THD Hotplate Attenuator (8 Ohm)

I used the hotplate with a JCM900 2100 and some marshall 4 x 12. Using a Ibanez SZ320 with stock pickups.

I had the volume on 6 with the pre-amp gain on 6 and the mids etc around 2 o clock.

Using this hotplate really helped catch the power and balls of the JCM900. I play in a metal band so my sound has to have clarity and power amoung the amount of distortion i use. It shook the whole room and it sounded better than i thought it would.

Using the hotplate on -16 setting sounds ok, if i was to play the amp a low volume without the hotplate it would sound bad, but the hotplate makes it sound alot better. But not as good as if it was played loud, mainly due to the speakers not being driven hard enough.

The same as all the other Hotplates, just 8 ohms.

Only had it a week and is doing fine right now

n/a

Overall i would recommend this to any guitarist who uses a valve amp. It really brings your amp to life without damaging your ears. I couldn't ask for anything else on the hotplate as it has everything i need to get my tone. Could do with being a bit cheaper, but you can't sacrifice tone for a cheaper power attenuator if you want to sound great at lower volumes.

Playing a Gibson Les Paul Std and PRS Custom 24 through a Mesa Rect-o-verb head with a 2 x 12 Recto closed back cabinet. With the amp cranked at about 50% the Hot Plate absolutely shines. I play it at mostly -12db and get some really great sounds from the amp & cabinet. At -16db you're gonna loose some tone but the amp still sounds decent. (Also remember, the speaker isn't vibrating like it should at -16db) Your expectations HAVE TO BE REALISTIC. Sounds great with the clean or overdrive channels. I could not use this setup at home without the Hot Plate. Just way too much power for the house. I was gonna trade in my amp for something smaller. NOT NOW, NO WAY, EVERYTHING STAYS, all because of this small purple box.

Purchased Nov.2004
5 ranges of attenuation with one variable at -16db
Has low and high boost switches and noise reduction
Used at home (keeps the wife and neighbors happy)

Going on 7 months no problems, don't foresee any. The unit is built ultra heavy duty, solid as a rock. Looks like it's made for the "long haul".

I did have a situation where I thought the small light, that shows the noise reduction is active, wasn't working. This turned out to be due to my own stupidity.(The light was working the whole time) Anyway, I e-mailed THD and got a response back, the same day, from Andy Marshall, the main-man, the presisent & CEO. He responed back to me twice, really fast. These guys really care about their products and their customers. NO BULL. I can't say enough about how great they are. They helped me really fast, and who am I, just some unknown guy who set up a small room in his house, so he could play his guitars.
They treated me like I was starring on MTV.

Playing for 35 years on and off. (you know the story, job, wife, kids) I've bought and sold more stuff than I care to remember. But, the stuff I have now goes to the grave with me. Not alot, but real quality, all made in the USA. If anything ever happened to the Hot Plate I would replace it in a heart beat. Like I said, I can't use my amp at home without it. The only thing that I wish this unit had was the abiltiy to switch to different ohm ratings. If I ever change speakers and they're not 8 ohm, I have to buy another Hot Plate made to match the new speakers. That could get expensive. However, I don't see that happening. But, that's why it got a 9.

No serious problems here. Pretty common sense stuff, mostly. instructions are rather vague though.

I'd say this is a matter of tast. I play a prs cust24 through an un-moded Soldano slo-100. I use the hot plate with only the "deep" switch on. This gives the amp a much needed boost on the bottom end which I much enjoy. Saved me a rather large sum of money on sending it back to CA to get it moded. I could see, however, how the coloration of the tone might upset some. Try it before you buy it.

Only had it for a short while. No problems yet.

Great piece of equipment. Glad to have it around. I live in a dorm room and would risk a fine if I turned my amp up even above 2 let alone up to 11. I don't mind what it does to the sound of the amp at all. Again, try it before you buy it.

pretty easy to use, when you know how, the instructions are minimal, they allow you to use the unit without blowing up yer amp, that's about it, if you need info on how to use the line out, for useing it as a dummy load, wet-dry set up, forget the instructions, minimal!!

