I am thinking of buying a used Two Notes Torpedo Captor load box.
Being the cautious type,is there any way to check if it is working ok prior to using it with my Marshall SC20C amp?
Wouldn’t like to damage the amp.
Used Amp Load Box
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Re: Used Amp Load Box
You could test it first with a solid state amp rather than a valve one.
The attenuation side is unlikely to go wrong as it's a fixed -20dB attenuator, so no gain pots to go wrong (except on the output side, which won't affect the attenuation).
I don't know if the fan kicks in on temperature or is always on, but obviously if that doesn't work at all, then there could be an issue with components overheating.
The attenuation side is unlikely to go wrong as it's a fixed -20dB attenuator, so no gain pots to go wrong (except on the output side, which won't affect the attenuation).
I don't know if the fan kicks in on temperature or is always on, but obviously if that doesn't work at all, then there could be an issue with components overheating.
Reliably fallible.
Re: Used Amp Load Box
I could always make one as per Paul White’s article:
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... eaker-load
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques ... eaker-load
Re: Used Amp Load Box
You could, but it's not the same thing at all. The Two Notes you are interested in is a reactive attenuating load box, with an IR facility to give you a recording facility for the cab of your choice. It acts (or is supposed to act) so your amp sees a real speaker connected to the amp, and the amp reacts to the variable impedance at different frequencies like it would if there was a real speaker attached. The basic Paul White one is purely resitive, so the amp responds differently.
Plug the amp into a pure dummy load and you get no sound. You could (if you have two speaker outputs on the amp) plug in. Fine for testing an amp repair silently, but on its own it does nothing particularly useful.
If your amp has two speaker outputs, then you can plug a dummy load into one and a passive DI box (set to -40dB attenuation) to get a signal for recording. But because your Paul White dummy load is just resistive, it will sound pretty different to when a speaker is attached. You'll also need to use a cab sim in software.
I have the Bugera attenuator
https://www.thomann.co.uk/bugera_power_soak_ps1.htm
It does what it says and can attenuate the speaker level considerably - but it doesn't go silent. It too is purely resistive, so whilst it makes things quieter. it doesn't give you your natural amp sound. As a result I've never bothered with the emulated mic sound output for recording.
The Harley Benton (Thomann) version is basically the same but cheaper.
https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton ... nuator.htm
Again, not a full dummy load so you can't go silent.
Plug the amp into a pure dummy load and you get no sound. You could (if you have two speaker outputs on the amp) plug in. Fine for testing an amp repair silently, but on its own it does nothing particularly useful.
If your amp has two speaker outputs, then you can plug a dummy load into one and a passive DI box (set to -40dB attenuation) to get a signal for recording. But because your Paul White dummy load is just resistive, it will sound pretty different to when a speaker is attached. You'll also need to use a cab sim in software.
I have the Bugera attenuator
https://www.thomann.co.uk/bugera_power_soak_ps1.htm
It does what it says and can attenuate the speaker level considerably - but it doesn't go silent. It too is purely resistive, so whilst it makes things quieter. it doesn't give you your natural amp sound. As a result I've never bothered with the emulated mic sound output for recording.
The Harley Benton (Thomann) version is basically the same but cheaper.
https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton ... nuator.htm
Again, not a full dummy load so you can't go silent.
Reliably fallible.