’t stop playing it…🎸🎸🎸
Some great advice in this video.
Interesting about the Captor Attenuator.
Though with my very much loved Wem Clubman amp which is now rather long in the tooth. It’s probably not in reality much younger than I am and not sure I want to interrupt the speaker wire on the little combo. It may only officially be a 5 to 6 watt valve amp, but it gets damn loud when pushed to the point where the tone really starts cooking.
Being an open backed amp the old method of a soundproofed box in front of the amp for recording. (Something you didn’t cover ) wouldn’t cut it entirely. Therefore the complete mini booth in a converted cupboard or wardrobe, does seem to be the best home solution.
Not one I can use in my current practice/ recording space.
But would certainly avoid going digital or completely digital. Something i played about with 20 years ago. And soon got very bored with digital modelling back then.
Over all your video is really useful in reminding many of us about options we do have. Some fairly cheap. Others less so, but perhaps us exploring more, such as attenuation of some form or other.
Good usable Home playing set/ups have more to do with speakers and compression than wattage. Totally different eq needed.
Clean transients are teh debbil
I have a Mesa Boogie Strategy 400 Stereo amplifier.
I haven't got any divorce papers yet, but it does make ALL the windows rattle easily. 😋
Usually when she's not home.
One thing not mentioned about the cab sim setup is that this will sound like a miced cab, which is distinctly different from hearing the cab in the room. While the miced sound is familiar to us from any record ever, it does sound different and how you set up the cab sim will make a huge difference. I like running two different cab sims with different mics to make for a fuller sound, not unlike many real cabs get miced.
When using this setup with headphones, you want to add some room reverb in there so it doesn't sound like you have your head pressed against the speakers.
I just bought a Dumble clone and a attenuator is the next obvious move for a twice divorced man such as I. Thanks Brett
Great video Rhett! My favorite way to play quiet is a JHS Little Black Box in the fx loop. EQ underdriving with a GE-7 or similar also works into the front of the amp (as long as all your dirt is coming from pedals).
That's exactly what I have going on with my 100 watt Marshall and 4x12 cab. As long as I'm using the clean channel and pedals. I have fantastic tone and my amps volume is under control.
If I wanted the (true tube) amp distortion. I would have to go the way of the attenuator.
@@thebigcountry8518 What about just a volume pedal if you wanted the true tube sound? Would that be as good as the attenuator?
EQ pedal in the FX loop. Brilliant!!! Thanks for that.
Thanks, Rhett! I just purchased the 1959HW on your recommendation. 😀
Haven't watched in a while but boy this ones got my eyes glued. Great ideas with the volume and eq pedals and love the speaker in the closet...
Here's what I did: I got a Marshall studio tube head that has a master volume that you can turn it down without changing the tone. It's my best purchase ever. (besides getting my ebony sg out of an out-of-state pawn shop)
For low-volume nighttime playing, I just use a distortion pedal (an MXR prime 69) through the clean channel of my Carvin MTS in 50w mode, and it sounds great. For daytime playing, I just use the Drive channel set at low volumes, which sounds fine for high-gain sounds. I also keep the amp in a closet with a bunch of clothes in a carpeted befroom, which dampens volume considerably, though I do occasionally have to scale back the bass control / boost highs.
I was just thinking about that, one of my neighbours loves to listen to my playing so for him it's not an issue though
I love the Hendrix picture you have there that is sweet. Just had to mention it. Just happen to catch a glimpse of it. Very nice.
All good tips...the one thing that can be replicated is the speakers getting pushed...and to me that’s the most important element.
I use a multi-effect (boss me-80) in the fx loop of my 50 watt Marshall. The multi-effect has a headphone out I use for actual headphones or small commercial speaker and provides me with the sound just before hitting the speaker. I turn master to 0 as even 1 is loud in the middle of the night.
I use a couple of pedals as an input attenuator. It works fine for a little 4w Vox AC4 and a Champ clone. I can crank the amp and get saturated tones but still at volume that won't get me evicted. It's not as good a solution as an Iron Man, but doesn't cost $600. I picked up the trick from Dan and Mick of TPS.
Man! That first lick you play is so hot, there is smoke rising up behind you! 🔥 🔥 🔥
I've never thought about this, so obvious. Thank you.
That was some sick ass tone at the end there. The lick was killer too.
Depending on the amp, you can use something like the HX Stomp or any other device that can load cabinet IRs to run the amp completely silently. Run the amp's effects send into the IR loader and IR loader into whatever speakers or headphones you want to use. It is important to note that you still must have a real speaker plugged in, even though no signal will pass to the speaker, otherwise you will damage your amp. This is a nice solution for some combos, though it does eliminate the power section of the amp completely.
