Doing Things Wrong

Silvertone 1457 Guitar & Amp (3/5)

The attenuator circuit for both the 1457 and 1472 amps

The LPad is the first stage and does most of the work, the fixed second stage can be switched in for even more quiet. The 50 watt LPad should be sufficient for at least a 20 watt amp. The capacitors suppress audible pops from the switches.

For the circuit above, the 1457 amp is nominally 5 watts at 4 ohms, while the 1472 is 10 watts at 8 ohms. The idea is to bleed off power while maintaining a constant impedance to the amp. This lets you get nice natural tube distortion without the neighbors calling the police. For these small amps, heat dissipation is not a problem.

Each circuit has two options for the fixed second stage, one for 12db and one for 20db - choose one. The values of the fixed resistors depend on the impedance of the speaker. For simplicity, just omit the second stage, it is not necessary, I was just experimenting.

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My take on bodies

An electric guitar body serves several purposes. It provides a place to attach (and hide) hardware and electronics, and provides a counterweight for the neck, specifically the tuners out there at the end. It also provides enough weight and bulk to stabilize the instrument while it is played, either sitting or standing, while at the same time being not too heavy or interfering with natural playing motions and access to the strings. And needless to say, it must be strong enough to resist the effects of string tension, which can be 100-200 pounds or more.