Epifani Quest Discontinued?

[Vic]

lol...i also will explain it as a "trade". i almost never buy something new without selling something old. i just leave out all of the extra details about me spending more money then what i got for the old gear.

Ooooooohhhh, that's a REAL good one. Yeah, the old "I sold stuff to help pay for it" ploy...

 

[Dr. PhunkyPants]

I find that I enjoy gear much more when my very sweet wife helps me pick it out and understands what I'm buying.

Example: I'll tell her I'd like to try a new preamp, show her the three I'm thinking about, let her hear clips on Invalid Link Removed, and weigh the merits of each. When it comes in the mail, I show it to her and let her hear how it sounds.

I like that sharing approach better than the sneaky stuff.

 

[Tony G]

Hahaha, you guys are hilarious. I pretty much just told her I needed it oh so bad, and she let me have it.....

 

[MacGroove]

The key work to omit when telling her about it is "upgrade"...I've learned to explain it as just "trying something new"

I'd just say, "Tax write off".

 

[Vic]

I find that I enjoy gear much more when my very sweet wife helps me pick it out and understands what I'm buying.

Example: I'll tell her I'd like to try a new preamp, show her the three I'm thinking about, let her hear clips on Invalid Link Removed, and weigh the merits of each. When it comes in the mail, I show it to her and let her hear how it sounds.

I like that sharing approach better than the sneaky stuff.

You benefit from something I don't... a wife that cares at all about your music. My wife would just as soon have me quit all my music interests and stay home all the time. My sanity dictates otherwise. She's very much a homebody, while I'm not as much. It's all worked out, just not something we share. If she chose not to accept it, however, that would be a problem. Thankfully, it's not. What it does mean, tho, is any kind of major spending on it is totally beyond her, and as long as I'm covering my responsibilities, she'd literally rather not know, so that's how we handle it.

 

[vision]

I find that I enjoy gear much more when my very sweet wife helps me pick it out and understands what I'm buying.

Example: I'll tell her I'd like to try a new preamp, show her the three I'm thinking about, let her hear clips on Invalid Link Removed, and weigh the merits of each. When it comes in the mail, I show it to her and let her hear how it sounds.

I like that sharing approach better than the sneaky stuff.

Must be nice! I can't even imagine having my fiance help me figure out the tonal differences between amps...

Jason, its a no-brainer to me. The Thunderfunk has all of the punch and warm tone of the BH-420, but the switch also gives you the option of having a more modern sheen to the high end.

 

[v-12]

i try to show my wife the differences, but for the most part she doesn't notice. she's VERY supportive of me, but beyond telling her that i'm getting something new and playing it for her when it comes in; she pretty much leaves me alone with my gear. the only real decision she's ever given on any of my gear that she could hear a huge difference was in my comparison of an acme and ampeg pr. She likes the blue light on the quest though

 

[radi8]

i had a covert supply line going with my UPS guy until my wife got home early one day and answered the door...i told her i did not order a drum machine... i must have clicked the "submit" button by mistake while crusing through links.
Now, i say, oh, i've had this for some time, now.

 

[Dr. PhunkyPants]

Must be nice! I can't even imagine having my fiance help me figure out the tonal differences between amps...

It is...in fact, I owe my playing to her encouragement. A while back I was sort of bummin' and she said "Why not play music again like you did when you were younger..." and the rest is history!

 

[Stevem627]

Now that several of you have this preamp...what do you think? I little review would be greatly appreciated from those using this so I can maybe snap one up before they're gone.

 

[v-12]

i kind of gave a little comparison between the quest and my demeter a few pages back, and after a nearly a month i still love it! i know this is still the "honeymoon period", but i can't stop playing through it. when i practice by myslef i normally use my practice amp, but the tempatation is far too great to fire up my main rig with the quest. with the demeter my sound was like a pretty good white wine, and now its more like a guiness, a steak, my growling dog and some dom all at once; it is nice to finally have the tone i was looking for. it sounds good at any reasonable setting, and is just a little easier on the ears than the 201s. i wish the output was a little hotter, but it still gets the job done.

 

[Mario Lewis]

For a long time, I insisted on having a tube pre. I call it my purist period... but I tried a GK head while doing a comparison of rigs at a local Guitar Center, and I noticed that the GK SS head was a lot faster than an Ampeg tube pre and an Alebic pre... while the tube pre's were buttery and pillowy soft, the GK was quick and hit harder in my opinion. I've had An Alebic, a Demeter, a Navigator, and an Avalon 737, all with tubes... this SS Quest is noticeably different and IMO has that same fast attack. It's just as "good" and in some ways better. I really like it's simplicity. The EQ section is easy, and it's hard NOT to dial in a good tone that will work for jazz, funk, r&B, and especially gospel.

I'm glad that I got it. The price was right (From MF, of course), it looks good, and FOR THIS PRICE, it's better quality than a number of pre's on the market and more than worth it's light weight. Pair it with a decent power amp (QSC RMX for exaple) or a better quality one like a Crest CA9 or Stew 2.1 (higher power for headroom and all the little nuances of your playing) and this is a definite winner.

The highs are good and crisp, the low end is not wooly or woofy, it's clear and plenty articulate. The mids will definitley get you heard if that's your thing and dialing them lower (my thing) doesn't compromise the quality of the tone. There is a little bit of hiss, but it is a VERY little bit. Dialing down the highs and the treble on your bass will get rid of this as well as turning down the tweeters on your cabs if you have that option.