Did anyone else totally dig the tone at 4:12 when the closet was shut ........... Just needed turned up!!!!!!
Had a half stack Marshall in my first apartment, put the cabinet in the bed with the speakers facing down, worked alright 🤷🏼♂️
Just a comment about using the closet isolation approach. In a small closet especially with clothes in it the acoustic is usually not very flattering to the guitar sound. It can sound small and boxy. I'm fortunate to have a small room next to my main studio room that I put my amps in. Even that sounds a bit boxy but if I hang a heavy padded drape immediately behind the mics so the amp is firing into it that cuts the boxiness right down while still allowing some sense of not being in a tiny closet. It really makes a lot of difference to the sound.
The trick is to get the pricey Mesa Boogie California Tweed. Actual tube selection from 2 to 40 tube watts that works great.
lol, and you could buy two of them to run in stereo for the price of the Wonderland Overdrive in this video.
Man! I love your content, your playing and how you present stuff. Huge fan. Some time ago I was using a cheap power attenuator from Harley Benton on my Marshall plexi when rehearsing then stopped using it because... well I like it loud. I have a smaller Marshall DSL at home which gives you the option of switching between 5 watts and 0.5 watt. At 0.5 though the cleans lose in quality way too much. Gonna try that HB attenuator at home, thanks for making me think of that. I also recommend folks to go check it out. It's from Thomann, Chinese built but German engineered. About 70$ that will allow you to keep the cranked tone of your tube amp.
Awesome content and even better tone! Jealous of your amp collection! Keep up the good work!
This is one of the reasons I love the rockerverb mk3 its built in attenuator is a godsend
Thank you for this , Rhett. I tried the Rhandall Isolation Cab as a quiet solution.The problem I had with it was that it was still very loud at "break up" volumes, the wood of the cab would moan and squeal under certain frequencies, and the recording quality would sound "boxy". So I sold it. My Torpedo Captive 8 has two on-board presets: one for guitar and one for bass. I like those two better than anything the "Wall of Sound" software has to offer. The Torpedo is pretty good--BUT--I want to feel a real cab pushing air in the room. The Torpedo's attenuation settings are way too low. So, I am buying the Bugera PS1 attenuator for my Princeton Reverb. Hoping this is the answer cranking the amp without going deaf ;) Peace!
When you're on the edge of breakup ....
I see what you did there... LOL!
Turn it up!
Eminence makes an attenuating speaker that gives you the ability set your amp like you prefer. There is a dial on the back of the speaker to adjust the amount of attenuation. This also eliminates possible cabling mistakes because there’s nothing to plug or unplug.
I have one of these but not crazy about the tone. There’s another, more expensive option of speakers than have an independent control to reduce the magnetic field using an electromagnet, not a fixed one to reduce the SPlL. I haven’t tried this but some session players have found them excellent for taming the volume while retaining their tone.
I did your first method and it worked, thanks 😎
I remember when my kids were in their early teens, I was practicing guitar in the basement. My oldest daughter opened the basement door and yelled down, “Dad, I’m on the phone! Turn it down!”
I've had my volume pedal in my effects loop for years. One of the major benefits (imo) is volume swells that have consistent gain levels. You can get that smooth violin like swell with quite heavy gain simply because the attack is missing and it remains a consistent tone.
The best method is to sell the tube amp and get a boss katana artist mk II. I did and I don't regret it !
I looked at the Tone King Mini, but the Price Wow! Good video! I may try the EQ method.
My old Mesa Boogie Rocket 44 has a nice Silent Rec Out, great idea
I bought the REVV D20 and I'm incredibly pleased with it. I use headphones when my wife and kids are home, and cabinet when they're elsewhere. It's easy to record,, has loads of options on virtual cabinets and takes pedals really well. I agree with Rhett; tube amps along with virtual cabinets is the future
Good video. I bought some cheap cork tiles that I rest the cab on in my bedroom, and I turn the cab a full 180 so the rear is facing me, and the outside wall. You can also use a wireless kit and wander around your property seeing how it sounds to the rest of your family when you play.
Forget about turning it down. I built a sound proof box a bit bigger than my amp, with a hole in it big enough to put my head in. Make the hole a little bit bigger where your ears are or they will get stuck when you try to pull your head out. This system can be adapted for the stage by hauling the box up on a pulley to approximately head height.