Attenuator
A device placed between a valve amplifier and its speaker, absorbing output power so the amp can be driven hard while the speaker stays quiet.
The point is that the tone of a valve output section only arrives when it is pushed, and the only way to get there with a big amp is to play louder than a house or a small club will accept. An attenuator converts most of that power into heat and passes a fraction on. Simple resistive units are cheap but change the feel and top end as level drops; reactive designs model the speaker's impedance so the amp behaves closer to normal.
Example: a 50-watt head at full tilt into an attenuator can be recorded at conversation volume, keeping the output-valve compression without the noise.
See also
Related
- PagePower amp
- PageValve
- PageAmp in a box
- PageAmp stand
- PageBias
- PageAaron Dessner
- PageAce Frehley
- PageAd-Rock