Comments on: DIY Low Wattage Attenuator Box

By: evil-chupacabra

evil-chupacabra — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 13:58:16 +0000

nice article and really great work !!!
but what about the amps outputs ?
i’m using an 8 ohm cabinet. do i have to use
the amps 16 ohm output if i switch the attentuator
between amp and cabinet ?

8 ohm (cabinet) + 8 ohm (attentuator) = 16 ohm (“dummy” cabinet)

is it like this ?
i would be pleased if you could give me an advice.
thanks a lot and have a nice day!
evil-chupacabra

By: Huddatunkit

Huddatunkit — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 00:58:52 +0000

I’m not sure if this device can be classified as an attenuator. It’s more of a “master volume”, which can result in damage to your valve amp. (It’s like turning the water all the way on and pinching the end of the garden hose… something’s gotta give.

An attenuator, on the other hand, has circuits that “consume” or “eats” the output of the amp without restricting it’s performance. Sometimes attenuators use lamps to consume the output and will often have some sort of heat sink to cool the attenuator down. The more you attenuate, the more of the output it consumes resulting in a lower volume.

Thought you might like to know.

By: James

James — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:47:53 +0000

I like this design, but is there somewhere I can order a 16-ohm fader to use with my 16-ohm amp?

By: JJ

JJ — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 17:36:32 +0000

Haven’t tried one of these yet, but I did some research and if you are in the US you can get most of these parts from PartsExpress.com .

I put the equivalent searches on their site for the items you need:

•1 x 50 watt RMS Fader Mono – Search for “L-Pad”
•2 x 6.5mm Mono Chassis Socket – Search “1/4″ Mono Jack”
•1 x DPDT Miniature Toggle Switch – Search “Toggle Switch”
•1 x Sealed Diecast Aluminum Enclosure – Search “Diecast Case”

By: Matt

Matt — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:32:25 +0000

Great walk-through on the build. Where would that capacitor go, if you were trying to counteract the tone suck & how much of capacitor would it really need?

By: Classic30Rupe

Classic30Rupe — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 12:12:35 +0000

Hi Dave,

I recently stumbled on this post after looking around for exactly this and decided to make this Volume Box!
But my problem (other than knowing buggery all about electronics beyond how to solder a to b) is that i turn the attenuation down (more attenuation) and after about a 5mm turn it goes from really loud to quiet and high gain trebly in a instant, there is no in between at this point, is there something i may have done wrong? or something wrong with my l-pad?

Rupert

By: Greg

Greg — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:04:14 +0000

David,

Thanks for the info.

There is much dsicussion on the web of power attenuators “smoking” the output transformer or the output tubes.

How has this L-pad performed?

I am looking to use it on a 5watt class A Epiphone VJnr as well as a 15watt Super Champ XD.

Any views?

Thanks

Greg

By: dave

dave — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 03:05:42 +0000

Does this effect the amp? what about 4, 8 or 16 ohms?
does this matter ?

dave

By: DIY Low Wattage Attenuator Box | Phatus Geek

DIY Low Wattage Attenuator Box | Phatus Geek — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 20:37:22 +0000

[...] Found this cool how-to at Make today on creating your own Low Wattage Attenuator Box on the cheap (around $40). Use this box when you would like to boost your input signal on lower wattage amps without distorting your waveform giving you an extra punch. Link to project site… [...]

By: Mark Foster’s Blog » Blog Archive » DIY: Attenuator Box for your amp

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 18:31:44 +0000

[...] more about making a DIY: Attenuator Box for your amp Read more | Permalink | Comments | Read more articles in Music | Digg [...]