Orren said:First of all, in the interest of full disclosure, I've written manuals for THD Electronics, and I'm friends with Ed DeGenaro of THD. I really like the company a lot.
That said, many of the guitarists that I really admire used a Hot Plate, so I bought one (not a freebee, I payed cash money like anyone else). I have also owned a Weber Mass, tried numerous other attenuators, and of course simply used the Master Volume to turn it down.
I do think that the fact that both the Randall amps have both a Master Volume and the individual module Volume makes them far more flexible as far as getting "open" tones at less than blistering volumes. But as anyone who does serious recording will tell you, there is always a point at which the "sweet spot" starts at which you'll get the best tone--any quieter, and the tone is compromised. Sometimes it's when the amp is full up, other times its somewhere in between.
I have found that the sweet spot with my Randall RM100 starts when it's at about Noon (straight up) at the Master Volume. To get a good tone, I need at least the same openness out of the modules. Even with 6V6s or pulling tubes, that is way too loud for my small project studio.
To me, the solution is to dial the amp to the lowest volume it still sings, and then use a Hot Plate tastefully to tame those last few decibels. It also gives me a post power amp line out "tap" that I can send to a mixer or the recording interface if I want (I believe Randall's slave out is pre-power amp).
BTW--I think that's one of the great advantages of the Egnater MOD amps--the low power switch. I'm looking forward to putting 6V6's in my MOD50, and at low power, that reduces it to about 4 watts, no attenuator.
Hope that helps,
Orren
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