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An acquaintance of mine has a Quilter Micropro Mach 2 that he let me try, and i have to tell you, it was amazing.
Clean sound, loud, wonderful tone. I tried some of my friend's other small amps, and this one blew them away. It was at least as nice sounding as my Line 6 (well, I don't really use the modeling part), but only 19 lbs.
Also, I wear hearing aids, and while they are fancy/programmable but never perfect, they do provide the opportunity to call-out acoustics that are designed to fake-out our brain - but the harmonic's don't lie esp. as the aids can pick up the imperfections. The Quilter was still perfect.
I've already ordered it. Quite expensive, but my Heritage H535 says that she is worth it. Apparently they have money back guarantee, so I don't see the harm.
Let's have a cheer for entrepreneurs/inventors! Here's another offering in the welcome modern trend of guitar amps which are light, yet powerful, breaking away from the long tube-centric domination of Fender/Marshall/their clones.
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03-04-2012 02:33 PM
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Tubes are irrelevant and I'm all for solid state progress, but $900 for a amp with an 8" speaker? For $400 you can get a Cube with a 12" speaker. This Quilter thing better be friggin magical for that kind of bread. But hey, if you try it and it is, well then let us know.
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Remember the original JazzKat amp? Same thing, about the same price. Lots of guys grabbed them and loved them.
Originally Posted by HighSpeedSpoon
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Or a mega brute.
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Good points, but rather outdated. What about what you get for your money today and what people expect for their money today?
Look, I have nothing at all against these people and maybe this thing is for real. If flexibility is important - as it is to many people - then the Quilter has an advantage over jazz amps.
But for that money if I was buying today, I'd get a Henriksen 112 combo or an AI head to play with my cab, or an Ameson RS 90 if they ever ship it to the US. I have nothing against changing my mind after the well-tuned chorus of happy Quilter users swells up on the forum - as it has already for Henriksen and AI (and it may someday for the Quilter). I think that's fair to me and to the Quilter folks.
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I've been trying to keep my focus on playing/practicing and stop worrying about gear lately, so I've been staying away from NGD, GAS, etc posts. That said, I did buy a Quilter MicroPro 200 a while back and have been quite happy with it! It's an impressive amp, very well suited to jazz players. I don't want to get into a big review or anything, but if you've got some questions, I might be able to help clarify things.
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Jazzreggie......did you get the 8 or 10" version? Did you have to do a lot of tweaking to get a good jazz tone out of it? What guitar are you playing through it?
Thanks.
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I have the 8" version. It wasn't hard to get a good jazz tone at all. I started with the controls in a neutral position, made a few minor adjustments to taste, and I was set - didn't take more than a few minutes. Most of the controls are detented too, which I found refreshing - less to futz over, and easy to return to previous settings. I've been mostly playing my Godin Montreal through it. I tend to stay on the magnetic pickups, but I have tried the piezo through the MicroPro and that sounds great too. Originally Posted by Section Player
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Rich Severson has done a couple great jazz demos:
Many of the recent recordings in his YouTube channel have been done with the MicroPro, well worth a listen.
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Hi,
Continuing my report on the Quilter8, mine arrived yesterday and in my house it is as remarkable as my friend's that I demoed in his studio. Both clean and boosted/slightly overdriven rich jazz sounds (with deep tones) come through very nicely from my Heritage H535 mainly using the neck pickup. Variety of clean-to-raunchy settings are possible. I have to say, I really also like the way it is "organized" especially for use with the foot controller, to go back and forth between different presets (I think I got one of the last of the larger 6-switch foot controllers, however; the smaller ones apparently do the same work but you need to do some dialing with fingers; I guess this only matters for performing anyway). There are a number of different options for this sort of thing (two 100-watt channels). I also played my acoustic Tacoma Chief through it (with Fishman pickup, going through the "mic;line" input the amp) and for a weenie little sort of acoustic it was as nice as i'd ever heard it. Whether the 8" model is powerful enough for all venues, depends on your venue. My acquaintance has the 1000 watt Quilter that he uses for outdoor (blues) gigs behind a full band w/ drums and told me that it goes behind the drum set and can sound clean and clear through to the other side of an open field, with power to spare.
Because my ears aren't the best, i'm not going to tell you that it is as warm as a tube amp. But i admit through my H535 at low volumes its hard to hear the difference between this and my Line6 Spider valve 112. So for anyone who thinks nothing will replace a tube amp (another post in another thread), its worth a listen (and apparently full money back guarantee). Quilter has come as close as possible, if not met that sound using solid state. Apparently the engineering is unique. Never say never until you've heard it.
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Yes - i do want to add, however, that it was a little less magical when playing my Telecaster through it (neck/humbucker). Nothing wrong, just not so astounding. I'll try the Alvarez-Yairi acoustic (w/soundhole pickup) when i next get the chance.
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Seen these before. The price doesn't seem out of step if it can hang with the Henricksens and so on. If it does something other than jazz well, then bonus. Maybe one day I will get something like this. Pretty happy amp-wise though.
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Just to say up front, I have no connection or association with quilter labs
This is not a full review. I'll post a full review later.
Got the quilter aviator 12 today. I have a few days to try it out so I'm putting it through its paces. These days, I'm playing mostly jazzy cleans but I also play fusion and some rock stuff and I want something versatile and manageable, weight-wise.
