Black Cat Chicago Amp Tamer Deluxe (4, 8 and 16 ohm)

Do you want to turn up your tube amp to get "that" tone but live in a tiny apartment and don't want to get evicted from making so much noise? Do you want to break into that intro riff of "Sweet Child O' Mine" once in a while, but don't want the whole neighborhood know? (you know you do 😉)  Black Cat Chicago got a simple solution for you, the Amp Tamer Deluxe!

I hand built and tested each Amp Tamer Deluxe (aka the attenuator) in my tiny apartment in Chicago (haven't gotten any complaints from my wife or neighbors yet😁). Here are the amps I've tested the Amp Tamer with, Marshall JCM Slash (set to 50 watt), Marshall 2525H "mini" Silver Jubilee (set to 20 watt), both Marshalls through a JCM 900 4X12 cab set at 4, 8 and 16 ohm, Supro Black Magick and Fender Princeton Reverb clone (I built myself). The Amp Tamer Deluxe can be safely used with amps up to 50 watts. It has a bypass switch, 2 treble boost levels, impedance switch (4, 8 and 16 ohm), and the attenuation level knob. *Please note that the closer the knob is turned toward "Min" the higher the volume you'll hear, and the closer it's turned toward "Max" the lower the volume you'll hear. Think of it as a reverse volume knob* Input is where you'll connect the output from your amp to, and Output is where you'll connect to the speaker cabinet or if you're using a combo amp, the speakers in your amp.

*New and improved for the Deluxe version, I went back to the drawing board after designing the first version of the Amp Tamer, and came back with the Deluxe version. It can now handle amps with load impedance of 4, 8 and 16! YES, the Amp Tamer Deluxe can now handle it all in the same compact size!

Check out my demo video using the JCM Slash to get an idea of how this work! (please excuse my terrible playing and the terrible video recorded from my phone)

Here's some important disclaimers:

The Amp Tamer Deluxe can be used with amps up to 50 watts (see the list of amps I've personally used for testing), but if you're looking for something that can be safely used with amps higher than 50 watts, then you probably should look elsewhere and plan on investing on something that'll easily cost at least 2 to 3 times more than this. If you choose to use this with an amp higher than 50 watts, you are doing so at your own risk. And even if you're using a 20-watt amp, I still will not recommend you turning the amp to 10 for an extended period of time. This will no doubt wear out your tubes a lot quicker. Just because the volume coming out of the speaker(s) is not as high, doesn't mean your amp is not working hard. Please be aware that this is a passive attenuator, which means the unit itself is absorbing some of the energy the amp produced before it's transferred to the speaker at a lower volume. And the energy absorbed will turn into heat, which is why it's normal for the enclosure to get warm, but it should never be hot enough to burn your hand. If it gets that hot, then you're likely doing something wrong, stop and turn your amp off immediately! It's also very important to match the impedance of the Amp Tamer Deluxe with your amp's in order for it to work properly and not damage your amp. Switch to 4 ohm if your amp's output impedance is 4 ohm, 8 ohm to 8 ohm and 16 ohm to 16 ohm. I will not be held responsible for any damages to your equipment due to incorrect usage or user errors.  Be sure to only use speaker cables and never use instrument cables!

*Please note that all Black Cat Chicago pedals are handmade by me in my tiny Chicago apartment.  Everything that went into the pedal such as soldering all the components, graphics on the enclosures, drilling holes in the enclosures are all done by myself.  It's really a one person operation here.  Due to the handmade nature of making each pedal, there are bound to be some tiny imperfections in the finish, sometimes there might be light scratches on the enclosure or the footswitch might not be perfectly centered.  But they are all brand new unless specifically noted .  Thank you for your understanding and for supporting small pedal makers like me!