i use this with a les paul into a plexi marshall or a 78 master volume jmp 50 watt head,( play 70's, 80'srock)i strictly play in my home's basement jamming along to records and ocationally with my band.these amps without some kind of attenuation and/or overdrive box to me are useless, as i play at pretty low volumes. for the master vol. head its cool but you can get a similar vibe going with an overdrive box (ts9 or similar)at a cheaper price, there is something cool about the way the hotplate with the cranked head sounds though, but you will have to spend a lot of money on the hot plate and power tubes!(they won't last very long with the amp at full throttle)all and all, you can get a very similar sound by just useing a ts-9 or similar, i'm really not sure if it's worth the money for this type of setup. However, for the plexi, it's absolutely the only way to fly!! a plexi cranked in yer basement will hurt you, never mind if it sounds good or not, at those volumes, you will not be able to tell!! just waaaay too loud, with the hot plate, it will scream, nice low end plenty overdrive, sustain for ever, real nice, will put smile on yo face right away, you do loose a little bit of tone at higher attenuation levels but minimal, it sounds really good. i am not sure, knowing how the hot plate sounds now, if i would buy one for the master vol. marshall, but i would not hesitate to but it for the plexi head, if i couldn't attenuate the plexi, i would sell the amp, the hot plate is that good.

so far so good, seems solid, time will tell.

i e-mailed the company asking them to provide more info on how to use the unit as a dummy load, or for a wet-dry setup hoping also for cableing diagrams (different cables must be used as far as instrument vs. speaker cable)didn't get cableing diagrams but they answered me back the next day, pretty quickly!nice to know someone is there.

for a master vol. head it's nice, my only beef here is the price,you can get a similar sound with an overdrive box, it will be just as nice and a lot cheaper and your output tubes will last longer, how ever for a non master amp such as plexis, its the only way to go, a must have piece of gear. no overdrive box in front of a plexi will give you this sound.

VERY EASY TO USE. MUCH DISTINCTION BETWEEN EACH SETTING. I MOSTLY USE THE -16db SETTING. THE MANUAL IT COMES WITH THOUGH IS VERY BASIC. GOT MORE APPROPRIATE INFO FROM THE WEB SITE. WEB SITE IS GREAT. YOU CAN DEMO DIFFERENT LEVELS OF ATTENUATION ON LINE, IMPRESSIVE FEATURE. WISH THE MANUAL WAS AS GOOD.

MY MAIN GUITAR IS A CUSTOM SHOP CLASSIC STRATOCASTER WITH TEXAS SPECIAL SINGLE COILS.I USE A CRY BABY WAH,AND BOSS SD-1 I'VE OWNED SEVERAL TUBE AMPS TRYING TO FIND THAT PERFECT SOUND AT LOW VOLUMES. SOME WERE TOO LOUD FOR HOME OTHERS NOT LOUD ENOUGH WITH A BAND. I HATE TRANSISTOR AMPS SO WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS? SPENT ALOT OF MONEY TRYING TO FIGURE THIS OUT. I'VE BEEN USING A SUBWAY BLUES FOR THE PAST YEAR FOR ITS LOW LEVELS BUT WOULD GET DROWNED BY THE DRUMMER. SOLUTION THD HOT PLATE. I'VE DISCOVERED A WHOLE NEW SIDE OF SUBWAY BLUES AND NOW I CAN GET ANY MODEL OR WATTAGE AMP. I LIKE THIS HOT PLATE SO MUCH I HAVE NOW PURCHASED A 67 BASSMAN WITH 2X12 CAB AND CAN'T WAIT TO CRANK IT UP. IT IS BY THE WAY THE HOLY GRAIL OF ALL AMPS.

SEEMS REALLY GOOD, ONLY BEEN USING IT FOR ONE MONTH. I OPENED IT UP AND EVERYTHING SEEMS VERY STURDY.

NEVER HAD TO DEAL WITH THEM.

BEEN PLAYING FOR 8 YEARS. LOVE BUDDY GUY, CLAPTON, SRV, COLIN JAMES JONAS, AND CLASSIC ROCK. THD OFFERS GREAT SOUND VERSATILITY WITHOUT COMPROMISING NATURAL SOUND OF EQUIPMENT AND PLAYER. IF STOLEN I WOULD GET ANOTHER.
ONE LAST NOTE: "I READ ALOT OF REVIEWS, GREAT WEBSITE HC, ONE THING THAT STRIKES ME IS THAT PEOPLE WITH SHIT EQUIPMENT ARE ALWAYS COMPLAINING AND NEGATIVE ABOUT EVERYTHING. DON'T EXPECT AMPS, ATTENUATORS, EFFECTS, WAHS AND OTHER ADDITIONS TO MAKE YOUR CARDBOARD OR MADE IN TAIWAN GUITARS SOUND GREAT. GREAT PLAYERS AND EQUIPMENT MAKE FOR GREAT SOUND.

