Amplifier Attenuators

Same great design and incredible ability to reduce volume without meaningful tonal degredation as the Brake-Lite, but with an enclosed back for use without mounting inside a combo or open-back cabinet.

From Dr Z

You asked for for it and we listened...Introducing the fully enclosed Brake Lite SA (Stand Alone.) Same guts as the combo mount Brake Lite, but able to be tossed in the gig bag for use with many different amps on the fly. The Brake Lite SA works with any tube amp up to 45 watts and can be used with 4, 8, or 16, ohm loads. The SA features 2 speaker outs that are wired in parallel. You can now run multiple cabs with ease.

The Brake Lite SA measures 6”x 5” x 3 1⁄4” and weighs in at 1 1⁄2 lbs. Four 1⁄2” feet give plenty of clearance for resting on top of your amp.

At the Zero setting the Brake Lite SA is fully by-passed.

Each click yields more attenuation:
1=2dB, 2=5dB, 3=8dB, and 4=11dB.

Always use speaker cable to connect the Brake Lite SA to your speaker.

When connecting a second cab you will be making a parallel load. Ex: a pair of 8 ohm cabs use the 4 ohm speaker out on your amp.

The Z Brake Lite Attenuator will be right at home mounted inside your combo amp. Perfect for dialing in your combo to its sweet spot while dialing back the volume level.
The Brake Lite works with any tube amp up to 45 watts and can be used with 4, 8, or 16, ohm loads. Very simple to install, the Brake Lite mounts with 2 screws and has a hardwired speaker cable to plug into the amp chassis. Plug the speaker into the Brake Lite and you are ready to go.

Please note: the Brake Lite is NOT a stand alone unit and needs to be mounted in a combo for proper operation.

We sell an average of 10 of these per week and have a less than 1% return ratio making it the most successful and loved Attenuator we have ever carried and we have carried almost all of them. It just, simply works beautifully and without tonal degradation.

5 3/8" high x 5 1/2" wide x 1 3/4" deep (including attachment ears)

Highly Recommended!!™
Fat Fave Award for Excellence

Customer Comments

"Hi Mike,

Just wanted to thank you for the help you gave me yesterday. The "Brake-Lite" is everything you said it was and more. The Ghia and the Mazerati both keep their tone even with the Brake-Lite @ 4. This is an amazing tool. ......Anyway thanks again for all your help in making my 1st 3.5hr trip to Fat Sound Guitars an awesome experience, I will definitely be back soon!

Best Regards,"

Jeremy B.
Maiden, NC

Above and beyond your average attenuator, the Night Light offers defeatable bulb filament compression and the ability to run TWO amps in Stereo via the Output stage of amp one.

"This pedal attenuator was definitely built by someone with young children; someone who understands great tone, but also the need to achieve it at a very low volume. An ultimate example of necessity being the mother of invention. The initial "On" mode reduces the volume considerably. I honestly can't tell any difference in tone or feel b/w the attenuator off position and the heaviest degree of attenuation on offer by the unit, but the volume reduction is substantial. Love the lights which respond to your playing!"

-Stu Carter, owner Fat Sound Guitars

From Swart's website

"The mail would start innocently enough: "Hi, I love your amps!" Then would come the hook: "So..., can I play the STR-Tweed in the same room with Aunt Rene? She's not a heavy napper but her hearing aid can be dialed back." Sure, Jimmy.

Indeed. Truth be told, even the little ST-6V6se would make Aunt Rene's eyes change hue given a heavy hand and increased endorphins. But we love the 6V6se, STR, and AST and really didn't feel like saddling each with Master volume. The combos deserve the Swart Hallmark purity of circuit.

Enter the dreaded A Word: Attenuator. Yeah, we know. And Sir Michael thought there were plenty of attenuators to choose from. On the other hand, could thy Swart Magic come into play yet again, moving this device to another plane? Well, after a solid year of research, trials, virtual black holes, and head scratching, we have the answer:

YES! Meet the Swart Night Light; there's NOTHING like it."

