Attenuator Shootout - Weber Mass vs Badcat Unleash vs THD Hotplate
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- Опубліковано 26 вер 2024
- - DISCLAIMER & Skip/Jump Times ---
- I am lousy at guitar...I am trying to capture tonal differences not my playing
- I am not great an micing/audio capture
- This is not the EQ I use
- Headphones are a must since differences can be subtle
- Badcat Unleash isn't "suppose" to go to 2 ohm cab and need the z matcher to "see" 8 ohms from the Super
- Better results can be achieved by tuning the amp EQ and/or attenuator settings to the desired tone
- All of them are great and each has its strengths
- You will be happy with any of them
- Zima hasn't been made since the 90s and it scoops mids
Intro + Zima
Clean 1:34
Dirty 3:54
speaker motor vs solid state reamper vs resistor based
Mic'd speakers are as follows:
Sennheiser mk4 - Eminence Lil Buddy
Shure SM57 - vintage Jensen c10n
1964 Fender Super Reverb
2013 Gibson Les Paul Traditional
ECP Hallowed Ground Set
raw non-youtube'd audio
/ attenuator-shootout-ra...
"Shoot out thats been long awaited by no one" I laughed at this pretty hard. This video is oddly specific in that it is exactly what I was looking for, same amp and looking to compare attenuators. I didn't expect it all to be in one video. Thanks for posting
Thanks...wish I could take another stab at this but kept the Weber and ppim on everything else. Now a Weber vs PPIMV could be cool...stay tuned!
same. this is exactly what I was looking for
Thanks for the comparison.
To quickly toggle to hear the differences -- Dirty Bridge:
* Weber MASS: 4:03
* THD Hot Plate: 4:45
* Bad Cat Unleashed: 5:40
Ya know what is really great about this demo? There is an actually db meter in it!! How is it possible for the viewer to see how much the volume drops and its effect on tone without one, I ask all of the other demonstrators?
Thank-you LP. Thank-you
Thanks for making this video. I got a Weber Micro Mass but wanted to get a Gibson branded THD Hot Plate to match my Gibson GA5 Les Paul Junior amp but didn't want to pull the trigger without hearing it first. This helps.
Dude, your opening line killed the internet 😆 Zima!
Bless you man, you are honest, demo video professional, usually around youtube people demo with high gain and so forth. Keep it up man ! Thank you for the video man :)
I've got that amp! Love your sense of humor, dude. They all sound about the same, clean. The Bad Cat was 1st on dirty; followed by the Weber, then the Hot Plate. However, I run a Keeley El Rey Dorado into a Boss CS-3 and a 2 ohm Hot Plate, with VIbrato Channel amp volume on SEVEN, with El Rey on or off ... sounds fabulous! Thanks for this post ... darn good job! But dude. You need to be playing a Stratocaster. Send that Les Paul to my house and I'll keep download some of my licks into it for you -- but it will take a while ...
Haha you forgot to give me your address and I have the LP all boxed up. Thanks for the kind words.
Good demo. I learned that they are all pretty good...
I am having a Zima box custom-made so I can replicate this tone.
Be sure to get a pre 2008 box, the reissue boxes from 2017 aren't the same at all.
@@jvanb231 No lie, the label is digitally printed on the reissue where on the original it’s stamped.
Thanks for the comparison..job well done. Really helped make a decision between THD and the Weber.
JB P cfbvnf
Which one did you get?
To me the THD sounded brighter, don't know if that's good or bad
Another great demo! Thank you
Another alternative is the THD Yellow jackets Doesn't put a blanket on the tone Great demo
Please note the disclaimer...can't do unattenuated as I live in an apartment
Good job, cool vid - thanks for sharing bruh!
Thank you! I've been looking for an attenuator for my son's Super Reverb and I haven't seen any for 2 ohms! Now I three to choose from.
Great demo, thank you.
Wow, this is pretty cool, a test of attenuators from someone who actually knows how to use them. All the other ones I've seen go for the exact same tone but lower, also they use master volume amps (and don't try to get more power amp distortion by raising the master either).
I suggest minimising the lag time between the attenuators...hard to tell doing it this way...I didn't hear much difference
Thanks
This is hilarious. Cheers
Interesting just how different they sound in the treble frequencies; the Weber is noticeably darker. I suppose one could compensate for this with EQ.
Nice demo. I own the unleash and I've noticed a treble loss using it with my low wattage amps. Have you noticed the same? Is the trimm the key to adjust the transparency and the treble loss?
Thank you
+xisco nexus Trim helps and trim at 100% will be brighter but I do find some loss which needs to be eq'd in but I didnt find it to be that bad. I just had my BC repaired and replaced with V2 guts so watch for that demo.
xisco nexus you can clearly hear that trouble loss on the bad cat compared to the others in this video
Treble loss is what it will sound like I think in real life... with the speakers overdriven....
