Quilter Bass Block

[murphy]

My Quilter BB800 works great as a power amp using the rear XLR line input. When I first got the Quilter, I was happy just using it on its own, but once I heard it with my Alembic F-2B tube preamp into the rear XLR line input there was no turning back. I just hope that your pedal-based preamp sends a sufficient signal level to properly drive the Quilter to full output (I'm not sure what those signal level requirements are).

I do not think I got the best out of my QSC PLX 2402 with the Alembic F2b......
I know you are happy, but have you tried the F2b directly into the instrument input?
I find my preamps sound best into the BB800 that way

 

[Pocket4]

Here's a different track. I was looking for a practice combo amp to try to streamline the haul. Maybe you know, but the Quilter people already figured out a few configurations for docking your Bass Block in their Bass Dock cab. I confess, though I'm very pleased with my BB800, I didn't have plans to find a regular use for it. Now I know!

 

[cableguy]

My Quilter BB800 works great as a power amp using the rear XLR line input. When I first got the Quilter, I was happy just using it on its own, but once I heard it with my Alembic F-2B tube preamp into the rear XLR line input there was no turning back. I just hope that your pedal-based preamp sends a sufficient signal level to properly drive the Quilter to full output (I'm not sure what those signal level requirements are).

I'm sure it will. Waiting on a Fractal FM3. In the meantime I'll have my tech 21 DP-3X.

 

[kasbrey]

Just to remind everyone while we're talking about tubey preamps into the BB800. There is nothing that I've found that sounds better than the Quilter Interbass (in Vintage mode) into either the front or rear of my BB.

 

[MarkA]

My Quilter BB800 works great as a power amp using the rear XLR line input. When I first got the Quilter, I was happy just using it on its own, but once I heard it with my Alembic F-2B tube preamp into the rear XLR line input there was no turning back. I just hope that your pedal-based preamp sends a sufficient signal level to properly drive the Quilter to full output (I'm not sure what those signal level requirements are).

Line-in is listed, on the BB800 specs page, as "1 Volt full scale." That's more than some power amps (CA9, non-DSP versions of the Crest Prolite, which are both, I believe. 0.775 volts, or thereabouts) and less than others (my QSC PLX 1804, at 1.2 Volts). Some preamps will do 1 Volt easy, others not so much.

Signal strength requirements will obviously be a lot less into the front end, but you might or might not like running through the EQ and the limiter (which comes on early for my taste, even with a passive bass). Not sure how much of the limiter(s) you hit when running into the line in, in back.

From [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]:

Power Output: 450 watts-8 ohms, 800-watts, 4 ohms
AC Power Req.: 100–240Vac, 50–60 Hz, 250 W typical, 1000W peak.
Input Connections:
PASSIVE: ¼" mono (full gain), 2 meg
ACTIVE: ¼" mono (-10dB gain), 30K
LINE INPUT: XLR 10K balanced, 1V full scale.
Line Output: XLR, quasi-balanced, 400 ohms, 1V full scale
Speaker Output: 4-8 ohms, 90V, 25A peak
Headphone Out: 3.5mm mini-jack, 20 ohms per side, 2V peak.
Dimensions: 8.5”(218mm) x 7.5” (190mm) x 3” (76mm)
Weight: 3.7 lbs (1.6kg) ​

 

[John D Harris]

Line-in is listed, on the BB800 specs page, as "1 Volt full scale." That's more than some power amps (CA9, non-DSP versions of the Crest Prolite, which are both, I believe. 0.775 volts, or thereabouts) and less than others (my QSC PLX 1804, at 1.2 Volts). Some preamps will do 1 Volt easy, others not so much.

Signal strength requirements will obviously be a lot less into the front end, but you might or might not like running through the EQ and the limiter (which comes on early for my taste, even with a passive bass). Not sure how much of the limiter(s) you hit when running into the line in, in back.

