TAD Silencer RS8 Power Attenuator (8 ohm - black)

What does the SilencerTM power attenuator? The SilencerTM is used to reduce output power and volume. Many popular rock guitar sounds are based on the well known sounds created by the guitar legends of the sixties and seventies. Guitar playerscranked up their amps to full volume to be heard. Tube guitar amps do sound best when played loud because the output stage starts to saturate and delivers the most musical and harmonic distortion, wonderful sustain and a thick tone with overall response. This is what we all look for, but if a 50 or 100 Watt amp is played at full volume, then it gets so loud that you might damage your ears and you might annoy your audience, musicians or just your neighbours. The SilencerTM solves this problem. How does the SilencerTM work? It gets connected between the amps speaker output and the speaker(s) (or speaker cabinet) and gives total control on what part of the power output will be feed to your speakers. Crank up the amp to the setting were it sounds best and adjust the final volume just for your speakers with the SilencerTM. All components which are responsible for great guitar tone are still working "cranked up" to your favourite set-up (preamp tubes, driver stage, output tubes, transformers etc.) and deliver great tone. The final volume you hear is adjusted AFTER the amps output. The power attenuation can be set in convenient 2db steps from FULL power to ­16db. From ­16db on you can fine adjust to total silence. Why does the Silencer offer BITE and PUNCH boosts? Since our ears do hear less TREBLES and BASS on low volume signals (physio-acoustic effects) the Silencer does feature a 3-position BITE switch to boost the high end and a 3-position PUNCH switch to boost low mids and bass response. Does the Silencer affect the tone quality like common attenuators? Usually power attenuators steal brightness and definition in bass frequencies the more they attenuate the power. Can I use the Silencer without speakers? With the POWER switch in "LOAD" position the Silencer will work without any speaker connected. It works as a plain Load-Box. The signal can be taken from the adjustable LINE-Out (plain) or from the F.A.N.T.A.-Out to feed a recording system, the mixing console, a slave amp etc. This is a common setting for in-ear-monitoring or home recording. How does the LINE-Out and the F.A.N.T.A. Speaker Simulation work? The LINE-Out is an unfiltered output with adjustable volume as used to feed LINE-Level devices. It uses a ¼" phone jack (mono). The F.A.N.T.A. (Frequency Adapted Natural Tone Accessory ) Speaker. Emulation is a low impedance, balanced symmetric,tr ansformer coupled output. It provides a 3-pin XLR-Connector for a standard microphone cable to connect to the mixing console, recording system, etc.. The signal runs trough a sophisticated speaker emulation which featurws unique quality: it is reacting to your playing style! Clean signals will sound clear and bright with only slight compression but if you play distorted the emulation will sound smooth, punchy and big bottomed with good compression. Just what you expect from the perfect speaker cabinet. This is what separates the Silencer from most common speaker emulators; …the F.A.N.T.A. Emulation will respond to your playing and reacts like a real speaker system. You won't need to mic the amp anymore. Can the Silencer damage my amp or speakers? No! The Silencer is made exactly to the specs of the impedance it bears. If power gets attenuated then your speaker(s) will work safer than under real full power. If you play loud your tubes will wear out a bit faster, but since the Silencer is matched exactly to your amps impedance this effect is rather low. However, every tube amp needs to see a load. It is dangerous to drive a tube amp without a load so make sure to use good speaker cables. This is true for all tube amps and not only the use with a Silencer.