Final thought s on the Quiter 101

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

Boy I sure wanted to like this thing but after last night's gig it is on Craigslist. I don't mean this as a knock against Quilter in any way. I'm sure some of their other products are a much better match for steel guitar, but I know a lot of SGF members have expressed interest in the 101 and hopefully this feedback will help them pick the right product. I would love to try out a Steelaire, but there are no dealers anywhere nearby. Gonna have to schlep the Twin around for a while longer until something better comes along.

I fought with the 101 on stage for the entire night and could not get even remotely close to the sound I was after, no matter how I set it. Here are my takeaways from my experience with it as a steel guitar amp:

1. I find the controls just maddening. The Tri-Q control sweeps through some different tone shapes, from a scooped mid-range to flat and then to a scooped bottom end. As you sweep clockwise it changes the tonal curve but it also increases the gain, so you have to simultaneously back off the gain knob to keep it clean. Just very non-intuitive and frustrating to use, especially if you switch from steel to guitar. The amp voicings were ok, but I think they are really geared more for high gain.

2. There are some frequency spikes - one at around 1k and another in the low mids that are very difficult if not impossible to tame. I ran the 101 through the Altec in my Twin Reverb, a small closed, ported 1x12 with an Eminence Patriot, and a closed 1x15 with an Eminence Legend 15. In all cases I got a harsh, spiky tone especially above the 12th fret where it was positively painful. There is a high end filter, but apparently it operates above the 1k spike, so it was no help.

3. Power. the rating says 50 - 100 watts, depending on the voicing you pick. I think most of the power occurs in the high gain regions. The clean power is limited if you are riding your volume pedal at 50%.

4. I understand the 101 was not designed for steel guitar. The frequency spikes are not so bothersome and in fact it didn't sound bad with the six string. As a guitarist I might be frustrated in the lack of any switching between clean and dirt, especially with the way the controls work. Clearly this was meant for you to dial in your base sound, with your desired level of gain, and let your pedal board do the rest. My objective was to be able to dial in a good clean sound for steel, but the above mentioned issues made for a difficult and frustrating experience on stage.

Jim Bloomfield · From: Colorado, USA

Hi Tim. Sounds like you were asking it to do something it just wasn't designed to do, but I think you know that. I have a Steelaire and you are welcome to try it out if you'd like to get together sometime.

Dyke Corson · From: Fairmount, IL USA

I love mine but am using the Sarno V8 in front of it - I'm really just using it mostly for the power amp I guess. Saturday was the first night I used the rig with other steel players in the audience. All good comments from everyone that heard it (in spite of my lame playing) I'm running the gain at 12:00, the Tri-Q 9:00 the voice on Full Q and Hi Cut at 4:00 master wide open.

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks for the offer Jim. I may take you up on it sometime and you are right about my expectations. After my experience with the Fender Mustang and the Quilter, I think I am ready to retreat back into my comfort zone with tube amps. One would think that after nearly 100 years, technology would have evolved a better, or at least equivalent, sounding solution to tubes but I have yet to hear it.

Lane Gray · From: Topeka, KS

There ARE good sounding solid state amps, but it helps to have them voiced for steel. Before giving up on solid state, try either the Steelaire (which my spellchecker wanted to change to He Who Shall Not Be Named) or the Telonics.
_________________
2 pedal steels, a lapStrat, and an 8-string Dobro (and 3 ukes)
More amps than guitars, and not many effects

Erv Niehaus · From: Litchfield, MN, USA

The best solid state combo amp I have found is the Webb. It's hard to believe it's solid state.

Les Cargill · From: Oklahoma City, Ok, USA

IMO:

90% of it is what you are used to. It's just habits. I practice into a DI into studio monitors, so solid state is more like that.

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

Tim, I'm sorry it didn't work out for you. I feel especially bad if my review made you pull the trigger. I'm still thrilled with mine. Used it on pedal steel for 2 different gigs this week-end, and I was very happy with it. There is still a frequency that bothers me a bit sometimes, but that might be the speaker. According to Travis Toy and others, the Eminence EPS has a spike around 2k-4k, so maybe that's what I was experiencing. I'm hoping to try a Telonics speaker as well as the Travis Toy signature speaker later this year. I think speaker matching with the Mini 101 is important, according to what I read from other users on the Facebook Quilter page.

As I said, I used my 101 on two pedal steel gigs this week-end, and it was great. With the amp set on "surf", gain at 4 and master at 10 watts, I had plenty of volume. On Friday I played with a band that plays very loud and with those settings I had no problem hanging with the rest of the band. One of the things I really enjoy with the 101 is the consistency: I get the same tone no matter what volume. Often times I show up with my Deluxe on guitar gigs, and I have to run it on 2.5 or 3, which is unfortunate because the amp sounds best at 4. But a Deluxe on 4 is simply too loud for most of the gigs I play.

I finally tried the Mini 101 on lap steel with this power trio I have, and it sounded great. I'm currently putting together a pedal board with the 101 head on it: I have a Line 6 M9 in the FX loop for delay and reverb mostly, and a couple of dirt pedals in front. I'll post pictures when it's ready.

Brett Lanier · From: Hermitage, TN

Dyke Corson · From: Fairmount, IL USA

Brett - I tried it both ways and to my ear it sounded better this way - especially when I'm doing double duty on my strat.

Bob Watson · From: Champaign, Illinois, U.S.

Dyke, your tone and your playin' sounded great Saturday night. I'm lookin' forward to trying that amp out sometime. Smile

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

Hey Alex - I'm glad the 101 is working out well for you. Your review did help push me over the edge but I'm pretty sure I would have done it anyway so please don't feel bad. Fortunately I was able to sell mine with an acceptable loss. It was worth a try. It could be that the it was just a bad match with my Fender 1000. I found that the 101 sounded much better if I reduced the 1.6k and 800 frequencies with a 7 band EQ. No such issues if I ran the same speakers with my Twin Reverb.

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