“...not disturb your neighbours...”, he says with a structural wall built out of Marshalls behind him. Great stuff. As usual.

I bought a Power Break for my JCM 800 2210 because of this channel. My "Go To" guitar channel...

Red shirt, blue pants, burst les paul - amazing combination

So now we know: 93 dB is Party Volume. Thanks Johan !!

The attenuation did sound much better to my ears, a fuller and richer tone for sure. Thanks for the great video, I've been wondering about getting an attenuator for a while

I love your channel Johan. It’s packed full of great, inspirational content. Keep doing what you’re doing 👍🏻

As a 2203 owner, i can confirm the feedback notation Johan gave as the master goes up!

Very informative. The Power Brake sounds pretty great. Thanks for another great video, Johan!

Hearing it after recorded and through my speakers, it at its heart sounds like great Marshall tone. Then as the master is opened up it definitely starts to sound more full and ballsy, and surprisingly after recording the attenuator sounds very very close. Great video. The loudest setting while trying to tame the feedback sounded best, but man very good tones, even party tones sounded great.

Hello Johan, Your video was very helpful. I purchased a Marshall 1959 SLP 100watt a month ago and trying to figure out how to play it in the house with out driving my wife and I insane. Love your playing ! Sounds great. Take care

Great clip once again Johan. It reminds me why I don't play Marshalls anymore. Now that I don't play in a band, there's just no need to use a huge amp. I sold my last Marshall because I was using it on 1 and it sounded similar to how yours does here. Everyone knows you need the Master up around half for them to start working hard and sounding good. The difference between 1 and 2.5 was huge here. But around half sounded great. The attenuator was super useful here. Sounded sensational and was a good compromise. Great work once again. Cheers

Johan, thanks for all the dope content, this is very useful'and enjoyable too cause you rock bro !!! Peace and love from Paris, France :)

Very useful video! You can read my mind! I was designing an attenuator yesterday and discussing about in a forum.Thanks!

Awesome video Johan. Thanks.

Wish I had your job! Thanks as always.

Thanks Johan for letting me know I am not crazy for hearing that a power break sounded better

Great video! I definitely prefer it without the attenuator, but I understand it's impossible to achieve that tone at low volumes, so the use of it is more than necessary.

The attenuator does a great job. To my ears, it sounds very transparent. And any slight differences could be adjusted with the EQ. I’ve been contemplating getting one for a long time now. This video helps me really see that they can definitely help in a variety of situations. I love that power amp clipping. But you can’t get that without blowing the windows out sometimes. I just fully restored a Sound City 120 and even on volume of 1 it shakes the house. Not exaggerating. An attenuator would help a lot to hear the different ranges in the power amp section. Thanks for the vid. Love it.

The master volume at 1 sounds thin and harsh - it begins to improve immediately at 2.5 and 5 but all three levels sound much les full compared to 10. The Power Break is surprisingly transparent - -all attenuated levels sound better than using the master volume to control the level. The tone is very noticeably richer, thicker, and has more harmonic content when the master is set to 10 even with the attenuator at its highest level of db cut. Great comparison.

Nice comparison. Thank you.

Thank Johan again! If I have to record guitars for my music, I think that party volume is perfect! 😊

Blimey I'm impressed with the Marshall attenuator! Cheers Johan✌

Reminds me of the Tejas tour when I saw ZZ Top at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Yes Nugent opened for them. Was a glorious Marshall event.

Johan, thanks for all the incredible videos. You really help so many of us that can't afford all those killer amps and cabs to better understand what we're missing. Little question for you. which attenuater do you like better. The Marshall or the Weber? Also do you have a different favorite attenuater? Thanks again!!!

I'm using a hot plate with my 1987. It lets me get the tubes working a little bit so the bottom end is there, but isn't deafening in my small office/music space. Power brakes are getting hard to find around here as are hot plates. I like my Weber Mass 200 with my Mesa and Bassman. They're great tools to save your hearing, even if you're not cranking everything to 11 :) have a great weekend Johan!

Hi Johan, first thanks and congrats on this good, it’s interacting to hear the differences. Clearly the power section is important here and “good old” Marshall Amps need to have attenuator... playing at a low volume it will give you less headroom, sustain and afffects the time. I use a Fryette PS2, most reliable attenuator till now. Cheers from Portugal.

Great comparison! It depends on the amp, whether a Powerbreak or a PPIMV suits better. With the Marshalls, the PPIMV works great, on Fender-style amps they somehow dont sound very well.

Another good one brother! Some folks complain that attenuators "rob tone". Well, in the case of some Marshalls getting some of that brightness tamed is NOT a bad idea! All I heard was some of the very bright sections weren't quite as bright with the attenuator. Not a bad thing in my world!

