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New Quilter bass amp!

#321
srcTW said:
I would imagine they know how many bass docks they have sold and will sell vs stand alone amps and I'd guess that the TB community is a small but loud demographic.
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Yep.
For all we know, for every TB member that owns a BB amp and is using it with (*whatever) cab, there might be (*who knows how many) guys not on TB who are using the "Quilter system" and have a BB amp docked in a Quilter cab.

-----
A few years back, when the BB800 started to take off and guys were making suggestions, I said something along the lines of -- it would't bother me if the amp got a little bigger in order to accommodate some other features... And by "bigger" I mean like the format of some other "small" amps out there - like another 800w amp that is 13.25" wide.

It wouldn't work with the bass dock system, but (I think) would appeal to a good part of the community that still mix and match their amps and cabs and set their amps on top of their cabs. --- I'll just comment that nearly every picture I see of a quilter bass rig (at least on TB), the amp is NOT docked. Even in their own demo video with Nick, the amp is not docked.

Although it looks like they updated the video, and it now includes an upright demo, where the amp IS docked... and FYI, you can see two cables coming out of the amp... input and a DI out I'm guessing. It sounds really good.
 
#322
you have to remember the history of the origin of this amp. It was a response to this community requesting a small barebones pedal board mounted power amp. They kind of gave us that but added two tone controls just for kicks but that was essentially the inspiration, a barebones Poweramp. And in the power amp community, it's not uncommon to daisy chain a few of them together, which is why the back panel of the 800 looks the way it does. It seems that that has now let them down the path of making bass amps, which I'm sure is a decision they will eternally regret. But in terms of giving a barebones Poweramp to bass players I think it was a success, but they probably should have left the tone controls off all together and just gave us a volume control because now people are confusing them with a bass amplifier company. The initial call was for a power amp that could be used with external preamps
 
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#323
shwashwa said:
you have to remember the history of the origin of this amp. It was a response to this community requesting a small barebones pedal board mounted power amp. They kind of gave us that but added two tone controls just for kicks but that was essentially the inspiration, a barebones Poweramp. And in the power amp community, it's not uncommon to daisy chain a few of them together, which is why the back panel of the 800 looks the way it does. It seems that that has now let them down the path of making bass amps, which I'm sure is a decision they will eternally regret. But in terms of giving a barebones Poweramp to bass players I think it was a success, but they probably should have left the tone controls off all together and just gave us a volume control because now people are confusing them with a bass amplifier company. The initial call was for a power amp that could be used with external preamps
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True, that does seem to have been the initial impetus, or one of them, but that's not necessarily all that relevant any more, because in the end, that's not what they designed and not what they delivered. What they delivered was a rather interesting and different bass amp, and like it or not, they actually are a bass amp company now, and a good one (as well as a guitar amp company). As such, they also have a market among people who don't want or need to use external bass pres, and that market will have different wants/needs. It's not uncommon for a product to evolve past the original inspiration.
 
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#324
Mushroo said:
Every gig I've ever played, there has been a house-provided DI for the bass. Seems like a total non-issue to me.
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If you use effects, effect loops, preamps, etc, it's just not that simple. I've very rarely ever plugged my bass directly into a provided direct box, even with provided back line, and have personally been making friends with sound guys and plugging their provided XLR cords directly into my preamp, post EQ and FX, since the 90s. Of course I take a lot of care to balance the levels between patches, and have never had a problem. The only sound guys who ever refused were the absolute laziest, the only exception to that is in a few festival settings with quick changes, in which case I'll acquiesce and used their DI's. At any rate, letting the bassist have control over shaping their sound has been a thing for a long time, and in my experience it's gotten to be more expected/accepted over the years. In fact, I still have my first preamp and first pro effects box, a Yamaha PB1 and a bass pod pro, both of which had XLR DI outputs in the 80's/90's. My wife, my bank account, and my back all wish I were the guy who could show up to a gig with a bass and plug into the provided DI, but alas, it's not for me, and I am envious of those of you who are :)
 
#325
srcTW said:
I would imagine they know how many bass docks they have sold and will sell vs stand alone amps and I'd guess that the TB community is a small but loud demographic. They do have a mandatory form factor to fit in limiting their options. I don't mind using a good DI box with this thing. The 802 kills. To each his own.
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This isn't about the TB demographic. It's about gigging bassists period. Which I would think would be a large part of the intended market.

The bass docks came well after the original head.
 
