Does anyone use an attenuator?

[thedudebrah]

When my band recorded our demo, I was using my SVT-VR through an 810 cab, which is my normal stage rig. The studio was fairly small, and when I dialed in my sound in the room, our engineer told me it was too loud and was vibrating the monitors off of his console. I ended up settling on a sound I wasn't ecstatic about. I've been considering a lower wattage tube head for recording situations, but money is tight, and I don't want to drop a bunch of coin on an amp I'll only use in a studio setting.

Which brings me to attenuators. I've come across some deals on Craigslist, and I'm curious of the pros and cons. With the reading I did, it seems like you can set your volume and get some real nice tube warmth and drive, and then basically turn down the volume coming out of your cab. That leads me to think it would be a nice tool to have if and when that situation arises again.

So, does anyone have any experience, advice or preferences when it comes to using an attenuator?

Btw, you can listen to my recorded sound via the link in my sig if anyone cares.

[CL400Peavey]

Not really feasible with a Svt. You news something that can safely absorb ~600 watts and not burn up. Just get a v4b.

[WingKL]

Well you could get someone to build a custom attenuator for you or use a small inefficient cab like an Acme Low B2. Another option is to pull tubes and reconfigure/rewire your 810 to use fewer drivers but still maintain the right impedance ratio for your tubes.

[soulman969]

All of the attenuators I'm familiar with are designed for guitar amps with far less out put than the 300w your head is producing. Have you thought about recording direct to the board with something like a Sans Amp pedal that would emulate your SVT? Or that and a smaller combo.

I'm not saying it's never been done but to be honest with you I've never see anyone use and 300w 8x10 rig in the studio for exactly the same reasons your engineer struggled with it.

[wcriley]

Couldn't you have gone direct and used the studio's plug-ins to recreate the sound of a pushed SVT? May not have sounded exactly like a pushed SVT, but probably closer than what you got after lowering your volume.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

+1 on using a plugin and going straight to board, not ideal, but probably closer than you'd expect.

Unless you can find higher power 10s that still sound like your current setup but in a 2x10 or whatnot, or is there anywhere local you could rent a fliptop? (while a bit different, would still sound awesome!)

[thedudebrah]

I think I may just hold out for a V4B or something. I did run a blend of DI and mic'd cab on that recording, but if I can get a better sound out of my amp then I'll take it. I thought an attenuator would be a good route.