Hi! I got my PS-2A a few weeks ago and I have been really loving it as an attenuator. I’ve been using it mostly with my Fender Deluxe Reverb (reissue), both attenuation for more controllable apt levels as well as silent recordings. For the most part, it’s been awesome. For attenuation, my unit has been an absolute charm. However, when using the line out, it just doesn’t seem right. I get this sound that is kind of like the bass breaking up. It does kind of sound like a light fuzz. I can detect it at all volumes that i’ve set the amp to and on multiple amps. I’ve been kind of getting around it in recordings by just playing super light on the bass strings. but i’d definitely rather it not do this hahah
Also, up until today, I’d been running the line out of the Fryette into the input on one of my outboard preamps, but just rearranged my patch bay so I could have the line out on the fryette go into one of the lines in on my interface and I realized how quiet the line out on the Fryette actually is. I have the line out volume knob at maximum, the Fender reverb at 4, and I’m picking the low E quite hard. And the max peak I’m getting is around -19dB. This is a workable volume. However, taken with the rest of the sound issues i’ve been having, I’m starting to wonder if I have a defective unit. Hearing everyone else talk about how amazing this thing is, I really want to be in the same boat! And honestly, for attenuation, i am in the same boat! So I’m really hoping that this is just a defective unit and I can get it fixed and be fully on the boat. But I’m worried that I might just be running up against a shortcoming of attenuation for silent recording.
I included a sound sample. This is the neck pickup of my strat plugged directly into the front of the amp (Input 1 in the ‘custom channel’ of a Fender Deluxe Reverb Custom '68. volume 4, treble 7, bass 7). Line out from the Fryette (full volume) is going directly into the line in on my focusrite scarlet 18i8. I’ve boosted the recording with a gain plugin so that you’re able to hear it without cranking your headphones. However, when I was recording, the max peak I got was -19dB, so the cause of this cannot be a gain staging issue. Worth noting, that this issue does also happen at lower/higher amp volumes and in both the custom and vintage channels.