Best Guitar Power Attenuator

I never thought I’d be old enough to use the phrase: “Back in the old days…” Well... Back in the old days, if you could not afford an overdrive pedal, you were stuck. When Master Volume controls made their way in to amp technology; you could at least get some grit into your sound. But few amps really offered a tremendous amount of gain. You could certainly turn your amp up to 10, which always produces the best kind of warmth and drive, but few room mates or landlords would approve. Although over drive / distortion technology has improved tremendously ov
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er the years, many still yearn to have their cake and eat it too; natural power-tube compression and warmth at low volumes.


Power Attenuators are the guitarist’s unicorn; you truly can get all of the sweet molasses that seeps out of a tube amp when it runs hot, but keep your volume low. What’s the catch? No catch. Other than the need to be aware that running your amp hot under any circumstances should be done with caution and care, today’s power attenuators are designed to put a natural load on your amp, just as if it were pushing a normal speaker. Before you make your final purchase, consider this group, the best attenuators available.

1) Koch Loadbox II Power Attenuator/Speaker Simulator 4 ohm

Why it's best:
The Loadbox II from Koch is a serious piece of machinery. For such a simple concept, it is packed with features that are quite impressive. Very easy to overlook, yet insanely helpful, is the fact the headphone output; imagine playing your Marshall 100Watt Super Lead through headphones… safely. How Cool! The recording line out will turn your stadium-level power house into a studio dream. Taking things ever further, you can select from a number of speaker simulating voice filters, allowing you to replicate what kind of cabinet you are pretending to go through. The extra cooling fan is also a dean-on bonus, and the dummy load feature turns this product into a two-for-the-price-of-one bargain. Hands down, the best Guitar Power Attenuator available, the Koch Loadbox II is the one to get.


2) Bad Cat The Leash Power Attenuator

Why it's a best pick:
They call it “The Leash”, which is probably the perfect name. Allowing you to step-down your favorite beast into 4, 8 or 16 Ohms, you can then funnel your sound back out into two speaker cabinets. The bypass feature is pretty cool as well if you can strike the right balance between your un-attenuated sound, and the sound coming out of the Leash. There is a cooling fan built in that will keep over-heating issues far at-bar. Bad Cat is known for making great amplifiers, and their foray into the attenuator market has been quite a success, hence the Guitar Player's "Pick" award.


3) THD Hot Plate Attenuator 8ohm (Purple)

Why it's a best pick:
Some may scoff at the notion of having to purchase a THD Hotplate for specific impedances, but it is important to note that these units are optimized for each specific impedance set. Also, it is most likely that you want to use an attenuator with a very specific amp, whose impedance you are familiar with. So, the concept is not so crazy. In addition, The Hotplate has built-in noise reduction, and is designed specifically for use with tube amplifiers. While doubling as a dummy-load when needed, this unit boasts both “Bright” and “Deep” switches, allowing you to really fine-tune your tone, after the fact.