Quilter tone

[Steve Hinson]

I have two Quilter amps and always put the 'Limiter' knob
all the way up, while having the gain as clean as possible (If you use distortion, use less "Limiter" because it will kill some of your distortion).

This "Limiter" knob makes a big difference. Having it all the way up eliminates any sterile and processed tone and makes it very nice and smooth, just the way I like it.

So the master should be all the way up and the volume controlled with the"Gain"knob?

Used the 202 on a session yesterday and ran it like that
and"limiter"all the way up...I liked it pretty good but that was the first time I've recorded with it away from home-to me it sounded better though my micpre/mic at home,but I could hear it better...

Thanks,Jacek!

SH

[Richard Lotspeich]

To tell the truth,,I dont see a lot of improvement in volume from around 100 master,,up to max 200. Some yes,,not double or even close. Biggest change Ive done,is adding a cheap tube pre amp. That'll kick start it for you. YMMV

[Steve Hinson]

To tell the truth,,I dont see a lot of improvement in volume from around 100 master,,up to max 200. Some yes,,not double or even close. Biggest change Ive done,is adding a cheap tube pre amp. That'll kick start it for you. YMMV

In front of the Quilter?I wondered about that,but I'm trying to get away from carrying anything else!

SH

[Richard Lotspeich]

Yeah man,,for me its,,guitar-preamp-effects pedal-amp. Its unbelievable how much it ads. You need to try it at least once,,lol. I think I have 25 bucks in the ART preamp. I too, dont like adding,,but this is worth it.

[Jacek Jakubek]

So the master should be all the way up and the volume controlled with the"Gain"knob?

It depends on the playing situation. If you are playing a very loud concert you may want to set the master all the way up but when I 'm playing at home I set the master on like 4 or 5 and the gain similar or a bit less. You just need to get a clean tone at your desired volume. The limiter knob improves the tone, to my ears, at any volume.

At first I was reluctant to turn the limiter all the way up because I thought since it is a kind of subtle compressor, it may kill some of your playing volume dynamics, but I found out that what was missing from the tone then was more limiter...the more you turn it up, the smoother the tone gets. So now I just crank the limiter knob up all the way. The Limiter even makes it sound better the less reverb you use...I only use reverb max at 1 or 1.5, if at all.

The Tone Block 202 I find sounds best in the "FULLQ" mode because it has better, fuller, more modern bass tone than the vintage (VINT) setting. The vintage setting may sound very good for higher register stuff, but I'm into extended E9th chordal playing on the low strings a lot, and the "FULLQ" sounds better with that; it is more similar in tone to the Steelaire.

That is an interesting tip about using both channels of the steelaire for more volume...In the instructions it says both channels together are used if you want more distortion for rock music...I hope you can get more volume this way while still keeping the tone clean.

Since I barely turn my Steelaire up and it is already too loud for me to enjoy comfortably, my guess is that some of the Steelairs with low volume issues that you guys speak of were somehow defective or "duds". Maybe a bad batch of them got out or something. Or maybe I don't notice mine has low power since I don't play very loud...I still get tone I'm happy with at normal listening levels.

[Quentin Hickey]

I would send the amplifier to Quilter and see what they can do with it. They have good customer service and I can t see why they wouldnt help you on the low voloume issue.

I've been driving an eminence double t 12 inch speaker and have been pretty happy. I run channel 1 at home and both in parallel when gigging. I was contemplating trying out a 15 inch speaker eventually. I just love the rich mid range frequency focus it has. Such great tone shaping abilities. As an electronics tech, I marvel at how well Quilter has done to making them sound like a tube amplifier. Presence and limiter must have magic pixie dust silicon transistors