Power soak.. DIy

[Penguin]

so i got to thinking . and well thats always dangerous grounds..   

[waits for stabs.....]

I needed some sort of antenuation.  on the diy side since i am cheap and poor.  I started thinking  since i have a small amp {champ style} that uses the same transformer as the ones i have lying around the house.[again champ style fender reverb transformer] i was thinking.  since the transformer converts the highvoltage into lowvoltage to push the speaker.  what if we hook up the two transformers together..  8 ohm side to 8 ohm side.. would it give me a good cranked up the amp sound so i could use this as a preamp or to power a much larger Perhaps even.  GASP  a SS amp.




I know basically its the same as the powerbreak by marshall but why no one thought to do this on smaller amps is beyond me. [note i am sure someone else thought of it before and has done it. but i never saw anything on the forums about it. and well i got to thinking on this after a client wanted a power soak for his micro amp. no name dropping here but you know you are    ]

[Dave_B]

I'm not sure I get the xformer to xformer part, but there's a pretty long thread about Power soaks from a few weeks ago.  That might help you.  http://www.diystompboxes.com/smfforum/index.php?topic=36605

[cd]

but why no one thought to do this on smaller amps is beyond me. [note i am sure someone else thought of it before and has done it. but i never saw anything on the forums about it. and well i got to thinking on this after a client wanted a power soak for his micro amp. no name dropping here but you know you are    ]

Because hardly anyone has the need to quiet down a 6W amp?  Or even a 0.5W amp?  Are you trying to play real quiet at night when everyone's sleeping?

If you have clients, you should be able to install Power Scaling in your amp.  Far more effective than an attenuator and costs less than $10 in parts, or you can use the stuff in your junk bin.  I've installed a Power Scaling circuit into a SF Champ, works perfectly to bring down the output of the amp down to 30mW.  Google around and search www.londonpower.com for more info.

[Lonzo]

PM me if you like and I can send you an article Gerald Weber posted in Vintage Guitar a while back.  It's for an 8-ohm attenuator that is supposed to handle up to 25 watts.  I built two in series to drop my master by 12db!!  It works well, gets kind of hot, but works well.  I thought about venting the enclosure and installing a fan....blah blah....maybe later.  Unfortunately, I don't have the schemo scanned.  I'll try to get it scanned and sent to you if you like.

regards,
lonzo

[casey]

hi,

i have a super cheap way to diy a power soak.....it's on my site below

[casey]

http://photobucket.com/albums/v324/caseyseffectpage/Amp%20Attenuator/   

[Penguin]

sadly i am afraid i wasn't clear enough.  i dont' need a diy way.  although i appreciate the links and the info.  but some of us like to use smaller amps cranked up to saturation and then dropped into fx into a larger power amp.  we had a secondary monitor amp that was always brought to gigs when we played out so i used to just use my rack gear into it. but i was missing the tube ssounds.  I am not real crazy on using the house mic's to get my sound.  and i dont' take the studio mic out of the studio. 1700 dollar condesner, idont'  think so.  so the real question be comes how to get that sound to either run into a larger amp or fx and then larger amp.

ANd

but why no one thought to do this on smaller amps is beyond me. [note i am sure someone else thought of it before and has done it. but i never saw anything on the forums about it. and well i got to thinking on this after a client wanted a power soak for his micro amp. no name dropping here but you know you are    ]

Because hardly anyone has the need to quiet down a 6W amp?  Or even a 0.5W amp?  Are you trying to play real quiet at night when everyone's sleeping?

If you have clients, you should be able to install Power Scaling in your amp.  Far more effective than an attenuator and costs less than $10 in parts, or you can use the stuff in your junk bin. I've installed a Power Scaling circuit into a SF Champ, works perfectly to bring down the output of the amp down to 30mW.  Google around and search www.londonpower.com for more info.

BTW  have you ever stood next to 1 watt amp pushing a 4*12 or better yet db'ed it against say a 50watt marshall head i think you would be quite surprised.  and if you can tell me a reliable way to put in power scaling in a Nano Head without voiding the warranty or Pissing off Zach i am all ears  .

and if you ever listen to Country Music you might have heard my clients.
Currently my gear is on tour with both
SHooter Jennings------Drexel  is using Jungle Kats on the Bass for the live tone on steady at the Wheel. track no. 7 off the cd [well it is on my copy]
Mary Chapin Carpenter--Keith uses my Jkats as well.  also working on the compressers for him.



http://www.geocities.com/radu_teppes/junglekat.html


Sorry for the bad pic it was taken from a camera phone.

[cd]

and if you ever listen to Country Music you might have heard my clients.
Currently my gear is on tour with both
SHooter Jennings------Drexel  is using Jungle Kats on the Bass for the live tone on steady at the Wheel. track no. 7 off the cd [well it is on my copy]
Mary Chapin Carpenter--Keith uses my Jkats as well.  also working on the compressers for him.

You've got so many high profile clients, yet you're poor?  Being cheap is one thing, but a low power attenuator from WeberVST will cost you $60.  Don't tell me you can't afford that.  You should ask for more $ from your clients if so.

There is a real easy way to get the power of a Nano down to barely audible levels, with a tiny, easily reversed modification, or no modification at all.  With your experience you should be able to figure it out easily. 

[Penguin]

2 high profile clients really doesn't make you rich  my friend   yeah theres quite a few ways of doing it. i personally like the Weber Mass  but like i said i decided not to buy one but just build my own version of one. I was trying to help the diy comunity

[aron]

You seem to be doing better Ansil.

[Pedro Freitas]

I've done that kind of cascading a small amp into a bigger one.
I regard this page as the Holyest of the Holy 

http://www.lynx.bc.ca/~jc/pedalsAmpLineOut.html

In my setup I got a resistor array totalying 8Ohm taking the puch from
whatever amp is pluged into it (up to 50Watt) and passing that voltage to a pot
and a speaker sim like those RC pairs of Runoffgroove's ampsims.
Then it'll go into whatever you want, preferably a voltager follower of some kind.
I placed a big dissipator over the resistors and above it a PC fan. Runs cool 

Pedro