THD HotPlate 16 Ohm attenuator

Description

huendeskes
Power Attenuator

The world's most popular attenuator. Allows the amp to distort at any volume. A fully cranked amp can play at a suitable volume even in a bedroom, yet still have that power tube overdrive sound.

The dummy load was invented so that guitarists don't have to go deaf if they love the old rock sound, or just like to push their gear and practice at home.

On stage, there's no problem cranking your Marshall or Vox amp so the tubes distort and you get that heavenly sound, but at home when practicing, you don't want to listen to a 30-watt Vox or a 100-watt Marshall at full volume, especially in an apartment. It ruins our hearing and angers the neighbors. When playing in smaller venues, you know the sound engineer tells you the guitar is too loud on stage, right? So you're forced to turn it down, which results in a bad sound.

The point of all dummy loads is that you crank your amp, then turn down the volume on the dummy load. Basically, you can adjust the volume from 0 upwards. All this with almost lossless tone character.

The THD Hot Plate attenuator family is distinguished by its colors.
Each color indicates a different ohm rating.
In this case, it's a blue Hot Plate, the 16ohm version.

It's very simple to use.
First, you need to connect it.
Dummy loads should be connected between the amplifier and the speaker.
It's simpler with a head + cabinet setup, but many combos are designed so the speaker can be easily disconnected.
So, after connecting the unit, it offers us the following options.
On the back, there are two speaker connection options: one input from the amplifier, and one line-level output with its associated volume control.
If you look at the front, on the left side, there's a dB cut knob.
This cuts your amp's volume from 0 to -16dB.
-16dB is circled because the potentiometer on the other side comes to life in this mode. This function is for playing in the room. Here you can adjust the volume from 0 upwards.
In the middle, you'll find 3 switches.
A Bright, a Deep, and a switch for a lamp.
Logically, the Bright adds extra mids and highs to the sound.
The Deep adds lows.
These two knobs were added because, unfortunately, the cutting process results in a minimal loss of tone character, which we can compensate for even at bedroom volume.
The third button operates a lamp, which lights up when you play the guitar, and it also acts as a noise gate, eliminating amplifier hiss and hum.

The unit is completely passive.
Both the lamp and the fan at the bottom, which cools the unit, receive power from the amplifier's sound.