#174213  by Slewfoot2000
 
So of all the (too many) pieces of gear I've gotten in the past year, this one is probably the most consequential and effective.

I scored a vintage Twin Reverb in good condition for a good price so had to go for it. Of course, it's friggin loud. Even with the volume on 2 - 3 it can still be super loud depending what one is playing. Often times the peaks can be harsh. Natural tube breakup? Forget about that while playing at home!

But with this Attenuator you can do just that. When I set it to Bedroom level and have the right hand knob set mid-way I get the volume on the amp up to 8-ish allowing for that killer tube overdrive. Neil Young and Jeff Tweedy type tones comes through easily.

One thing that was a pleasant surprise was how it affects the Reverb on the amp. It seems to tighten it up and provide more focus. I now always keep the setting at 1 to get a little bit more of that clarity to the tone.

Really great and well worth picking one up.

Anyone else use something similar?

https://drzamps.com/product/z-air-brake/

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 #174326  by Chocol8
 
I have tried a bunch of attenuators and other techniques with varying success. Ultimately, I like how my twins sound cranked up and some volume reduction is needed, even if it changes the sound a bit. Most attenuators kill off some highs, but we often have enough to spare a little with a Twin Reverb.

That said, the best solution I have found is to use a Suhr Reactive Load, and feed that into a MosValve (or other power amp) and back to the twin's speakers and or external cabs. It works great "out of the box" but since the Suhr is 8 ohms and the Twin is optimal into 4 ohms, I pull the outer power tubes and then the impedance matches and I save the tube wear.

I actually like this setup into external E120 and K120 cabs for the Jerry thing better than the way Jerry did it with the pre-amp out to the big Mac. You get the power section influence from the Twin which I feel smoothes things out a bit and adds some color for lack of a better description.