Reviews of Soundsmith Products
The Harry Kolbe Silent Speaker is a passive load device designed to link your amp's Speaker Out directly to a mixer or power amp. The Silent Speaker is not a resistive box; it uses inductive technology to mimic a speakers varying impedances. It has three 1/4" jacks: an amp input ( 2, 8, 16, and 4 ohm loads are kosher ), a line out and a headphone jack.
Tested with a Fender Princeton and Matchless Clubman, the Silent Speaker paired with The Attenuator sounded excellent at all reduced levels - detailed, dynamic and musical. Kolbe has some fine voodoo going on here.
Guitar Player. August 1993.
The Silent Speaker and The Attenuator - "The Silent Speaker substitutes an artificial load (dummy load) for the speaker in your amp setup, allows you to crank the amp to high levels of overdrive without offending the sound man, the audience or your ears. The amp/load combination provides a Direct Out signal that includes the contribution of the amp's power stage and the load. The Direct Out can be fed to a recording board, effects rack or PA board. Finally, to make your sound audible, you will need a flat external power amplifier and full-range speaker system.
Soundsmith, Inc 27 West 20th St. NY NY, 10011 or e - mail us: eric at soundsmith.com or harry at soundsmith.com. (11 AM -- 6 PM weekdays, EST), 212-627-2740
I had a Silent Speaker, one of the first that were made, and tried to use it with no guitar speaker at all. It sounded fizzy and squealed, leading me to believe that actual guitar speakers are required, not just an unmoving resistive/inductive load. One person wrote me saying that the Silent Speaker must be used with a separate cab-sim filter.
Harry's article about attenuators
Randall Aiken wrote: "I have no idea how good the Kolbe unit is; I believe you have to buy two different units to get both attenuation and a load/line out feature." [one is for attenuation, one is for reactive load and line-out]
There is a 1-column comparative review in Legends of Guitar: The Quest for Ultimate Tone. Best of Guitar Player. Sonic secrets -- Hendrix, Clapton, Van Halen, Stevie Ray, Slash, & more. Distortion tips. Eq- craig anderton. Decoding distortion. R. Aspen Pittman. Eric Johnson. Tone factors in solidbody guitars. 1995. Has a review of soaks, which appeared in Guitar Player Aug 1993. Covered:
DejaNews query: "silent speaker"
Messages 1-30 of exactly 30 matches for search "silent speaker":
Date Scr Subject Newsgroup Author
1. 98/04/13 036 Re: Direct Guitar Recording alt.music.4-track chumbuck�t�
2. 97/04/15 035 Re: Speaker Simulation alt.guitar.amps Steve
3. 97/11/20 032 FS: THD 8ohm HOTPLATE!! alt.guitar.amps Steve
4. 97/10/28 032 Re: best guitar amp simulato alt.guitar.amps Mark Garvin
5. 97/08/31 032 Re: Direct Recording alt.guitar.amps Dark Water
6. 97/05/09 032 Power Attenuators/Soaks #1/4 alt.guitar.amps SLR
7. 96/09/26 032 Re: silent speakers alt.guitar David Roach
8. 97/02/27 031 PS Systems Power Tool alt.guitar.amps Steve
9. 98/01/16 030 Re: amp voicing alt.guitar.amps Punkerdubh
10. 97/01/03 030 Re: Best way to record guita alt.guitar Dpcoffin
11. 96/09/28 030 Re: silent speakers alt.guitar harry kolbe sou
12. 96/07/18 030 DUMMY LOADS ... FRIED AMPS alt.guitar harry kolbe sou
13. 97/05/11 029 Re: Aiken Attenuator/Loa#3/3 alt.guitar.amps Randall Aiken
14. 97/04/08 029 Re: ATTENUATORS/LOADS alt.guitar.amps Steve
15. 97/02/27 029 Re: PS Systems Power Tool alt.guitar.amps Mark Garvin
16. 97/01/02 029 Re: Best way to record guita alt.guitar Srini Padmanabh
17. 96/10/16 029 7 Approaches to Quiet Po#2/2 alt.guitar.amps Michael
18. 96/10/16 029 Re: 7 Approaches to Quiet Po alt.guitar.amps Michael
19. 96/10/16 029 Re: 7 Approaches to Quie#3/4 alt.guitar.amps J.R. Elswick
20. 97/05/09 028 Re: Aiken Attenuator/Load alt.guitar.amps Steve
21. 96/11/23 028 home (appartment) recording alt.guitar.amps Morgwn Quin McC
22. 96/08/16 028 Re: THD Attenuator? alt.guitar.amps Kurt Arbuckle
23. 97/01/02 027 Re: Best way to record guita alt.guitar Brian Bavido
24. 96/11/24 027 Re: home (appartment) record alt.guitar.amps Mark Garvin
25. 96/11/02 027 Re: List of small tube a#2/2 alt.guitar.amps robertb
26. 97/09/16 026 Re: Opinions wanted: Pow#2/3 alt.guitar.amps Steve
27. 97/05/11 026 Re: Aiken Attenuator/Loa#2/3 alt.guitar.amps Randall Aiken
28. 97/04/08 026 RE: Power Brake #1/2 alt.guitar.amps Steve
29. 96/07/24 026 Re: Effects pedal for that C alt.guitar harry kolbe sou
30. 96/11/02 025 List of small tube amps for alt.guitar.amps Michael
Amptone.com ultra gear-search page