More from Swart

Michael succeed in making an attenuator that is optimized for lower wattage combos, standing apart from the crowd. And while this beast brings the tone of any great, lower wattage amp down to whisper quiet levels, keeping the tonal harmonic integrity intact while retaining the quality of output tube breakup, it's much, much more.

For instance, the completely defeatable (flip a switch and you bypass the whole nine yards) circuit has a unique bulb filament compression stage, giving the attenuated signal a more saturated tube-esque compression, bringing a bit of the Brown Sound to play (this is a subtle effect). Slam a chord, and watch the main jewel lamp glow as it compresses into sweetness. A flip of the switch removes this stage if not desired.

The actual attenuation is controlled via a three position switch, avoiding the issues with mediocre attenuator pots robbing the sonics of heft and tone. The most attenuated position leaves surprisingly robust breakup at a shade over natural string loudness. It's THE answer to your significant other wanting to burn a hole through the center of your skull.

If this was all the Night Light did, it would be good enough. Yet Michael Swart didn't stop there. He wanted a way to link up TWO amps, the first driving the second via it's full OUTPUT stage, bring all the effects PLUS power tube drive, this reduced to proper input level, then fed through the INPUT of the second amp! The number of tonal variations is staggering; simply put, this is a boon for all Tone Explorers. Run an AST into a ST-6V6se! Or how about the STR-tweed into the little ST. Man, it's just too fun to be legal. I could ramble for 10 paragraphs and still not get near all the possibilities with this setup. When you add in the attenuation aspect, this little magic box gives more than it has a right to.

Lastly, it's compact, and cool to stare at, just like all the Swart gear. And last but not least, it makes a great NIGHT LIGHT! Bring your whole family in to gaze at the beauty. Or not.

Features and Specifications

The night light is very portable and built like a rock. It's the size of a small effects pedal: 4.67" L x 3.68" W x 1.18" H. This thing can practically fit in your pocket.

The Night Light was designed specifically for the ST-6V6se, STR, AST, and AST Pro. But even though optimized for the Swart brigade, the Night Light will work with ANY amplifier 22w or less with the light compression, 30w with it off. [Note from Fat Sound] We have now tried the Night Light with several sub-25 watt combo's from various manufacturers and found it to work equally well regardless of amp being used.

Bored by the plethora of text? Hit the bullets:

Attenuation settings

Light Compression Mode
This mode runs the attenuated signal through a Swart jewel lamp filament, bringing a subtle tube compression/brown sound goodness. Ever wonder what your signal sounded like through a light bulb? You'll be addicted in seconds

Bypass compression mode
Removes the light compressor out of the circuit for more natural dynamics.

Heavy duty 3 position Switch
This main chicken head switch allows you to switch between 3 different attenuation settings. The lowest setting is about the same loudness as your guitar strings.

Special Features

Guitar Amp, guitar line level out (works in attenuation mode or bypassed)
Allows you to send the complete amp signal to another guitar amp. Now you an sound like Jimi in BOLD AS LOVE! Well, maybe. You COULD. Seriously, have you heard two Swarts together? You should. .

You can send the AST effects, reverb and Tremolo to a standard non effects amp. This allows you to run the AST in stereo with another amp sharing the effects between the two amps.

With the Night Light it is now possible to get the AST sound into your 200 watt live guitar amp. Just plug the Night Light into the AST; set it to the sound you like and run a line from the Night Light to your 200 watt stack for ear shattering levels.

it is now easy to run a Space tone into a AST or a AST into a Space Tone.

It's a virtual blue night light show of psychedelic craziness. And it looks cool. Keep your 3 yr old entertained till the wee hours.

