The New Tone Thread

  • Thread starter Thread starter Telegram Sam
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Yes I understand all that. Thanks. I'm really curious as to how/why the cabs actual rating doesn't matter to the amp anymore with the Mass in between.
 
I'm guessing it presents 16 ohms of load at its front end by varying how much it adds to the load presented by your cab(s) at its back end. Quite how it does that, I've no idea, so I'm little help here!
 
Ha, maybe? I really don't care how it does what it does, I just want to know how to use it correctly and safely for my amps. The actual sound and functionality of it is pure bad ass. I just don't understand this "always 16 ohms" thing, and their website is basically useless.
 
Greg_L said:
Yes I understand all that. Thanks. I'm really curious as to how/why the cabs actual rating doesn't matter to the amp anymore with the Mass in between.
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Because the attenuator is an L-Pad which creates a constant 16 ohm load. Just Google L-Pad and start reading and it will make more sense to you.
 
ocnor said:
Because the attenuator is an L-Pad which creates a constant 16 ohm load. Just Google L-Pad and start reading and it will make more sense to you.
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Okay I will. I admit total ignorance on this shit.

It just seems odd to me that this little tidbit of info is not mentioned anywhere. It seems that would be a strong selling point. "set your amp to 16 and connect any cab you want!"
 
Greg_L said:
Okay I will. I admit total ignorance on this shit.

It just seems odd to me that this little tidbit of info is not mentioned anywhere. It seems that would be a strong selling point. "set your amp to 16 and connect any cab you want!"
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They probably assume that most people will use a 16 ohm cab so when/if they bypass the attenuator the impedance will remain matched.
 
ocnor said:
They probably assume that most people will use a 16 ohm cab so when/if they bypass the attenuator the impedance will remain matched.
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Maybe so. I'm not worried about the bypass. I do use lots of different cab configurations though. I'm always flipping from 4 to 8 to 16 depending on the situation.

The 8x10 I've been using live is a 4 ohm cab, but I'm definitely rewiring that bitch to 16 ohms now.
 
Greg_L said:
Yes I understand all that. Thanks. I'm really curious as to how/why the cabs actual rating doesn't matter to the amp anymore with the Mass in between.
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Ooops! Sorry Greg, grannies and eggs eh! Without a schematic with values in it, hard to say. But do you mean the impedance "rating" or the power?

If the former I suspect the impedance of the Mass is always at least 25 or 30 Ohms or so and then there will be some resistance in series (to reduce the power) so for a 16R set amp it will be safe no matter what speaker load is connected post Attenuator.

It is moot to point out that guitar amps vary a lot in their actual internal source resistance. The "classic" AC30 with no feed back is about 60Ohms. A big Mother 100W+ WITH negative feedback could be as low as 10R or less. This is I suppose part of the reason why folks say that certain attenuators sound good with certain amps and vice-versa?

Dave.
 
I personally would have a little more high-end bite to the sound, but that's just a personal preference thing...Sounds pretty good actually.....
 
Miner, I'm an expert turd polisher. A turd will only take so much polish though.

Got another intro track down too, a slow mellow one so I have plenty to fuck about with next weekend when Mrs is away. She's teaching me to read music at the moment.

Excuse the dodgy ad lib solo, I just selected neck pic up at the end of the loud bit and tried to play country.
 
Like I said dude, it ain't bad....And this thread has never been about the playing/performance, just the tone....

I can't read music myself dude, so if you learn how, you're one up on me....
 
Yeah, I've never been that concerned with learning to read music but there's a hell of a lot more info in sheet music than tab.
 
I've never really tried to learn to read, plus with all the resources available today (wish we'd had all this when I was a kid btw), to me, it's not a big deal....
 
It's not a big deal to me either actually. But looking over her shoulder when she plays the flute I'll pick up a thing or two
 
Greg_L said:
The bottom line for me is that I'm fine with leaving my amps at 16 with any cab if that's how the Mass works. I actually prefer that. That would be awesome. I just need to know for sure that's the way to do it, or do I just match head and cabs like usual.
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I'm doing the same with a couple of amps....using them at their 16 ohm taps with 16 Ohm speakers...even thought their "normal" load is 8 Ohms. Sometimes I've used a 16 Ohm speaker on an 8 ohm amp if there was no separate 16 Ohm tap.

Doing that knocks down the output wattage a bit, and it also, IMO, makes the amp sound a touch creamier, softening up some of their hardness/punch....which is mainly when I'm looking to crank up the volume close to dimed for a more crunchier tone.
 
Sure....but it's pretty much a benign mismatch. It won't hurt most decent tube amps.
It's like 2 X amp load or 2 / amp load....so for 8 Ohm amps, you can use a 16 or 4 Ohm speaker/cab, though the 16 will put less strain on the OT.

I don't do the 2 / amp load....just never had a need to, but I've used 16 Ohm speakers/cabs with 8 Ohm taps often, and never had any issues.
Like I said...you get some output drop, and you get a more creamier/squishier crunch...which is what I want sometimes. :)
With the 4...you push the amp harder, and actually get some additional output level.
 
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I never do it myself, but I've read that a one step mismatch is no big deal. That JD Simo guy intentionally does it with his actual vintage Plexis as part of his sound.
 
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