As far as I can tell it all depends on what amp you are using. I originaly bought it to use with my Peavey Classic 30. If you disconnect and tape off the main speaker wires you can run an 8 ohm speaker thru the extension speaker jack. The amps OD channel sounded fabulous with the Post on 11 (that's what it goes up to!) and with the Pre at about 5. But talk about loud. Whoa!! Bought and hooked up the Hot Plate and it was all there except for the bass. The Classic 30 uses EL84 power tubes which tend to compress the bass somewhat. But with the Hotplate hooked up the bass got very, very compressed. Very flubby sounding. I don't know if this will happen with all EL84 equipt amp's but mine did'nt take to kindly to it. Soooo, I tried it with my Hughes & Kettner Tube 50 combo, an amp which has basically been collecting dust. This amp was made to be played loud and man, does it ever! The Hotplate has helped to revive my interest in this amp. Finally, I can now turn the Master all the way up and set the OD channel volume on about a 2:00 position and turn the gain up to about an 11:00 position. All guts and glory with no more ringing ears. It's all there for me with no loss of tone. The Bass and Treble switches on the Hotplate are a nice addition should you need them but so far I have'nt had to use them. I can also use OD and Distortion boxes thru the clean channel with the Hotplate and still get some great tones happening at very managable volume levels.

As I said the quality of sound may depend entirely on what amp you are using it with. If you buy one and are not sure how it will work with your amp I would definatley get in writing that you can bring it back. At close to $300.00 a unit you better be sure!!

I've only had it for about 3 weeks now and so far it seems reliable. Seems to be a very well built unit, good and sturdy. Cool purple color too.

I called them with a few questions before buying it and the fellow I talked to (can't remember his name) seemed pretty cool. Took the time to answer my questions. But the big question is how will they be if I need service? I'll give this a 5 based on "we'll see."

Again, your rating depends entirely on what amp you are using this with. With my Classic 30, no go. With my Hughes & Kettner, it's a go.

You can't get a good sound out of it, at best you can get an OK sound out of it, IMO. Hook up is simple, you insert the unit between your amp head and speakers - unless you have a combo amp. Then your speaker cable might not reach the HotPlate on top of your amp, as was the case with my HotCat 30R. You need to make an extension male to female speaker cable. Maybe THD should include this with the HotPlate, it might cost them $2 at most.

Well, this does help make the best of a bad situation, the situation being an amp that only sounds good loud in a place you can't play loud. But does the HotPlate get cranked amp sound at a low volume? In a word, NO. Not even close, but better than nothing. The bass and treble boost switches help a little, but the frequencies boosted aren't exactly the ones needed. Bottom line, don't expect too much and you won't be disappointed. I'm using it with a HotCat 30R combo.

It's built like a tank, for the most part. Big heat sink, with a fan powered by jam! I would give it a 10 here, except for one thing. The first time I used it, the attenuator knob came off in my hand. No big deal, screw it back on, right? Nope. The flat part of the control shaft doesn't match the flat part of the knob, so it will never stay on - I kid you not. I emailed the manufacturer and asked him if my unit were somehow defective. He said no, they're all that way, they couldn't find a knob and control that matched properly, so the knob is just going to come off once in a while, what the hell. Hey, I play a lot of shows and I need reliable gear. If the knob was to come off and be lost, I don't want to be looking for a pair of pliers to adjust my expensive HotPlate while I'm doing a show. I can't believe THD can't get a knob made with the flat in the right spot. I may grind a flat in the shaft with a Dremel tool when I get time.

They answered my email promptly and politely, even if the answer wasn't what I was hoping for. In my opinion, however, the HotPlate needs service right out of the box. It needs an upgrade to a knob that fits and won't come off when you turn it.

In addition to power attenuation, the HotPlate has bass and treble boost switches in an attempt to restore the presence and thump your amp had when it was cranked. It helps - a little. There is also a noise reduction circuit to kill grunge between notes, an optical noise gate. This might matter a lot if you have a super high gain amp that makes lots of noise. I have a HotCat 30R and it basically does nothing with a medium gain amp, so I don't have an opinion. The line out feature (with volume control) is nice, but as you'd guess it doesn't sound like a miked amp. It IS a handy feature if you work on tube amps and need a dummy load while working. I bought it after reading a "shoot out" on HC forums between the HP, a Weber mass, and a Marshall Power Brake. If this is the best, I guess the others must sound pretty bad. I've been playing for 30 years, but only recently switched back to class A tube amps. Pushing a 30W amp until it sounds good is OK in a medium sized club, but not in a small club. I had hoped this would help.

I don't think it could be easier. Plug it in between the amp and speakers and away you go. Two nobs three switches: Db level and volumn pots,deep and bright switches,and a bulb on/off switch, which is a built-in noise reduction system.

