Taming a wild, loud distorted amp is a glorious sensation that makes us feel like rock gods standing in front of our wall of Marshalls. Having control over the “beast” requires mastery over the instrument, but first, you need to be able to crank up the amp’s volume to get natural overdriven sounds without having neighbors sue you or your ears explode. Â
The now revived topic of overdrive pedal vs. attenuator to tame a loud amp comes into play if you want to avoid these worst-case scenarios, especially if you’re using a tube amp where volume shapes much of the sound.
Overdrive Pedals and Attenuators can both be used to get overdriven sounds at low volume from the amp. The main difference between the two, besides the attenuator being generally more expensive than most overdrive pedals and limited in versatility, is whether you like the pedal’s or amps’ natural overdrive tone better.
Considering how niche and ‘hippie’ using an attenuator to tame an amp might sound, I will focus on demystifying the equipment using familiar terms and practical examples.
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How Do Attenuators & Overdrive Pedals Work?
To understand how attenuator and overdrive pedals work, we must understand the different components that make up an amp.
Attenuators
In a very simplified way, an amp is built by:
- The preamp section, where the signal goes in first from the guitar. Most of the EQ functions of an amp shape the sound in the preamp stage and make the guitar input ‘fit’ for further shaping. Also, here the signal goes through the different gains stages.
- The power amp section, where the signal is amplified again, enough to drive the speakers.
If it’s a combo amp, then the speaker is part of the main body; if not, the speaker cabinet is separate from the body, and the amp is referred to as the ‘amp head.’
This is the important bit here: for classic tube amps like, for example, a Marshall Plexi, the nice overdrive you hear comes from the power amp section being cranked – that’s why you need the volume.
An attenuator, in simple terms, is a kind of limiter for the amplifier’s output. It’s placed in between the amp head and speaker and lowers some of the signal’s voltage, turning it into heat and allowing the same saturated sound of a high-gain cranked amp at a much lower volume.
Overdrive Pedals
Overdrive Pedals, on the other hand, work before the amp and raise the volume and gain of the signal before it goes to the amplifier’s preamp section. Volume refers to the pedal’s output volume, while gain refers to the level that goes in the pedal and gives you the saturation.
With a pedal, you can raise the gain before going in the amp and have a low volume at the amp’s power stage to get a saturated tone. However, the sound of that saturation depends much on the pedal and could alter the nature of the pedal if it’s not particularly good sounding.
The difference summed up: One piece of gear pushes the power amp section, while the other the preamp section. Attenuators and guitar pedals can have different effects depending on what section the amp uses to shape the sound.
High gain amps generally use preamp stage gain, so you can still get a lot of distortion at a low volume without an attenuator. If you have a solid-state amp, just go for a pedal to shape the sound, and don’t worry about other gear.
Overdrive Pedal vs. Attenuator: Which Sounds Better?
Now here’s where amp purists and pedal collectors clash head to head. I stand on both sides of the argument.
I find that the goal of good overdrive pedals is to not sound like a pedal, but like a natural add-on to the amplifier – and at the same time, I don’t find all amps to have an overdrive that’s worthy of being ‘preserved’ at all costs.
- A good amps overdrive tends to be very dynamic, responding to the player’s touch and the volume knob of the guitar in the same way and extent a bend responds to your vibrato.
The amps edge-of-breakup tone is the sound of rock n’ roll and is still as big as ever. This particular tonal palette allows players to get multiple shades of the same tone, from crisp clean to fat and saturated, using only your hands and the tone/volume knob.
- An overdrive pedal is supposed to do the same as a cranked-up amp, ideally, but at a lower volume and with more versatility. Besides not losing your hearing, overdrive pedals help get different ‘colors’ as different ones sound and feel different.
- An attenuator is similar to the amp’s real loud cranked tone, yet the quality of the sound changes the more the device lowers the volume. It still retains the same tonal quality as the amps, but it eats out some of the overtones of the guitar the more it’s set to work.
In my personal experience, my ears tell me I can hear more of the low-end and mid-range of the amp with the attenuator off – yet the difference is minimal unless you record the guitar and compare head to head.
In the race of Attenuator vs. Overdrive Pedal, considering the price, I would pick the first only if the overdrive of the amp is worth keeping intact.
If I could, I would choose neither of them. I would opt for a very loud overdriven tube amp with an overdrive pedal that would just add some light coloring and EQ with the gain at 0. Beyond the amount of gain, it’s also a matter of volume – high volume makes cabinets respond differently and sound different on recordings where a mic is placed in front of it.
“In the race of Master Volume Vs. Attenuator – I’d always pick the cranked master volume to record or play on stage and the attenuator to practice/rehearse.”
Just out of curiosity about how much volume dictates playing, I’ll share a tip for getting Huge sounding chords.
You can make chords sound massive by cranking the volume up to 10 and playing as lightly as you can. Angus Young, who appears to have a heavy rhythm touch, has the lightest touch on the strings and just lets the loud amp do all the work.
Attenuators Are More Expensive
The cheapest attenuator is still more expensive than a decent overdrive pedal – while if we take out-of-the-question cult overdrive pedals that go for 5000$ due to branding (The Original Klon!), exceptional overdrive pedals are much cheaper than premium attenuators.
- I wouldn’t let the price stop me if my goal were to keep my amp pristine and intact by pedals cause I could just not buy any overdrive or distortion pedal.
- If, on the other hand, you are only looking for a practice or rehearsal tool – even to play some small venues – I would first check how pedals sound.
Sweetwater has a good list of options to choose from and also a detailed guide of what attenuator could fit your amp better.
Which Overdrive Pedals Are Best for a Clean Amp at Lower Volumes?
It’s worth mentioning that once you use the attenuator, the clean channel of your amp with be affected. If you want the flexibility of using your clean channel more often, then finding overdrive pedals that go well with a clean amp is the best option.
There are endless options for overdrive pedals. The biggest tip I can give is to pick the pedals that keep the dynamics of the tone the same or very similar to the real amps.
What you should look for else is the ‘width’ of the sound. Good pedals sound decent and massive the moment you plug them in, even without tweaking the knobs.
Keep in mind to test overdrive pedals with the gain first to 0 and play around with the output volume of the pedals and the guitar. Then do the opposite to see how many tones you can get.
Can You Use an Overdrive Pedal and Attenuator Together?
You can use an overdrive pedal and attenuator together if you want to add the coloring of a pedal on top of the amp’s overdrive at a low volume. It’s a good tactic if you can afford both and you truly like that overdrive of the amp.
Remember not to exaggerate the gain/level of the pedal, as it might change up the amp’s tone too much – at that point there’s no reason to have the attenuator.
The attenuator vs. overdrive pedals is an argument requiring a solution from a ‘Deus ex Machina’ literary element, which in this case is the amp. If you love your amp and can’t do without it’s edge of breakup tone no matter where you are playing, an attenuator will do you more justice, but at a higher cost than most overdrive pedals.