Jäke wrote:Howdy fellers. Thought I'd chime in because I recently found a good deal on a used Quilter Toneblock 201 and would report on it here for those who might be interested.
It was purchased expressly as a loud/cleanish pedal platform with the hopes it could replace an Orange AD140 I've been using. I don't mind schlepping around big heavy gear (to a degree), but bonus points if I don't have to. I'm pleased to report that it really, really excels in that regard. I'm 42yo and have been doing this big-loud-dumb rock thing for a long time now, so I've had a bunch of amps for this very purpose over the years — Sound City, vintage Plexis, other Oranges, 800s, Sunns, Sovteks, etc. Not at all trying to brag, just providing some context and my sonic expectations.
I run the Quilter as part of a bi-amped rig in which I also run an early-90s Dual Rectifier (w/ no dirt pedal and set only fairly crunchy). I was concerned that it may not be able to keep up with the mountain of gear that the rest of the band uses, but now I worry that they may not be able to keep with ME, heheh. And the loudest I've dared to run it is 70watts on the master. It's really a freak of technology.
My 2¢ … if you're in the market for something like this, absolutely go for it. Now that I've had my hands on it, I would even say that they're probably even worth what they're asking new. It's kind of exciting that technology has come this far, to make a truly good sounding SS amplifier (a very subjective statement, of course). If you'd have asked me before, I would've told you that solid state amplifiers are really mostly a compromise of convenience and da tube tonez are where it's at. I suppose this is probably still the case if one is not slamming their amps with fuzz or other dirt. But if one is, the future is here!
PS: They are kind of ugly — big, horsey logos and bad construction graphics and such. But nothing some black gaffing tape doesn't help fix.
Dude. Let me come over and jam on it. I've been thinking about picking one of these up, but was wary about buying it without anyone having really doomed on it.