24 November, 2011

A bit of a delay in submitting the review i’m afraid but here are my initial thoughts on the prototype Mango Duo Attenuator…

• Application – Simples. Plug in, plug out. I used the settings i usually use – switch the small dial to Variable, control the volume with the larger dial. The real beauty of using a dual Attenuator unit as opposed to 2 separate units is that I could stay in 1 place to set the volumes of each Amp. Usually it would be a case of moving from 1 amp to the other to set the volume which doesn’t give a true representation of the overall balance between the amps. Saves time and definitely improved the overall mix of the amps.
• Sound – Theoretically they should sound exactly the same as 2 x Mango Silencer 50s, but I don’t know why but they seemed to perform so well at low volumes/high attenuation. I didn’t lose any of the highs I usually experience at low volumes. I was using 2 different types of Vox AC30 though, so the combination of the 2 sounds may have influenced what I was hearing.
• Build – I love the new style boxes. Nigel said that he couldn’t find a box that was suitable in the same range as the Silencer 50 so had to go for a different style altogether. I prefer these new ones. Neat, utilitarian looking and they don’t seem to heat up nearly as much as the single units. Underneath the unit was fairly warm at the end of a 2 hour practice session, but the top and sides were cool. 3-4 miniutes at the end leaving the fan on and the unit was cool all over.

Being a prototype, there aren’t any labels on this unit. Production models obviously will have labels to avoid any kind of confusion.

I’ve been informed that the cost of these units will literally be 2 x Silencer 50s as all the same components are used x 2, and the case for the unit is more expensive to the single units. But without hesitation, I would choose a duo (or trio??!) unit over many singles for convenience, space and sound.

I’ll post some more pics when I get opportunity to get my decent camera out!

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