The Steel Guitar Forum

I am going to take the amp to a gig this weekend and see if I still have a volume issue. If I do I will send it to Quilter and have them take a look at it.

Hi Karen,
I have the same volume issue with my Quilter amp and I don't use any effects. I have a 1958 fender bassman with 35 watts that puts out more volume than my Quilter. I thought that 200 watts would blow a person out of their seat. Thought it would be a stand alone amp, but I've had to jack it into the mixer board so the band members and audience could hear it,[outdoor concerts]. It is light and the tone is fine.

Well I used the Quilter tonight on a modern country gig. It was a LOUD band and the Quilter held up fine. Is it as loud as my fender twin ? Probably not, but for a solid state amp I would say it has more than adequate volume. It sounded SUPERB. It has very tube like qualities. In fact in some ways I think it sounds better than my twin in that it is clearer and more pristine. It sounds a lot better than my steel king. It is without a doubt the most tube like non tube amp I have ever played. It loves the sarno black box and earth drive pedal. I've always had issues with overdrive pedals and solid state amps, but not this one…
It amazes me how light this amp is. There is a very good chance I will be selling my twin. I have another gig sunday night, will report back if I feel any differently about the amp, but tonight it was really flawless.

This is good news, Karen!

Doug Beaumier wrote:This is good news, Karen!

yes indeed !!

Hi Karen,

What do you think changed volume wise with the amp between the first gig and last gig?

Jim

The volume of the amp has not changed, I have just come to the decision that the benefits of it far outweigh the loudness issue. I still think the steel king is a louder amp, as is the twin, or maybe they just project more, I don't know, but the Steelaire can definitely hold its own in a loud band situation, especially with PA and monitors. It sounds fantastic and is so easy to carry. I think running two of these in stereo would be ideal but I can afford that now, nor do I want to haul around 2 amps for the gigs I get called for. The benefit of this amp far outweighs any drawbacks. Tone is #1 and weight is #2. Both are outstanding. I do have another gig with it at a fairly big venue here in Boston, so we'll see how it does there. I think it will do just fine.

Sounds good. Would love to hear how it works out for you on the next gig.

Thanks,

Jim

I'm thinking, if you need a louder amp than the Quilter Steelaire, you should consider playing in a different band. : )

I'm thinking that if the Quilter is not as loud as a Steel King or a Twin, it's either not set right or it's not working right.

yeah I dont know. its possible there is something wrong with my amp. I played last night with a singer/songwriter who was using a 30 watt tube amp. i had my amp's master volume on 10 and the gain on 8 and was not nearly as loud as the 30 watt tube amp. I dont get it. I have emailed Quilter, I may have to have them take a look at it.

Yeah...it sure should be almost double the volume of a 30 watter.

Karen, I don't mean to insult you by asking the stupid questions, but you HAVE checked the amp by bypassing all effects and volume pedals? If just the guitar and the amp (set to MV 10 and gain at 4) don't drive you from the room, then you've got your problem...

When I went from my Nashville 1000 to the Steelaire I did notice I had to play with the volume cranked up a little more than the Nashville.

The Nashville seems to have more gain on the lower volume setting but the Steelaire will get damn loud and stay extremely clean with a much more open tube like quality which I like very much.

I did recently try playing with both channels and that really punched it up very close to the Nashville's settings.

I'm kinda with Lane in that something may be attenuating you signal.

The guys in the band were very impressed with how this amp sounded. It even sounded better going direct to the board from the XLR than my Nashville 1000 did.

I was very apprehensive buying this amp sight unseen but it has proven itself several times now. I have used Peavey's for years and never actually liked their sound. This is the first amp right out of the box I can say I really like.

No insult take Lane. I will try this when I get home tonight. I am also going to try taking the amp off the floor, elevating it a bit. Maybe its just my angle to it that is the problem. Its a mystery !! Tone wise and weight wise I am extremely happy with this amp, don't get me wrong, just a bit frustrated with the volume issue at the moment...

Interesting situation here. More than one owner thinks the amp is not as loud as expected. I'm not at all doubting it, just seems odd. Seems like it should be crazy loud, if needed. 200 watts vs. 30 and 35 watts ?
I appreciate you taking the time to post about it. I'd be interested to hear any further updates or developments. I'd love to try one of these amps. I wish there was a store in my area that had one.
Maybe I'm lucky there aren't any around here, I'm not sure I could resist buying one.

it is very odd and frustrating. i havent had time to fool with it tonight but will do later this week. may send it to Quilter tho i REALLY dont want to...

The real question is whether the amp has enough GAIN to push the output to 200 watts with a a given setup.

sending ti to Quilter to have it looked at.

I have played mine at several outside performances and had no trouble with the crowd hearing me. I do find that the amp has more of a linear volume taper than a Fender or Nashville 400 which seem to have most of the gain early in the volume stage. I do find that I have to run my volume higher (number wise) than my Nashville but can't imagine ever not having enough power. I have never run gain over 8 and when you run both channels, it will blow your socks off. I have to go along with Dick Wood's posting on this subject. I am sure Quilter will resolve the problem Karen is having.

I have noticed that it gets loud quickly as I depress my volume pedal (hilton) more than half way. like the second half of the volume is much more reactive than the first half. The steel king and twin have a consistent increase in volume as I depress the volume pedal. I am going to do a bit more experimenting this week... gig on saturday night, if i still don't have it figured out I will send it to Quilter to have it looked at.

Try it without the volume pedal-Also you know the hilton has a little adjuster on the bottom. Might be the pedal is just reacting differently to the Quilter than it does to the other amps.
Cheers!

Karen Sarkisian wrote:I have noticed that it gets loud quickly as I depress my volume pedal (hilton) more than half way. like the second half of the volume is much more reactive than the first half. The steel king and twin have a consistent increase in volume as I depress the volume pedal. I am going to do a bit more experimenting this week... gig on saturday night, if i still don't have it figured out I will send it to Quilter to have it looked at.

Does the Quilter have a built in peak limiter/protection circuit? If so, it's possible you're riding the volume up to the threshold of the limiter, and then once you hit that threshold, everything will be compressed and held at that maximum loudness and all nuances and hard picked stuff will feel very up front and "hot" even if not super loud.

B

I don't know Brad. Is this something I can find myself or would I need to contact Quilter ?
thanks

There is a limiter section on the Steelaire... Full description is in the manual. Setting the limiter knob to 0 should mean that it is doing nothing. Higher numbers will cause more limiting.



http://quilterlabs.s3-us-west-1.amazona ... manual.pdf