How Does It Sound?
I tried this unit with several types of amps,
using both Les Pauls and Strats, to get a
good idea of the unit’s sonic capabilities.
First, I used a 4-ohm Fender head with a
16-ohm Marshall cabinet. When I used this
type of rig in the past, I had to rewire my
Marshall cabinet to 4 ohms. I was pleasantly
surprised to hear this setup with both amp
and cabinet operating at their normal impedances. The sound on the least attenuated
setting (A) was more open and a bit tighter
in the low end than I was used to hearing.
As I reduced the levels by stepping through
settings B-E, I detected little sonic difference
until I got down to the Variable knob settings.
It’s worth noting that when you lower the
dB level on a high-powered amp—whether
with a master volume or a power attenuator—
the sound changes because you’re not
pushing the speakers as hard. This is simply
a mechanical issue. That said, the feel I got
using the PRX 150-Pro at these lowered levels
was great. And this made playing quietly
a lot more enjoyable.
I tried other amp combinations, including a
Marshall Super Lead head with a Marshall
cabinet and a Vox AC50 with a 2x12 Vox
cabinet. I had the Vox set to 8 ohms to match
the cabinet’s 8-ohm impedance. With each
rig, the results were very much the same:
Tone and feel stayed consistent through
the A-E ranges. Testing the Marshall head
was especially fun, because I tried switching
between transformer taps, which altered
the amp’s tightness, overtones, and low-end
response. In this application, the Aracom
gives you another option for sculpting your
tone. (By the way, the 8-ohm tap on the
Marshall sounded best to me.)
The Final Mojo
Sonically, the Aracom PRX 150-Pro attenuator
stayed very true to every amp I paired it
with. My tone stayed stable as I lowered the
dB level to its minimum amount (the variable
control doesn’t turn the sound completely
off). Even super-quiet bedroom settings
sounded very good and responded to picking
and touch extremely well. This attractive,
sturdily built unit would be a great addition
to any guitarist’s tone arsenal.
Buy if...
you need quality tones at lower
levels, or you need to match
impedance between different
amps and cabs.
Skip if...
you have a low-power amp that
already provides the tone and volume
levels you require.
Rating...
