Fully agree with Nairbr regarding amp settings for both Strats and les paul guitars.

However, if the amp in question is a BLUESMASTER, early breakup will happen if the BASS POT is above 2½-3 (8:00-8:30 o'clock). The Bluesmaster amps are bass monsters, so you have to keep that pot way down.

There seem to be some confusion regarding the Bluesmaster, people tend to believe that the PI (Phase inverter) and/or poweramp is the reason for ealy break up in Bluesmasters. It all comes down to excessive bass in the Bluesmaster preamp. Period :-) If you want a balanced tone from the Bluesmaster preamp, you have to keep the Bass (and mid) control really, really low.

If you are in doubt about this, make a search for a picture of Matt Schofield or Larry Carlton's Bludo BLUESMASTER settings, and you will see that both players have the tone control settings close to:

- treble at '5' (12 o'clock)
- mid at 3 (9 o'clock) and
- BASS at 2½ (8:30 o'clock).

You might argue that a stellar player like Scott Lerner, who use mostly Bluesmaster amps (Glaswerks and Bludo's) has his tone controls at noon?? Yes, but Scott Lerner almost always plays lead guitar on his clips - with OD and PAB on. AND Scott use MAGA BOOST, which in effect means that in his clips the tone controls are not active at all.

Hope this helps

@ ToneControl, regarding early breakup, what are the other settings you are using?  Are you speaking of 2 on the Volume (first knob) or Master?  If you are running the preamp vol high, that *could* account for it.  But I'm thinking it may be a bad preamp tube.  It shouldn't break up that low.  I have a 100w w/ a 1/2 power switch, and I still just get saturated, compressed cleans when both the Vol and Master are at 5 on the 50w setting.

Bluesmaster's have limited headroom because of the PI they use (Marshall/Fender PI),especially the 50w BM.

I don't see the BM breaking up @ around 2 o'clock. On my 100w amp the only thing that's bluesmaster spec is the phase inverter (The Clean tonestack is a Skyliner and the HRM  is just standard HRM) and it breaks up (with the Master) @ 12 o'clock and the (Pre amp Vol) @ 6 o'clock. And the amp is pretty friggin loud @ that point. With those settings the amp feedbacks into itself (of course I use a D-lator as the Final Master too).

 I recommend finding someone to mod your PI to Skyliner specs and keeping the BM tonestack if you don't dig the sound now and if your not getting enough headroom.

Some folks don't have headroom problems with the 50w OTS although...?

FWIW I thought the JJ's were terible in my amp. Very 2D, mushy and flat IMO. Tung sol for V1 and V3 and NOS for V2 is my favorite combo so far.

Have not owned a hotplate, but the Weber unit offers more than just attenuation, much better feature set.  Rather than just a network or resistors, the Weber uses an actual speaker motor to provide some of that (flyback voltage) feedback to the OT like a real speaker, mine has footswitch to turn attenuation on/off, headphone jack, TRS balanced out, hi or lo rate of attenuation, 4/8/16 ohm impedance matching, treble boost switch (more like presence) 0, +3, or +6db, plus a full tone stack (volume treb, mid, bass) controlling only the line out signal.   That gives the user better control over his tone through the mixer, no more micing ever.  About the only option I didn't get with mine was the rackmount ears.  I get some amazing "cranked up" amp tones at small room regular gig volume levels.   Better sustain and girth in the tone for sure.   No loss of treble unless wanted due to treb boost switch.

Now the question is undoubtedly going to come up later if I don’t address it here first – quite simply, “How does the Weber MASS’ tone compare to the THD Hot Plate?”

I did some A/B tests using all amps and cab types and found that when set for little to moderate attenuation (-8 dB max on the Hot Plate and tuned to a similar output level with the MASS), the tone of both units was very similar, though the Hot Plate was a hair brighter (which could be viewed as a benefit or a disadvantage depending on your perspective!). When going to –12 dB or more on the Hot Plate, the Hot Plate won out on versatility because that’s when its frequency compensation switches really assisted in making the tone seem more natural with extra low and high end reinforcement. The MASS’ treble boost switch serves it well at those settings as well, but overall it is more of an extreme adjustment, whereas the Hot Plate tone network is a bit more subtle and therefore more useful in a wider range of applications.

Sonically for my personal uses, which involve attenuation typically no more than –8 dB, I would be happy with either unit. Any further than that in attenuation and the Hot Plate is my favored choice simply due to the frequency compensation switches which I feel are very well tuned.

Now for direct out use or in a “wet-dry” combined setup, the versatility of having the tone network on the MASS to compensate and correct the tone of the DI signal makes it an easy pick as the winner over the Hot Plate. Direct out signals from amplifiers can typically sound atrocious in general, so being able to e.q. and set the level for them prior to going out to another amplifier, mixer, or effects, is a tremendous benefit.

All together the Weber MASS is an excellent unit and is also a tremendous value for those looking for a quality attenuator today. I label it as a “tremendous value” because there are various models available for different power handling characteristics and you can order the options you’d like as needed. Ours was a nearly fully-equipped model and at a price of 180.00, still makes it a very compelling buy.

The THD Hot Plate had previously earned a score of 10 out of 10 when I tested it last year as it ran circles around it’s well-known competitor, the Marshall Power Brake. The Weber MASS definitely does the same and you could do no wrong with it as well. With its features, solid build quality, and overall value, I’m also awarding the Weber MASS a score of 10. For more information about the Weber MASS, visit www.webervst.com.

No ground loop issues with this box... after all there you have a transformer and a ground lift switch to take care of that.