I want to add an extra tube/gain stage to my plexi reis head

[rjgtr]

I thought the Hot Plate was an inductive load using a series of inductors and circuits. The older Sholz Powersoak was a resistive load.

The best Attenuator from a speaker-type load perspective is actually the Weber MASS, since it does use a speaker motor (a very special speaker).

The Marshall uses a fan and circuit to simulate a speaker, which is not the same.

[flemingmras]

Actually the fan has nothing to do with the load circuit. It simply "borrows" some of the signal, which get's rectified and filtered before it goes into the fan itself.

The actual load is a stepping transformer and what you're actually doing is selecting different taps on this transformer with the Power Brake. So since it is actually an inductor, it reacts back to the amp the same way the speaker would, except in a speaker the counter EMF that's induced into it's coil is caused by movement over the speaker magnet whereas the load coil in a Power Brake's counter EMF is caused by the magnetic field collapsing on the zero crossing point of the signal.

Ive just learned that tha THDs are inductive loads, however I like the fact that the brake's got more steps for attenuation so that you can better fine tune your volume. Plus the fact that you can actually mod them for footswitchable lead and rhythm volumes like I did mine courtesy of Velvet of course!

Jon

[Bravin Neff]

Hey Stan. OK my thing with the hot plate is is that it's a RESISTIVE load whereas the Power Brake is an INDUCTIVE load. Here's the difference. If you start reading this and it turns out that you already know what I'm about to say, just skip it and reply so that you don't think that I'm implying that you're...not intelligent or something. LOL

Anyway, a speaker is an inductor, which has impedance, which is the resistance to AC current(a guitar signal). Inductors and resistors differ in the fact that a resistor maintains the same resistance no matter what the frequency of the AC signal whereas an inductor changes it's resistance to AC current according to the frequency of the AC signal.

A Hotplate is a resistive load, meaning that regardless of the frequency of the amp's output signal, it maintains the same resistance, so it doesn't act like a speaker like the amp wants it to. However a Power Brake is an inductive load due to the fact that it uses a big stepping transformer to drop the signal's amplitude. Since it is an inductor, it acts just like a speaker just like the amp want's it to. So as far as your amp is concerned, the amp thinks it's hooked up to a speaker so the amp is gonna sound exactly the same as it would hooked straight to a speaker, just at a lower volume. Whereas on a resistive load the amp acts much differently so it doesn't sound the same. IMHO it sounds thin and lacks punch on a resistive load and there's a much better chance that you could blow your amp's output section on a resistive load than there is on an inductive load. And since output transformers are designed to drive inductive loads and not resistive loads, the Power Brake IMO is much safer for your amp as well.
Jon

The thing I just don't get about your statements here is... did you listen to the two, instead of thinking about the theoretical differences? How did the two sound to you?

I know how they sound to me. The Marshall Power Brake sounds like pure dog shit. Compressed and very artificial sounding... not at all like a "lower volue" version of the amp it's braking. And when I say "compressed," I mean in that super-fast attack sort of way, which is not the way plexis sound. If I wanted that sound, I'd hook my distressor in front of the amp and set it on nuke. It sounds very obviously intrusive, to my ears. Not that I think the THD is that great, but it certainly sounds better than the Marshall.

YMMV