Harley Benton PA-100 Power Attenuator 5-stars Reviews

cheap and reliable

It is cheap and reliable and sounds good enough for me.

I only use it at home in combination with an Orange AD30.

Even at its lowest settings the Orange still gets loud.

In only used the PA-100 as a dummy load.

Does what it's supposed to!

I keep it connected and I don't worry about it. Works well!

Reasonable for the price

I have a Marshall SC20H and a SV1x12 cabinet. It lowers the sound but at higher attenuation levels, you lose some quality, which is ok for this kind of a unit. But you can easily compansate it with your pedals. It's good for home use, if all you want is a lower volume.

Fantastic Attenuator, Highly Recommended.

If you are hesitating to pull the trigger on this little wonder box, hesitate no longer.

Bought recently to tame a 15w Vaporizer amp for bedroom levels. Works as described, takes a little fettling to get the best tones out but doesn't suck too much tone away either. Fantastic feature to line out to desk, with out the need to run the speaks unlike other rival models.

Awesomeness.

Cool little box

Does what it is supposed to do very well, and have made very nice recordings using my tube combo with the speaker dialled down and the amp cranked up.

Only 4 for the build quality, although it is rather for the design, because the box picks up interference very easily. You have to move around in the room until you find a quite spot for it to sit, and then the magic takes place.

All you need

Had the Two Notes Torpedo as well, but sold it when I got this into the studio. I guess the Torpedo costing 10 times more does the job different, but not necessarily better. I have made some excellent recordings with this at very low volumes.

Works Great

I was super concerned with an attenuator/load for such an inexpensive price. My main amp is a 50watt Hand built Plexi from RocketRetro (Kevin is amazing).

Being that this is my main amp I literally tried this on all my amps before the Plexi, working my way up from a 5 watt tube amp, to a 40 watt Fender, my 60watt Marshall combo and finally my plexi. I figured if I was going to blow something up I didnt want it to be my dream amp.

I run my Plexi on about 7 jumped channels. I have a PPIMV installed so my master is about 1/2. I can turn the attenuator down to whisper quiet and it sounds great. All attenuators affect the high end but your amp has dials, USE THEM.

It's a 100 watt attenuator. I think if you're running a 100 watt head into this I would opt for something rated higher. The rule is usually double the amp output. Especially because the transients in a tube amp can easily exceed the power rating of your amp. I have no concerns with my 50 watt head

Pros

-Build quality is great. I couldn't but the parts for this at this price point.

-Works with 4/8/16 ohm taps from you amplifier ensuring compatibility with just about everything.

1/4" line out works great for recording.

-Seemed to be exactly the same as the jet city "jettenuator" whic is about $100 USD more.

-Silent recording works well so follow the instructions. You have to disconnect you cab and turn the power down to 9:00 for the line out to get enough signal.

Cons

-XLR out was completely unusable for my needs. I believe it must have some sort of Cab Emulation EQ circuit because the sound is completely different than the 1/4" out.

-XLR is unbalanced? I cant figure this out. Why would you have an unbalanced circuit when the main purpose of an XLR is direct recording or Str8 into a console?

- I was sometimes getting a weird hi frequency "whine" it hasn't happened in a while but when I pulled the 1/4" out slightly it was perfect. I haven't noticed the issue lately.

-Silent recording is only available when you pull the cable going to you cabinet. It's a load box as well and its not that big of a deal. I do wish there was some sort of bypass but with it hooked to a cabinet that's not as simple as it seems. I would never place a toggle switch between my head and my can, so I suspect they designed this unit for the same reason.

-3dB drop as soon as its placed in the circuit. Again this is probably like the bypass feature. It can be done on more expensive units but people get an attenuator to reduce the dB in the first place. Not a concern for me but I thought it should be mentioned.

Straight out of a Flash Gordon movie

The 30's ones.

Works great. You'll feel like Tesla adjusting that knob, and start laughing like a maniac genius.

Great Attenuator

It does exactly what it needs to do. I have a 60 watt Class A tube amp that would blow the doors off my bedroom studio when driven at the right volume. This attenuator allows me to drive the amp at a respectable/boring volume while reaping the quality sonority of the tubes.

Great attenuator for relatively cheap money. Does exactly what it has to do, the sound is great. I am using it mostly at home to play quietly when I am not trying to annoy my neighbours when I am practising. It is small, easy to fit next your guitar equipment. Absolutely must for everyone who does not want to compromise on using the big wattage amplifiers at home.

Bang for the buck!

I bought this attenuator to use it with my Blues Junior and it didn't disappoint. I can crank the master of the amp up but at bedroom volume, I also tested the built in IR that is ok. But you'll get much more by using the line out into your interface and selecting your own Impulse Response, this way I was able to get 95% of the sound of the amp in Logic (using built in IR in Space Designer). I will also test it with a Marshall head but so far, it's been great and the build quality is very good.

I think anyone with a valve amp over 5W should get an attenuator, it's great to hear the sound of a cranked amp at the volume you want, you can even take a 100W Plexi and crank it all the way up and still play at conversation volume. That's great also for recording, many are recording at home and in a flat like me you can barely go beyond 2/3 on the master of my BJ.

Conclusion: get one, it's great

Unbelievable value for money

I searched high and low for a good attenuator, but most places charged £100+, when i saw the reviews of the Harley Benton one for the price i thought, might as well give it a try, so glad i did, brilliant piece of kit for the money!

Great product for that price

depending on the requirements you have and how much you are willing to spend money, in my case to restrain my amplifier to the level of the bedroom in the building. I'M SATISFIED !!

Very good passive load. Transparent!

Great little unit that makes tube amps usable in an appartment

I love tube sound, but even the Palmer Eins 1W amp sound good only at unusable levels for an apartment.

Enter PA-100.

I did not hear any tonal changes. just quieter.

Finally, tube distortion without loosening my roof tiles!!

Great attenuator!! Simple to set up and use. Sits between my Marshall JCM900 head and 4x12 1960 cab, Worth every penny and so much better than relying on pedals for distortion at low volume.

Excellent Volume control and manager!

I love the fact I can crank up my amp full blast and have this device just allow me to manage my volume with no loss to the integrity of the AMPS sound. JUst what the doctor ordered haven't used the sim option or using this as a dummy load yet but eventually i will. Right now i'm using it with my joyo zombie and my harley benton vertical 2x12 vintage 30's cab. Eventually will use it with my marshall jcm 900 mkIII half stack. Bottom line this is a must have device.

Great product.

Does what it’s supposed to do for a very reasonable price. Congrats HB.

Does What it Says on The Tin.

Very effective attenuator for very little money. I had been using a Bad Cat Unleash previously and the Harley Benton performs much better.

Using it with a Marshall Studio Vintage 20 watt amp, playing with live drummer and bass guitar. The tone of the amp was altered very little and was easy to tweek the eq. of the amp slightly. I haven't used any f the units other features yet, but it is easily worth the price for it's attanuating abilities.

I revived an old plexi and despite the master volume mod, it was still too loud when delivering classic tone. This attenuator does the job I need of it. I wouldn't dime my amp on it but it makes it perfectly usable without the risk of police intervention.