Faustine Phantom Attenuator Review
by Southbay Scumback » Mon May 11, 2009 5:10 am
I want to preface this review with a few basic facts/thoughts.
I'm old school. I roll down my volume on the guitar to clean up for chords/clean passages. The guitar setup with decent pots/caps/pickups is paramount for this and I've got that dialed in pretty well, IMO. The guitar should be ready to scream for solos on 10, and clean up well for chords at 5-6, with crunchy chords at 7-8. I don't use OD pedals unless the amp needs it, and I generally setup my amps to sustain with medium gain saturation (think Cream/Zep/Allman Bros), then I roll off the guitar volume for cleans. That's my criteria.
I used various amps with these schemes, but the two main ones were a 50w Plexi I built with NOS glass, SoZo caps, and NOS Mullard/Telefunken glass, and a Komet Concorde with NOS glass. Volume settings were all over the place from 3-8. Guitars used were a Les Paul with PAF style pickups (WCR American Steele set), and a Strat with WCR SR pickups, top notch pots/caps, etc.
1) I hate attenuators generally. You should get an amp with the power you need to play a particular room size. So if you're playing a stadium, you better have a 50 or 100w, a smaller club a 25-40w, and if you're jamming with friends just to get over a drummer, 15-20w. If you're playing in your 2nd bedroom, something along the lines of a Marshall MS-2 (9 volt battery operated amp w/adapter) can get the job done.
2) I realize many of you don't have the $$ or luxury of having multiple amps, so PPIMV solutions, attenuators, master volume mods, power scaling/etc have become ways to try to reduce the volume and maintain the feel/note bloom/girth of your cranked amp without sacrificing too much tone/feel/impact. In all of these I've found significant drawbacks to the tone after using even minimal settings.
3) My findings on volume reduction schemes, YMMV.
PPIMV: They just don't sound good below 1/3rd volume, and they hit the tone badly causing fizz, more treble, etc. below 1/3rd. Above that they're generally fair, but really work their best at 1/2 or higher. At this point you're still deciding how many amps to have to suit two levels of usage with and without PPIMV involved at 1/3rd or higher.
Power Scaling: I just haven't heard one of these schemes yet that blew my dress up. Sorry. Not going to name names of amps/brands, but NONE of them work for me...at all. I wish they did.
Attenuators: What I've tried....
Hot Plate: Generally OK at the first attenuated level, then it really gets nasty below that. Even using the bass boost/etc it provides impacts the tone in a major way. Forget bedroom or TV/conversation levels. You may as well hook up the Marshall MS-2.
Airbrake (Dr Z or Komet version): Better choice than the Hot Plate by a long shot, but still significant tone impact on more than 20% of it's settings down. The feel was better, but still impacted hard, and thinned out the tone.
Richter: This version is a step up from the Airbrake in tone, but it's first attenuated level is roughly 50% of your unattenuated volume. That's putting it in some limited use territory for me, but that may be the ticket for many who have 50w amps cutting down the volume for clubs. Bedroom/TV levels, it got pretty washed out/thin and didn't work. But if you're looking for that 1st attenuated level to be 50-75% of your amp's volume, then this could be a player for many.
Ultimate Attenuator: This attenuator does extremely well on full power settings, and with cutting down the volume in many settings, so I can see why it's so popular. If you leave your guitar volume on 10, and have a channel switcher for cleans and dirty settings, then this is also a major player. The Plexi & Bedroom switches are decent enough, although there is some impact of tone at those levels, it's a fairly decent unit. What the UA does not do well is interact with the guitar volume being rolled off to get back to clean. I tried both my Les Paul & Strat and the re-amping circuit basically doesn't allow the guitar volume to control the gain/impact of the amp as it would without an attenuator in the circuit. When I roll off my guitar volume from my settings, it should clean up pretty well by the time I get to 5-6. On the UA, it doesn't clean up until 2-3. At this level, of course, you're well under the volume setting you need to still be setup properly in the mix with the band. Turning up to 5-6 leaves you with too much hair around the chords, so this was a deal killer for me.