From [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]:

Power Output: 450 watts-8 ohms, 800-watts, 4 ohms
AC Power Req.: 100–240Vac, 50–60 Hz, 250 W typical, 1000W peak.
Input Connections:
PASSIVE: ¼" mono (full gain), 2 meg
ACTIVE: ¼" mono (-10dB gain), 30K
LINE INPUT: XLR 10K balanced, 1V full scale.
Line Output: XLR, quasi-balanced, 400 ohms, 1V full scale
Speaker Output: 4-8 ohms, 90V, 25A peak
Headphone Out: 3.5mm mini-jack, 20 ohms per side, 2V peak.
Dimensions: 8.5”(218mm) x 7.5” (190mm) x 3” (76mm)
Weight: 3.7 lbs (1.6kg) ​

Is the limiter controlled more by the gain control or the master control?

 

[MarkA]

Is the limiter controlled more by the gain control or the master control?

Definitely heavily influenced by the gain control -- and I think it's a two-stage limiter or something similar -- but I suspect that, as you get up there in the amp's power band, you'd encounter some limiting as well. Exactly where and how this happens, I don't know. I've spent very little time using the BB800 as a power-amp, other than getting a general, low-volume impression of it (and verifying that it works that way) once or twice, at home.

EDIT: I often play the BB800 with the Gain around 3.5/10 and the Master raised correspondingly precisely because, most of the time, I don't want a lot of action from the limiter (I still feel it a bit). I know that a lot of people really dig that, though, and take the opposite approach with this amp, and I can see situations in which I might do that, myself, though, again, it's not my usual approach.

 

[John D Harris]

Definitely heavily influenced by the gain control -- and I think it's a two-stage limiter or something similar -- but I suspect that, as you get up there in the amp's power band, you'd encounter some limiting as well. Exactly where and how this happens, I don't know. I've spent very little time using the BB800 as a power-amp, other than getting a general, low-volume impression of it (and verifying that it works that way) once or twice, at home.

EDIT: I often play the BB800 with the Gain around 3.5/10 and the Master raised correspondingly precisely because, most of the time, I don't want a lot of action from the limiter (I still feel it a bit). I know that a lot of people really dig that, though, and take the opposite approach with this amp, and I can see situations in which I might do that, myself, though, again, it's not my usual approach.

Thanks!

 

[hennessybass]

I feel like I was reading something yesterday- an email from Pat Q that got posted on here - where he said something about the limiter and the bass control.

Maybe gain + bass? More like built into the whole preamp?

I’ll see if I can find it tomorrow.

 

[MarkA]

Since I only ever use the passive input on the amp, I'd forgotten about the active input...

Input Connections:
PASSIVE: ¼" mono (full gain), 2 meg
ACTIVE: ¼" mono (-10dB gain), 30K
LINE INPUT: XLR 10K balanced, 1V full scale.

... so you have three input options for a separate preamp instead of two. If you have something on the lower side of "line level," it might work fine into the active input.

As long as you're not driving something hard enough to risk damage, you can always try the three inputs and see how you like each!

 

[hennessybass]

Is the limiter controlled more by the gain control or the master control?

OK,,, here is the clip... this is an email that someone posted on one of the BB threads way back. The email is directly from Pat Quilter.
Makes it sound like the limiter is part of the preamp, and maybe works with the depth control? Anyway, I don't think any limiting is happening in the master. All in the preamp.

DEPTH: an active cut-boost bass control, with 12 dB of range and an unusually low hinge frequency of 100Hz, and a very high slope (24dB/octave) to provide pinpoint control of the relative loudness of the lowest strings and overall roundness of tone. This is coupled with a unique 2-stage limiter that prevents obtrusive “bottoming out”, even with heavy bass boost, without the lag or “gagging” effect of conventional limiters. High amounts of GAIN will produce a musically interesting “thrumming” or growling effect without actual hard clipping.

 

[pisces_bass]

Thanks @hennessybass for posting that. I have been playing with the limiter behavior recently. I run an Aguilar TH pedal in AGS mode in front of the BB800. Treble and bass flat (noon), slight mid cut around 2:30 on the range dial and gain around 9 o'clock. I keep the EQ knobs flat on the BB. I haven’t attempted to record anything, but playing with others I really like what I hear when I push the gain up to 6-7 on the BB to intentionally engage the limiter. My passive Reverend Justice gets a lot of personality even at moderate volume.

