Scored one of these at a musician's swap meet I attend in Nashville last weekend. The vendor wanted $50 for it, but traded for a couple of cabs I had- we both got something we wanted. Lots of folks looked at it, and I was quite suprised it was still there when we made our swap- turns out it's only good for up to about 50 watts, which is why it was still on his table at about 2 pm. Lucky me.
In the last few years, I have found myself going to smaller and smaller amplifiers, in an attempt to have the tone I seek while not blasting everyone around out of the room. That quest had brought me through (not exactly in chronological order, but rather in approximate decreasing power):
Fender Twin Reverb (later, 135-watt version),
Gallien Kruger 200G- 100 watts,
GK 250ML, 100 watts,
Fender Pro Reverb- 60 watts
Ampeg VT-40- 40 watts
Peavey Classic 30 and a Delta Blues 210- both 30 watts,
Fender Deluxe Reverb- 20 watts,
Peavey Bravo 112- also 20 watts,
Fender Super Champ XD- 15 watts,
Fender Vibro Champ- 6 watts (borrowed from a friend)
Alamo Challenger 6 watts (borrowed from same friend)
Pignose 100- who knows? 5 watts?
Monkey-Wards Model 6000- 3 watts.
It wasn't until I got to 15 watts and under that I had any success in my dual goal of good tube tone and reasonable volume. I had heard a lot about attenuators, and was glad to have the chance to get one without a big outlay of cash (I had very little invested in the cabs...)
If you have never used an attenuator, imagine this- you know how a car sounds so much better when the motor is really working hard? You only get that sweet sound when you are either flying at zero altitude, which gets you a hefty speeding ticket, sooner or later, or when pulling a trailer. An attenuator is the amplifier equivelant of that trailer behind your Boss 302 Mustang- it makes the "vehicle" work harder, and a by-product is that sweet tone.
This is really the grand-daddy of all attenuators. No, really- it was the first commercially-available attenuator made, and they date back to the 70's. The Marshall Power Brake, with it's silly psudo-rack mount look (
http://guitargeek.com/gearview/879/), and the THD Hot Plate, with it's California-Cutesy purple case (
http://guitargeek.com/gearview/1072/) are both reportedly based on the PW-5. In comparison, the Altair looks like an escapee from a radio control room. I kinda like it's "honest" look- but if I had one of the others, who's to say I wouldn't prefer that look? It is built like the proverbial tank- you could use it if the tour bus had a flat on a hill and you needed to chock the wheel so the bus would not roll off the jack. It really appears to be that robust- the all-metal case is made of some very thick stuff. Attenuators do their work by producing heat, which MUST be dissapated- this one does so passively, with lots of ambient air flow through the multitude of holes in it's cover. It has a true by-pass switch, which takes the whole thing out of the circuit, and a HUGE attenuator knob, with 11 detents, each one reducing the power that goes to the speaker (by about 50%, I suspect.) It has a single 1/4-inch input jack and two output jacks, and a line output with a 3-way pad switch, with 0, -15 and -30 settings- very neat feature.
In use, this is a good device to have. Using it with the SCXD and the Deluxe Reverb, I can "dime" the volume control on the amp and select the volume level I want with the PW5's attenuator knob. With these two amps, the upper 6 or 7 settings are useless- way too much attenuation, which results in a overly-compressed sound, devoid of almost all highs, but the first 5 or so settings gives me that power-tube "growl" that gets attention- but now with tone instead of volume. I find that the volume controls at every other point in the signal- guitar, pre-amp gain, power-amp volume- are not as touchy when the PW5 is standin' on the brakes. I have had mixed results with master volumes, either ones built into an amp, or the add-on's that plug into the effects loop (one of those recently reviewed here on Homerecording.com)- they do reduce the volume (well, DUH!) but don't make the power tubes really work for a living- only an attenuator (or a stack of speakers) can do that. Thus, I prefer a true attenuator, like this PW5. Still, there is no free lunch- heavy attenuation will degrade the signal, so it's best to use a low setting, and tube life is no doubt reduced- you are working your power tubes harder, so of course they will not last as long.
Rarely do I get hooked in by a new piece of gear the first time I use it, but this is one of those rare times. Perhaps the best use of this, or any true attenuator, is if you are not sure how much power you will need at a gig or rehersal- bring too small an amp, you will struggle to be heard, bring too big an amp bring an amp and you never get into the amp's sweet spot. Bring a bigger amp and an attenuator, and be ready for any contingency. I will probably bring this one, and my Deluxe, to my too-big guitar group rehersal this week, but after that I will probably bring the SCXD or my buddy's Vibro Champ, simply because they weigh so much less. (Last night, I almost rigged up an RCA-to-quarter inch cord to try it with the VC, but decided that would just be silly. Yeah, like I've never done anything like that...)
Should EVERYBODY have one of these? Well, no. If you have a low-power amp you are happy with, attenuating it would be silly. The occasional amp (Fender's Deluxe Recording, for instance) has one built in, thus no need for an out-board attenuator. But they do work better then low-level devices (master volume, effects-loop add-on), and, used with some restraint, can help your amp deliver the tone you bought it for, in the first place, at a volume that does not have everybody saying "WHAT DID YOU SAY? I CAN'T HEAR YOU FOR THE RINGING IN MY EARS!!"
Linear Mode
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