Like your videos Johan. New subscriber to your channel. Keep it up! Also your English is really well spoken! Greetings from America. Unfortunately I don’t know how to say thanks in Swedish

If you have a good tube amp and you've only ever played at bedroom or house practice volume.... you've never really heard your amp. My experiences with master volumes is they really still need to be turned right up for the amp to sound the way it's supposed to. My old ad30 for example needs the master up at 12o'clock to wake up and that's proper loud. I appreciate attenuators but a big part of the whole deal is pushing speakers too. So if you have 4x12 or more and run heavy attenuation... ditch the big cab. Grab a 2x12 or something and push that hard it will sound much nicer

Love it! But I would love to see this same shootout where the mic doesn't move/droop during the attenuated portion, I imagine that movement is heavily influencing the difference in the attenuated tone. Still love the video though, as I do all of them! The absolute best channel you can find for this type of stuff :)

You have neighbours Johan??? I think they have been rocked to the core my friend 😂😂

I felt that the the effect of the master volume and of the attenuator were more similar than I expected. Both made for smaller, slightly scratchier sound. The combination of the two sounded much better than 90 db using only one or the other. The attenuator on its own sounded fine at louder settings, but was getting a little odd-sounding at 90 db. The master volume sounded pretty good after the first couple of notches, but by then it was really loud.

Great video! I’m trying to decide if I get an attenuator for my Marshall vintage modern.

Johan and Scotty .... my favs!

More on my PPINV MV experince... In 1987 I gutted my *SOUND* *CITY* *120R 's* inner chassis and using most of the mustard dipped capacitors, I revamped it as a quazi *MARSHALL* *1969* *plexi* *Bass/* *1971* *Super* *Lead* *hybrid.* A great combination with the SC 120R's huge PARTRIDGE TRANSFORMERS and 6 Mullard EL34 output tubes. I also left the Post Phase Inverter Master Volume on the amp which I initially installed as a stroke of luck, because believe it or not, in 1983- the very same week I bought my very clean original condition 1973 Sound City 120R ($275 usd), a *"How-To* *Post* *Phase* *Inverter* *Master* *Volume"* *article* *appeared* *in* *the* *GUITAR* *PLAYER* *MAGAZINE.* [ very extensive info and DIY master volumes see- TRAIN WRECK MASTER VOLUMES ] PPINV MV's actually make the high powered British amps so much more versatile...a healthy functional marriage between Preamp, Power amp, and speakers. So was the SOUND CITY 120R -to - MARSHALL CONVERSION a successful improvement? Absolutely! Pure Marshall heaven. Tight solid bass (although I lowered the first plate cap from.068 to .022uf...and I don't care what anyone says, but the radial mustard dipped capacitors do make a difference...at least in 1987. I must have tried 30 different .022uf's but the orig. .022 mustard cap of the Sound City left in that position was probably the most sonic'ly determinate cap in the whole amp. It's not unreasonable from a capacitor engineering standpoint to see that capacitors have a memory. That is not to say that another new capacitor, even a cheap generic of another make would not attain this memory over several years in the same position. I know I know, hog wash. Well you weren't there were you? Maybe do an experiment and swap out yours. I'm aware that it's the ELECTROLYTIC POWER SUPPLY FILTER CAPACITORS which exhibit the memory more.

Attenuator comparison soon ? TAD, THD, Weber, Aracom, Marshall etc ?

I've heard that the "overdrive" from the speaker/cabinet being "pushed" is a part of the tone as well. So you obviously do not get that with attenuation. But I use attenuators myself. Excellent video, power break is a great attenuator indeed.

Great stuff Johan 👍. I’ve been using the Power Brake now for nearly 20 years, an absolute must have for a non MV Marshall. I recently tried a ppimv and I can say I wasn’t impressed. As much as it pains me to say it (it will push prices up) anyone looking to get a great non MV tone minus the volume, get a Power Brake

i think, that master volume knob really influences the tone. it adds some "meat"

For home use, I've used to use my JTM 45/100 on 10 with attenuators 10 o'clock (4th notch). But now I tend to use the Marshall on 12 o'clock, or 4 even, combined with an incredibly transparent clipping pedal (Paul Cochran Tim V2 - 3 clipping modes). This gives a great compromise with less noise and wear on the amp. No other drive pedal I've tried achieves such pure transparency. But for live I push the Marshall harder - it does sounds better - but has more ghost harmonics.

I

reminds me of how i did not buy that marshall power break for 60 euros. now i am sad again.

Wtf that sounds awesome!!!!

