# THD Hot Plate thoughts?



## starvingstudent (Mar 16, 2007)

anyone have one of these?? what are your thoughts?

I have a 5150 (as you have probably seen in the for sale section) and this amp needs to be tunred up louder than apartment levels to get decent tone.

Someone has recomended to me the THD Hot Plate... i read some reviews and it seems good... just want to make sure its worth the $350 investment...


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Do a search for my review of the Ho attenuator. I've owned a Hotplate (and others) and the Ho destroys it.

TG


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## starvingstudent (Mar 16, 2007)

I saw it. and looked it up online. they have no prices, no pictures, no models showing. and the site hasnt been updated in years, so i assumed they just dont exist anymore.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

starvingstudent said:


> I saw it. and looked it up online. they have no prices, no pictures, no models showing. and the site hasnt been updated in years, so i assumed they just dont exist anymore.


Phone him. He's just a little one man operation, a bit older, and not that computer savvy. If you call he will lay everything out for you and he is very nice.

TG


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

I picked up a used Hotplate from one of the forum guys on here a year or two ago. I think it works great. I use it on my JCM800. Crank the Marshall to about 9, set the HP at -12, it's great.

But, IMO they are best for gig situations. For home or apartment, I really think you are further ahead with an itty bitty tube amp, that you can probably get into for about the same money.


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## vds5000 (Apr 14, 2008)

Keep in mind that attuenators are hard on tubes.

Bad Cat, Dr.Z, Weber and Marshall make them as well. The Marshall (Power Brake) is very overpriced.


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

It's my understanding the only reason they are hard on tubes, is that you are playing the amp as if you're running cranked all the time, ie, no harder on tubes than if you were playing really, really loud.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

dwagar said:


> It's my understanding the only reason they are hard on tubes, is that you are playing the amp as if you're running cranked all the time, ie, no harder on tubes than if you were playing really, really loud.


Yep. That's the only reason.

TG


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## vds5000 (Apr 14, 2008)

dwagar said:


> It's my understanding the only reason they are hard on tubes, is that you are playing the amp as if you're running cranked all the time, ie, no harder on tubes than if you were playing really, really loud.


Yes, this it true, but the reason people usually get attuenators is to do just that - have the master loud enough to introduce power tube breakup, but at civilized volumes.


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## Ripper (Jul 1, 2006)

I use a weber mass 150 and I like it alot. I've never tried a hotplate but the weber works very well.


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## Darcy Hoover (Dec 2, 2008)

I recently sold my THD Hotplate. It works as advertised but I found if you try to attenuate a higher wattage amp to bedroom levels it'll kill alot of the highs, "deadening" the tone in my opinion. All depends on how much you attenuate. They work great if you don't overdo it. I had a 40 watt Blues Deluxe (sold that too, but it was one very loud amp) and bought the Hotplate to tame it for the house, but I wasn't overly happy with the result. If you are looking for output tube crunch at home I'd recommend a low wattage tube amp for the same cost.


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## traynor_garnet (Feb 22, 2006)

Ho Ho Ho.

Yes, it's Christmas but I also just wanted to restate my whole hearted endorsement for the Ho attenuator. Skip the Hotplate.

TG


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