Quilter Labs Bass Block 800 vs Mesa/Boogie Subway D-800

I have both. They are both great amps. However as good as the Quilter is, the only real 'advantages' is has over the Mesa is the slightly smaller size and cheaper price. Otherwise, I like the Mesa better because it has better tone shaping, it's 2 ohm stable, and it has world class DI built in (the Quilter does not have a DI).

The Mesa is such a good sounding setup, that when I use my Quilter I run a Mesa DI pedal into it. You could do that and have the best of both worlds, but really by the time you spend the extra money for the Mesa pedal you might as well buy the Mesa amp.

But the Quilter pretty much destroys any other amp in its price range.

 

Quilter all day long for me. I use a small single 4 ohm cab for everything, everywhere. I have basses that already sound great. In several A/Bs with my friends' D800 and D800+ I got the exact sound I wanted with my basses with the Quilter without needing to tweak. I'd rather not "have to" tweak. I haven't heard an amp hit any harder with as much control as my BB800. It's a revolutionary bass amp IMO. It sounds tighter while hitting at least as hard if not harder than amps I've tried (damn near all of them, my friends buy everything ). Some folks may not need an amp that fast and percussive... I do. I want my rig to be quicker than me.


Lately I've been gigging alot with flats on a five and that gives me a ridiculously powerful output along with a high end I didn't expect. The Quilter let's it sound like it sounds.

The Quilter tone controls seem to confuse some folks despite being relatively simple. You do have to understand how they work... to understand how they work Never had a problem dialing anything in, I prefer subtractive EQ vs. traditional cut/boost.

If you need 2 ohms capability or lots of standard tone controls the Mesas fit that bill very well. I have a tiny, light, loud single cab "big rig" and my Quilter has been flawless, killing it on gigs consistently for going on three years now. Got a ton of compliments from guests and musicians on last night's outdoors show. Hard to be humble with a rig that kicks butt like this.

 

I've had them both and both were great amps. The king of the hill ( for me)is my Mesa WD-800 though.It's a great amp.You can't really go wrong with either choice tone -wise but the Mesa does have important options that the BB doesn't. Good luck!

 

Cool. I think the weight on both amps is a toss-up... if I preferred the Mesa the weight wouldn't negatively effect it.

I have several pretty versatile basses that I know exactly how to get what I want out of. Coupled with what I can do technique-wise, the final piece of the puzzle is a robust platform that doesn't need to change any of that. From the moment I first plugged mine in at a store through a cab that I previously owned and wasn't overly impressed with, I knew I had struck gold. Good luck with the search, not a bad choice between the two.

 

I'm such a dinosaur.
The Quilter EQ has put me off from even trying one.
I've got to get out of my cave and try one.

 

Regarding the Quilter eq, if you think "I need to boost 759Hz by 4.2 db", you'll get frustrated. If you can grasp the little pics on the amp and use your ears, you can get a very good sound. And if you do need to get specific with eq, an external eq works wonders.

For me, there's enough positives with the amp that when I need it, I'll put a Tech 21 Q/Strip in front of it.

 

I have the Quilter and the Mesa WD800. Both are fantastic heads. I love the Quilter because it has a very natural flat sound if needed where I can really hear exactly how each of my basses really sound. It also takes pedals really well.

The WD800 has the Mesa tone, it’s always there.... but with that said it sounds amazing. It’s probably one of the nicest heads I have ever owned.
Both are of such great quality that not many other brands can compare.

You can’t go wrong with the other Mesa head you are looking at or the Quilter. The controls are very different on both amps you are thinking of, maybe that can help you decide.

-ScottM

 

I find the Quilter a really rough ride in a boomy room.

In a good room it’s amazing, but if not you could be in for a long night.

Have not tried the Mesa so no opinion.

 

I’m a new Quilter BB800 owner and really enjoying this new world of tiny amps. The Quilter replaced a Trace Elliot AH600SMX. Is it a similar sound? No, not really. But the Trace weighs 60 lbs and has a very complex EQ section. At my age/stage, give me simple, reliable, and high quality. The BB800 makes it easy to find a good sound with my basses and fit into the mix with minimal fuss. Pretty intuitive once you understand the interplay of the few controls.

Eventually I will experiment with pedal D.I. preamps to get the signature sounds like Trace Elliot or Mesa and use the Quilter as a stand alone power amp. But until then I’ll enjoy what the BB800 has to offer.

 

Quilter has been moving production to China. I know the BlockDock guitar cabs and TB202, 101, 101R, MB45, and IB45 guitar amps are all made in China. I don't know if the BB800 has moved production yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has or will.

 

Interesting. I've found that that would be one of the easier things to deal with with a Quilter... you can use the Depth control to pretty much eliminate low end and the mid cut is effective too. Nothing left to boom after that.

Some rooms are next to hopeless and I find that the first thing I do is bring my volume down. Of course it helps if the other folks I'm playing with understand how to deal with a boomy room.

 

I hesitate to talk about warmth because honestly I don't know what some folks are talking about sometimes. My BB800 sounds natural to me, not harsh, clanky, whatever.

As far as the anti-China thing, considering most products seem to be made there, it doesn't really make much sense. Do you have any products that you really like, like a phone, TV, etc.? Where were they made?

I used to have fun with this mindset with the main custom basses I still use. A common knock against them was that they were heavy. I agreed, they were heavy... except for the light ones.


So I'd feel silly muttering about cheap Chinese crap while watching an amazing picture on my $300 55" 4K TV. The country of origin has no automatic bearing on quality. I'm old enough to remember the same sentiment about Japanese products and watched Honda quality obliterate the competition. Then Korea. Now China.

I like the fact that the Quilter BB800 is made in the US, is an amazingly intuitive design when other companies travel the usual road yet cost less than a Markbass Little Mark III (which is a little more than half the wattage) when I got it.

As long as Pat Quilter is running things I wouldn't have a problem with production moving offshore if that's what it takes to remain competitive.

I think many if not most people understand that customer service is a true benchmark of a company. In this case both companies have stellar customer support.

 

And sometime, "normal" eq alone can't handle a boomy rooms. That's when it's time to bring out the isolation pads for the cabs and high pass filters (hpf) for the amps.

Not unique to the BB800. I've had to do this with everyone of my amps.

 

I have both. The BB800 DOES have a DI but it is master dependent, that is, it's post pre-amp and post master. I haven't played the BB800 for a bit as my son has it. I favor the Mesa, but will not cry over using the BB800.

 

This was my only misgiving with the BB800 early on. I prefer having my stage volume adjustment independent of what I send to the house. And over the course of almost three years of steady gigging it has been a complete non-issue. The pre-post DI was always a non-issue for me.