THD Hotplate

[pagemalicious]

hey guys, i should be getting some money soon from selling one of my guitars. So the idea of buying a THD Hotplate seems like a sensible choice as i would love to use my JCM 900 at lower volumes without sacrificing tone.

are these any good?

are they better than the Marshall Powerbrake?

Is it easy to set up?

does any one have any clips of there amps being used with the Hotplate?

[Soloist1]

Re: THD Hotplate

I have one. Works good for me. They are better than the Powerbrake. It's very easy to use. If you attenuate the signal more than 8db you are going to want to use the bright and deep switches. They bring the tone somewhat back to normal. Overall I think mine sounds great with the hotplate on it. Not as good as it would wide open. But good enough for home use. I have no clips sorry. I think there are some on THD's website.

[jcs21]

Re: THD Hotplate

I also use a hotplate, I use it on my 2204 and use to use it on my 5150. It has worked fine for me, I got it direct from THD as a factory second for a lot less than what the new ones cost, try checking for a factory second with them before buying a brand new one. Very easy to use.

[IrfaanSE801]

Re: THD Hotplate

Agree with both dudes above. They are really good units and work well, much better than the Powerbrake IMO.

[hippietim]

Re: THD Hotplate

I use a Weber MASS. Works great.

https://weberspeakerscom.secure.poww...eber/atten.htm

[Inazone]

Re: THD Hotplate

In talking to various people about the Hotplate and Powerbrake, it seems that results will vary a lot from amp to amp. One guy seemed to think that his Mesas sound great with a Hotplate, but his friend (who recorded my band) thought that it really colored the sound on his Rivera Knucklehead.

[Riscchip]

Re: THD Hotplate

I love my hotplate. I use it in my living room goofin-around low volume rig. Dr. Z Carmen Ghia into hotplate. Hotplate speaker out into 2x12 Boogie cab with V30s. Hotplate line out into reverb and delay. Reverb and delay into the effects return of a Tech 21 TM 60. Speaker out on TM 60 into 2x12 Avatar Cabinet with V30 + G12H30. It's quiet enough to talk over, but sounds like a million bucks. Best attenuator I've tried in this setup.

[pagemalicious]

Re: THD Hotplate

sounds good to me, seems worth it to spend £20 more on the THD than the powerbrake

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: THD Hotplate

you have to specify what impedence you want and make sure you get that model.

but that can be tricky cause you would want 1 impedence for 1 cab and a different impedence for 2 cabs.

but out of all the attenuators that are easily avalible the hot plate is the best.

[Chuckracer]

Re: THD Hotplate

The Hotplate is a better unit that the Powerbrake. The Weber Mass is a real nice unit, too, as is the Dr.Z Airbrake.
There are better units than all of these out there, but now were gettin pretty spendy.

I like the Hotplate, been using them for years, but it will color your sound a bit. It's not horrible, but they aren't transparent.

[hippietim]

Re: THD Hotplate

I didn't know Weber was doing a stereo MASS - I may have to pick one of hose up.

BTW, the Dr. Z Airbrake is VERY expensive for what you get. It's the old Trainwreck design which is basically two rheostats, a big ceramic resistor, a couple o-rings, and a pair of knobs/switches - that's it. They sound ok, a bit muffled to my ears but nothing you can't compensate for. There are about 4 or 5 boutique companies that have spun off variations of this unit from 275 to 400.

My personal stack rank for attenuators I have had some time to experiment with is:
<ul type="square">[*]Weber MASS[*]THD Hotplate[*]Marshall Powerbrake[*]Airbrake/Trainwreck[*]Powersoak[/list]

[spknoevl]

Re: THD Hotplate

The Weber Mass is my favorite. It actually has a speaker motor in it, compared to resistors like the other brands. Reacts more like a real speaker taking a load. The Hotplate is a very close second. If you take price into consideration, the Weber is less than half the price of the Hot Plate.

[charvelguy]

Re: THD Hotplate

Another plug for the Weber mass. They make quite a few models...but most models have variable ohm loads to choose from,at least 8 or 16 ohms.. some are fixed tho.