Guitar Power Attenuators

The electric guitar is a versatile instrument that can produce a variety of different sounds and effects, depending on the equipment to which it's connected. For some players, an amplifier on its own provides all of the necessary tones. However, if you are a fan of more advanced techniques and meatier sounds with heavy distortion, the guitar power attenuator becomes an important component in your setup. For many guitarists, especially in heavier styles of music, the power attenuator goes hand-in-hand with the amplifier. Placed between the amp and the speaker, the attenuator's role is to dissipate and divert excess power from the amplifier to moderate the volume of the speaker. An attenuator can function as a convenient volume dial, but its true benefit is to enhance the quality and variety of sounds that your system can handle. As anyone with a valve amplifier can attest, tubes are loud. When you turn up that half stack, it's going to put out some uncomfortably high volume levels. You could turn down the master volume—but on many amps, that's going to take away the bright cap and bring you down to a thin, meager sound. This is where the guitar power attenuator comes in, allowing you to keep your amplifier turned up to the volume where it sounds the best and adjusting the speaker volume independently. If you want to keep your hearing after hours of practices and jam sessions, the attenuator makes perfect sense. To beef up your guitar's distortion, you might run the output of your tube amplifier through an overdrive. With a direct connection to the speakers, this can produce outrageous volumes that will not only make your ears bleed, but will completely drown out everyone else in the band. The guitar power attenuator makes it possible to adjust your output volume without having to sacrifice that sweet, sweet distortion. Whether you use it to tame your tube amplifier, crank up the distortion or just as a simple volume control, a guitar power attenuator is a useful piece of equipment that gives you one more way to fine-tune your sound. An attenuator is something that no tube amplifier owner should be without.