Faustine Phantom: I have to give this attenuator the highest marks of any I've tried. The absolutely most transparent tones of any I've tried. Setttings from -2 to -10 were great. I could sustain a note going into bloom, or swelling feedback on the unattenuated setting then flip it to the -8 setting and the note carried on and bloomed, only at the reduced volume. Overall feel and girth were unaffected, just the reduction in volume. When switching down from the fixed setting to the variable setting from -12 to -26 you still had excellent dynamics/girth/feel. I felt the tone got very slightly impacted around -20 or so (1/2 the variable knob sweep) but at this point you're talking quiet conversation level. Infinitely more usable than any of the other attenuators I've tried. A couple of slight EQ trimming/fixes went a long way towards re-establishing the full power feel. Obviously at this level, you're looking for the best overall tone, since the girth/impact won't be there due to the significant volume reduction. The FA did this far better than any other attenuator on the market.
My personal criteria of the guitar volume roll off to cleans was where the unit really shined. The amp reacted just as if it didn't have the FA in the circuit at all. On 10 it was screaming, at 5-6 the cleans were there, just as if I had the plexi on 8 and no attenuation was involved. This to me was the mark of a well-designed and intuitively useful product. The fact that it doesn't require power, like the UA, was also a bonus, and what I considered to be a must have feature.
Overall build quality/look/aesthetics were excellent and the controls needed NO explanation on the Faustine, something I though the UA lacked and could be improved upon.
Summation: If you're looking for the all around best attenuator on the market, the Faustine is it. It absolutely does sound "like nothing" down to the -20 level in my tests. With a 50w plexi cranked through 4 H75 Scumback speakers, if there were any harsh characteristics, they would have showed up easily and the FA provided none of those, just righteous, natural tone. At the sub -20 levels, tiny degradations in tone could be heard, but in comparison to the other attenuators on the market, they were fantastic, and much more organic. Overall I'd give this product about a 9.5 out of 10, and to be honest, I don't think there's ever going to be a perfect 10, due to the complexities of having a circuit work this well from 100w all the way down to 1/2w.
I can live with that quite easily.
Affiliation: None. I've met Tim twice in six months. If he didn't have Tone Merchants offering his product, I'd never know him.
Likelihood to buy: Good.
Sure, I have about 15 amps, and around 25 speaker cabs. I've got all the ranges from 1 watt Marshall MS-2 to 100w Plexis. I need an attenuator like I need a hole in the head, but I also love the sound of a 4x12 with a 50w cranked. I won't get that with 9 watt amp through a 4x12 without blowing the sound limitations of where I live and bothering the neighbors (I already went to jail for this offense in 2001, you know!). But I could see using the FA with my 50w and a 4x12 straight cab quite easily and being happy with it.
Pics of the Faustine Attenuator below. Get them at Tone Merchants, http://www.tonemerchants.com. I think they're $659.00 for the single ohm version, $749.00 for the Deluxe version (4-8-16 ohm switchable) and they've got a waiting list. Now I see why.
I'm old school. I roll down my volume on the guitar to clean up for chords/clean passages. The guitar setup with decent pots/caps/pickups is paramount for this and I've got that dialed in pretty well, IMO. The guitar should be ready to scream for solos on 10, and clean up well for chords at 5-6, with crunchy chords at 7-8. I don't use OD pedals unless the amp needs it, and I generally setup my amps to sustain with medium gain saturation (think Cream/Zep/Allman Bros), then I roll off the guitar volume for cleans. That's my criteria.
I used various amps with these schemes, but the two main ones were a 50w Plexi I built with NOS glass, SoZo caps, and NOS Mullard/Telefunken glass, and a Komet Concorde with NOS glass. Volume settings were all over the place from 3-8. Guitars used were a Les Paul with PAF style pickups (WCR American Steele set), and a Strat with WCR SR pickups, top notch pots/caps, etc.
