Quilter Bass Block

[Marty Forrer]

My Quilter was shipped from the US to New Zealand, so it's survived airline's freight handlers. It has near zero noise, even cranked, and every thing works perfectly. This is the last amp I will ever need to buy, through my Barefaced cabs it is the voice of doom! I'm a doubler, and it sounds fantastic with my upright bass too.

 

[bdplaid]

I had a D800 for while and a D800+ for a short time. The D800+ is superior, and sounds better in most every way, if more complex to operate.
As for my D800, it's a stellar amp, but I was always twiddling the knobs to get my sound. It has a lot of range but in the end everything was a compromise.

I finally realized I am after a no-nonsense amp that has little-to-no "baked-in" sound. Those are rare, and to my knowledge the BB800 is the only one in this form factor and price range.

 

[bdplaid]

My new BB800 is also dead quiet.

 

[Brad Johnson]

I got a chance to compare mine directly to a Subway D800 and D800+. It was pretty funny when my friend told me why he bought the D800+...because it had more controls. He laughed as he said that while looking at my BB800. Getting killer sound right out of the bag vs. being able to approximate a similar sound via tweaks... I go for the first option. BTW the Subways really didn't present that much of a challenge. They sounded fine in a standard good amp kind of way. The BB800 makes me feel like I'm carrying studio quality sound at live volumes in my pocket.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

Just figured i'd post this info from Pat Quilter on the normal operational noise floor expectation: "The noise floor on the Bass Block with Master down, as noted, should be about -93dB unweighted, relative to full power out. You would expect this to be audible up close to the speaker but not at a distance."

 

[triode6L6a]

Do you still have both amps?
&/or do you remember the D800+ settings that got you the similar heft?
Inquiring minds & all...
Thanks!

No, that was almost a year ago, so I don't really remember. I would have been perfectly happy with the Boogie, but the Quilter fit my particular needs a bit better.

 

[jazzbass_5]

Got it today.
So far this thing is amazing.. this is the planed setup..
Audio-Technica Wireless
Ampeg SCR-DI
BB800.
Speaker to be determined for the venue.

 

[jazzbass_5]

Got it today.
So far this thing is amazing.. this is the planed setup..
Audio-Technica Wireless
Ampeg SCR-DI
BB800.
Speaker to be determined for the venue.View attachment 2787902

Finished product.

 

[engedi1]

That's awesome. I need to do this.

 

[jazzbass_5]

That's awesome. I need to do this.

Ive only had the BB800 for a few hours but I can say it's pretty damn awesome. I have a show Saturday and I'm going to use this Rig with either my 2x12 or 4x10 cab. Haven't decided yet. I'll be sure to let you all know how it performs.
This is a Vocal PA only show so the BB setup shown is going to be the bass sound. So it's going to be used at volume.

 

[BigEarl]

Got it today.
So far this thing is amazing.. this is the planed setup..
Audio-Technica Wireless
Ampeg SCR-DI
BB800.
Speaker to be determined for the venue.View attachment 2787902

That's a great setup!

 

[Rocksolid]

Gigging tomorrow night and I have to decide between my B|Amp and BB800 with my NV115 stack. Both are great amps, but at opposite ends of the scale as far as complexity goes. Might even take both and use one for each set as a comparison.

 

[engedi1]

Gigging tomorrow night and I have to decide between my B|Amp and BB800 with my NV115 stack. Both are great amps, but at opposite ends of the scale as far as complexity goes. Might even take both and use one for each set as a comparison.

Please do the both thing so you can give us a comparison report. Interesting expiriment.

 

[J.Wolf]

You guys getting a modern high end with your BB800? I find it does everthing really well, except having a snappy and bright (when wanted) high end. The filters dont really have any way to add highs, just ways to reduce everything else creating a perceived high end bump, but even with that, I find it doesnt have a ton of bite. Anyone else?

 

[Stu_Bass]

You guys getting a modern high end with your BB800? I find it does everthing really well, except having a snappy and bright (when wanted) high end. The filters dont really have any way to add highs, just ways to reduce everything else creating a perceived high end bump, but even with that, I find it doesnt have a ton of bite. Anyone else?

As you said the only way to "boost" the highs is to cut the bass and/or mids and adjust the gain structure accordingly. I have often thought about putting a treble bypass cap across the input with a little bright switch under the mute switch. I have not opened the amp up to see it's topography.
I have also thought of a mod package for the amp consisting of:
1) Bright switch
2) Line out pre master volume
3) Line out ground lift
4) Line out mic/line level switch
5) Line in xlr/1/4" combo jack
6) Pre out/power amp in (FX loop) in place of the 1/4" speaker jacks with the ability to use the pre out as a tuner send

 

[TrevorOfDoom]

The only way to "boost" the highs is to cut the bass and/or mids and adjust the gain structure accordingly. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know. I have often thought about putting a treble bypass cap across the input with a little bright switch under the mute switch. I have not opened the amp up to see it's topography.
I have also thought of a mod package for the amp consisting of:
1) Bright switch
2) Line out pre master volume
3) Line out ground lift
4) Line out mic/line level switch
5) Line in combo xlr/1/4" jack
6) Pre out/power amp in (FX loop) in place of the 1/4" speaker jacks with the ability to use the pre out as a tuner send

If you took 2 & 4 and made them into a Line Out Vol knob, i'd send you my BB800 for that and the ground life right now!

 

[engedi1]

It would never occur to me to mod the amp in a million years. I solved this issue by getting a killer preamp pedal. Tech 21 q strip. I use a passive p bass mostly and this combo is awesome.

 

[Stu_Bass]

I just took a peek inside. It would be fairly easy to add a bright switch to the inputs and to add a ground lift and mic/line level switch to the line out. Anything else would take a real engineer with experience modifying surface mounted micro components. That ain't me- LOL

 

[shwashwa]

I just took a peek inside. It would be fairly easy to add a bright switch to the inputs and to add a ground lift and mic/line level switch to the line out. Anything else would take a real engineer with experience modifying surface mounted micro components. That ain't me- LOL

Preamp pedal would be so much easier

 

[shwashwa]

Or an active bass