I don't practice with an amp, is that weird?

I've got children who witter about their uncool father trying to be a rock star at 93 years old, so I tend to play into a Pandora PX4 and out through headphones. Unless I'm in a rebellious mood, then I allow myself a bit of musical Macbeth - I turn my hugely powerful 1W (yep, one watt) amp up high, put the gain up to about 8, connect it up to my 12" Fane speaker and let loose with some "Paranoid", "Smoke on the Water" or "Whole lotta love". I can make listening to a CD player with headphones difficult, even one floor down.

If you want to play through a tube amp, then get one and add something like a Weber sound damping device, you can give the amp some wally and none of the neighbours will be any the wiser. It's like buying a running machine for a greyhound.

OH, the "children" (20 & 19!) listen to (c)rap and the warbling the whippersnappers like to call R&B - with a bit of luck they'll grow up someday!

Thanks for the information but I am a little confused. What would a Weber sound damping device be? I found a website but wasn't sure what was what. Is it the attenuators? I'm assuming that's what it is. If so it looks like they hook up between the amp and speaker cabinet. Is it possible to use it with a tube amp and no speaker cabinet? Didn't know where the connections would go. I guess disconnecting the speaker itself?

Thanks,
paul

Yes, it's an attenuator. It goes between the output from the amp and the speaker. It is an additional load that reduces the output to the speaker, so that even a 40W or 60W can be brought down to neighbour-friendly levels

Gotcha, sounds good. So if I decide on a tube amp with no speaker cabinet it's just a matter of hooking it up right. I may have to start looking at tube amps soon. :)

thanks
paul

I play my electric guitar unplugged over 90% of the time.

paulSC

You CANNOT use a tube amp without a speaker load! It will damage the amp quickly.

The attenuator will go between the amp and the speaker. An attenuator takes part of the signal and turns it into heat. The rest goes to the speaker.

With the attenuator turned up to max attenuation you will hear very low volume through the speaker. It should be easy to play the amp without disturbing anyone. And the nice thing is you can really crank the amp up where you get power tube saturation. The amp will really sing at low volume!

I've got children who witter about their uncool father trying to be a rock star at 93 years old,

Man, you got my respect by just playing at 93, but if you're rockin' at 93, you are unbelivable! :) (Or maybe it was a typo... :roll: )

I don't plug in that often to an amp or headphone amp when practicing electric guitar. But some of my electrics actually have pretty nice acoustic tones. The upside is no effects or amp sweetening to hide sloppy playing. The downside is playing plugged in usually requires a different and lighter touch.

lol yoyo, I think he was exagerating.

I practice a bit without the amp as well, just because sometimes I don't want to bother with it. It's not a bad thing, lets you hear all the mistakes your making, no overdrive to cover it up.

lol yoyo, I think he was exagerating.

8) 8) 8) 8)

But only a little bit!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

I don't plug in that often to an amp or headphone amp when practicing electric guitar. But some of my electrics actually have pretty nice acoustic tones. The upside is no effects or amp sweetening to hide sloppy playing. The downside is playing plugged in usually requires a different and lighter touch.

Without an amp, you don't get to hear noise from adjacent strings, when bending or whatever - and effects can do a lot to hide such sloppiness. It's only when you plug in that it all comes to light - especially with loads of gain.

Gnease is so right about touch. The dynamics are totally different - I've been having a second bite at Samba Pa Ti (I have trouble staying focussed long enough to learn that 61 bar "improv" at the end). Playing unplugged is OK to learn notes, but that tune is very dynamic and you can only get that through an amp.

paulSC

You CANNOT use a tube amp without a speaker load! It will damage the amp quickly.

The attenuator will go between the amp and the speaker. An attenuator takes part of the signal and turns it into heat. The rest goes to the speaker.

With the attenuator turned up to max attenuation you will hear very low volume through the speaker. It should be easy to play the amp without disturbing anyone. And the nice thing is you can really crank the amp up where you get power tube saturation. The amp will really sing at low volume!

Thanks for the insight. I couldn't remember exactly why I just remember people saying don't get a tube amp unless you can turn it up loud. So far that's why I haven't gotten one. But if I can put an attenuator on a tube amp even though I don't have a speaker cabinet for it then I just may look at that option. Thanks again.

paul

You must have (a) speaker(s) on a tube amp. Unlike solid state amps, tube amps output via a transformer, which is regulated to specific impedance values - some will offer various "taps" on the transformer, to give different impedance options.

Without the load of a speaker, the transformer will burn out very quickly.

To use an attenuator, connect the output from the transformer to the input of the attenuator and the output of the attenuator to the speaker(s). Many amps already have the wiring set up so that you can do this, without any bother at all.

I practice unplugged a lot, though there have been those here (GN) that take a dim view of such a practice. (The topic has come up before.) I practice for an hour every morning in a little room near the bedrooms and I don't want to wake people. My amp is down in another room and I don't feel like lugging it around at that hour. I can't see any problem with it.
In the evening I will more likely plug in.