• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Quilter Bass Block

#222
1:4 to Speakon cable.png
bassmanshoe said:
Quilter Bass Block 800 observations. I've had one for a week and a half now, have used it for bass guitar four gigs, and as a PA subwoofer amp twice. In over 50 years of playing bass, I've had many of the most normal bass amps, as well as a few screwball rigs. Since 2013 my go-to amplifier is an Aguilar Tonehammer 500. It is an excellent amp, and I absolutely love it. I use the Aguilar TH with either one or two Aguilar SL 12 cabinets. It is an ideal pairing. For the few occasions when I have to play louder, I have an Aguilar SL 410 rated at 1200 watts. On paper, this should be another step up, volume wise, but in fact it is only slightly louder. Turning the 500W solid state amp up, it simply runs out of headroom, and the lowest notes start to sound flabby. The four Aguilar 10s are very power hungry. The newest generation of SL 410 (newer than mine) uses a different, more efficient driver. The 800W Quilter addresses the power issue nicely.



Both the Aguilar and Quilter are made in the USA, and exhibit excellent build quality. This explains their fairly high price, about $600 for the Quilter, $700 for the Aguilar. Keeping the jobs in the US, and keeping the reliability built in are worth the price for me. My modern Ampeg and Fender gear is not built to their old standards. If price is your biggest concern, and you are ok with sending more dollars out of the country, TC and Mark Bass make good gear too. In my opinion, cost driven production methods in low wage counties are apt to lead to more service problems over time.



The Quilter's tone controls are conspicuously different than most contemporary bass amps. Instead of bass and treble, maybe middle, along with a graphic or semi parametric EQ, the Quilter uses just two tone controls. One knob is more or less a bass control, one a notch filter. It doesn't look like enough, but I find it very intuitive, and have no trouble at all dialing in exactly what I want to hear for any of my basses. I don't know if that would work for everybody. The gain control works not just with the front end of the signal chain, but also with a limiter. The result is that you can easily dial in a very modern hifi sound, or recreate the interaction between big iron transformers, preamp tubes and power tubes of normal Fender and Ampeg etc designs. The compression obtained by turning the gain up is remarkably similar to the progression of tones of various tube amps from a B15 to a Bassman to a Showman to an SVT.



It has two instrument inputs, one with a 10 DB pad, and both can be used at the same time. It has a headphone output jack, that can be used whether or not a speaker load is present. It has a mute switch. It has an XLR direct out, post EQ only. No ground lift, potentially a problem, maybe not. It has an XLR input that goes directly to the power section, bypassing the preamp. It has two 1/4 output jacks, and one speakon jack, all in parallel. One more speakon would be nice. Since these four lb. amps don't have a lot of square inches of panel space, there just isn't room for too many connections. My Aguilar has speakon outputs only. Neutrik and Switchcraft both make combination speakon-1/4 jacks. Both Quilter and Aguilar ought to consider these. Maybe they have, and don't consider them sufficiently reliable. When the speakon jacks were first introduced, I was very skeptical that they were any better than phone jacks, but experience has shown that Neutrik was right.



It does not have a separate silent tuner output, which I consider a design flaw. A practical work-around is using the second input jack to send a signal to your tuner, and push the mute switch while tuning. Okay, but I would prefer a true tuner output anyway. Same as the Aguilar, the Quilter has a cooling fan. The Quilter is rated for 4 to 8 ohms speaker impedance. They say that a 2 ohm load is safe, but a poor choice. It does not have an effects loop.



Like many class D amplifiers on the market, Aguilar bundles their own preamp and housing with a Bang & Olufsen ice power module. The B & O design is a well-proven industry standard. Quilter on the other hand, is the instrument amplifier company of Patrick Quilter, the founder of QSC power amps, relied on by many big sound contractors as well as too many weekend warrior bands to count. Their products are designed in-house by a team with extensive experience working directly with musicians and sound techs. This unit is born of Quilter's own class D experience, and is totally intended as a purpose built bass guitar amplifier, not a generic hifi amp. Musician's gear has been Pat Quilter's life's work. QSC's quality reputation is unmatched.



Which amp do I like better? I love them both, would feel very confident recommending either. Dollar for dollar, the Quilter is 75¢ per watt compared to the Aggie's $1.40, advantage Quilter. Since my most-used configuration is two SL12 cabinets, the TH 500's two speakon outputs are distinctly better, advantage Aguilar. For the 90% of the time that the SL 12s are adequate for the job, I will stick with the Aguilar amp. I don't know how damping factor is supposed to be expressed, but the Quilter is the tightest sounding bass amp I have heard, and together with the way the SL410 is voiced, it sounds like the Fender Dual Showman with D140Fs that I love, but orders of magnitude louder. I like the sound of this Quilter/ SL 410 combination very slightly better than the TH with the smaller speaker cabinets, but not enough to justify the extra weight and floor space. Hey, give me a break, me and my back are 65. When I really need more volume, the Quilter with the bigger, heavier cabinet gets the nod. Also, there are a lot of times, not necessarily on stage, when I simply want two inputs. Advantage Quilter.



