POWER ATTENUATOR- BUGERA PS 1 Power Soak ...surprising quality in spite of the brand !!!

 BUGERA PS1 POWER SOAK ATTENUATOR 
What do they do. With a tube amp a big part of the sound is the power amp's tone. The harder you push it the more it distorts which exaggerates the harmonic content. The transformers have a limit to how much power they can supply and when they run out they turn the transformer into a limiter. The term often used is saturation. The effect creates a fuller sound and creates more sustain. It also causes 'sag'. If you strike a note aggressively the level drips for a split second then serge's back up creating the note to swell.

$100.00 USD

Unfortunately it also means you will be playing very loud. You can be too loud to balance with the band or quite simply the level is inappropriate for the location. In short others do not want to hear you while they are trying to sleep. LOL

Easy to use. Just stick your speakers cord into the PS1 jack labelled 'speaker'
Then put a second speaker cord in the appropriate output. 
On most amps it is 8 ohm. BUT CHECK FIRST!!!
If you are using multiple cabinets you may need advice.
The ohms are written right on the speaker...but you can check the manual.
If you have a combo on many amps you can pull the jack out
and do the same. A few combo amps may need a small mod
check with your tech.

Think of the sound coming from the amp as hot water.  It has to go somewhere. If it can't it will boil.
If the sound can get to the speakers it can get rid of that heat. This is peculiar to tubes. With transistors they are cold water nothing happens if they can not go to the speakers and dissipate any heat.
Think of a power soak as just a big speaker without a cone. A giant speaker voice coil that can release the heat to the air.

One thing important to know is this is a part for part clone of the defunct Jet City JS-1 designed by Mike Soldano. Yes 'that' Soldano ..he doesn't design junk! The unit encased in a steel box so when I say it is built like a tank it is not a figure of speech. In spite of Bugera's reputation of making what many feel is junk this is a Pro quality unit. Simple. To get all the bells and whistles most of the other choices are made by the gourmet brands.

You can expect to pay up to 5 times more. 
Bugera's Soldano design is quite simply very robust. A rock solid steel box. It even looks good! Just think of it as a giant speaker without a cone. It does not need fancy electronics. In fact like a speaker it does not even need electricity. It is a totally 'passive' unit.
It does have it's limits. It is only rated at 100 watts. But very, very few tube amps are more.
It also is designed to virtually cut the volume in half just by plugging it in.
If at a gig you want it cut by perhaps just by 20 or 30% you are out of luck. With a 100 watt amp in a band anything over 50 watts will even start to drown out the bass a drums when there aren't any mics on the backline.
Depending on the amp a 50 watt amp may not benefit from it live. Some 50 watt amps like Marshalls tend to put out a killer  db. Many are as loud as a 100 watt transistor amp ...so it may work.
Mine is primarily for rehearsal and practice.
I think of it as an amazing sounding practise amp in a box!!!  LOL

The only down side is since your speaker is part of the equation. It will not move as vigorously
with the PS-1 in the line it will not get all the level. You will have to probably tweak up the highs and if you are playing really quietly. You may want a bit more bass too. BUT once done it really will sound the same.
The difference will be insignificant.

Well I just got one. I used it ar rehearsal. It fattened my sound and oddly I heard not a hint of loss of highs. Go figure ...they seemed to be boosted. It sounded exception clean so I opted for cutting the highs from my OD's
The pedal is not a disappointment in any way. The fit and finish are exceptional and the knobs are very firm but move like they have ball bearings. A 10 out of 10.
I strongly recommend it!!!