I wanted this one. Thanks!
Also - was...was that a Zima box???
Hell yeah... nothing says tonez like crushing Zima
@@nycLPplayer well, I got the Bad Cat. Thanks for the demo
Could you explain how you connect the super reverb, z-match, and bad cat? I have the super and the bad cat but can’t use them together because the super is 2 ohms and the bad cat only has 4, 8, & 16 ohm options. Looks like the z-match would solve the problem but i’m not sure how you connect them?
Check out Weber's web page but essentially you set the z matcher to accept a 2 ohm signal and send out an 8 to the badcat. Both the amp and the bad cat will be happy.
I really hope that box stand was empty. A filled box stand is proven to lessen the reverb.
hi, great work,
in your opinion of these attenuators which is the best.
I need one and it would be helpful a rating of you. mitigate the amplifier is a (100 HIWATT custom) and JCM800. Thank you.
+Jorge Moreu The Unleash can do it all and there is a better version about to come out so either get a Black box used one or wait for the new one.
thank you very much the truth is that I bought the new "badcat" and I am very pleased thank you for your interest and your videos have been helpful.
can all of these attenuators reach bedroom levels, to a point where you can still kind of hear the strings in the room? Specifically the Weber, I’m thinking of getting a Weber mass.
Yes but tonally you likely will not like it. At the end of the day speakers need to move to produce a rich sound. I only go down to moderately loud tv volume and anything beyond there a Amplug or Amplitube on the comp is a better option.
Hey man, this is a great comparison! Haven't seen any videos like this with a db meter, which is pretty weird considering what is being compared lol, but i have one question. I'm pretty new to gear and i'm looking to Buy a 65 super reverb and an attenuator as my first "real amp", but i don't know how to connect the attenuator to the amp, could you please tell me how you did It?
It needs to have a 2ohm setting. You will need an extra guitar speaker cable (not instrument) that comes from the amp to the attenuator and then use the existing speaker connector to the out of the attenuator.
@@nycLPplayer Oh i see! Thank you, would the tone king Ironman ii 30 watts work with this amp?
What is that rattlesnake pedal on top of the Weber Mass? That thing looks awesome! Is there a link you can give me for more information on that? Thanks.
I made it. I have another video about Sir Hiss. I've thought of selling them as 2 button footswitches but it takes a fair amount of time so the price would be too high for most.
Very nice! You did an awesome job on that.
+Schaf77 Thanks...here is the close up
ua-cam.com/video/uFJzhdTjFXg/v-deo.html
+NYC LP Player would you mind sending me some close up pictures of the Sir Hiss pedal? I would appreciate it.
Sorry but I might want to sell these one day though given the time it takes to make one they would be expensive. If you have a good drill and plan ahead with wiring you should be able to figure it out.
Thanks for sharing would you give a Weber a go..like to have one..amps from 1 -36 Watt, want bed room full sound w/o annoying neighbours?
It is about as good as it gets. You can get super quiet but at those levels nothing sounds great. Works for an apartment with a 40w amp.
@@nycLPplayer thank you! Gives me some hope..:-)
What's that snake pedal???
Homemade garden statue turned into a pedal.... thought about selling them but it would be insanely expensive due to time it takes
@@nycLPplayer It's a very clever idea! I can only imagine how much attention it gets on a stage! It's really cool!
Hi, I've found a number of demos of your to be very useful. I hope you'll be willing to answer my questions...I had an Unleash v2 that I was trying to use with either a Mojotone JTM 45 clone or a '68 silverface Bassman...In both cases, even with the input trim set at the bare minimum, I found that the Unleash added a sort of fuzzy/fizzy distortion over the top of my cranked up signal. I tried numerous settings (e.g., turning the bass on the amp to 0). Nonetheless, I couldn't eliminate it. The guys at Bad Cat even checked it out for free for me and it came back with a clean bill of health. In comparison, when removing the Bad Cat from the chain, I can turn up the JTM45 to 6 on the high treble channel and it maintains a clean sound...you can only get a "crunch" (think AC/DC on "TNT") sound out of it (with humbuckers even!) when you get to about 8 on the volume! Sounds GREAT, I wish I could use it! Too bad it's like 1/2 Hendrix at Woodstock volume! The speaker cab has two 12" Eminence speakers (The Wizard plus a Cannabis Rex), and there are no problems with them. Did you ever have this problem? I notice below you talk about having the trim at "100%"...I thought you were supposed to keep it as low as possible. Perhaps this was the issue? Thanks!
UA-cam cut off over half my comment. The sentence should finish..."added a sort of fizzy/fuzzy distortion over my signal." Anyway, if I hear from you I'll add on to my comments. Thanks!