Drawbacks are: as I've said before, it should have come with rack ears.... in addition, it defaults to EQ channel 2 everytime I turn it on.... the pictures at the MF site and at the Epifani site show a limiter, it doesn't have a limiter... there is a button for either 3k or 6k equing on EQ channel 2, the difference is hardly noticeable. If you can hear it, your ears are better than mine. Could have left this off. The mid scoop button on EQ channel 1 is a bit extreme for my taste. I leave it out.

None of the drawbacks change the fact that this is a really good preamp. It is a set it and forget it kind of device. I don't see this thing failing me on a gig... I just can't get a bad sound with it.

 

[DrGroovenstein]

I'm thinking of building a power/pre setup. My EBS HD-350 is a little noisy for my tastes. I'm probably going to have to send it for repairs, or perhaps I'm just way too picky! My EBS does the high-end sheen thing really well, but might not work so well for the heavier rock I'll be playing. The separate pre setup will work great to give me the flexibility of using my amp/cabs or my bands Bose system depending on the venue.

I wish I had more experience with other amps/pres, but I've only had an Eden WT-400 and an Aggie something (for so little time, I never really got to know it). How does the Quest II compare with my EBS? How does it compare with something like the Ashdown RPM-1? Is the Quest limited by the small number of bands on the eq?

 

[Jerry J]

For a long time, I insisted on having a tube pre. I call it my purist period... but I tried a GK head while doing a comparison of rigs at a local Guitar Center, and I noticed that the GK SS head was a lot faster than an Ampeg tube pre and an Alebic pre... while the tube pre's were buttery and pillowy soft, the GK was quick and hit harder in my opinion. I've had An Alebic, a Demeter, a Navigator, and an Avalon 737, all with tubes... this SS Quest is noticeably different and IMO has that same fast attack. It's just as "good" and in some ways better. I really like it's simplicity. The EQ section is easy, and it's hard NOT to dial in a good tone that will work for jazz, funk, r&B, and especially gospel.

I'm glad that I got it. The price was right (From MF, of course), it looks good, and FOR THIS PRICE, it's better quality than a number of pre's on the market and more than worth it's light weight. Pair it with a decent power amp (QSC RMX for exaple) or a better quality one like a Crest CA9 or Stew 2.1 (higher power for headroom and all the little nuances of your playing) and this is a definite winner.

The highs are good and crisp, the low end is not wooly or woofy, it's clear and plenty articulate. The mids will definitley get you heard if that's your thing and dialing them lower (my thing) doesn't compromise the quality of the tone. There is a little bit of hiss, but it is a VERY little bit. Dialing down the highs and the treble on your bass will get rid of this as well as turning down the tweeters on your cabs if you have that option.

Drawbacks are: as I've said before, it should have come with rack ears.... in addition, it defaults to EQ channel 2 everytime I turn it on.... the pictures at the MF site and at the Epifani site show a limiter, it doesn't have a limiter... there is a button for either 3k or 6k equing on EQ channel 2, the difference is hardly noticeable. If you can hear it, your ears are better than mine. Could have left this off. The mid scoop button on EQ channel 1 is a bit extreme for my taste. I leave it out.

None of the drawbacks change the fact that this is a really good preamp. It is a set it and forget it kind of device. I don't see this thing failing me on a gig... I just can't get a bad sound with it.

Exceptional review and comments!

Mario, we have the same preamps...except I don't have 737. I really love my F1X and my 201 and the Q2 is very different. So I agree with this assessment. I'm actually quite stuck on it. I've got it hooked up to my Stew 2.1 going into an Aguilar GS410 and I haven't been able to change that setup dispite the fact that I just got a second Epifani NYC112. And a T310 sitting on the other side of my practice area.

The one bass that just blew me away with this setup is my bone stock Geddy Lee. Talk about growl for days. I'd never heard this bass sound this way. I just picked up a set of DiMarzio Ultra Jazz pickups and I'm thinking that maybe I don't want to put them in the GL since it sounds so darn good. So what I'm saying here is that the passive input on the Q2 is exceptional. My '70 P bass sounds like it should with a lot of authority that a good P should have.

The Q2 is very much a keeper. In fact I've been GAS'ing for some time for an Aguilar DB680 and now I can't come up with a good reason to get one.

 

[Vic]

The one bass that just blew me away with this setup is my bone stock Geddy Lee. Talk about growl for days. ...DiMarzio Ultra Jazz pickups and I'm thinking that maybe I don't want to put them in...

Didn't wanna' post off-topic, so I PM'd you about the Geddy and pickups.

 

[cheezewiz]

There is a "blem" (no doubt a return) on MF's clearance section for $424 right now......

 

[DrGroovenstein]

Yeah, I know, that is why i am asking the questions I want a pre a little different than my EBS head, which is quite hi-fi.

 

[Stevem627]

There is a "blem" (no doubt a return) on MF's clearance section for $424 right now......

No there isn't anymore...bought it earlier this morning.

 

[DrGroovenstein]

argh oh well, I'm in no rush anyway heh

 

[Vic]

I want a pre a little different than my EBS head, which is quite hi-fi.

This is exactly how I'd describe the QII.