While it seems like quite a stretch to use a Bass Block 800 with the 410 cabinet as a PA subwoofer, crossed over at 140 Hz, it is plenty strong enough to match a pair of Mackie 450s, indoors at least. Sounds very punchy, gets plenty of kick drum out there to put dancers on the floor. Don't expect a professional sound tech to give that concept any respect, but if you are on a bar band budget, it's a hell of a good way to get a lot of bang for the buck. Having several uses for this new piece of gear makes it easier to justify the expense.
Click to expand...
 
#228
staccatogrowl said:
My stubborn curiosity persists as to use of the Bass Block as a power amp. Anyone using their own preamps to drive the Bass Block? Instrument level result? Line level result? Comments?
Click to expand...
To piggyback on this: for those running an external preamp into the main input, does the Bass Block significantly color the sound if the EQ is left flat?
 
  • Like
Reactions: tombowlus
#232
Hello all!

While I'm new to The forum, I've been very curiously watching (lurking, whatev...) the whole Class D amp debate (is it really a debate anymore, or just the flavor that suits?).

That being said, the Quilter Bass Block 800 sounds like it might be what I'm looking for.

My short list currently is-

(bear in mind that I actually have go get out to HEAR some of these, with exception of the GK and Ampeg, which both sound pretty impressive through the Ampeg 810 Classic. But oh, the weight in comparison to the Class D offerings)

1. Quilter Bass Block 800
2. Mesa D-800
3. Fender Rumble 500 head
4. GK 700 RB (not class D, I know)
5. Ampeg SVT-3 (same)

In echoing what another poster already requested, I'd love to hear opinions on what the Quilter and Mesa can do through an Ampeg SVT810E Classic (I have one), before pulling the trigger!

Awesome forum!
Cheers,
 
Last edited:
#233
basscapes said:
Hello all!

While I'm new to The forum, I've been very curiously watching (lurking, whatev...) the whole Class D amp debate (is it really a debate anymore, or just the flavor that suits?).

That being said, the Quilter Bass Block 800 sounds like it might be what I'm looking for.

My short list currently is-

(bear in mind that I actually have go get out to HEAR some of these, with exception of the GK and Ampeg, which both sound pretty impressive through the Ampeg 810 Classic. But oh, the weight in comparison to the Class D offerings)

1. Quilter Bass Block 800
2. Mesa
3. Fender Rumble 500 head
4. GK 700 RB (not class D, I know)
5. Ampeg SVT-3 (same)

In echoing what another poster already requested, I'd love to hear opinions on what the Quilter and Mesa can do through an Ampeg SVT810E Classic (I have one), before pulling the trigger!

Awesome forum!
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Somewhere on the Quilter Facebook page a video was posted of John Mendoza playing BB800's through 8x10(s?)with Twisted Sister. Perhaps posted by Johnny Quilter. Seemed to serve his purpose. I'm certain someone here has a BB800 and an SVT cab. Tom Bowlus?
 
#234
Stu_Bass said:
Somewhere on the Quilter Facebook page a video was posted of John Mendoza playing BB800's through 8x10(s?)with Twisted Sister. Perhaps posted by Johnny Quilter. Seemed to serve his purpose. I'm certain someone here has a BB800 and an SVT cab. Tom Bowlus?
Click to expand...

Have the BB800, have the SVT-810e; just need the time... Feel free to bug me from time to time. :thumbsup:
 
#235
Stu_Bass said:
Somewhere on the Quilter Facebook page a video was posted of John Mendoza playing BB800's through 8x10(s?)with Twisted Sister. Perhaps posted by Johnny Quilter. Seemed to serve his purpose. I'm certain someone here has a BB800 and an SVT cab. Tom Bowlus?
Click to expand...
That post was in reply to a question I asked. I believe he used two BB800s and two 8x10s during a large outdoor show.
 
#238
I played my first proper small blues/rock gig with the BB800 (through a single Barefaced One10) last night with excellent results! A difficult, boomy room but I quickly dialled in a great sound and never adjusted the amp for the rest of the night.
I got a little distracted at one point admiring the quality of the tone so I must be more disciplined in future :eek:
The feel that you get back through the strings just made me grin all night.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: The Editor, BigEarl and Mike Barry
#239
triode6L6a said:
Just found this on YouTube for those that might be interested:
Click to expand...

That sounds crazy good through the Sennheiser mic (Same mic I use!). The DI output is pretty good. both seem to have a great sense of depth and warmth- something I hope it can do through an Ampeg 810E ("tombowlus", you told me to bug you!). it's very tubey in that department. I noticed that the input was at the 12 o'clock position, so I'm wondering just how much more grit or dirt (not distortion or overdrive) the front end of that can muster. I also swear I heard a little bit of limiting in there; not a bad thing at all, if that's part of the preamp circuit.

Both EQ controls sound like they are indeed VERY musical sounding- they are useful, that's for sure!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: tombowlus

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back