Attenuators and experiences you've had...

[gutpile]

I have a Mass 150 and a Hotplate... both are a necessity for me when we play out, especially the smaller clubs... I've never had any problems of any kind...

[jwcaudio]

I've got a UA with the dual volume mod and a Weber 100W Mass. I love them both. I prefer the UA with my AC30 and the Weber for my Super Lead. Granted the Weber isn't as beefy as it should be but I'm going for David Grissom type tones and don't have the Super dimed. I've never had any trouble at all (had them both for 3+ years) with the amps or attenuators. As for the comments about wearing out your tubes early...You'd be doing the same thing to them if you used your amp cranked with a blanket over it. I've done that in clubs many times. My experience tells me tubes don't wear out any faster than cranking your amp normally. I can't stand the master volume thing (cold...no life whatsoever IMHO) so attenuators are a must for me. My 2 cents!

JWC

[Mars Hall]

My experience is with the hotplate. Great with Fenders, bad with Marshall type circuits. Leo over designed his transformers, knowing musicians would plug any old speaker load into it. I've got a BBRI the thing would run fine(-8 db) for an hour or so, then out of nowhere the tube next to the PI would light up like a Christmas tree! I mean this tube look like a forest fire inside. I quit using the hotplate with it and haven't had a problem since. I still use it on my 61 Concert without incident and it sounds great. The Fenders are just more forgiving of an impedance mismatch. Don't let anyone fool you, when you use a hotplate it mismatches the impedance, that's how it works.

[Mars Hall]

My experience is with the hotplate. Great with Fenders, bad with Marshall type circuits. Leo over designed his transformers, knowing musicians would plug any old speaker load into it. I've got a BBRI the thing would run fine(-8 db) for an hour or so, then out of nowhere the tube next to the PI would light up like a Christmas tree! I mean this tube look like a forest fire inside. I quit using the hotplate with it and haven't had a problem since. I still use it on my 61 Concert without incident and it sounds great. The Fenders are just more forgiving of an impedance mismatch. Don't let anyone fool you, when you use a hotplate it mismatches the impedance, that's how it works.

I have to amend this statement. I have recently discovered the BBRI, I refered to above, has this problem without the Hotplate in the signal chain.