#326
Richard Lindsey said:
True, that does seem to have been the initial impetus, or one of them, but that's not necessarily all that relevant any more, because in the end, that's not what they designed and not what they delivered. What they delivered was a rather interesting and different bass amp, and like it or not, they actually are a bass amp company now, and a good one (as well as a guitar amp company). As such, they also have a market among people who don't want or need to use external bass pres, and that market will have different wants/needs. It's not uncommon for a product to evolve past the original inspiration.
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Did anyone from Quilter ever say that pedalboards were the initial targets? If so, was the same true for all of their similar format guitar heads?
:meh:
 
#327
Nickweissmusic said:
If you use effects, effect loops, preamps, etc, it's just not that simple. I've very rarely ever plugged my bass directly into a provided direct box, even with provided back line, and have personally been making friends with sound guys and plugging their provided XLR cords directly into my preamp, post EQ and FX, since the 90s. Of course I take a lot of care to balance the levels between patches, and have never had a problem. The only sound guys who ever refused were the absolute laziest, the only exception to that is in a few festival settings with quick changes, in which case I'll acquiesce and used their DI's. At any rate, letting the bassist have control over shaping their sound has been a thing for a long time, and in my experience it's gotten to be more expected/accepted over the years. In fact, I still have my first preamp and first pro effects box, a Yamaha PB1 and a bass pod pro, both of which had XLR DI outputs in the 80's/90's. My wife, my bank account, and my back all wish I were the guy who could show up to a gig with a bass and plug into the provided DI, but alas, it's not for me, and I am envious of those of you who are :)
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Agreed except I'm not the least bit envious of anyone who bypasses everything by going direct, particular if they have effects. I send my tone to the house, however I might've achieved it.
 
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#330
Brad Johnson said:
Did anyone from Quilter ever say that pedalboards were the initial targets? If so, was the same true for all of their similar format guitar heads?
:meh:
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I do recall some posts and some discussion way back asking for a small power amp platform. Of course, what TBers were asking and what Quilter was thinking weren't necessarily the same thing. I don't know if Quilter had already been thinking of a bass amp or not; they might have been, since the guitar amps were starting to do well. Nevertheless, it's clear that when they put the BB800 on the the market they were no longer--if they ever had been--thinking of it as something mainly intended as a power amp but wanted it to be something gigging bassists would use as a bass head on its own. Which I know you, I, and many other folks have done. That's why I don't think the original inspiration, if such it was, matters any more.
 
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#332
shwashwa said:
Here's your chance to get a new small form factor power amp made for you!
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That's exactly the thread I thought I remembered, thanks. But as one of the last posts in that thread says, it's not clear that Pat Quilter ever had any intention of making a simple power amp. After all, that's what he'd just spent decades doing at QSC. The whole focus of Quilter Labs from the time of its inception has been on musical instrument amps--first guitar amps and now bass amps.

So it's not surprising that he'd want the BB to be a bass head and not just a power amp. Of course, if you play in a particular arena, you get evaluated by the standards of that arena. So IMO it shouldn't make any difference at all where the idea may or may not have come from originally. If this product is put out there as a bass head, and I'm looking at bass heads, I want it to have the features I need, and if it doesn't, I don't really care why it doesn't. That's all this is; it's not any deeper than that.

Meanwhile, I continue to use my BB800, and my Magellan 350, both of which have XLR outs, frequently.;-)
 
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#333
Look at the title of the thread. Poweramp. Look at the subject of the thread, Poweramp. All I'm saying is this is where the idea originated so it's not hard to understand what was produced. if you're not looking for a small form-factor power amp then maybe this is not the amp for you
 
#335
shwashwa said:
Look at the title of the thread. Poweramp. Look at the subject of the thread, Poweramp. All I'm saying is this is where the idea originated so it's not hard to understand what was produced. if you're not looking for a small form-factor power amp then maybe this is not the amp for you
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But that's what I'm saying: What was produced was NOT a power amp, nor has it been shown that Pat Quilter intended to produce a power amp. Actually it seems pretty clear that he wanted to make a bass head, which is what he in fact did. The fact that you can use it is a straight power amp too is great, though by no means unique, but if that's all they'd wanted to do, it wouldn't have several of the features it has. The origin of the idea is irrelevant to the outcome.
 
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#340
shwashwa said:
You mean like they should probably make an 802?
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With an XLR out, accompanied by the pre/post switch of course. And put Speakons on their cabs. And redesigned or abandoned that BlockDock business so you could actually use both of the preceding things.

I'd give an 803 a fair look. The whole BlockDock thing on the cabs holds no value or interest for me.
 
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