Marshall powerbrake

demanufactured

Anyone ever used one of these???

My amp has no master volume (valvestate vsr102)
I was thinkin of gettin one but its more expensive than my amp was.

Is there a way ya can wire in your own master volume pot on the front end??

Custom22

Do not buy one. It is an attenuator and will only operate correctly on a valve power amp. As far as I know your amp has a solid state power amp .. no? In any case I think its a pretty poor product in general. Its bulky and you can get the job done for far less.

I dont want to sound snide or pompus but what made you think you needed a powerbrake? What are you looking to achieve?

Hope that helped!

Eoin Madsen

Aye, most attenuators are only designed to work with valve output transformers, they can cause damage if misused. The powerbrake isn't really the best attenuator anyway, it's a bit dated.

I assume you're attempting to achieve more distortion by increasing gain but reducing the volume? It is possible (and quite simple tbh) to add a master volume before the poweramp stage but to do it yourself would require a fairly reasonable knowledge of guitar amp theory and some skill with a soldering iron. To be honest, I wouldn't recommend you try it - amps can contain dangerous voltages.

Given the quality and type of distortion you will achieve through a valvestate anyway, I would suggest you simply buy a distortion pedal!

Great Baldini

I used a PB with a 30W Marshall valve combo (JTM30) a few years ago. It gave lovely crunch / compression. A sweet combination that would have been perfect for miking / recording. I've heard poor reports about how they affected tone on other amps so my combination might have been an exception. THey're big bulky and not worth the hassle overall. More recently, I played through a 100W TSL head with the VPR (virtual power reduction) engaged - very similar effect.

The PB should make no difference to a solid state power stage. Its designed (as someone pointed out above) to allow you achieve output power stage compression/distortion at manageable volume.

If I was you, I'd keep my money and save up for an amp with master volume.

demanufactured

The reason i was asking is because on my marshall the volume for the three channels are independent and theres no way to govern the overall volume of the amp....so it can be annoiying having to adjust all three channels during gigs.

What about a volume pedal in the loop or am i just getting stupid?

jcoote

yeah get a volume pedal that'll cut the volume for ya and if u fancy it it can be a very effective effects pedal to

Eoin Madsen

Does the amp have an effects loop?