1) I hate attenuators generally. You should get an amp with the power you need to play a particular room size. So if you're playing a stadium, you better have a 50 or 100w, a smaller club a 25-40w, and if you're jamming with friends just to get over a drummer, 15-20w. If you're playing in your 2nd bedroom, something along the lines of a Marshall MS-2 (9 volt battery operated amp w/adapter) can get the job done.
2) I realize many of you don't have the $$ or luxury of having multiple amps, so PPIMV solutions, attenuators, master volume mods, power scaling/etc have become ways to try to reduce the volume and maintain the feel/note bloom/girth of your cranked amp without sacrificing too much tone/feel/impact. In all of these I've found significant drawbacks to the tone after using even minimal settings.
3) My findings on volume reduction schemes, YMMV.
PPIMV: They just don't sound good below 1/3rd volume, and they hit the tone badly causing fizz, more treble, etc. below 1/3rd. Above that they're generally fair, but really work their best at 1/2 or higher. At this point you're still deciding how many amps to have to suit two levels of usage with and without PPIMV involved at 1/3rd or higher.
Power Scaling: I just haven't heard one of these schemes yet that blew my dress up. Sorry. Not going to name names of amps/brands, but NONE of them work for me...at all. I wish they did.
Attenuators: What I've tried....
Hot Plate: Generally OK at the first attenuated level, then it really gets nasty below that. Even using the bass boost/etc it provides impacts the tone in a major way. Forget bedroom or TV/conversation levels. You may as well hook up the Marshall MS-2.
Airbrake (Dr Z or Komet version): Better choice than the Hot Plate by a long shot, but still significant tone impact on more than 20% of it's settings down. The feel was better, but still impacted hard, and thinned out the tone.
Richter: This version is a step up from the Airbrake in tone, but it's first attenuated level is roughly 50% of your unattenuated volume. That's putting it in some limited use territory for me, but that may be the ticket for many who have 50w amps cutting down the volume for clubs. Bedroom/TV levels, it got pretty washed out/thin and didn't work. But if you're looking for that 1st attenuated level to be 50-75% of your amp's volume, then this could be a player for many.
Ultimate Attenuator: This attenuator does extremely well on full power settings, and with cutting down the volume in many settings, so I can see why it's so popular. If you leave your guitar volume on 10, and have a channel switcher for cleans and dirty settings, then this is also a major player. The Plexi & Bedroom switches are decent enough, although there is some impact of tone at those levels, it's a fairly decent unit. What the UA does not do well is interact with the guitar volume being rolled off to get back to clean. I tried both my Les Paul & Strat and the re-amping circuit basically doesn't allow the guitar volume to control the gain/impact of the amp as it would without an attenuator in the circuit. When I roll off my guitar volume from my settings, it should clean up pretty well by the time I get to 5-6. On the UA, it doesn't clean up until 2-3. At this level, of course, you're well under the volume setting you need to still be setup properly in the mix with the band. Turning up to 5-6 leaves you with too much hair around the chords, so this was a deal killer for me.
Faustine Phantom: I have to give this attenuator the highest marks of any I've tried. The absolutely most transparent tones of any I've tried. Setttings from -2 to -10 were great. I could sustain a note going into bloom, or swelling feedback on the unattenuated setting then flip it to the -8 setting and the note carried on and bloomed, only at the reduced volume. Overall feel and girth were unaffected, just the reduction in volume. When switching down from the fixed setting to the variable setting from -12 to -26 you still had excellent dynamics/girth/feel. I felt the tone got very slightly impacted around -20 or so (1/2 the variable knob sweep) but at this point you're talking quiet conversation level. Infinitely more usable than any of the other attenuators I've tried. A couple of slight EQ trimming/fixes went a long way towards re-establishing the full power feel. Obviously at this level, you're looking for the best overall tone, since the girth/impact won't be there due to the significant volume reduction. The FA did this far better than any other attenuator on the market.
