Alex's Attenuator

[Twistingcrow]

Hi!
I thought I would leave some feedback here on this forum since it is Alex's home (a.k.a. 908ssp). I was kind of tired of reading comparisons here and there (on TGP and so on...) of guys who tried the Faustine and shot down the Aracom in flames, or the opposite, and who despised the Alex whereas they'd never even seen one. So yeah, I bought myself an Aracom PRX-150 Pro AND the Alex so that I could A/B them and make my own opinion!

Well, both are great. Before trying both I thought that the Aracom would win hands down since it's twice more expensive than the Alex. But I was wrong. I tried both with my Metro 50w amp running a 1X12 cab loaded with one EVM12L. The amp was cranked, yes 10/10 on both channels, jumpered. Without an attenuator it's just like an earthquake hitting you. An attenuator is a must, unless you play stadiums... I went through all the attenuation levels: -3dB, -6, -9, -12 and then the variable load down to silence for the Alex, and down to the minimum with the Aracom. I didn't notice ANY difference between both, sonically or tonewise speaking. The tone is still there, the dynamics, the sustain also. You just lose the balls but that's nothing to do with the attenuators, it's just due to volume. There's no loser to me, they're both winners. The Aracom may suck some treble, but that's easily corrected through the amp's controls.

The Aracom's pros are the multiple impedance choices and two speaker outputs. Its cons are the size and the price.
The Alex's attenuator pros are the price, the treble "booster" if needed, and the size (twice smaller than the Aracom). Its cons the fixed inupt impedance. The output impedance doesn't seem to be an issue (taken from Alex's words...)

Now I'm selling my Aracom... I don't need the multiple impedance thing and I'll have more cash coming in... I can always find an 8 ohm amp! And if I find a 4 ohm amp such as an old Fender well I'm sure Alex can make one for me and I'll keep my 8 ohm unit because 2 Alex's are worth one Aracom!!!!

Thanks for reading and long lives Alex!

[Scumback Speakers]

Didn't find or you didn't like my review on TGP?

[Twistingcrow]

I found your review about the match Faustine VS Aracom but never saw your review of the Alex...

[Scumback Speakers]

You're right. I just looked for it and couldn't find it. Must have been killed in a server cleanup.

[908ssp]

Thanks guys. I do appreciate your opinion it is hard to be impartial.

Jim I think that thread got heated and then deleted.

[shakti]

The Alex is superb! I've never tried the Aracom or Faustine, but had the Alex head to head with an Ultimate Attenuator. No comparison whatsoever....the UA was fizzy, harsh and "solid state-y" by comparison.

As I understand it, as long as you match the Alex' impedance with the amp output impedance, you're good to go in most situations. As soon as you attenuate, the Alex will split the load between the reactive attenuator circuitry and the speaker. So at -3dB half the output will "see" the attenuator load and half will see the speaker load. At -6dB, 75% of the output power sees the attenuator load and only 25% goes to the speaker, so at that point, the impedance of the speaker becomes relatively unimportant. At higher attenuation settings, the power is dissipated almost entirely by the reactive attnuation circuitry, so you can use a speaker of almost any impedance. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Mars Hall]

The Aracom's pros are the multiple impedance choices and two speaker outputs. Its cons are the size and the price. The Alex's attenuator pros are the price, the treble "booster" if needed, and the size (twice smaller than the Aracom). Its cons the fixed inupt impedance. The output impedance doesn't seem to be an issue (taken from Alex's words...)
:

How much is an Alex? Is there a website?

[somethin'else]

How much is an Alex? Is there a website?

www.myspace.com/alexsattenuator seems to be the place.

Best bet I'd say is PM 908ssp directly from here. I'm seriously considering rolling an Alex into the mix to duke it out with my UA.
908ssp, any plans for dual speaker outs or ohms select in the future?

Jim I think that thread got heated and then deleted.

That's a shame. Well, at least no one's amp head blew up, right?

[Scumback Speakers]

Thanks guys. I do appreciate your opinion it is hard to be impartial.

Jim I think that thread got heated and then deleted.

I think you're right. Typical review/comparison thread I start with a bunch of good reasons/definitions/conclusions reached based on actual experience and testing. However, someone from the UA camp got their thong twisted in their bunghole and got it closed or deleted IIRC.

The same thing happened on the Faustine/UA thread I started on TGP 20 months ago now as well (including a flamefest here).

It'll get to the point where I just won't post my opinions online...some don't like the conclusions I reach based on tone, common sense and direct comparisons. FYI, I had a client here two weeks ago who tried out the AA who has/had an Aracom, UA and now the Faustine Phantom, and he thought the AA sounded every bit as good as the ones he'd already had, and the Faustine he now has.

