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Eyes of the Night
02-07-2005, 06:21 AM
What's a GOOD one? ... not breakers but ... i forgot

GAR
02-07-2005, 02:58 PM
Brembo makes some nice brakes.

Eyes of the Night
02-08-2005, 05:41 AM
Niiice ...

Being stuck in this apartment I'd figure I'd give the neighbors a break ONCE in awhile;) ...

BrownSound1
02-08-2005, 05:26 PM
Oh, you mean like a Marshall Power Brake (don't like it) or a THD Hotplate.

GAR
02-08-2005, 05:59 PM
Give your family a break once in a while with a paycheck..

Nitro Express
02-08-2005, 07:08 PM
Or the walls. I actually rattled the drywall fasteners out of my basement wall going apeshit with a Hiwatt and a Big Muff I used to have.

GAR
02-08-2005, 09:07 PM
I still use my old Altair Power Attenuator, which is based on a simple-ass ceramic paddle insulator wrapped with - no shit - coiled electric-heater type Nichrome resistance wire wrapped around and tapped at selected reference points (4-8-16-24-32 ohms etc.) and has a direct output. It does the job, made entirely of perforated heavy steel in 1978.

I worked as tech for Dave Pritchard of Armored Saint, he used a Tom Scholtz Power Soak. That sounded good, but it was made of rows of 5 watt Cermet resistors mounted to a PC board that would warp and require solder joints to be touched up after heavy regular useage.. they would get so hot the board and the plastic front panel would warp and melt. I liked them but they were made of light holepunched sheetmetal and since they were weighted less physically than the pair of fucking speaker cords going in and out, many times the Powersoak would fall off the head from vibrations moving it around, and it was best to tape em down.

Marshall Power Brake - they sound pretty flat so I guess they're alright but a bit on the pricey side to me.

THD Hotplate - these sound best to me of them all because they're slightly reactive for some reason in a way that I like. I don't know what all the circuit is composed of since it's in a sealed clip of 6" wide extruded anodized aluminum, but they're right to include a little fan in it for the sake of what I pointed out on the Power Soak: that's that they all get hot because of the nature of what they do, which is resist electrical pressure and generate heat off as a byproduct.

BrownSound1
02-09-2005, 12:13 AM
I remember guys blowing output transformers on Marshalls using the old Scholz Power Soak...I believe Marshall finally had to say you'd void your warranty by using one of the Scholz units. Of course a few years later they release their own version so there you go. LOL

I've never seen one of the Altair units..sounds interesting though.

ELVIS
02-09-2005, 02:36 AM
I have an old Tom Scholtz Power Soak in brand new condition...

I've had it 20 years and never used it, aside from trying it out...

Hardrock69
02-10-2005, 11:10 AM
The THD Hotplate is regarded as the best, from my years of experience.