I used to attenuate my old Vox AC50 (no master) and now I attenuate my Hiwatt. I think it sounds best with master around 60-75%. 100% is rarely a good settings I think.

I dont think I've ever played my 2204 at 10... ever. My attenuated settings are very close to yours.....I use the two notes reload.....Great comparisons Johan....thanks buddy!

Attenuator definitely takes away a bit of bite and responsiveness but the tone is near the same. Definitely useful for certain applications!!

I use a Torpedo reload and it's a very good reactive attenuator. I can obtain the cranked sound of my 59 slp with volume to 6 even in house!

Only thing missing here is a DB meter to show the levels in the room. Great video.

I would love to see you do a video of the Mesa boogie Fillmore combo amps. I feel like you would be able to make it sound real good compared to other videos

I have a 2203 and glad to record at Master 6.2 and Preamp at 8 without powerbrake ;-) My cellar is well a power brake for the neighbours. The tone lives more if the power section of the amp works as desired. But I think the Power Brake makes a good job! And as always Johan rules!!!

cool chords at the end

johan i hope you read this: how much should i pay for one of these? i see them range between 200 and 400euros used in germany. i still remember missing a used one that was priced around 80. is 200€ a good price or too much? cheers and thanks

Is the type of master volume on the 2204/2203 the same as those on the current DSL 40 and 100 HR? Thanks in advance. BTW, Nice playing and great tone!

Powerbrake really change the sound. As I experienced with my AC30. Prefer Without and Master at 2,5 - 3. After it gets to wooly

Just investigating this topic.. great vid comparison.. I do think this is a valid test for classic outputs.. if you were to go heavier.. it is about "FLUB".. setting Preamp gain to 6-7 just before flub.. and master to same6-7 before shrill tones take over.. keep the flub to a minimum and PUSH the front with active pickups and OD pedal max level no drive.. tone in middle or 1 o'clock.. and it screams.. very controllable roll off as well.. different ways to go about it.. but with classic sounds.. attenuator is the way to go.. also love the modern ones with effects loop to bring some delay and reverb to old amps.. things are really changing, but somehow they stay the same.. (LOUD)

I’ve owned a 30W tube amp for 10 years and never played it above 2 😯 recently moved to a solid state power amp pedal. Using the valves , clean tones are fine at low volumes but if you’re trying for a decent overdrive tone I wouldn’t bother unless you can push the power tubes or use an attenuator.

Marshall Amplification Products are probably the only brand that I can say I have "Brand Loyalty" for. To me , a Marshall half-stack and a Les Paul is the definition of Rock n' Roll. That being said, I owned a power brake once and it was "for me" a very disappointing piece of gear. I have a '89 JCM800/2210 that is unbelievably loud. I have never been able to use it anywhere at full volume. To be able to use it at home I bought a "Power Brake". There was very little attenuation in the one I had. The volume/dB would change very little at first and then it would go from "Holy Crap!" loud to a muffled output with little to know articulation/clarity. I did buy it used so there may have been something wrong with it. I had no experience with attenuators and thought that, that's what they do and just resold it. These tones sound incredible! I may have to try another one.

Wow, thanks for share, now my master volume will be between 4-7 ever... I have a question I heard a noise when you use attenuator with master volume at 10? Please a comparison between pre and post phase invert mv.... Thanks and greetings from Chile

the thing with a power break is that it reacts to the amp like the speakers do, because speakers are inductors they fight with the tube output stage and line output transformer and this is what gives the dynamics of a high power valve amp compared to solid state amp. it's a fight between speakers and the amp.

i also have the powerbreak and play marshall. The problem is, you play the amp at full power. The tubes are fully utilized. The wear is 100%. It is advisable to get an amp with master volume in the preliminary stage. JVM are great!

When I play my amp, my neighbors also enjoy it. 😆

This a great test! The attenuator seems to be very consistent, but I'm very curious about the PPIMV!

My JMP is always on 10 (with thd hotplate). Master 10; Preamp 5 or 6. For clean tone I use volume pot on the guitar. Done. Tubes love to be ran hard: in this kind of amps is necessary for a good and rich tone.

Probably get one of these soon. Trying out a volume box first. I think that’ll be good for my combos but my Marshall stack maybe not

I would really appreciate if you could do a comparison between a late '70s Marshall JMP 2204 and a late '70s Marshall JMP 1992 Super Bass. If you could use a Strat and a Les Paul for that demo, it would be awesome. Cheers!

I use an attenuator on my Engl Powerball, but NEVER set the volume to full (feedback is the only sound at this level.) Main volume is at about 50-60% and attenuated to room level and it sounds KILLER!!

I would like to see this pursued further. Maybe try your SG with the preamp on 3 and the master on 7-10 and see if the attenuator can get the Angus Young or Jimmy Page (Song Remains the Same) tones.

