Quilter Steelaire Amp Review

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 5 Aug 2014 8:13 am

I received my Quilter Steelaire amp last Friday from Jerry's music in Florida and have played 4 jobs with it all the way from steel, fiddle and Telecaster. The amp sounds great on any instrument I played. It has crisp clean highs and warm lows and mids. The amp is 200 watts and weighs about 32 Lbs. I haven't experimented with the 2nd channel to get a little dirty playing but heard it's good.

It has very versatile tone controls that allow you to shape your sound, lows, low mids, high mids and treble and the reverb is digital with three controls on it. Very good sounding reverb with lots of options. It sounds really good going into a DAW
thru the balance XLR out in back for either live sound or recording direct.. Amp is quite as a church mouse, you can't even tell its on except for the light. The weight alone is a big plus and the great sound just makes it a great steel amp.

Jim Evans of Evans amps tried it and his comment was, I don't know what they did but they did it right.

I usually play Emmons P/P's but played my Magnum thru this amp Sunday and was told by several people that it is best I ever sounded. Haven't ried my P/P thru it yet but bet it will sound killer.

The only con I have for the amp is that it has almost a totally open back which makes it sorta risky to set on one of the amps stands. It can really turn over backwards easy. I can fix this by installing a small brace in the middle.

I don't sell these or even have anything to do with the company, just thought I'd put this out for you pickers that want to try something different and what to expect.---Henry

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 7 Aug 2014 8:23 am

Any one else tried one of these?

Craig Schwartz · Post by **Craig Schwartz** » 7 Aug 2014 3:50 pm

Not I ... would love to see one.
got any pics of front and back..

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 8 Aug 2014 10:03 am

I bought one, and returned it after about a week. I almost never play SS amps, but was looking for a good, super clean, HI FI, amp for an upcoming tour (which will probably be long term). For this particular project I use a lot of outboard effects pedals and oddball sounds.... in some cases, I'm more like a synth player. There are 12 other musicians in the outfit. II feel that it will be best to recreate the parts with a non tube amp.

The Pros:
High quality, American made amp. Very nice design aesthetically. Light weight. Loaded with thoughtful pro level features such as, a great effects loop, ability to use the two channels on the front linked for stacked gain/thicker voicing. You can also use the 3 wire volume pedal method from the front and still have the rear effects loop.... instant buffered pot volume pedal. 9V power source built into the back of the amp for efx pedals. Really well done three knob digital reverb. Tremolo is nice and solid. Optional leg mounted remote switch to control most amp functions. Extensive EQ.

Cons (for me)

I just couldn't dial in the low mids. I used several different guitars, including: PP Emmons w/ Emmons single coils, '73 Sho~Bud LDG with BL 710, '75 S-10 Sho~Bud with original BL 705, S-12 Williams with Tonealigner. I gave the speaker about 15 hours break in time, either playing, or running a CD through the amp.... and that helped, but still not quite there. I think that the amp cabinet might be too open and shallow to really do justice to this amp. It did sound nice through a semi closed back 2X12 and a fully closed 2X12 Bassman cabinet I also think that the low mid center point at 500Hz was not in the right place. (for me)

All of that said, it is a really nice sounding amp, plugging in with everything in the neutral position gave a well balanced, useable tone. But, I'm super picky about the mids, and I couldn't quite get it where I wanted it.... on stage, with a band it most likely wouldn't be an issue.

So, my 2 cents.... The amp would benefit from a slightly deeper, more closed cabinet, and a low mid with a sweepable center point.

Oh yeah, this amp is priced very reasonably for all the features and build quality.

Jim Eaton · Post by **Jim Eaton** » 8 Aug 2014 12:41 pm

I have had my Steelaire for about 3 months now.
Play with it on several club gig's and a couple of sessions and yesterday I played with it on a large outdoor stage at the Ventura County Fair. It has been very easy to make any EQ tweeks to get the sound I'm looking for in all venues so far. As the speaker got some time on it "good" turned in to "great" sounding and I'm very happy with mine.

JE:-)>

Michael Robertson · Post by **Michael Robertson** » 9 Aug 2014 7:00 pm

Jim from where I was sitting you and your amp sounded great.
That goes for the whole band as well.
Ventura County Fair

Garry Vanderlinde · Post by **Garry Vanderlinde** » 10 Aug 2014 12:07 pm

Jim, what settings are you using?

Morton Kellas · Post by **Morton Kellas** » 11 Aug 2014 5:49 am

I have had my Steelaire amp since March and as Jim said, find it very easy to dial in a good sound. I am using my Steelaire exclusively for both pedal steel and guitar. I love the tone and punch this amp delivers and have no intentions of ever getting rid of it. Quilter paid plenty of attention to the amp cabinet size and design and would not put the amp on the market until they felt it was just right. Quilter used the advise, recommendations and ears of very good steel players to ensure a top notch product and in my opinion they achieved their goal. I also understand that what fills one persons needs, may not be the same for everyone but this is a very good amp and I am sold on it.