 

[John D Harris]

OK,,, here is the clip... this is an email that someone posted on one of the BB threads way back. The email is directly from Pat Quilter.
Makes it sound like the limiter is part of the preamp, and maybe works with the depth control? Anyway, I don't think any limiting is happening in the master. All in the preamp.

DEPTH: an active cut-boost bass control, with 12 dB of range and an unusually low hinge frequency of 100Hz, and a very high slope (24dB/octave) to provide pinpoint control of the relative loudness of the lowest strings and overall roundness of tone. This is coupled with a unique 2-stage limiter that prevents obtrusive “bottoming out”, even with heavy bass boost, without the lag or “gagging” effect of conventional limiters. High amounts of GAIN will produce a musically interesting “thrumming” or growling effect without actual hard clipping.

Sounds like it responds to both gain & bass control.
I would expect a fairly low gain setting & a small bass cut would result in less limiting.

 

[John D Harris]

Sounds like it responds to both gain & bass control.
I would expect a fairly low gain setting & a small bass cut would result in less limiting.

Yet another reason I prefer an active bass guitar.

 

[J_Bass]

It comes in the manual:

 

[Rocksolid]

Have you (or anyone else here) run the Effectrode LA-1A into the BB800?
Seems like that would sound plenty tubey for me.

Love to hear if this has been tried. Would have to sound epic..

 

[zombywoof5050]

I do not think I got the best out of my QSC PLX 2402 with the Alembic F2b......
I know you are happy, but have you tried the F2b directly into the instrument input?
I find my preamps sound best into the BB800 that way

The QSC PLX 2402 is not well suited for the F-2B because of the 2402's input sensitivity of 1.5V (0.5V or 0.775V would be much better), and also its unbalanced input impedance of only 6K ohms (Alembic states on their website that you should choose a power amp with at least 10K ohms unbalanced input impedance for use with the F-2B). Years ago when I chose a new power amp for my F-2B (upgrading from my original Crown DC300A II), I did a good bit of research and ended up getting the Carver PM1400, which has an unbalanced input impedance of 25K ohms, and I went inside the amp and changed the input sensitivity from its default of 1.5V to 0.775V (involved soldering in 2 jumpers), and I mean to tell you that the Carver PM1400 works very well with the F-2B, but the Carver weighs about 45lbs in its deep custom 2-space rack that I had built for it. I had a very shallow custom 1-space rack built for the F-2B, so now the Quilter BB800 just sits on top of it along with a Radial JDI that gets its feed from the second channel of the F-2B (so that changing the volume/EQ into the BB800 doesn't change what's going into the JDI). The F-2B/BB800 drives a Barefaced Super Twin.

I know you mentioned to me before about trying my F-2B into the front instrument input of the BB800, but I still haven't tried it mainly because I like to really crank the F-2B (volume on 7, for more tubeness), and I'm afraid that high of a signal from the F-2B will easily overdrive the front instrument input of the BB800 (and not in a good way). I guess I should give it a try, but not sure how soon I'll get a chance to (haven't had much chance at all to crank the rig lately), but I'll report back when I've had a chance to try it.

 

[hennessybass]

... I'm afraid that high of a signal from the F-2B will easily overdrive the front instrument input of the BB800 (and not in a good way).

Just keep the gain low, or use the active input - or both.

 

[MarkA]

...I know you mentioned to me before about trying my F-2B into the front instrument input of the BB800, but I still haven't tried it mainly because I like to really crank the F-2B (volume on 7, for more tubeness), and I'm afraid that high of a signal from the F-2B will easily overdrive the front instrument input of the BB800 (and not in a good way). I guess I should give it a try, but not sure how soon I'll get a chance to (haven't had much chance at all to crank the rig lately), but I'll report back when I've had a chance to try it.

You can always try setting the Gain (on the pre and on the BB) as you like and keeping the Master Volume on the amp low -- it won't tell you how the rig behaves as you start to push the power section, but it should give you some idea of the viability of your gain-staging.

Comparing the volume with the pre (whether running into the effects loop or either front input) vs. volume running your bass straight into the amp, at the same Master volume setting, might prove informative (not that you have to use the same volume setting, ultimately).

 

[Rocksolid]

I had a half rack fetish at one point. It all stacks really nicely with the BB. The things we do when there are no gigs...