Many folks with big valve amplifiers will often find that their tone never sounds so awesome as when they’re cranked really loud. Unfortunately, this can lead to ASBOs, turf wars and anonymous flaming-bag situations (you know what we mean). One solution is to invest in a Power Soak volume attenuator, which goes in between the amp head and the cabinets. These are great, but are often quite expensive, and aren’t so easy to find these days.
Get a Volume Attenuator
Another solution is to place a Volume Attenuator in your effects loop. Volume Attenuators work in the same way as the volume knob on your guitar. When done right, this can be as good a solution as a Power Soak, for a fraction of the cost. The Leech Passive Volume Attenuator is a great way to get this done.
One major point to make is that the Leech Volume Attenuator is strictly for your effects loop. NEVER put a Leech between your amp and speaker cabinet. You’ll destroy your Leech, and could even damage your amp. Put a Leech in your effects loop, right at the end of the effects chain, to give yourself a master volume control: juiced tone at bedroom levels, for less than the price of a round of drinks!
However, we must give you this heads up: this trick doesn’t work with some amps.
You see, there are two different kinds of amp effects loops: parallel and series. There are whole flame wars on forums debating which is better (they’re hilarious. Just so you know, we vote series) but the main difference is that a parallel loop will always allow your original pre-amp tone alongside the tone affected by the pedals in your effects loop. Series effects loops are more straightforward: your tone will go through the pre-amp, out through the loop send, through your effects pedals, then into the power amp via the loop return.
Volume Attenuators can act as a master volume control ONLY with series effects loops. Parallel effects loops won’t work with a Leech as a master volume control. We hate to disappoint, but we’d rather disappoint you than lie to you. Chin up, though – a Leech still makes your tone awesome put in front of the amp! Just check out this video.
Hopefully this has cleared things up!
Ben
Vein-Tap.com
n.b.: This article is to be used as a guide only. If you’d like more specific advice, please Contact Us.
