Lovers of tube amps are all too familiar with this problem: in many cases, to get the amp into its “sweet spot,” you have to crank it up to very loud levels. If the amp is more than a few watts, it may be too loud for practice at home and even for many smaller venues. What to do?
You could live with less than optimal tone…but is that really an option?
A better solution is to find a way to run the amp cranked up, but still be able to control the volume — and that’s where today’s Cool Tool comes in!
The Rivera RockCrusher is a power attenuator and load box that absorbs the power your cranked amp puts out, and gives you control over the final volume coming out of the speaker. An Attenuation control dials back the volume from -3dB down to -20dB, while a level control lets you drop the volume down to whisper quiet for studio use or home practicing. There are also balanced and unbalanced outs so you can feed your amp’s output straight into an effects box, a mixer, or even into your audio interface. There’s even EQ adjustment for tweaking the tone. You can connect either 8- or 16-ohm loads to the RockCrusher.
Best of all, the RockCrusher does its job without sucking away tonal goodness and without changing the playing feel of your amp.
