Lone Star / Hot Plate advice...?

I was thinking about using a Hotplate with my Lone Star. Anyone doing this right now? Which HP do you use? Is it bad for the amp?

I haven´t used one yet, but I´m buying one soon for my 60watt custom made jcm800.

I´ve read a lot about it, and found that THD Hot Plates are the best. In my case, even better that Marshall Powerbrakes (that are designed for marshalls).

It´s not bad for the amp.
But if you think about it, using a hot plate will allow you to play at really high volumes, pushing the tubes really hard. So that will reduce the lifetime of your power tubes. However, what is the point of playing tube-amps if you don´t really mean to push the tubes :roll:

Since tube amps are about driving POWER tubes hot, hot plates aren´t really necessary if your amp has a Master Volume.

I don't have a Lone Star but I do have a Rect-o-verb 50W head w/ 2x12 recto bottom. I am running the head through the 8 ohm Hot Plate. It DEFINITELY works great. It will absolutely will not hurt your amp AS LONG AS YOU USE THE CORRECT OHM RATING. One stlye Hot Plate is made for one specific rating. What ever your speaker ohm rating is, you buy the Hot Plate that matches it. If you don't, then you can cause major damage to your amp. With the amp cranked and run through the Hot Plate at a lower volume the tone is really good. Just remember, don't expect to get the "impact" and "full tone" of a tube amp that is being played wide open through the speakers. Nothing beats that. But, you can play at very comfortable levels and still get a great "tube tone". For good tone I play at either -8db or -12db. Once you go to -16db and more you will lose some tone. Everything is a trade-off. At -16db I can play and my wife who's watching TV in a room about 20' away from me can't even hear me. When I'm home alone "the skys the limit." I talked to a guy at Mesa and he told me that the Hot Plate is really good but Dr. Z's Air Brake is even more transparent. I've never tried the Air Brake so I can't say for sure. The Hot Plate was definitely a worthwhile investment for me. I would not be able to use this amp without it. Lets just say it keeps peace in the house.

I have LSC, and I am thinking I need an hotplate. which one should buy? what ohm rating should buy?

yes im also intrested in a hotplate for my mesa 2ch rec

I like the Dr.Z Air Brake over the Hot Plate, IMO. If you do get the Hot Plate, the 8 ohm version should work fine. I use the Air Brake as a Master Master volume. I crank the amp loud enough to get the power section to drive, then back down the volume for the gig. The bedroom settings on these type of devices are kind of silly, putting all that strain on an expensive component when a good overdrive can safely do the same thing but, every body has an opinion of what "Cranked Tube Tone" is so I'll leave it at that. Good luck!

zappaslaughter said:

I have LSC, and I am thinking I need an hotplate. which one should buy? what ohm rating should buy?

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As long as the loop is engaged you can use the master volume control as an attenuator.

Check out the Weber Mass as well. I haven't played one but a friend swears by it. I think that all those mentioned will work fine as long as you don't push it to the extreme.

[quote
... hot plates aren´t really necessary if your amp has a Master Volume.
... As long as the loop is engaged you can use the master volume control as an attenuator.[/quote]

This is a common misconception. There is a link to this topic but I couldn't find it now. May be the THD or Weber site has articles on it.
Master volume basically reduces the signal level and thus reduces the volume by not driving the power tube hard. What you get is more of a pre-amp distortion. The attenuator puts a load on the power amp and so you can drive it hard. This is the power tube saturation tone that you want.

Master volume basically reduces the signal level and thus reduces the volume by not driving the power tube hard. What you get is more of a pre-amp distortion. The attenuator puts a load on the power amp and so you can drive it hard. This is the power tube saturation tone that you want.

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I am under the impression that the master volume controls for each individual channel are pushing the power section and the overall master volume is controling the level of signal going to the speaker post power section.

You can't put a pot on a speaker level signal.
Without a schematic, I can't be certain where that overall volume is but I'm sure that it's at the front of the power section. If I have to guess, I think that it's wired in parallel with the two channel masters. It also allows you to use the power section alone by plug a signal in the Fx return and use this pot as a level control.

I forgot about being able to use the return as an input for the power amp. My bad for putting out sh@#$y info.

Well guys. I've been testing out the Hotplate with my Lone star classic, and I honestly don't hear an improvement.

It sounds a little different, but not necessariy better.

I'm surprised because I've always read about power tube distortion....

I may post the audios of my tests to prove this finding.

Well on the Lone Star you might not get a the total "Power Tube" saturation that you could get with a simpler amp design. I did like the way I could get the amp to tighten up when using a booster or overdrive on the clean channel.

I would definitely use an attenuator rather than the Master on a LS. Especially a LSS on channel 1. The amp just comes alive when those Master's are maxed (or very high) and you bring the preamp up to taste for your level of drive. Plus as the preamp level is not nearly as high to get the same drive the EQ becomes more responsive. A regular LS on channel 1 has an awesome plexi flavor when used as a non master amp.

Just don't expect bedroom levels. That's not what a HotPlate or any attenuator is for. If you want bedroom levels and use a HotPlate to choke off that much volume, you're no better off than just using the master volume. Attenuators are for when you are playing loud and want to get a liitle more saturation but don't want to raise the volume any more. If you're thinking that you can put that amp on 10 and then choke it back to a whisper, it's going to suck most of the tone.

gregrjones said:

Well guys. I've been testing out the Hotplate with my Lone star classic, and I honestly don't hear an improvement.

It sounds a little different, but not necessariy better.

I'm surprised because I've always read about power tube distortion....

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Like I said in my previous post, if you're attenuating most of the volume, the tubes are still not working hard.

CudBucket said:

Just don't expect bedroom levels. That's not what a HotPlate or any attenuator is for. If you want bedroom levels and use a HotPlate to choke off that much volume, you're no better off than just using the master volume. Attenuators are for when you are playing loud and want to get a liitle more saturation but don't want to raise the volume any more. If you're thinking that you can put that amp on 10 and then choke it back to a whisper, it's going to suck most of the tone.

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+1. When you do that it just sounded farty and buzzy.

CudBucket said:

gregrjones said:

Well guys. I've been testing out the Hotplate with my Lone star classic, and I honestly don't hear an improvement.

It sounds a little different, but not necessariy better.

I'm surprised because I've always read about power tube distortion....

Click to expand...

Like I said in my previous post, if you're attenuating most of the volume, the tubes are still not working hard.

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The tubes are actually working very hard, hence the purpose of an attenuator. Having the Master low will not work the tubes hard.

skoora said:

CudBucket said:

gregrjones said:

Well guys. I've been testing out the Hotplate with my Lone star classic, and I honestly don't hear an improvement.

It sounds a little different, but not necessariy better.

I'm surprised because I've always read about power tube distortion....

Click to expand...

Like I said in my previous post, if you're attenuating most of the volume, the tubes are still not working hard.

Click to expand...

Having the Master low will not work the tubes hard.

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That's what I'm saying.

ja22y said:

You can't put a pot on a speaker level signal.
Without a schematic, I can't be certain where that overall volume is but I'm sure that it's at the front of the power section. If I have to guess, I think that it's wired in parallel with the two channel masters. It also allows you to use the power section alone by plug a signal in the Fx return and use this pot as a level control.

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I found a schematic online a while back, but I can't seem to find it again. From what I remember, though, the channel masters were wired in the usual place, before the presence controls and the FX loop, then the output and solo controls came after the loop and directly before the phase inverter.