Palmer PDI-06-16 Ohm

I've had a few occasions where I have finished recording some driven sounds through an 18 watt valve amp on it's 5 watt setting and come away and noticed my ears ringing. My amp has a good DI out but I particularly wanted to capture the sounds from an alnico blue speaker. As ever I researched the alternatives and the choice effectively boils down to building an isolation cab or using a power attenuator.

Attenuators seem to vary extensively in price between very cheap and hideously expensive! The Palmer PDI-06-16 Ohms is a lower mid-priced product.

The Palmer turned up within a few days, well packaged and as described. The unit is very well made with a sturdy metal casing with simple and clear controls that feel good quality.

The unit has a two-way switch and works in bypass mode without any noticeable colouring of the amp sound. This allows the full wattage of the amp output through to the speaker cab.

Switching to attenuator mode brings in the functionality of the large and clear rotary knob that affects the degree of volume reduction. This control is marked with numerical levels from 1 to 6 and also in percentage (%) volume at the speaker. These run from 70% at level 1 to 0% at level 6 where it works as a "Load Box". There is no noticeable colouration of the guitar tone whilst the attenuator is in use.

An additional use for the Palmer set to Load Box is to use it with a microphone signal level tap device such as a Red box. This allows you to dispense with a speaker cab completely and run your amp silently.

Criticisms are few. The unit is slightly taller than 1U rack space so creates a size mismatch with other studio gear. It would be great if the unit was switchable to 8 ohm but at present you would need to buy a second Palmer unit rated 8 ohm.

Good buy though and highly recommended.