Customer Comment

"Stu,

as you know, I picked up my Swart Night Light on Friday and I've got to tell you that it is the best purchase since buying my Swart AST. It absolutely ROCKS! I had been playing my Swart mostly on the "2" setting in our band situation. This weekend I plugged in the Night Light and cranked that amp past the 3 o'clock setting and WOW! The amp is alive with more tone and responsiveness than I've experienced with any attenuator. I've played my guitars more this past weekend than have in the past 6 months. The tones are truly incredible. This is easily the best purchase I have made in a long time! Swart has done it again."

Ricky T.
Raleigh, NC

Condition: Very Good (some minor cosmetic scratches)

Street Price New: $329.00

Savings: $79.00 (24%)

From THD's Website

A THD Hot Plate® is a tuned network of capacitors, resistors and inductors which adjusts the overall EQ as the volume is turned down to compensate for the human ear's frequency response. Your ear perceives sounds differently at different volumes: the louder the sound, the more sensitive your ears are to highs and lows. As the volume drops, your ear becomes more sensitive to the mid-range, and less so for highs and lows. The Hot Plate® compensates for this, working like the "Loudness" switch on a hi-fi. The THD Hot Plate® is the first, and for now, the only attenuator that is frequency compensated.

How do I use it?
The THD Hot Plate® is designed for use strictly with vacuum tube guitar amplifiers, and each version is optimized for a specific impedance (2, 2.7, 4, 8, or 16 ohms.) These inductive loads are frequency compensated, which means it will give you the best possible sound for that impedance speaker and amplifier combination.

To use one: connect the speaker output of the amp into the input of the Hot Plate®, then connect the speaker cabinet to one of the two speaker outputs of the Hot Plate® (doesn't matter which one). The amp thinks the Hot Plate® is a speaker, so the sound stays true even when you turn the volume down.

What else does it do?

Built-in Noise Reduction
The THD Hot Plate® is the only attenuator on the market with built-in noise reduction to reduce the hiss and hum between notes. We've designed a passive, single-ended noise reduction system which provides approximately 10 dB of broad band noise reduction without gating or pumping, and without affecting the tone of the amp. A by-product of the noise reduction circuit is that it generates light as you play. The harder you play, the brighter it glows.

Tone Controls
The Hot Plate® is also the only attenuator offering a Bright switch and a Deep switch for tailoring your sound. The Bright switch gives you two different high frequency levels so you can compensate for an overly bright, or dull speaker cabinet. The Deep switch offers two distinct bass settings to help you fill out the bottom end, or reduce the bass in a cabinet with too much low end.

Adjustable Line Out
THD Hot Plates® also feature a Line Out, which is adjustable by its own volume control giving it a wide range of applications. At higher settings, it can provide enough signal to drive the input of a separate power amp for slaving. The middle range of settings is useful for most rack mount effects. And turned most of the way down, the Hot Plate's® Line Out will drive the instrument input of another guitar amplifier for extra power and volume.

Will it hurt my amp?
The THD Hot Plate® will not damage your amplifier. When you play continuously at full output, you cause your tubes to age more quickly than they would at lower volumes. Using a Hot Plate® will maintain the life of your tubes at exactly the same rate, no more or less, as when you play straight through the speaker.

Using a Hot Plate® will also not hurt your transformer any more than playing through a speaker, as long as the impedances are matched (i.e. 8 ohm setting on the amp, 8 ohm speakers and an 8 ohm attenuator). If you are using a well-made amp, then the transformer should last indefinitely, regardless of whether you are driving a speaker or attenuator. If you are using an inferior amp and the transformer blows, it would have done this whether you play through a speaker or an attenuator. The Hot Plate® puts the same load on the transformer as a speaker (which is why it makes such a good dummy load).

If you own any other attenuator, this would be a good time to start the eBay auction! ;-)

The combination of Ken Fischer's Trainwreck Circuits design and the build quality of Dr Z has led to the creation of the finest attenuator you can buy.

Functionality is the same as the diminutive Brake-Lite, but this unit is designed to work with more powerful amps up to 100 watts and is recommended for any amp over 45 watts.

9" x 6" x 3"