Get a fucking Hotplate!

Yeah, it's quite a variable. But "just above painful when standing in front of the cab" is already "very much above what some people's neighbours/family members will tolerate". ;)

Haha, yeah, the perks of living in one of 5 apartments in a house all stuffed with college kids; they're used to it! :D (and re-amping helps as well, naturally) Also, I put the cab up on my coffee table to both minimize reflections from the floor and further decouple it bass-wise
 
My thd hotplate (set at high reduction) If you reduce by -8 db it sounds great, it sounds more real. if you reduce more and it's so honky, I hate the bright and deep buttons.
Great tool but you gotta tweak the amp settings a lot to get it sound as good as without hotplate.
 
It's funny that the OP is enjoying it a lot to me! I was always under the impression that the hotplates worked best with amps that didn't rely on a lot of preamp gain like old Marshalls! I guess it's a matter of realizing that they will not sound spectacular (in my opinion) at whisper volumes, but will help in club environments, etc. The Ultimate Attenuator on the other hand worked great at conversation volume.

-Joe
 
Well the purpose of an attenuator is to allow you to crank the power tubes.

I think we understand that. Most Modern amps though don't rely on a heap of Powertube distortion like some older amps used to as Joe was referring. So, a Hotplate used with a Modern high-gain amp doesn't really provide much of a benefit since it is the Preamp that does the vast majority of the distortion.
Even at the lowest (minimum) attenuation level, the amp sounds like the gain has been turned down a quarter and the Bass/Mid/Treb dials adjusted. You may be able to dial in a suitable tone with a Hotplate, but it will be with vastly different amp settings and will sound quite different than the amp without a Hotplate.

On an old Marshall (relying on Powertube saturation), probably good, on a Modern high-gain (relying on preamp distortion) probably not.

.......(which is a goddamned shame since I have sick gear).

Did I miss something Ermz, did you go on a shopping spree? Amp/Cab/Pre? what did you get? I am interested to know what you finally took the plunge on. :err: :headbang:
 
lol i have nothing to say on the subject but i just wonder how many sickos will land on this thread straight from google after entering some keywords like: fucking, hotplate, shit, sweet, painful, college


lololol
 
Actually mate I was mainly referring to my recording gear. In terms of amps I can borrow just about any one could want when it comes to metal reamping work - just a matter of organizing it.

OK. I had been away for a few days early in the week and thought I had missed something.