I use my 8 ohm Hot Plate with a Fender HotRod Deville. I play either a '57 reissue or Roadhouse Srat,or a '98 Am. Tele. My pedalboard is: Teese Wah, Analogman Juicer (I love this compressor), Analogman silver mod TS-9,Boss DM-3 analog delay, and Boss TU-2 tuner. I am a Blues player, from Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin' Hopkins to Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. The Hot Plate works the Deville like a good dog works cattle; it puts it right where I want it. My favorate is to play the guitar, with the Juicer on, into the amp set to where the output tubes are just going into overdrive, sweet clean rythem. Step on the Screamer and the Deville is hollerin' for it's mama, but at a sound level that is acceptable to the neighbors. My tone is not degraded. I find that the quality of sound is exactly the same as without the Hot Plate.

Tought, rugged, and dependable.

The people at THD are the kind of people you would like to call up just to have a conversation with. Frindly, cheerful, informative, and seem to be genuinely glad to hear from you, even if you do have a problem. I had my Hot Plate for 4+ years when it started having a volumn problem. I called THD, they said send it in. I did. They fixed it. I had it back in a week, and they DIDN'T CHARGE ME A DIME.

The Hot Plate is the only attenuator I have ever owned. In fact it is the only attenuator I've ever looked at. I read some articals in which Mike Soldano was raving about it, so, I figured it must be good. He was right, and I am happy. If it were lost or stolen I would replace it with another just like it. I play guitar for pure pleasure. It helps me stay sane. Thanks to the Hot Plate I can be in my little guitar room playing through an amp that is so distorted that it's sweating and my wife can be in the living room watching TV and not be bothered by the noise. That, sir, is happiness.

Easy to use!
I set it at the highest attenuation when I first hooked it up just to hear how quiet it could go, then turned it up slowy to hear the tone difference. With the line level out, the fan, the noise reduction curcuit and the high/low compensation eq switches it deserves a 10 for being well thought out.

I use this 8 Ohm model with an unmodified 1971 Marshall Superlead with a tube Varidrive pedal in front of it. The Varidrive used sparingly, just to give it a little more thickness (mids cranked on the pedal).
I feed the output of the Hotplate to a 16 Ohm Marshall 1960TV (extra tall) basket weave grill cabinet, loaded with 25 watt greenbacks. Apparently, running a higher Ohm cab smooths the highs out a little bit, which is fine by me, I go for thick mids.
I was actually impressed by the sound with the atenuation at -16 dB, I was expecting worse by some reviews that state it sounds really colored at -12dB or less. The high and low switches work well at low volumes. But when I set the Hotplate to -8dB it really sounded amazing, too loud for most small clubs though, -12 dB is what is needed to play clubs with my rig. Minus the speaker crunch you get at high volumes, this unit is 90% transparent and the color it adds, I actually like it!
I've heard other heads like mine with a Hotplate and knew I would love it before I bought it. I just had to convince myself to part with the money to spring for one. I am very happy I did!
If your amp sounds great cranked it will sound great with this for sure. If your not happy with the Hotplate try it on another amp. I can't see it being this units fault.

Heard great things about THD's products and customer service.
IT IS SOLID and it gets pretty HOT!

I'm not gonna call them and bug them, seems like everyone else is.
I don't know how they keep up with all the inquiries.
Leave them alone, let them build stuff!
I'll give them a 10 for answering everybody else's questions!

I play rock. I love the guitar sound from Stone Temple Pilots, Van Halen (old), John Sykes, Led Zeppelin, etc....This unit is a god-send for my recordings!
I wouldn't be able to get these tones if it wasn't for this unit.
A Marshall Superlead rips your head off, when cranked it's brutal! It's so loud damn loud!...I don't know how you can tell if your tone is good or not, it's just a wall of GGGGRRRRR...I don't need my hearing damaged thank you!
This is the answer. It just sounds amazing! I'm very happy!

BTW: I was looking into another attenuator, the Mass 100 made by Weber VST which has been getting some great reviews.
I have to give Ted alot of credit for being honest with me!
He said that the Mass 100 couldn't handle the heat produced by an old Marshall. Though it's a 100 watt head, it can actually put out 130 watts at full power. The Mass 100 couldn't handle that much heat without having to cool down every once in a while. Ted at Weber VST gives great customer service too, the same as THD. I believe both companies make the best attenuators hands down. But the THD Hotplate suits my needs the best.

Using the unit is easy, just put it in the box and leave it there, and never ever hook it up to your amp.

Has everyone gone crazy ... I read the reviews and thought I'd try one, boy was I disappointed. All it does is suck up your tone, all of that beautiful tube harmonic distortion is totally lost - so the thing you're trying to achieve in the first place by turning up is negated by the hot plate. What a joke - turn up and wear earplugs!

Used it for one hour I don't have an opinion on it's reliability.

Would recommend not wasting your time ... if you are a true tone purist like me you will want to make an espresso maker out of this after you try it.