Tone King Ironman II 100W Attenuator:
The Tone King Ironman II is a 100w precision compensated reactive power attenuator with a sophisticated design that allows you to reduce the volume level at the speaker(s) while allowing the amplifier to operate at full output power. The unit preserves every ounce of the tone and feel of your amplifier, for natural power-tube overdrive and distortion.
There are 18 distinct attenuation settings to let you choose the amount of output power that is being sent to the speakers, while the rest of the amplifier's power dissipates within the Ironman II. Tone King developed the Ironman's reactive load circuit by matching the results of impedance curve measurements, ran on an actual speaker and then tweaked the resulting design through an empirical method in order to create a load circuit that is most effective at preserving the tone and feel of your amplifier.
Personal Comment:
Note: Attenuators can be simple load boxes or like the Ironman II, they can be quite involved, whichever you choose, you need to choose with care as some set-ups can damage your amplifier. Another point regarding the Ironman II, it comes in at 15 lbs.
I chose the Ironman II because I wanted a unit that would safely handle various amplifier loads and a unit that did not require or come with software. To date, I really only use this with my Marshall Plexi and Vox AC15 heads as I also use other alternatives such as the Grossman Isolation Fat Box Cabinet. To date I have had no issues and my main observation would be that the attenuator does at higher settings somewhat colour the original amplifier tone which increases the higher the setting. Only the highest settings I find unusable. If you want to know more about this unit drop me an email.
