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New little Quilter amp


Mudpup

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20 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

It would be nice if someone could explain how Quilter calibrate the Watts on the BB800. The power output would depend on so many things including

  • (actual) speaker impedance (some speakers are lower impedance that quoted, 6R* instead of 8R" or 3R* instead of 4R*)
  • the output voltage of the bass (pickup and/or onboard preamp)
  • the EQ settings anywhere in the chain (from bass to effects to amp)
  • distortion used (if any)

that marking a control in Watts does not seem sensible.

Yeah, dunno.

 

Edit. If it's the same criteria as on the BB800 I'd be happy.

Edited by Opticaleye
Over flippant
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57 minutes ago, Chienmortbb said:

It would be nice if someone could explain how Quilter calibrate the Watts on the BB800. The power output would depend on so many things including

  • (actual) speaker impedance (some speakers are lower impedance that quoted, 6R* instead of 8R" or 3R* instead of 4R*)
  • the output voltage of the bass (pickup and/or onboard preamp)
  • the EQ settings anywhere in the chain (from bass to effects to amp)
  • distortion used (if any)

that marking a control in Watts does not seem sensible.

Very much ties in with the point @Reaper was getting at with his preceding post:

On 01/09/2019 at 10:24, Reaper said:

Be interesting to see how accurately the Quilter BB has been calibrated and if it's actually putting out just 40W at its 40W setting? The calibration does appear to be almost "reverse non-linear" in that it is going from:

0 to 3 = +40W

3 to 5 = +120W

5 to 7 = +240W

7 to 10 = +400W

Whereas a lot of amps will get to a high power output quickly and then tail off.

But anyone with the BB 800 with access to a decent multimeter (a cheap one can be got for around a £tenner from Halfords) will be able to easily confirm the point.

BB800.png

 

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I would imagine they use the same measurement parameters at various master points as they do for the maximum wattage rating.

There's probably a broad manufacturers conformity to the criteria of rating an amplifier (TC excepted of course).

From what I've read Quilter tend to rate output power quite conservatively.

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Having read the manual for the proposed BB802 there appears to be a few differences in the concept in comparison to the Interbass. 

The BB802 has a  standard 4 band EQ control as opposed to the 3 band Interbass (it has an added "Bark" 1k knob) and it appears that the 802 only does clean sounds like the BB800.

I like the BB800 controls so probably wouldn't bother to upgrade to the 802 personally.

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1 hour ago, Chienmortbb said:

It would be nice if someone could explain how Quilter calibrate the Watts on the BB800. The power output would depend on so many things including

  • (actual) speaker impedance (some speakers are lower impedance that quoted, 6R* instead of 8R" or 3R* instead of 4R*)
  • the output voltage of the bass (pickup and/or onboard preamp)
  • the EQ settings anywhere in the chain (from bass to effects to amp)
  • distortion used (if any)

that marking a control in Watts does not seem sensible.

In theory, that sounds like a sensible complaint. Until you think about one of these. Or for that matter, power ratings on any amps. Everything you've just mentioned would also apply to something like an Aguilar BD751. Or an SVT. How can you accurately measure the output of a power amp when everything in front of it effects the actual output rating as you've pointed out? 

 

Quilter could have just fed the power amp 1V, then ran it into a dummy load, turned the knob and marked out what the output is at various positions. I mean, maybe they didn't. Maybe they just made them up. But it could have been done scientifically.

 

Edit- Ive had this tab open for a while and between me loading the page and typing a reply @Opticaleye got in there first. More succinctly too!

Edited by Jack
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The secret with the 800 is to realise the controls work with each other much more than any other amp I've had.

Eq aside (which I think is brilliant), you can have gain low and master high for big clean sounds, and gain high and master low for lovely overdrive.

I'd imagine the interblock to work similarly.

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15 minutes ago, la bam said:

The secret with the 800 is to realise the controls work with each other much more than any other amp I've had.

Eq aside (which I think is brilliant), you can have gain low and master high for big clean sounds, and gain high and master low for lovely overdrive.