Yeah I will say the Badcat is susceptible to some fizzyness if heavily driven and low volumes. I think they all have trouble interpreting breakup when the volume is too low but the BC does seem have occasions where the note degrades with a bit of fizz at the end.
Hi, thanks for the reply. My problem in this was that I got the fizzy breakup EVEN WHEN (not yelling, just don't have italics as an option!) the amp was set CLEAN.
So, for example, the JTM 45 at vol 5 on the high treble channel through my speaker cab is a pretty clean sound, just loud! But through the Unleash, it was dirty/fizzy. The guys at Bad Cat even checked the unit out for free for me and gave it a clean bill of health.
One things to be sure of is if there is noises thta exist when not using the badcat as you may not hear them until you turn up the am and the BC will try to reproduce them. In the end I prefer to not go from tube to digital signal. PPIMV is my fav method followed by the Weber. PPIMV dont work well with everything though.
So what’s the general verdict from everyone’s opinion. I need to bring volume down on my 100watt head but most units are too pricy. Does the Weber work ? Seems to be the cheapest.
For clean Fender amps I like the Weber. For Marshall I ended going ppimv mod. Sold my Blackcat after they updated it during a repair due to tonal change but it is versatile.
@@nycLPplayer no idea what that mod is. I have a dsl 100 but I’ll do some research to see if it does what I need. Thx
@@TheZakkmylde Looks like it isnt possible on that model
www.marshallforum.com/threads/ppimv-in-dsl-tsl.43356/
weber for me especially dirty
They still make Zima!
+Michael Riley not since the 90s
According to Wikipedia: " Its production in the United States ceased in October 2008, but it is still marketed in Japan."
@@nycLPplayer Do you know if they will ever reissue the Zima Box?!?
@@gcensing6351 They probably will but you need to get an original from the "good wood" era otherwise the tone is off
@@nycLPplayer Blast!!
I use a box modeler, everyone’s doing it so wtf
I get that you're sending 8 Ohms to go to the Badcat Unleash from the Z matcher, but how are you sending the Badcat Unlease to the Super Reverb speakers? Isn't the Badcat supposed to be for only 4, 8, or 16 Ohms? And the super reverb's speakers are 2 Ohms?
couple wire changes and you have series parallel www.eminence.com/support/wiring-diagrams/
@@nycLPplayer Just saw this, thanks!
@@nycLPplayer Do you change the wires when you switch from using the Badcat to just using the amp normally?
@@PsychedelicSocialist yes only changed to make the badcat work but should not alter sound as the amp, BC, and speakers all see the ohms they want.
@@nycLPplayer Do you change them back to normal when normally playing? How long does it take? Any soldering involved?
If you have an unleash go down on you, bad cat will not sell you parts or schematics. You're sol. Never again.
Quale suona in che ordine .un vero peccato!
How the fuck did I end up in this corner of UA-cam? Nevertheless, I appreciate the video! Very little info on these guys around.
This was a really great demo. I live in NYC apartment, and cant even put my Princeton past 2. I'd like to have volume on 3.5 = too loud. I am currently looking at either the: Fryette PS-2 or the Two Notes Captor units? Any input? Also How to you connect with such a Short Cable coming-out of the Fender Amp? Stay Safe.
Heard the Fryette is great but no personal experience and I believe it is costly. Super Reverb has enough speaker cable length. For a shorter one consider a two sided female 1/4 coupler and get a proper speaker cable at a length that works for you. I make my own with mogami speaker wire. I also make my own guitar cables.
Clean on neck dirty on bridge? Where's the gain from?
Lance Thompson the amp. Notice the volume is turned up on the dirty demos
Hi I noticed that you had your vol on 8. What is the watt of your amp? I have a 100 watt Twin Reverb and I just bought a Weber mass 100 they told me that 8 vol was to high for the Weber to take. But I like the way your amp sounded on the video. Do you think 8 vol on a Twin is too much-I don't want to fry my amp.
Darcy
definitely....they say to have at double the max wattage...weber can probably make you a 200w
john tyler remember than an amp that is rated for a hundred watts is 100 watts of clean power if you r cranking it into Distortion it's putting out more wattage than that with distortion so 100 watt attenuator probably isn't great for a hundred watt amp need to go up in the 150 to 200 watt zone for a hundred watt amp to be really safe with it cuz if you ran 100 watt amp and kick it into the lot of distortion it's probably putting out closer to 120 watts
At the end of the day, which one is the best attenuator for a BFSR
Weber for tone....BadCat if you need more than 40w
I have the badcat unleash. I have a tone king amp with the ironman attenuator. I always want a solo boost so its helps that the badcat has an effects loop that comes after the power tubes. But it just doesnt feel as good as the attenuator but I cant explain why at all
That being said I still use the bad cat. I can roll back my volume and switch to channel two and have a louder solo.