My personal criteria of the guitar volume roll off to cleans was where the unit really shined. The amp reacted just as if it didn't have the FA in the circuit at all. On 10 it was screaming, at 5-6 the cleans were there, just as if I had the plexi on 8 and no attenuation was involved. This to me was the mark of a well-designed and intuitively useful product. The fact that it doesn't require power, like the UA, was also a bonus, and what I considered to be a must have feature.
Overall build quality/look/aesthetics were excellent and the controls needed NO explanation on the Faustine, something I though the UA lacked and could be improved upon.
Summation: If you're looking for the all around best attenuator on the market, the Faustine is it. It absolutely does sound "like nothing" down to the -20 level in my tests. With a 50w plexi cranked through 4 H75 Scumback speakers, if there were any harsh characteristics, they would have showed up easily and the FA provided none of those, just righteous, natural tone. At the sub -20 levels, tiny degradations in tone could be heard, but in comparison to the other attenuators on the market, they were fantastic, and much more organic. Overall I'd give this product about a 9.5 out of 10, and to be honest, I don't think there's ever going to be a perfect 10, due to the complexities of having a circuit work this well from 100w all the way down to 1/2w.
I can live with that quite easily.
Affiliation: None. I've met Tim twice in six months. If he didn't have Tone Merchants offering his product, I'd never know him.
Likelihood to buy: Good.
Sure, I have about 15 amps, and around 25 speaker cabs. I've got all the ranges from 1 watt Marshall MS-2 to 100w Plexis. I need an attenuator like I need a hole in the head, but I also love the sound of a 4x12 with a 50w cranked. I won't get that with 9 watt amp through a 4x12 without blowing the sound limitations of where I live and bothering the neighbors (I already went to jail for this offense in 2001, you know!). But I could see using the FA with my 50w and a 4x12 straight cab quite easily and being happy with it.
Pics of the Faustine Attenuator below. Get them at Tone Merchants, http://www.tonemerchants.com. I think they're $659.00 for the single ohm version, $749.00 for the Deluxe version (4-8-16 ohm switchable) and they've got a waiting list. Now I see why.
Enslaving Guitarists Worldwide...
http://www.scumbackspeakers.com
Email me please, no PM's, I hate that little window!
sales@scumbackspeakers.com
Jim Seavall 310-833-6632
http://www.scumbackspeakers.com
Email me please, no PM's, I hate that little window!
sales@scumbackspeakers.com
Jim Seavall 310-833-6632
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Southbay Scumback - Medium Member
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- Location: Los Angeles, Ca
by Al Kabong » Mon May 11, 2009 5:44 am
Thank you Jim, that was interesting.
I have a question for you about the UA: Are you saying that when you dial in your amp without the attenuator so that the guitar volume alters the gain range the way you like and then simply drop the UA in between the amp and the speaker, the guitar no longer controls amp gain the way you like at any setting on the UA? The reason why I ask is that I, too, ride my volume on the guitar.
I set my amps up so that when I hit the strings hard in a chord with the volume up, I get a nice crunch tone and that a lighter touch cleans up single note lines so they remain harmonically "interesting" but not hairy. Dropping the volume down then extends this range into making chords cleanish and single note lines simpler and very clean. I use a boost or fuzz to take it over the top with the volume up. Under these conditions with a 50 watt head, my UA makes no change in the response if I do not change the amp settings...however, because I can crank the amp up more without killing the neighbors pets, I notice that I sometimes fuss with the amp input volume when I choke back the output with the UA (its subconcious....) and then I get fizzier tones and lose the dymaic range that I like.
