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Paul DiGirolamo
Paul sent us three audio clips demonstrating the tone produced with the PRX150-Pro both engaged and bypassed. Each clip represents a different amplifier, guitar and playing style, which provides a wide spectrum of tonal applications. These clips allow you to hear the level of transparency throughout the attenuation range and compare them to the bypassed tone.
Paul's comments on recording the clip:
The clips are level matched, starting with the PRX150-Pro bypassed and then going click by click all the way down to max attenuation, then back to bypassed at the very end. There is a distinct pause between each riff/click. Recording chain was Royer 121 about a foot from the grill into Great River MP2NV, there is a high pass filter at 30hz and a tiny bit (like 5% mix) of reverb from an IK plugin.
Clip 1: EJ Strat on neck pickup into a 35w Embassy which has an AC30 based preamp into 4x6V6s in Class A. Speaker cab is an open back 2x12 with Scumback H55 and Celestion V30, the H55 is the one recorded.
Clip 1 - Top Hat Embassy 35w
Clip 2: Early 80s Ibanez AM50 (small bodied semi-hollow w/ PAFs) into a 50w Ambassador which has a BF Fender based circuit with 2x6L6s in AB. Same speaker cab setup as the Embassy clip.
Clip 2 - Top Hat Ambassador 50w
Clip 3: Late 70s Ibanez LP copy with hot PAFs into a 50w Emplex which is a Marshall circuit with 2xEL34s. Cabinet is a closed back 2x12 with Scumback H75 and M75, the M75 is the one recorded.
Clip 3 - Top Hat Emplex 50w
As you can see, Paul is a big fan of the Top Hat amplifiers. From the above clips we can understand why - Fantastic Tone!
Paul's comments on the PRX150-Pro power attenuator:
" I've used the (brand X passive) and (brand Y active) attenuators but the Aracom meets or exceed all my expectations and is definitely the best attenuator I've used. Very solidly built, switches and jacks all feel solid, definitely seems durable. A bit big and heavy but then so are my tube amp heads, and there appears to be quite a bit going on inside the box and no wasted space. The sound IS very transparent from the first click all the way down to load, it doesn't change much if at all, maybe someone more dog-eared than me could hear something but for all intents and purposes it's transparent and preserves your tone extremely well. Speaker response changes and there is less air moving but if you sit right in front of your speaker at lowest volumes you can hear the whole frequency response, all the lows and highs, very impressive. Even more important to me is that it preserves the feel of the guitar-amp interaction and never feels compressed, fizzy, etc. Maintains touch sensitivity all the way down, again very impressive.
So far I've tried it with three TopHat heads from 35w to 50w and liked it with all of them. Really does allow you to dial in the amount of preamp and power amp overdrive you want at any volume without any tonal compromise, rather than having to rely on a MV which changes the tone of the amp. Pedal and amp settings can stay consistent, amps can run in the sweet spot without giving me tinnitus, I can get all the bloom and sustain and feedback without pissing off the neighbors or the soundman quite as much. Looking forward to doing some recording with it and can't really see myself playing out anywhere without having it available. Great follow-up from Jeff at Aracom too, makes me feel he really stands behind the product"
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