Randy Rollman · Post by **Randy Rollman** » 11 Aug 2014 3:37 pm

I bought a SteelAire Combo about a month ago. I replaced a modular setup that I have used for 20 years. Besides the fact that it sounds great with my Sierra steel, it also makes my Jonathan Mann Baritone Mandolin sound like a million dollars! And it only weighs 35 pounds. I highly recommend it!

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 14 Aug 2014 12:07 pm

Thanks guys for the input. I tried a Takamimi acoustic that has the pick up and the amp sounded even better that amps made for acoustic I thought. By the way, it sounds good with my Magnum steel but the old P/P really sounds good thru it.

Some of you my try these settings for steel and telly I also use same settings.

Bass---2 o'clock
low mids---all way to left
Hi-mids----12 O'clock
Treble-----on about 2.5 or 3
main and master at 12 O'clock

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 24 Aug 2014 4:25 pm

My Nashville 1000 has bit the dust and been returned for repair one too many times so after watching several u-toob videos, I'm gonna get one in the next week.

I pray this is not a mistake.

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 24 Aug 2014 5:10 pm

Dick,

Buy from a dealer with a return policy. Online, there is American Musical Supply, with a 45 day money back guarantee.

There is a dealer in Austin.... if that is nearby. My Texas geography knowledge isn't so good.....

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 24 Aug 2014 6:59 pm

Dick, I really like mine but can tell you that they sound nothing like a 1000 and if you are used to the 1000, you may not like the Quilter. They are really clean with crisp highs and nice mids. Not as powerful as the 1000 even though they are 200 watts. They sound like a tube amp to me. They are real close to my LTD with better highs and not the honky mids that most Peaveys have.
One other thing is the weight is a big plus and it's got the best sounding balanced output for running thru your mixer that I've ever heard. This amp is as quit as a mouse, can't even tell they are on until you pick a note.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 25 Aug 2014 5:38 am

Mike, I am about three and a half hours North of Austin and I am going to buy it from AMS online.

Henry, I truly haven't been a big fan of the Nashville 1000 especially after all the trouble I've had with it.From all I can see and hear through cheap computer speakers,it seems to have a good sound. I hate honking mids and it seems to not have them. I think 200 watts should be fine.

One thing I can't tell from the videos is if it has good low end response. Seemed like the guy turned up the low end and it didn't really make much difference but again it was being heard through computer speakers.

One last thing. I wish they'd put a good delay in place of the tremelo which I think would be a big plus as this is aimed at the steel guitar market.

I will let y'all know more shortly.

Patrick Strain · Post by **Patrick Strain** » 25 Aug 2014 6:07 am

I bet it's a great amp. My only issue with it was that I think the video demo on the Quilter website is horrible. I think it's mostly because it was poorly recorded. I'd love to hear a better demo. I don't have anywhere to test one out myself.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 25 Aug 2014 7:26 am

Come on by the shop- just a bit of a drive

.

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 25 Aug 2014 7:58 am

"QUOTE" One last thing. I wish they'd put a good delay in place of the tremelo which I think would be a big plus as this is aimed at the steel guitar market."

I'm with you on that Dick. Steel players don't have much use for tremolo, or at least I don't.

The lows on these amps are good and the control for lows starts to really work at about 1 o'clock on the knob. You can hear the difference really well after that.

Patrick Strain · Post by **Patrick Strain** » 25 Aug 2014 8:53 am

Jim Palenscar wrote:Come on by the shop- just a bit of a drive .

I'll be right over.

mike nolan · Post by **mike nolan** » 25 Aug 2014 9:53 am

Patrick,
According to the Quilter site, there is a dealer in Oneonta, so they could probably get one in.
And I agree about the online demo not being great.

Steve Spitz · Post by **Steve Spitz** » 25 Aug 2014 4:52 pm

+ 1 for adding delay. I also like the idea of the remote controller. It's great to goose up the reverb for a solo on a slow number, and then bring it back down .

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 25 Aug 2014 7:01 pm

The remote activates the various features on the amp but they are adjusted on the amp itself.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 26 Aug 2014 5:11 am

I ordered the amp and they called back asking if I wanted the remote control. I didn't order it as it is a simple on-off device.

I don't see that as useful to steel guitarist. Another possible revision by Quilter is in order.

Jim Palenscar · Post by **Jim Palenscar** » 26 Aug 2014 6:10 am

It is a simple on-off device for 7 or 8 of the features on the amp (Reverb, Tremolo, effects loop, Ch1/Ch2, etc)- but one thing that it has that isn't available on the amp w/o it is a boost function.

Dustin Rhodes · Post by **Dustin Rhodes** » 26 Aug 2014 10:23 am

Couldn't imagine owning that amp with out the footswitch.

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 26 Aug 2014 10:58 am

Another question and maybe they haven't been out long enough to answer yet but what do those of you that have one think of their road worthiness?

Do they look like something that will hold up well?

Jim P, Can this amp be muted and still send a signal to the PA if I wanted to play just through the PA?

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