It all started a couple decades ago, playing at a gig, tone perfectly dialed in for a rock show... then the sound engineer said "TOO LOUD", and ordered me to turn down. I had a 15 watt vintage amp. I lowered what was at an 8 on my volume down down until the engineer was happy... to 3. I vividly remember that show being the cleanest I have ever heard my Telecaster sound.
Being a tone snob, I love vintage amps, boutique amps, and anything with that old school sound. Soon after the "turned down to 3" incident, and frustrated with what was available, I decided to build my own amps.
Being a tone snob, I love vintage amps, boutique amps, and anything with that old school sound. Soon after the "turned down to 3" incident, and frustrated with what was available, I decided to build my own amps.
A VOLTAGE REGULATOR IS BETTER
What's wrong with other methods?
What makes a Voltage Regulator (Watt Control) better?
- Master Volume controls can give you preamp distortion, but can't give you power tube distortion, which is how the greats of rock'n'roll got their sound.
- Variacs can work great, but they starve the whole amp, giving you lots of sag. Cool sound, but it changes the amp's tone and feel.
- Power Soak/Speaker Attenuators can sound "disconnected", because it goes between your amp and the speaker. Also, they can prematurely wear down your tubes since you're still cranking up the power output of your amp.
What makes a Voltage Regulator (Watt Control) better?
- You can get power tube distortion at any volume
- It doesn't starve the amp - it proportionally changes the internal voltages after the rectifier. Doesn't change voltages where you shouldn't.
- It sounds and feels the same at pretty much any setting (although, at lower volumes, you don't get that speaker breakup. Sorry, physics).
- If you like your amp's sound with the volume on 6, you can leave it there! Turn down the voltage to practice at bedroom levels, turn it back up for a gig! That way, you never have to change your settings.
- There's nothing in your signal chain, so... tonal purity!
- Also, if you turn the Voltage Regulator all the way up, the amp is like stock, as if it wasn't there.