What is an attenuator

Tube amps, especially without “Master Volume” with wattage from 30 – 100 watts are very loud. And in a lot of cases too loud for home use or with gigs at smaller venues. Here comes the attenuator with its help. But what is an attenuator?

An attenuator for guitar amps is a device that reduces the volume of your amp (almost) without affecting tone.

Too much headroom

The above-mentioned amps may stay clean at higher volumes, while you probably like them to get a nice edge on the tone.
If you’d like to know more about headroom, please read our special about tube amps vs solid state guitar amps. [link toevoegen].

When you need more of an edge to your sound, the attenuator must be placed between the power amp and the speaker. With the attenuator you can turn up the volume and get that nice edgy sound.

Multi function Two Notes Torpedo Captor used as digital attenuator, but speaker simulator and DI as well.

Thanks to Remco Becker and Richard Hallebeek.

How it works:

Attenuators divert a portion of the amp’s power, dissipating it as heat or mechanical energy, rather than sending it to the speaker. This effectively lowers the volume without changing the amp’s overall sound.

By using an attenuator, you can experience the amp’s full tone and dynamics at reduced volumes, making it easier to play at home without disturbing neighbors or causing excessive noise

Types:

Some attenuators are passive (using resistors to dissipate power), while others are active (using electronics to control the signal and power levels).

Passive ones: Just resistors or reactive loads; simple, reliable, but tone might suffer a bit at extreme settings
Active models: More complex, mimicking the dynamic load of a speaker, often more transparent and better sounding
Load Boxes with DI: These can replace your speaker entirely and send the amp’s signal to recording gear, PA systems, or IR loaders

Dr. Z Airbrake is a well known analog attenuator. Originally developed by Ken Fisher, who cooperated with Mike Zaite from Dr. Z.
Ken Fischer (1945–2006) was a renowned American amplifier designer and the founder of Trainwreck guitar amps.
A boutique amplifier company based in Colonia, New Jersey. He is celebrated for crafting some of the most exclusive guitar amplifiers in history. These amps (70 to < 100 amps made) may cost up to $ 100,000 and maybe more.

Cons.:

As said before, an attenuator won’t cause too much loss of sound, because the attenuator ensures that less signal is sent through the speaker.
Some of the overall tone comes from the speaker being driven.
When it is driven less, the tone of the speaker will change slightly.

Attenuator vs master volume

This is an often-heard tone debate! We will show you a breakdown between the 2. But first let me tell you more about the Master Volume on a guitar amp.

Master volume vs Gain

In a tube guitar amp with a master volume (MV), the master volume knob controls the overall volume of the amplifier.
The MV is situated after the preamp and before the power amp tubes.
This allows the player to overdrive the preamp for a desired tone without necessarily needing to turn up the overall volume to high levels.

Gain knob

The “gain” knob on the guitar amp generally controls the preamp section. The MV controls the power amp and thus the “overall” volume.

Built in device:

The MV always has been built in to the guitar amp, while an attenuator is an external device.

Attenuator or Master Volume

It’s always to your preferences whether you like to use an attenuator or not. Even when you have a master volume provided guitar amp, you might be interested in having an attenuator as well.
Checking upon a lot of guitar players, you will see the use of an attenuator more with people playing non MV amps.
Think of a Fender Twin Reverb Amp, a Dr. Z Stang Ray or many other amps for instance.

Not the same

Master volume and attenuator both are totally different devices. Both work in a different way.

Attenuators aren’t cheap

While master volume is in your guitar amp, it’s there at no extra cost.
Attenuators are mostly expensive and cost at least ca. $100 – 200 and not infrequently much more.

Verdict

Although there are several ways to lower the volume of your guitar amp, an attenuator is one of the options. And it’s probably the best option without losing too much of your tone.

Not every guitar shop will have some different models in stock. When you decide to look for an attenuator, you’d better check the internet for reviews etc.

The cheapest and easiest way to improve your guitar sound

Of course you may want to improve your guitar sound with a lot of different devices. But in most cases this will cost a lot of money. And what sounds great at home, may not work properly on stage with a lot of noise from other instruments etc.

But it is always fun to buy pedals, new amps and anything related to improve your guitar sound.

The cheapest way to improve your playing and sound is to try different guitar picks.
When you started playing guitar, your guitar store may have advised you to start with a thin pick.

But which guitar pick will be the best for beginners?
Unfortunately thin picks do sound thin and will bend a lot, unless you will use thicker guitar picks.
When picks bend, there is a delay in your attack/tone and because they’re thin they may sound sloppy.

So why not try a thicker pick with beveled edges, which allow you to glide on- and off the strings very easily.
Both your playing style and sound will be improved and your picking is more precisely.

More about picks in particular

Check the different picks we have.

What others say about ChickenPicks guitar picks

Musikhaus Thomann
Chicago Music Exchange
Guitarpickreviews.com
Anatomy of guitar tone

Guitar essentials:

In guitar essentials we write about interesting things every guitarist should know a bit of, especially when you’re new to (electric) guitar.
We definitely don’t dig deep into theories or technical aspects.
You will find many scientific documents about anything somewhere on the internet.

About the author

Hi, my name is Eppo Franken and I started to make my own picks in the mid ’80’s.
In 2010 my wife Jolanda and I started ChickenPicks guitar picks, because we’d like to see if others would enjoy them as well.

I play guitar since 1980 and my favorite style is country chicken picking and some kinds of rockabilly and americana.
Send us an e-mail and let’s talk about guitar tone and picks

Would you prefer a tube amp over a solid state guitar amp?

What is an attenuator