But if you are using the same amp settings you always do and simply dropping in the UA (even when at the top of its range) you lose dynamic range...something is a bit weird with your unit. In fact, even when the UA is choked way down on an amp setting that I like at full volume...the response remains the same. That is also as one might expect, since the gain stages that create the amp dynamics are all upstream of the UA. I would only expect a difference if you are used to making speaker compression and breakup part of your tone, but then every attenuator should suffer the same fate for the same amount of drop...including the Faustine.
I'll try to check out the Faustine some time to see what my findings are (mostly just to satisfy curiosity, as I am happy with the UA and Kometbrake). Thanks again for the info.
AL
I have a question for you about the UA: Are you saying that when you dial in your amp without the attenuator so that the guitar volume alters the gain range the way you like and then simply drop the UA in between the amp and the speaker, the guitar no longer controls amp gain the way you like at any setting on the UA? The reason why I ask is that I, too, ride my volume on the guitar.
I set my amps up so that when I hit the strings hard in a chord with the volume up, I get a nice crunch tone and that a lighter touch cleans up single note lines so they remain harmonically "interesting" but not hairy. Dropping the volume down then extends this range into making chords cleanish and single note lines simpler and very clean. I use a boost or fuzz to take it over the top with the volume up. Under these conditions with a 50 watt head, my UA makes no change in the response if I do not change the amp settings...however, because I can crank the amp up more without killing the neighbors pets, I notice that I sometimes fuss with the amp input volume when I choke back the output with the UA (its subconcious....) and then I get fizzier tones and lose the dymaic range that I like.
But if you are using the same amp settings you always do and simply dropping in the UA (even when at the top of its range) you lose dynamic range...something is a bit weird with your unit. In fact, even when the UA is choked way down on an amp setting that I like at full volume...the response remains the same. That is also as one might expect, since the gain stages that create the amp dynamics are all upstream of the UA. I would only expect a difference if you are used to making speaker compression and breakup part of your tone, but then every attenuator should suffer the same fate for the same amount of drop...including the Faustine.
I'll try to check out the Faustine some time to see what my findings are (mostly just to satisfy curiosity, as I am happy with the UA and Kometbrake). Thanks again for the info.
AL
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Al Kabong - Small Member
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by Al Kabong » Mon May 11, 2009 6:15 am
Ask Tim Gregoire if he can make one tuned for your rig: http://www.faustineamps.com/
Last edited by Al Kabong on Mon May 11, 2009 2:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Al Kabong - Small Member
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by micdave » Mon May 11, 2009 7:10 am
Al Kabong wrote:Ask Tim Gregoire if he can make one tuned for your rig: http://www.faustineamps.com/
DS
Hopefully Tim'll chime in here. A 2/4/8 ohm would probably sell in the roots/blues community (if anyone there still has any money).
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micdave - Huge Member
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by Faustine Amps » Mon May 11, 2009 7:57 am
Thank you Jim for the very thorough and positive review! One of the best reviews I've read on this forum... not because of your praise for the Phantom, but because I really like your writing style, your review format, and your no-bullshit approach!
In regards to the 2 ohm impedance question...
The original 50 watt Phantom prototype had a selectable impedance of 2/4/8/16 ohms. When I designed the 100 watt Phantom, in order to keep it in basically the same form factor, I needed to free up some space on the heatsinks for more power resistors and the decision was made to eliminate the 2 ohm setting to facilitate that.
The only amps I can think of requiring a 2 ohm impedance are the Fender tweed Bassman and the Fender Super Reverb. Fender amps can tolerate a 100% impedance mis-match without any problem, so both of those amps should work just fine with the 4 ohm setting.
Regards,
Tim Gregoire
In regards to the 2 ohm impedance question...
The original 50 watt Phantom prototype had a selectable impedance of 2/4/8/16 ohms. When I designed the 100 watt Phantom, in order to keep it in basically the same form factor, I needed to free up some space on the heatsinks for more power resistors and the decision was made to eliminate the 2 ohm setting to facilitate that.
