Hot Plates

[Geraint Jones]

Anyone got one or used something similar to one these . My Marshall 100w 4102 is a little ...erm overpowering to say the least to be used in the confines of my front room . I was thinking of getting a smaller amp but was offered one of these THD Hot plates for £100 although at this point I don`t know what impedance it is to match to my speakers , it could be the answer to my wife`s prayers .

[Andy]

I have the Weber mass lite. great piece of gear!

I prefer it over the hotplates because it has a real speaker driver inside so it reacts like a speaker .
the hot plates convert the energy into heat :confused: and are kinda expensive and limited in use

With the Weber , the amp doesn't care what cabinet you plug into because the amp only see's the Webers internal speaker. So it's very versitile .

Also the Mass lite has seperate controls for low,mid,highs, a bypass ,line out for recording and a range selector.

The big thing to know about attenuators is that they are not really good at taking a powerfull amp at powerfull volume and squash it to bedroom level.
the sound will suffer considerably no matter what brand or type you use.

they work best at kicking a loud stage volume down to a reasonable club level.Thats really the primary purpose.

A pushed speaker does not act like a quiet speaker,(major difference) there's no way around that. Many people are dissapointed when they try to squash alot of power down to such low volume... it "works" but thats almost asking for a miracle ,from my experience.

I'm not trying to disuade anyone from attenuators just adding a little info to take into consideration.

[just strum]

What are hot plates?

Are those the dishes Warren serves his pancakes on?

[Geraint Jones]

Thanks Andy , it certainly seems a waste of an amp and I can`t see me running it up to 11 again , but with the resale value i would probably lose 50% of the what i paid for it in `92 . I dug out a review from legendarytones comparing both weber and thd and there was'nt much to choose between them . On the upside Just Strum , you`ve given me the idea of sticking a frying pan on top of it for a proper cooked breakfast , not pancakes, they`re for once a year only.

[Blaze]

Get huge gain at studio volume!

The THD Hot Plate Attenuator is a power attenuator and noise reducer that lets you attain the incredible sound of your amp running at high output and full distortion but at recording, small club, and neighbor-friendly volumes. It also makes a perfect dummy load.

A power attenuator is simply a device placed between the speaker output and the speaker cabinet. It acts like a huge master volume control and permits the amp to be turned up most or all the way while absorbing most of the power generated by the amplifier and turning this power into heat. It passes a small part of the power to the speaker.

Designed for use strictly with vacuum tube guitar amplifiers, each version of the Hot Plate is optimized for a specific impedance. These inductive loads are frequency-compensated, which means you get the best possible sound for that impedance speaker and amplifier combination. Plus the Hot Plate is no simple power attenuator. It offers many capabilities that make it a great addition to any tone-hungry player's arsenal.

Built-in Noise Reduction

The THD Hot Plate is the only attenuator on the market with built-in noise reduction to reduce the hiss and hum between notes. Its passive, single-ended noise-reduction system provides approximately 10dB of broadband noise reduction without gating or pumping and without affecting the tone of the amp. A by-product of the noise reduction circuit is that it generates light via a front-mounted bulb as you play. The harder you play, the brighter it glows.

Tone Controls

The Hot Plate is also the only attenuator offering a Bright switch and a Deep switch for tailoring your sound. The Bright switch gives you 2 different high-frequency levels so you can compensate for an overly bright or dull speaker cabinet. The Deep switch offers 2 distinct bass settings to help you fill out the bottom end or reduce the bass in a cabinet with too much low end.

Adjustable Line Out

THD Hot Plates also feature a Line Out, which is adjustable by its own volume control, giving it a wide range of applications. At higher settings, it can provide enough signal to drive the input of a separate power amp for slaving. The middle range of settings is useful for most rackmount effects. And turned most of the way down, the Hot Plate's Line Out will drive the instrument input of another guitar amplifier for extra power and volume.

Will it hurt my amp?

The THD Hot Plate will not damage your amplifier. When you play continuously at full output, you cause your tubes to age more quickly than they would at lower volumes. Using a Hot Plate will maintain the life of your tubes at exactly the same rate, no more or less, as when you play straight through the speaker.

Using a Hot Plate will also not hurt your transformer any more than playing through a speaker as long as the impedances are matched (i.e., 8-ohm setting on the amp, 8-ohm speakers, and an 8-ohm attenuator). The Hot Plate puts the same load on the transformer as a speaker (which is why it makes such a good dummy load).

THD Hot Plate Attenuator Features:

* High-fidelity power attenuator
* Designed for use with vacuum tube guitar amplifiers
* Great amplifier dummy load
* Optimized for specific impedances
* Frequency-compensated
* Built-in noise reduction (approx. 10dB)
* Bright switch and Deep switch
* Adjustable line out