Z Air Brake (Trainwreck) Attenuator

This video demonstrates the use of an attenuator. A Z Air Brake (Trainwreck) attenuator is connected between a Peavey VTM 120 head and a 4x12 cabinet. The guitar is a Fender Strat (40th Anniversary) with stock single coil pickups.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Attenuator
• zair
• peavey
• fender
• bedroom
• trainwreck

[Hankandthetanktops]

whats the difference between the "train wreck" version as opposed to the regular version?

[qthrul]

@Hankandthetanktops it's just a licensing deal I think but the boxes are the same... this is an older video

[InFuriatedShadows]

Do you find the bass response of your VTM a little muddy or the high end a little brittle/shrill? Maybe too much high end?

[qthrul]

@InFuriatedShadows I've never thought about it that way but you can get some rather diverse sounds if you shift EQ and the dip switches to favor one or the other

[7572970097]

Confused...If your vtm head already has a cascading gain (pre, post). Why attenuate? Certainly the gain structure of that head will allow you to get plenty of preamp tube saturation at bedroom volumes. Is it a power tube thing? If you wanted power tube saturation, I would kill the gain(pre), dime the post, attenuate that signal and then increase the pre to taste. It seems you're essentially attenuating an already attenuated signal. This usually results in some very nasty compression, no?

[qthrul]

Sure. My VTM sounds best loud (as with other VTMx) with one setting... post wide open i.e. dime/10/whatever -- trust me, I've played around with variations and this is the combination I like personally. But while the wide open effect is brilliant, it doesn't lend to having neighbors nearby.

I've had the head serviced before and asked about other dime-quality-at-sane-volume options and have elected to keep everything inside mine is stock. Hence, the Z.

[flint757]

@itayash ya definitely not two weeks but shorter. If I had to guess to wear them out in two weeks you would have to play like 8 hours a day everyday at full volume and improperly start up and shutdown when finished. I mean the hotter glass gets the more likely it is to brake but prob not two weeks just dont overkill it.

[MrCheese5]

actually thats completely false. if you crank your tubes sure youll wear them faster but two weeks?? it wouldnt wear them more than cranking them the same with out the attenuator, but i guess because of the attenuator you will be cranking them more, but two weeks, they shoud definitely last longer than that.

[itayash]

i want to buy a airbrake

but some one told me that when u use Attenuator

the tubes die in 2 weeks

in the time u used the Attenuator how manny times did u changed ur tubes?

[qthrul]

I'd guess you'd need to have 1/4" connectors on the speaker (female) and 1/4" connectors from the head (male) assuming that this is a tube combo.