Of course, that was using my 71 100w SL through one of my 4x12 cabs and 12 gauge speaker cables with no other pedal boards, or crap, just plugged straight in. Sounded pretty righteous at 8 on the SL, and went from loud as f**k to acceptable bedroom levels without any tone impact (just loss of volume).

[908ssp]

I'd be happy answer questions just email or PM me. I can't afford to advertise and other companies do it would not be fair to them if it appeared I was using the board to advertise for free. Thanks.

[Tone seaker]

the UA was fizzy, harsh and "solid state-y" by comparison.

I have a UA and it sounds very good, not fizzy,harsh or solid state at all. My amp sounds great with it. Much better than a hot plate or power brake.

[AbbeSauniere]

The Alex is phenomenal! Had the UA and The 1st gen Aracom. The Alex works much better with my V4 and sounds just as amazing with my newly arrived Matamp.

[jzucker]

The Alex is superb! I've never tried the Aracom or Faustine, but had the Alex head to head with an Ultimate Attenuator. No comparison whatsoever....the UA was fizzy, harsh and "solid state-y" by comparison.

As I understand it, as long as you match the Alex' impedance with the amp output impedance, you're good to go in most situations. As soon as you attenuate, the Alex will split the load between the reactive attenuator circuitry and the speaker. So at -3dB half the output will "see" the attenuator load and half will see the speaker load. At -6dB, 75% of the output power sees the attenuator load and only 25% goes to the speaker, so at that point, the impedance of the speaker becomes relatively unimportant. At higher attenuation settings, the power is dissipated almost entirely by the reactive attnuation circuitry, so you can use a speaker of almost any impedance. Correct me if I'm wrong.

UA isn't fizzy at all. It's the most natural sounding one I've heard. Still, I dislike the power cord and the relay charging. It also didn't work at all with my Badcat and UA seemed to think there was an issue with the unit but it worked fine with my Gries plexi clone so who knows?

[AJW]

I love my Alex's attenuator as well. I can only judge it against a Hotplate and an old Scholtz Powersoak, but it's far superior to those!

[Dave_C]

The Alex is phenomenal! Had the UA and The 1st gen Aracom. The Alex works much better with my V4 and sounds just as amazing with my newly arrived Matamp.

I agree!

I have two Alex's Attenuators (an 8 ohm and 16 ohm), a Faustine Phantom DX2, Kelley, Z Air Brake, Weber MASS , Marshall Power Brake and have owned an original Aracom, UA, Hotplate and perhaps others I can't think of at the moment. Out of all these attenuators, I have found the Alex and Phantom DX2 to be the most transparent and musical, by a significant margin.

Recently, on my Glaswerks SOD II, while equalizing speaker output via its master volume (to remove speaker/cab/room/FM FX) and comparing the AA to the DX2, I found the AA to be slightly more transparent in that the DX2 had a tiny bit less high end than the bypassed tone. With the AA, I went back-n-forth a bunch of times and could not really perceive any differences. I'd think I'd hear a little, only to try again and then not hear it the second time...it's that close to the live volume-leveled bypassed tone. However, on my Germino Monterey 100, when doing a quick bypassed-to-first-click comparison, both the AA and the DX2 were perceived as being totally transparent compared to bypass. However, when running both attenuators deeper into attenuation and comparing them to each other while in circuit, the AA was consistently perceived as being a tiny bit brighter than the DX2, confirming the results I did with the Glaswerks volume-leveled test. But, you definitely need to listen very carefully when doing these tests. It's splitting hairs.

None of the other attenuators mentioned above even remotely came close to the AA and DX2 when performing these kinds of tests. I could hear the lack of transparency quite quickly with all of the following.

The Kelley is a really sweet-sounding attenuator, but it compresses and darken the tone, as purely resistive attenuators are known to do.

The Z Air Brake, in clicked mode, comes in 3rd place behind the AA and DX2 in terms of transparency. Its Bedroom mode is horrible though...buzzy.

The Weber MASS compresses and darkens the tone, despite being a complex load.

The Marshall Power Brake noticeably changes both the mids and highs.

The original Aracom adds a harsh, raspy high end artifact in the 6-8KHz region. (The DAG version is equipped with a switchable filter which is supposed to filter that out. I have not tried that model.)

The UA exposes the amp to a 32 ohm purely resistive load and is, therefore, potentially dangerous to amp health when using amp outputs less than 16 ohms. Aside from that, it compresses and darkens the tone, as low-into-high impedance and purely resistive loads are known to do. My unit was also built very poorly, made strange noises, vibrated in use and caused my OT to get VERY hot. I sent it back after two days for a refund.

The Hot-Plate changes lows and highs when getting anywhere below about 4-8dB attenuation and the compensation provided is just not accurate. The 4dB clicks were unusable for me in a band context.

Hope this helps.