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I raise the volume on this to 2 at most for home studio playing--just too much amp. I either need to sell it or consider an attenuator. Sweetwater recommends $$$$ Ironman Tone King 11. Just looking for fat, mellow,and clean jazz tone with this amp--maybe I have the wrong amp here, alongside Deluxe Reverb, which has been fine for many years now. Any suggestions on a different amp or an attenuator?
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12-06-2023 07:53 AM
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If you decide to go with an attenuator, I can’t recommend that exact model (Tone King Ironman II) highly enough. I’ve tried many of them and it’s the most transparent I’ve found.
As long as the Deluxe doesn’t break up too much for you as you push it higher and you can find the sweet spot with it. If you have it there and just need to bring the volume down the Tone King will do it. It also has some really nice features built in, like a DI out and line out, speaker impedance matching and foot switchable level. The DI out has speaker and mic emulation as well.
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Wow, I'm really surprised to read your post. I have the same amp and typically play an ES 335 w/Fralin PAFs...and yes it get can loud fast. I've found setting the amp volume relatively low and using the guitar volume/tone can coax some great tones at bedroom volumes. I'm a huge fan of this amp and would hate to see you sell it! Good luck on your search.
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For a "no frills, just make it less loud" attenuator, I've been happy with Weber's products. Much lower cost than the Ironman.
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The Tone King is in a different class than the Weber though. I guarantee almost anyone would hear a huge difference. The reactive load circuit in the Tone King allows the amp to react more naturally than a simple attenuator does.
Originally Posted by andrew
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Ditto for me, except I have the head version of the 57 Custom Deluxe amp, connected to a matching 1x12 speaker cab. I plug into input #2 and turn the amp Volume up to around 2 or 5, then turn down the guitar volume for the desired level for the room. Amp Tone is set between 8 or 10. Originally Posted by Prof Silverhair
Tweed Deluxe amps can be a challenge to dial in, but well worth it after some experimentation.
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The purpose of an attenuator for tube amps is to get more distortion at lower volumes. This happens by attenuating the signal after the preamp and after the poweramp so that you can increase those to add more saturation while decreasing the overall volume.
Are you sure this is what you're looking for? In your first post you say you want a clean tone. This would be achieved by attenuating the signal going into the amp. Input 2 on the 57 Custom Deluxe is attenuated by -6db. Additionally your guitar has a volume knob. The combination of these two things should get you to the volume level you need.
However if what you want IS a quiet, distorted signal, then yes, the Toneking attenuator has the best customer reviews. I have tried out toneking amps and agree that it's very transparent but I don't own one.
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I definitely have amps that don’t have their best unattenuated clean tone until they are at uncomfortable volume levels. Granted, they are 50-100 watt amps. Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
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Agree but we're talking about a 12 watt amp in this case.
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Originally Posted by omphalopsychos
Well put, thank you. Best to keep the amp, I think, work with low amp volume and do the rest with guitar volume control. the Mic and standard input on this amp are also very different, I gather, and I probably have not put in enough time in getting to the heart of what this amp is designed to do.
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If I worked at sweetwater I would recommend this bass amp.
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It has now been replaced with an updated version call the RB110 but I think the guts are more or less the same. The build quality is not exactly top shelf but the tones are all there. For home practice and small coffee shop gigs its great. You could buy three or four of them for the price of the Ironman alone.
I love tube amps and still have some but they’re not for home use. Keep the 57 and use it for its intended purpose, Gigs!
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Definitely keep it and experiment with it. It requires a good amount of knob turning to dial in for your guitar, room, etc. There are some very good videos out there on how to do it. If memory serves, the gist is to set the volume low, tone 8-10, and mic volume maxed out. Then play and slowly turn down the mic volume to your desired level of clean/dirty relative to your guitar volume. I'm not sure this was Leo's intended use but it's remarkably genius. I'd also recommend experimenting with the 1 or 2 input - I found there was a big difference between them. Also, jumping the 1 and 2 of the unused channels really makes for some loud fun (not that I ever do it). Hope this helps in some small way, I'm glad you're planning on keeping it!
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