My favorite overall amp is a Gries 35 that I sold to Frankie Starr. The gries has a beautiful fendery tone and was loud enough to do quartet gigs for blues and jazz and broke up really nicely when driven with pedals.
After selling that amp, I played primarily through an acoustic image corus amp. The AI doesn't have the character of the gries but is a beautiful clean amp that not only sounds great for jazz but is a stunning acoustic amp and it's got gobs of power. More than 300W and with the built-in cab weighs about 20lbs!
Those are hard shoes to fill.
The quilter is a single 12 with 100w / channel. By default, with the built-in speaker, you are getting 100w but if you plug in an external cabinet, the 2nd amp kicks in and you get another 100w.
The amp/preamp has a tremendous amount of bottom end. Reminds me of a twin reverb. So much so that with my archtop plugged in, I'm running the bass on 2, mid on 1 and treble on 4, high cut set fully clockwise.
I have to differ from one other reviewer who said the tone does not change as the amp is turned up. There is a pretty good bass boost as the gain is turned up so you will definitely want to roll off the bass with a hollowbody and humbuckers.
In terms of tone, the tone falls somewhere between the gries and the AI. It's more tube-like than the AI but not as sweet as the gries. That's to be expected I guess.
The amp seems to work really well with pedals and overdrives very nicely. I plugged in a 12ax7 based fender preamp that a friend made for me and you'd be hard pressed to tell it wasn't a full tube amp.
Anyway, i'll give more feedback later but i'm very pleased so far.
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So I've experimented by using a Timmy pedal and now a T.C. Jauernig Luxury Drive pedal in front of the Quilter Aviator 1x12". I'm liking the Luxury Drive, seems to warm up the amp a bit, and make it sound fuller as well. I'll probably try some different 12" speakers just to see!
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i was discussing neo options on TGP. One thing I definitely don't like about the aviator is the classic lead 80. It's awful for jazz. I'd like to find a neo speaker. I think I'm going to try the EPS 12C steel guitar speaker that eminence makes. It's 4 ohm and about 7lbs so I'll shave off 3 lbs too. I could try something like the deltalite II which is even lighter at 5lbs but it's got a really stiff cone. Originally Posted by jads57
Supposedly fuchs is using an eminence neo speaker that he had some input in for his jazz amps. I wonder what he's using? I wouldn't be surprised if he got eminence to make him an 8 ohm version of the EPS speaker
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Interesting comments on the Quilter Jack. Thanks for the early mini-review. Funny you should mention Gries. I am so curious about the Quilter. For various reasons, in part because that Aviator head strikes me as a possible great gigging amp and a real bargain. Also because I like what I hear in some of the clips.
Then I plug into my Gries amp - a Gries 20 - and wonder if I'm kidding myself. Same thing playing the Allen Encore. Both are so warm and responsive, especially a little louder with some drive happening. How could the Quilter stack up to that??
Guess I'll have to try it to know. One reason the Aviator open 12 doesn't grab me is that Celestion 80. Not a bad speaker, just not exactly what I'd prefer to hear.
MD
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I have a WGS ET90 it's a very nice compromise between a Neo and an EV. I put in my Mesa Boogie Nomad 55 1x12" combo. I replaced the the Jensen Tornado that I had in there. I liked the Jensen, but the ET90 is a nice improvement. I believe it's a very efficient speaker according to WGS tone chart.
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how's that a compromise between a neo? It's got a heavy ceramic magnet? If it's like the ET65, it also has attenuated hi freq response. Originally Posted by jads57
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The thing that's attractive about the quilter is that it gets a more fendery sound than any of the other jazz amps but when I play my archtop through the AI Corus , it smokes the quilter. The quilter sounds much better with an overdrive pedal though. My zendrive just screams through it. Not so with the AI
Last edited by jzucker; 01-09-2014 at 10:00 PM.
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Not sure what the attenuated hi frequency response actuals are, but it definitely sounds excellent in my Mesa/Boogie Nomad combo. As far as weight,it isn't any heavier than the Celestion Classic Lead 80 that is in the Quilter already.
So it's a wash as far as making it any lighter. And a Neo 12" would definitely be a better option if you're looking for lighter weight. But I doubt it will sound as full as the ET90 and at $79 plus shipping it's a great deal!
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just wanted to give an update. I've been using the quilter for about a week. My initial impression was that the AI Corus was a better sounding amp for jazz but after plugging into it today, for the first time since getting the quilter, I believe the quilter has a more natural, open and transparent tone. The AI is now officially my full time backup amp.
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wow, thanks jack. I almost bought that amp that you have, now i need to find one!. do you have a video of you playing through it yet?
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IMO, no solid state jazz amp sounds remotely good as a Fender combo. Shame about the weight though.
I played a Henrikssen last week and while there was nothing wrong with it, it wasn't the most inspiring amplifier.
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Out of curiosity, why are you guys all looking for the lightest amp? Are you using the subway to get to gigs?
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do you even need a response to that? lol Originally Posted by Loobs
For me, it's not only the weight but tubes are getting worse and worse. The last tube amp I had , i spent way too many hours debugging microphonics, squealing, etc.
Done with that.
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