L-Pad Attenuator

[bigrigg]

This looks good man! I recently built a DrZ AirBrake for my Maz18, best decision ever, great live to give you more power tube saturation at lower volumes, and the bedroom playing too!

George

Would you mind supplying any links etc for the Zbrake build?  Thanks

[hammerheadmusicman]

of course not..

http://www.andyharrison.net/files/AirbrakeLayout.jpg

that's verified too, by me! mouser part numbers too

be careful when you order though, as from mouser UK, the nig resistor didnt come with the clips that you set to certain ohms.. so i had to send for them seperate and pay postage!

George

[studiodunn]

of course not..

http://www.andyharrison.net/files/AirbrakeLayout.jpg

that's verified too, by me! mouser part numbers too

be careful when you order though, as from mouser UK, the nig resistor didnt come with the clips that you set to certain ohms.. so i had to send for them seperate and pay postage!

George

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!

[hammerheadmusicman]

You're very welcome, glad i can finally be of some service!

i think the parts inc all hardware cost me about £60-70ish from mouser.. a hefty saving on almost £300!!

it is great attenuator. Transparent. Sounds greta with my Z, just like having a post amp volume knob, unlike the old marshall ones which are tone destroyers apparently!

[bigrigg]

of course not..

http://www.andyharrison.net/files/AirbrakeLayout.jpg

that's verified too, by me! mouser part numbers too

be careful when you order though, as from mouser UK, the nig resistor didnt come with the clips that you set to certain ohms.. so i had to send for them seperate and pay postage!

George

gracias amigo !

[alanp]

One thing that the Amp Garage thread mentions about the big power resistor that has taps on it -- you need to LIGHTLY sand the exposed coil, to make sure that the taps make contact. (Apparently there tends to be some coating over it.)

[culturejam]

I added an L-pad attenuator to a Valve Jr combo quite some time back. I didn't bother with all that fancy "additional cap" stuff like you guys.  

I put mine in the amp chassis (on the back) to make it more like my Univalve. It works quite well, but the taper is somewhat lopsided.

I should also add that I was modding a V1 Valve Jr, which only had a 4-ohm output. So I added a 4-ohm resistor in parallel to bring it down to 8 ohms. It was a monster 20W resistor, by the way. No sense in taking chances.  

Here's the info on it:
http://www.forrestwhitesides.com/node/81





Here is the amp (which I sold):

[slimtriggers]

This is a great project!  I wonder if the switchable bright cap thing would work with my Weber Mini Mass?  I never use it because it sounds like a wet blanket over the speakers.

[thekyle55]

I built an Airbrake a couple of years ago after reading a ton about attenuators.  It works well, and was fairly simple to build.  Not particularly cheap though, and I honestly decided I like to use pedals and the master volume better.

[hammerheadmusicman]

I just find that it allows me to crank my maz a little more on stage, it wasn't too cheap, but was less t Han a third of the retail!

[Stomptown]

I would rather build the brake lite. It is good up to 45 or 50 watts and its a bit cheaper. Anyone have any info on how to build one?

[hammerheadmusicman]

No sorry, the airbrake is good up to 100 watts. i think parts would be a lot cheaper on your side of the pond though!

[irmcdermott]

This looks good man! I recently built a DrZ AirBrake for my Maz18, best decision ever, great live to give you more power tube saturation at lower volumes, and the bedroom playing too!

George

do you have a link to the DrZ project you used?

[hammerheadmusicman]

I did post it earlier in this thread, but here it is again

http://www.andyharrison.net/files/AirbrakeLayout.jpg

that's all i had..

[irmcdermott]

I did post it earlier in this thread, but here it is again

http://www.andyharrison.net/files/AirbrakeLayout.jpg

that's all i had..

whoops. i missed it earlier. thanks!