Mango 16 ohm Silencer 50 Attenuator

A power attenuator is a device placed between the amplifier output and the speaker cabinet. It acts like a big master volume control and permits the amp to be turned up most or all the way while absorbing most of the power generated by the amplifier passing only part of the power to the speaker. The amount of power it passes to the speaker is variable so that you can obtain the sound level you require for a particular application.

Many popular rock guitar sounds are based on well known sounds created by our favourite guitarists of the sixties and seventies. At that time they cranked up their amps to full volume in order to be heard. Valve guitar amplifiers always sound their best when played loud because the output stage goes into saturation and delivers the kind of musical and harmonic distortion, wonderful sustain and thick tone which we guitarists love so much.

The Silencer 50 is useful in all situations where our beloved tones are required but not the ear splitting volume. Whether on stage, in the studio or at home, the Silencer 50 can give you the tone you require at the sound levels you require. Simply plug your amplifier into the attenuator input then plug the speaker or speaker cabinet into the attenuator output. Now set your amplifier to give you the tone you require and adjust the settings on the attenuator to give the sound level you require. It could not be simpler.

The Silencer 50 has been designed with simplicity in mind using high quality, readily available components. This enables us to keep the price to affordable levels and ensure minimum alteration of tone. No matter what other manufacturers say, all attenuators affect tone in some way when used at high attenuation settings. This has more to do with the psycho-acoustic properties of our ears, the change in speaker response at lower power and the effect the speaker has on the strings of our guitar.

It is more exciting to play loudly, however, our simple design with minimal tone shaping and fewer components in the audio chain results in a minimum of ‘tone suck’. The Silencer 50 has been compared favourably with much more expensive units. It is hand-built and wired without PCBs in our own workshops.The Silencer 50 will not damage your amplifier in use. It presents a constant load to your amplifier so provided you order the correct impedence version for your amplifier, then no damage will result. However you should note that valve life may be reduced due to your amplifier being operated at higher power continuously. This would happen if your amp was continuously cranked anyway.

Specifications:

Ü Maximum Power handling 50 Watts using power supply supplied and built-in fan.
Ü Power handling 25 Watts used without fan.

Ü Amplifier and speaker impedence – two versions available 8 Ohms and 16 Ohms

Ü Settings:     

Bypass                         Ø Routes signal straight to speaker

-3dB                 Ø Cuts signal to speaker by 3dB

-6dB                 Ø Cuts signal to speaker by 6dB

Variable            Ø Varies signal from -6dB down using Level control

Ü Load:            Applies constant load +/- 10% at all settings

Ü Size:             H-80mm: W-107mm: D-176mm

Ü Weight:        0.6kg (excluding power supply)