You really feel the POwer Brake is better than the Hot Plate. I had a hot plate years ago and it sucked the tone right out of the amp on the 3 lowest levels. What does the power brake do? thank

Very interesting. It would be good to see by adjustment of the amp controls, if it were possible to get a comparable low volume sound.to the pb100. If the input gain wast turned up would it compensate? Or just turn fizzy! Probably.

Victory Sheriff = Marshall tube tone at home. Master volume on that amp is incredible

Once you got the master volume to 4-5 or above, the tone got fatter which presumably is from the power tubes. The tones with the master at lower levels were OK, just a tiny bit thinner. However, I thought the Power Brake was remarkably good at preserving that fatter tone with the master cranked at lower volume levels.

Hi, is the PB100 usefull for jcm 900? I Love its sound but over volume 5...what do you think PB100 or a good booster? Thanks!

I think that all attenuators I’ve heard cut bass and add fizziness. Do you agree, Johan? I use a THD Hotplate but only when necessary.

It's strange, but i like most the settings - MV 0,5 - 1, Preamp 7, NO Attenuator.

Attenuator is da shit, no question about about that. I just love my Weber Mass Lite! Thank you very much for the tip, Johan!

Have you tried the Ultimate Attenuator? I preferred it to the Rivera with my Plexi.

Interesting how the power brake made the tone quiet a bit muddier, while the amp without the attenuator was much tighter to my ears. Must have to do with the signal being compressed. I definitely preferred the tone without the attentuator, but unfortunately it's too damn loud for a lot of situations.

how about a video on the beatles clean sound? how to achieve it without a vox?

I’ve got a Marshall 4104 from ‘84 that I use at home all the time. I have to adjust the EQ a lot but it still sounds pretty decent with the master volume at .8 and the preamp around 7. I still prefer it when nobody is at home and I have the master around 3 though. I feel the power amp section starts to wake up around there and fulls out the sound which is really needed with a strat

A cool thing to do is to use an attenuator + a Variac. The Variac is actually the most transparant master volume!

I'm thinking about buying an Bugera 1960 (A 1959 plexi replica [150W!!!]) but I live in a apartment. Using a attenuator, could I use it like a 20 watt bedroom friendly amp?

Do you think the master volume with Marshal jvm 410hjs needs an attenuator. I personally feel it does since master volume uses power tubes and you would want to fire-up the power tubes. I have heard for marshals, master has to be between 4 to 8. Please correct me if i am wrong.

Johan, have you ever used a Bad Cat Unleash? I have one and it doesn't seem to color the sound nearly as much as a power brake

This particular amp sounds really good even with the Master set to 0,5. With the Master set to between 3 and 5 it sounds its best imo. Master set to 10 makes the amp sound too saturated. Despite what you think, Johan, I think that the attenuator colours the sound. I prefer the Master used solely.

I would also like to install a master volume for jtm45 I am a little worried that the sound will not change. What do you think? Thanks

Those Marshall amplifier I know some tube are more expensive than other so how do you know which tube are the right ones so it can Marshall a great sound?

The Master volume sucks tone somewhere under 3, otherwise it sounds OK. Does the master volume pot come before the power tubes in the circuit?

No attenuator sounds better. Good video.

i've been waiting for this video to help me deside weather to get a PPIMV on my jtm45, i use a marshall power break, but i do find is sucks some of the marshall bite in the upper upper mids and treb area.... what ya recon ?

Not much change with the MV between 7-10. But nice demonstration as to why they need to be up around 6 or 7 before they start bringing the magic. Below that they're not much fun at all. I found the comments about the attenuation levels funny. Any time a Marshall's cranked it's always party time!

Hi Johan, I have a 77 JMP50 1987 (Non MV) and have used a Marshall Power Brake for a while, but I have just bought an Aracom RL150, do you really think the Power Brake is best?

Er det transistor-forsterkning i Marshall sin power brake?

cool..does the jcm 800 have the "bright cap clipped"....doesn't sound like it to me...power brake ALL the way!

Any chance of silent recording with such an attenuator?

Have you tried the marshall studio classic...

Recorded, every setting could be useful for something. I wonder if the amp would become “useless” with both the preamp and master down way low?

When you just need more feeling playing with headphones, put a Marshall behind your back shouting 120db

Rhythm riff: 02:22 M0.5 NA 02:32 M1 NA 02:41 M2.5 NA 02:51 M5 NA 03:01 M10 NA 03:11 M10 A 86dB 03:21 M10 A 90dB 03:31 M10 A 93dB

Is it sound isolated room or ground house or bathroom ??