THD Hot Plate

VENTGtr · Post by **VENTGtr** » Friday Sep 26, 2008

Anyone ever used one? Thoughts?

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Friday Sep 26, 2008

I was always afraid to try them, cause of the war stories I've heard about them frying your amp.
I hear they are awesome when everything is working ok, but it doesn't last long.
This was a few years ago, so there might be safer versions out now?
I think Guitars N Stuff has or had an 8ohm Version THD.

VENTGtr · Post by **VENTGtr** » Friday Sep 26, 2008

Joe,

Ya, that's sort of my concern. Seems I've heard later on that it
was actually something about Marshall's Power Brake and an
incompatibility with non-Marshalls...BUT, I'm not that sure to go
taking the chance.

Saw a few reviews/write-ups and didn't see anything negative,
but that's a hefty chunk to pick up something that's as much of
a slow amp killer as anything else.

orangekick · Post by **orangekick** » Friday Sep 26, 2008

I haven't tried one myself, but I have heard very few good things. I know that there are some people that swear by them, but lots of people have said that the tone gets weird with a hot plate.

The Shadow · Post by **The Shadow** » Friday Sep 26, 2008

The tone is not the same with one.

Bloodsong · Post by **Bloodsong** » Saturday Sep 27, 2008

change in tone is a deal breaker. it's the same reason effects loops can really piss you off...

Banned · Post by **Banned** » Saturday Sep 27, 2008

You see a lot of pros using the Hot Plate, for what it's worth.

From personal experience, it seems like it depends on the amp. We tried Terry's with a reissue Plexi, and the damn thing sounded like it came straight off a record. Amazing. Take away the Hot Plate and play it at moderate volume - meh. Other amps it just fuzzes up, like you're pushing it too hard and the amp would be happier cranked down.

orangekick · Post by **orangekick** » Saturday Sep 27, 2008

I have primarily seen people using hot plates with non-master volume Marshalls.

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Sunday Sep 28, 2008

orangekick wrote:I have primarily seen people using hot plates with non-master volume Marshalls.

I heard that also, and they are most effective with the non master volume amps. Well I guess thats what they were designed for right?
The powersoak is there to allow the non master volume to be cranked to take advantage of the tube compression, but also to choke off the overall volume to a more liveable level.

metalchurch · Post by **metalchurch** » Sunday Sep 28, 2008

Jimi Hatt wrote:You see a lot of pros using the Hot Plate, for what it's worth.

From personal experience, it seems like it depends on the amp. We tried Terry's with a reissue Plexi, and the damn thing sounded like it came straight off a record. Amazing. Take away the Hot Plate and play it at moderate volume - meh. Other amps it just fuzzes up, like you're pushing it too hard and the amp would be happier cranked down.

Yeah that Plexi is a fuckin beast no doubt about it! It's way too loud for the venues around here, but in the studio or an arena environment I doubt there's much of anything that could hold a candle to it.

My buddy had the 1987X, which I believe is a non master volume, and he was having probs with it being too loud.
He eventually sold it on ebay and bought a Fender RocPro 100 like Yngwie used on one of his albums.

I'd imagine that the nonmaster volume heads could be modded with a masrer volume couldn't they?
If so, why would anyone want to use a THD or similar, instead of having that mod done?

VENTGtr · Post by **VENTGtr** » Monday Sep 29, 2008

metalchurch wrote: I'd imagine that the nonmaster volume heads could be modded with a master
volume couldn't they? If so, why would anyone want to use a THD or similar,
instead of having that mod done?

Joe,

Matter of fact, that's one of the common mods the Carvin. Did trying the attenuator
I have (Which, really, is just basically a Master Volume you run through the FX Loop.
And, ya, it makes things sound like garbage.

Probably be cheaper to just go with the mod and know it's going to work that spend
the buckage on something that's not going to work as needed.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Monday Sep 29, 2008

A master volume does not do the same thing as an attenuator. A master volume is in the preamp section and cuts the output level of the preamp before it goes to the power amp section. This prevents the power tubes from working very hard and you don't get that nice round power tube harmonics. This is why I'll take a 20W tube amp over a 100W tube amp anyday. You can easily get really great power tube sounds at usable volume levels. The key word here is usable.

The power brake and other attenuators are designed to allow you to crank up the power tubes to full blast and allow you to turn down the power signal to your speakers. You get the full power tube tone at lower volume levels.

Here is one of the best attenuators on the market (along with some other added goodies):

http://guitars.musiciansfriend.com/prod ... sku=609600

This is built (in one form or another) into every Koch amp and it works great. My StudioTone has all of these features, but the attenuator is only used to power the headphones or lines out while cutting the speaker out altogether. At 20 watts, there is very little need to drop it to 10 watts or less. The speaker simulator is the best I have ever used. They can be had for around $400 on eBay.