Quilter Steelaire another update

Karen Sarkisian · Post by **Karen Sarkisian** » 20 Dec 2014 8:18 am

I seriously cannot say enough good things about this amp ! I played with a very loud modern country band last night, the lead guitarist was playing thru a showman head and 4x10 speaker cab. my Quilter held up awesomely. I cant get over how much tube warmth this amp has. My other steel amp, a modified fender twin, may soon be seeing craigslist.
I have never been completely happy with my tone on every gig until I got the Quilter. It really sounds incredible. I have not and to use the black box, tho I do continue to use the freeloader, mostly for tone adjustments and overall tone improvement. Wampler Faux analog echo in the effects loop. The amp also takes the sarno earth drive really well. It really sounds like an overdriven tube amp.
Thank you Quilter for making an awesome lightweight pedal steel guitar amp. It was very much needed and you guys really nailed it.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 21 Dec 2014 1:38 pm

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=274659

It's only been 4 days since I got mine, but so far so good.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 21 Dec 2014 2:21 pm

I love my Quilter! I've played about 8 gigs with it so far, and it's plenty loud, plenty warm, and very lightweight. No effects needed, no black box, no Hilton pedal, no outboard reverb, nothing to plug in but the amp. I can set up in three minutes! I patch my Emmons p/p directly into the amp, and patch the volume pedal (Sho-Bud) into the vol. pedal Send/Return on the amp, and set the input on Channel 2.

Here's an audio clip I made the day I got the amp. Just the pedal steel, the amp, and a volume pedal. Rode USB mic placed directly in front of the amp:

---click it---> https://soundcloud.com/doug-beaumier/de ... uilter-amp

Tom Wolverton · Post by **Tom Wolverton** » 21 Dec 2014 3:38 pm

Are you all running the 15" speaker Quilter Steelaire combo model? Or are you using the Quilter Steelaire amp head with your own speaker box?

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 21 Dec 2014 4:05 pm

I have the Combo.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 21 Dec 2014 4:12 pm

Doug,if yoy have a Black Box, try using it ans see how much difference it makes.

IMHO it really adds a lot.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 21 Dec 2014 5:23 pm

Mike, I tried my Black Box and it seems to cut the highs of the Quilter quite a bit. I used the BB with my Steel King for several years and I liked it a lot with that amp. I also use it for recording.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 21 Dec 2014 5:51 pm

Doug Beaumier wrote:Mike, I tried my Black Box and it seems to cut the highs of the Quilter quite a bit.

Interesting. I have not had much of a chance to experiment with the amp yet. I'm busy tomorrow and Tuesday, but will spend all day Wednesday playing with my new toy.

Karen Sarkisian · Post by **Karen Sarkisian** » 22 Dec 2014 7:46 am

I also have the combo. been using the freeloader with it.

Arty Passes · Post by **Arty Passes** » 23 Dec 2014 4:04 pm

Got my Combo yesterday - sounds great at home, can't wait for the gig this weekend!

Arty Passes · Post by **Arty Passes** » 23 Dec 2014 4:12 pm

Got my Combo yesterday - sounds great at home, can't wait for the gig this weekend!

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 24 Dec 2014 4:12 pm

Hi Arty, I've used mine at several gigs and love it. No distortion at high volumes and a really nice clean sound. I also have noticed I don't jack with the eq from gig to gig like I did with the Nashville 1000

Have fun.

Dave Zirbel · Post by **Dave Zirbel** » 24 Dec 2014 5:09 pm

I also have noticed I don't jack with the eq from gig to gig like I did with the Nashville 1000

jerry harkins · Post by **jerry harkins** » 24 Dec 2014 9:45 pm

got my combo in May and love this amp!

Arty Passes · Post by **Arty Passes** » 25 Dec 2014 5:51 am

Hey Dick! Saw some of your previous posts on the amp and that definitely played into my decision. And Jerry's got one too! Looks like I'm in good company!

Henry Matthews · Post by **Henry Matthews** » 25 Dec 2014 8:52 pm

Still love my Quilter. I have the Steelaire and not the combo. I'm one of these guys that don't like to bother with effects, stomp boxes or anything and the Quilter really fits the bill with its tone and that silky smooth reverb.
I would like to know some of your settings and your guitar. I play push pulls with single coil pickups and here are my settings.
Bass 7
Lo-mid. 0
Hi-mid 5
Treble 2
Reverb 5
Dwell. 7
Tone. 5

Gains are set each at about 7
Thanks
When I go to fiddle, I just switch to channel 2 with gain about 3 and cut the treble to 0 and on my fiddle sounds good

Dick Wood · Post by **Dick Wood** » 26 Dec 2014 6:30 am

I played my Taylor T5 through my steelaire with my steel settings and all I had to do was roll off some bass on the Taylor's tone control. I was told it sounded really good out front.

Im still loving it a lot.

John Macy · Post by **John Macy** » 26 Dec 2014 7:11 pm

Hey Arty, I'm watching you play it right now in Corpus Christi...sounds great...

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 11 Jan 2015 11:46 am

UPDATE: I've been using my black box with the Quilter on gigs lately, and I like the BB/Quilter combination. Earlier in this thread I complained that the BB seemed to cut a lot of highs with this amp... but that was at low volumes, playing at home. On the bandstand, at normal (higher) volume, the BB does what it always does well... smooths and evens out the sound, all strings, great separation in string sound, etc. So now I'm using the Quilter with BB, a passive volume pedal patched into the VP send/return on the amp, and a Boss delay patched into the effects send/return, Emmons p/p. It's a pretty sweet sound for Classic Country.

Len Amaral · Post by **Len Amaral** » 12 Jan 2015 2:56 am

Doug:

Do you connect the BB from the Steel to input of Quilter? If so, does the Vari Z on the BB work?

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 12 Jan 2015 7:31 pm

Len Amaral wrote:Doug:

Do you connect the BB from the Steel to input of Quilter? If so, does the Vari Z on the BB work?

I connect the BB to the volume pedal and then to the amp. And yes, the Vari Z control works quite well.

BTW, I found a use for the tremolo. I always throw in a few pop tunes in my classical music performances, one of the being "Unchained Melody." (Thank you, Jody Saunders.) I initially play the melody on the bass strings. Single notes. No Chords. The tremolo sounds good for that one passage. After that I turn it off.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 12 Jan 2015 11:43 pm

I'm going from the steel guitar to the BB to the Quilter. Yes, the Vari Z on the BB works. I run the volume pedal though the vol. pedal send/return on the Quilter.