The only amps I can think of requiring a 2 ohm impedance are the Fender tweed Bassman and the Fender Super Reverb. Fender amps can tolerate a 100% impedance mis-match without any problem, so both of those amps should work just fine with the 4 ohm setting.
Regards,
Tim Gregoire
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Faustine Amps - Medium Member
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- Location: Southern California
by micdave » Mon May 11, 2009 9:00 am
Faustine Amps wrote:
In regards to the 2 ohm impedance question...
The only amps I can think of requiring a 2 ohm impedance are the Fender tweed Bassman and the Fender Super Reverb. Fender amps can tolerate a 100% impedance mis-match without any problem, so both of those amps should work just fine with the 4 ohm setting.
That is encouraging, Tim. To my knowlege, no one has ever successfully captured the Super-on-10 sound at a lower volume without tonal degradation. I'll look forward to clips of it. Thank you.
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micdave - Huge Member
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by Faustine Amps » Mon May 11, 2009 9:00 am
jhp612 wrote:whats the deal on the status of how fast these are being made? last i heard only noel and rob from tone merchants and pete thorn had one..
As of this week, there will be ten units in customer's hands. I am attempting to build five a week, but it's proving to be impossible to do on my own! Now that I've got a system down, I'm going to try to enlist some help so I can get caught up on orders a little faster. These suckers are a bitch to build!
Regards,
Tim Gregoire
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Faustine Amps - Medium Member
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by Southbay Scumback » Mon May 11, 2009 1:51 pm
Al Kabong wrote:Thank you Jim, that was interesting.
I have a question for you about the UA: Are you saying that when you dial in your amp without the attenuator so that the guitar volume alters the gain range the way you like and then simply drop the UA in between the amp and the speaker, the guitar no longer controls amp gain the way you like at any setting on the UA?
AL
That's what I'm saying. No matter what amp volume from 3 (really clean) to 8 (medium gain saturation) did the UA allow the guitar volume roll off to clean up the tone. I use the Mercury Magnetics Radiospares PT/OT in my plexi build, with a slightly higher plate voltage, so it has to be on 7-8 to get my Cream/Zep tones.
If you're familiar with TSRTS where Page does his solos and does the quieter, more dynamic bluesier parts while rolling off the volume, then rolls up the volume for more attack/gain, that's what I'm talking about. The UA kept the higher gain tone intact, but not the lower volume/gain tone...at least not till it was down to 2-3 on my guitar volume knobs.
Enslaving Guitarists Worldwide...
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Email me please, no PM's, I hate that little window!
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Email me please, no PM's, I hate that little window!
sales@scumbackspeakers.com
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Southbay Scumback - Medium Member
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by Al Kabong » Mon May 11, 2009 1:57 pm
Southbay Scumback wrote:Al Kabong wrote:Thank you Jim, that was interesting.
I have a question for you about the UA: Are you saying that when you dial in your amp without the attenuator so that the guitar volume alters the gain range the way you like and then simply drop the UA in between the amp and the speaker, the guitar no longer controls amp gain the way you like at any setting on the UA?
AL
That's what I'm saying. No matter what amp volume from 3 (really clean) to 8 (medium gain saturation) did the UA allow the guitar volume roll off to clean up the tone. I use the Mercury Magnetics Radiospares PT/OT in my plexi build, with a slightly higher plate voltage, so it has to be on 7-8 to get my Cream/Zep tones.
If you're familiar with TSRTS where Page does his solos and does the quieter, more dynamic bluesier parts while rolling off the volume, then rolls up the volume for more attack/gain, that's what I'm talking about. The UA kept the higher gain tone intact, but not the lower volume/gain tone...at least not till it was down to 2-3 on my guitar volume knobs.
Well that is REALLY interesting! Hmm. I wonder if my results are different than yours because I'm running a little lower gain to begin with than you. Now I'll have to go back and whomp on it in the studio.
Thanks for your reply! AL
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