Yeah, you'll be fine plus it's fun playing with the voicings. For example, the "modern" setting has a higher damping factor which can be really useful to enhance articulation.
Riis
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Quilter Bass Block v803
- Thread starter gtirard
- Start date
Yeah, you'll be fine plus it's fun playing with the voicings. For example, the "modern" setting has a higher damping factor which can be really useful to enhance articulation.
Riis
Yes - it should still have tons of headroom, based on my experience with it over the last 11 months.
Finally have a V803 coming today. It's meant to primarily be a backup or lightweight alternative to an SVT, which is getting worked on now. I'll be able to crank it loud with the band and pedalboard tomorrow.
Mazrak, you will be delighted. Pat's designs for the Bass Blocks, and especially with the V803, are exceptional.
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After a long time waiting for the right momment... I've just ordered a V803.
My expectations:
- Pristine and no compressed sound as my Crown XLS1502 in bridge mode.
- A good limiter that protects my cabs (Barefaced BB3 & Greenboy F112) when I need to turn up the volume at some gigs.
- Variety of sounds when I don't want to be pristine.
- Portability vs my Crown.
- Plug & play vs my rig Crown (no preamp) + pedalboard (Line6 HxFx as a preamp)
My expectations:
- Pristine and no compressed sound as my Crown XLS1502 in bridge mode.
- A good limiter that protects my cabs (Barefaced BB3 & Greenboy F112) when I need to turn up the volume at some gigs.
- Variety of sounds when I don't want to be pristine.
- Portability vs my Crown.
- Plug & play vs my rig Crown (no preamp) + pedalboard (Line6 HxFx as a preamp)
Diego - Good expectations. No doubt, good anticipations as well! Who did you order from?
The V803 is a powerful head that feels safe to turn up. You'll see what I mean. Plus, it's designed from the ground up as a bass head, so you'll see other advantages over your current HX Effects/power amp setup, in addition to the better portability.
We may have quibbled about little things on the Quilter bass heads, but there is no doubt that all of them are built for sonic performance. Pat is a wizard.
Give us your report after you get it and have had a chance to use it!
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I am in Spain, Thomann is the dealer in Europe.Diego - Good expectations. No doubt, good anticipations as well! Who did you order from?
The V803 is a powerful head that feels safe to turn up. You'll see what I mean. Plus, it's designed from the ground up as a bass head, so you'll see other advantages over your current HX Effects/power amp setup, in addition to the better portability.
We may have quibbled about little things on the Quilter bass heads, but there is no doubt that all of them are built for sonic performance. Pat is a wizard.
Give us your report after you get it and have had a chance to use it!
I had a Quilter 802 and I liked, but I returned back to Thomann because of some whistles could appear using european power supply. I talked with Pat about that and he told me this issue was solved in v803 version.
Regards!
The 803 is miles ahead of the 802... The 802 was simply a mistake. The EQ voicing was just wrong for me. Sweepable mids on the 803 fixed that. I have an 800 (backup) and an 803 as my daily driver when I need backline.
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Pondering over the last 7 to 10 years I've tried a Legacy 800, Darkglass something, Magellan 800, D800, D800+, WD-800, BB800, BB-802, V803 for solid state amps anyway... maybe a few others that were forgettable...
My 2 faves... D-800+ and the V803. I could easily play out my days with either.
I also have the Magellan Pre and have had the D-800+ pre twice. Somehow the Magellan Pre won.
Honorable mentions to the Bb-800 and Magellan. Oddly enough, I didn't care at all for the Legacy 800 and historically I have been a GK fan boi. Still have an Mb-200 and RB-700-II. The legacy was Oakland... no there, there...
The BB-800 is the only amp I have met with an XLR in that bypasses the front panel controls. I kinda think of it as 1/2 of a PLX-II 1804. Pretty much I use it as an industrial version of a Jay Ganz...
Random thoughts, marginally connected to this thread...
My 2 faves... D-800+ and the V803. I could easily play out my days with either.
I also have the Magellan Pre and have had the D-800+ pre twice. Somehow the Magellan Pre won.
Honorable mentions to the Bb-800 and Magellan. Oddly enough, I didn't care at all for the Legacy 800 and historically I have been a GK fan boi. Still have an Mb-200 and RB-700-II. The legacy was Oakland... no there, there...
The BB-800 is the only amp I have met with an XLR in that bypasses the front panel controls. I kinda think of it as 1/2 of a PLX-II 1804. Pretty much I use it as an industrial version of a Jay Ganz...
Random thoughts, marginally connected to this thread...
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Curious about why you prefer Magellan Pre and not prefer Magellan 800. This amp was a candidate.
The Genzler pre is in my IEM rig. I use the foot swtich for Curve change when switching from a 'normal' bass to electric upright. It seems like the curve feature was not as flexible. The Magellan head is very good. Very clear. Very neutral. I prefer the voicing of the Mesa and of the Quilter with my particular cabs.
The Genzler absolutely should be on your list.
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Having just gotten the 803 and read the manual about 2 weeks ago, I felt like is said in there it could do 2.67 just to be reasonable about it. Maybe I'm hallucinating.
No, you're not hallucinating. The manual makes a vague reference to that, but it's not definitive. I followed up with Quilter and Pat Quilter himself told me he knows users have been doing it, hasn't had any reports of issues and he said it's generally ok if you exercise caution. The amp has a self-protection feature as well so it *should* shut down before damage occurs, but YMMV.
FWIW I haven't tested it out yet.
Pat is always just an email away, and usually tries to get to them in a day at most.
I was looking at your emails and shaking my head, thinking, "You know, I really don't remember whether the 'V' in the name is lower- or uppercase." And... It's upper case, looking at both the product webpage and the online manual. "V803". The details, the details..
For easy reference for those of you like me who haven't looked at it in a while, here is the manual, which is an actual webpage on the Quilter website, not PDF. Love it! I'm doing some re-reading and already learned a couple new things I didn't know from playing the head.
I was looking at your emails and shaking my head, thinking, "You know, I really don't remember whether the 'V' in the name is lower- or uppercase." And... It's upper case, looking at both the product webpage and the online manual. "V803". The details, the details..
For easy reference for those of you like me who haven't looked at it in a while, here is the manual, which is an actual webpage on the Quilter website, not PDF. Love it! I'm doing some re-reading and already learned a couple new things I didn't know from playing the head.
This was a topic of discussion in previous Bass Block threads and to my knowledge, no one has had any issues with lower impedance loads (less than 4 Ohm).
A limiter will not stop you from damaging speakers if the speakers you're using can't handle the level and EQ settings you select. It will only stop the amp from slamming into that undesirable clipping the amp would otherwise go to without it. It's not designed to protect cabs. The limiter on that amp is also part of the "feel" voicing and affects its response when running harder.
That said, it'll likely sound better than the 1502 - That's a fine PA amplifier, but it's not really designed to be a bass amp. What you hear will depends on whatever preamp you were using into that Crown.
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