Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Wim,
The minimass is very simple- it has a knob to dial in the attenuation, it has a bypass swith and it has an Ohmage selector switch (4,8,16). The cost of attenuators seems to soar once they get up to 100 watts, so if you don't need that power it's cheaper to buy a smaller unit.

The minimass is built like a rock, and is quite heavy due to the speaker coil inside. The few other attenuators I've seen (hotplate etc)are also very solid units.

A lot of the other, more expensive, attenuators (including the Mass) also have an EQ circuit to tweak the sound. I'm sure that would be great, but I really didn't want to stuff around with even more EQ settings (I have a boogie remember!).

I just wanted something that I could plug in and turn down. I now keep my master volume on 7, which gives me just a hint of dirt in the clean channel, and warms the amp up no end. It's up there with the GuitarPort for being the best 100 bucks I've ever spent on gear.

btw, check for the ability to switch ohmages. Some of the other ones I was looking at were fixed- if you had a 4ohm speaker output, you need to by a 4ohm unit. If you bought an amp with a different ohmage, or had several amps, you could be up for a new attenuator.

Cheers,
Matt

Matt: Any absolutely excellent point about the ohm ratings. The THD is indeed fixed and depending on the number of amplifiers you use, it may not be user firendly. Along with the cost, a good reason to consider the minimass.

The ohm rating of the deville is 8 Ohm.
I have one question left: can a 50 watt rated attenuator handle 60 watts of Deville power or would it be safer to get a 100 Watt device?

Peter: the hotplate does look better! It's kind of strange but the looks alone give it a more 'professional' or 'reliable' touch.

Here is a pretty cool looking hotplate that should handle lots of power:

Wim,
I only use my 50w attenuator with a 60 watt Boogie amp. I figure that as long as I'm not maximally attenuating a totally dimed amp, I should be OK. Also, boogie output transformers are meant to be pretty solid.

You should probably defer to a more tech minded person, but I figure you'll be OK.