Best DIY attenuator ?

[iknowjohnny]

preferably something w/o hard to find parts and as simple as possible, but not at the cost of dull tone. I'm not looking for huge attenuation. But at home i'm always having to keep the master down to where it's just below that point where the master sorta comes alive. It's just mush below the point i need to be, so i just need a few DB. I've made those static L-pad types just using a resistor network, but even with little attenuation they lose a lot of sparkle.

[iknowjohnny]

I found something about Lpads and it shows a circuit called a "bridged T". I just made one but before i try it i have a question for you guys. Looking at a regular L-pad you can see like with all attenuators, the input side is different than the output. And so it's important to recognise which side goes to the amp and which to the speaker. However, looking at the bridged t circuit, both sides are the same thing and therefore i can't see any reason you need to worrk about polorization....you could plug the speaker into either jack. am i missing something here ir is that right? i'v just never seen any attenuator of any type where you could plug it in either way, so it worries me a bit. Check it out here....

http://amps.zugster.net/articles/attenuation

[paulster]

You're correct. The 'in' can just as easily be the 'out' and vice versa.

I'd be interested to know how these sound compared to an L-pad, although still being resistive only your amp is very soon going to lose the dynamic impedance it sees on the output caused by the reactive load of the speaker.

[iknowjohnny]

Isn't it odd tho? i mean, never having seen a non polarized attenuator it seems odd. guess i'll give it a go, after all it isn't going to hurt anything at the volume i'll be using it at. Supposed to retain the tone better than a regular L-pad circuit tho, so i'll post back once i try it and let you know what i think.

[Andy Le Blanc]

light bulbs....

find the thread: PT CT light bulb to ground

It works

[da Geezer]

light bulbs....

find the thread: PT CT light bulb to ground

It works

https://tubeamparchive.com/viewtopic.ph ... ulb+ground

[iknowjohnny]

Sounds interesting, i will, thanks. However, i just tried this bridged T Lpad and it works as well as i'd hoped. I however only had 5 watt resistors in values I needed so i can't really see how it works with the amp up much. I just turned it up to home levels like a loud TV, and it works well to get me past that click point in the master where everything under that point is just unusable mush. Now when i go past that point it's low enough and the tone is fine, no darkness. Anyways, i'll check out the light bulb idea if i can find it, thanks.

[iknowjohnny]

Ahhh....geezer faster than I, thanks

[Andy Le Blanc]

I appreciate too...