Attenuators

If you are having trouble getting the right tone out of your amp without making your ears bleed, then your best bet is to put an attenuator between your amplifier's output and speakers. The attenuator acts like a second volume control for your amp, limiting the amount of power delivered to the speakers. This allows you to drive your power tubes harder with a much lower volume level.

NOTE: A good rule of thumb when choosing an attenuator is to select one that is double your amplifier's rated output. Most power ratings on tube amplifiers are a clean signal rating, however when you drive the power tubes into saturation, or overdrive, they are putting out more than what they are rated.