I'd imagine the interblock to work similarly.

I think the Interbass can get a fair bit more dirty.

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Well, I couldn't resist.

IMG_20190910_082312.thumb.jpg.13179680a8163b0b905f39942fed5270.jpgIMG_20190910_082802.thumb.jpg.0b28ec09d2d904ec4f540cdec3078477.jpgBoss pedal to show scale.

The Interbass is smaller than I expected which is a bonus.

There were 2 reasons that I was interested in this pedal.

 I like the Quilter BB800 but to get the sound I like (with gain at a setting where the limiter is working). at home it's way too loud. I had been considering an Ampeg PF2OT for practice and recording.

Also, I've been using my Markbass TTE801 live as I've wanted a tubey sound and I haven't been able to find a preamp with the right qualities to go in front of the BB800.

I've only had a quick go so far  (as an amp into my Markbass 121HR). It is ridiculously loud for its size but it gives me plenty of tonal options at home practice level. The FR/Vintage switch is great and the Vintage position is exactly what I was hoping for. Gain settings above 50% result in increasing amounts of grit when digging in and the feel is reminiscent of the all tube amps I've owned or played through. The EQ section is really good. I haven't been able to turn it up for a long period yet but it seems that it's loud enough for a pub blues gig with a medium drummer and 2 guitars or would certainly make a good backup at least.

All in all I am confident that this amp/pedal is what I was looking for and will sound great taking the balanced out into my BB800's XLR in.

 

Edited by Opticaleye
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1 hour ago, la bam said:

Gees, that is small if its almost half the size of the boss pedal.

I love quilter stuff, cant wait for the review.

I won't be able to provide gig experience as I don't have a band at the moment having just moved 150 miles away and quit my band of 10 years 😕.

I have tried it through my Quilter BB800 via the balanced line out into the rear XLR in and also a standard jack lead into the front panel via the active input. It is quite easy to replicate the tone of the BB800 pre using the Interbass into the line in XLR, but the vintage cab sim engaged and gain at about 2-3 o'clock adds a  whole new dimension. It's also possible to take a feed out of the send jack too which is post gain and EQ but pre master.

And as an amp I can rattle my house with the master about halfway!

Edited by Opticaleye
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On 31/08/2019 at 09:56, Reaper said:

As someone new to BC, must admit I find it very refreshing when folk actually engage brains and ask sensible questions about new gear, and don't simply jump on the "wow look there's something new and shiny, let's all rush out and get it!" bandwagon.

Well welcome to the forum, you should write an introduction as it'll be interesting to hear about you, your gear and what you hope to gain from being a member on here 😊

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4 minutes ago, bigsmokebass said:

Well welcome to the forum, you should write an introduction as it'll be interesting to hear about you, your gear and what you hope to gain from being a member on here 😊

Cheers! A few weeks in, I'm kinda feeling like an old hand already and there's certainly plenty going on to keep me interested! :) 

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What a handy looking device. So may I just check: this is a preamp/pedal and also doubles up as an amp putting out 45 watts for practice and small jams?

I'm just wondering if the original poster found it to be loud to be useful at 45 watts. Reading through the pages it seems like there is some debate over if it would be loud enough for small jam-type usage or settings.

Edited by FWB
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3 hours ago, FWB said:

What a handy looking device. So may I just check: this is a preamp/pedal and also doubles up as an amp putting out 45 watts for practice and small jams?

I'm just wondering if the original poster found it to be loud to be useful at 45 watts. Reading through the pages it seems like there is some debate over if it would be loud enough for small jam-type usage or settings.

That's exactly what the unit is.

I don't know if anyone else has one but my experience with it is that it would be loud enough for many pub gigs.

Bands vary though and so do venues so I would be uncomfortable using it in a band or venue where I did not know what to expect.

I did some volume matching experiments last night verses the Quilter BB800 and it got quite loud and matched the volume with the BB800 set at about 120w which is quite loud. I've rarely gigged in a pub with the BB set higher.

What I'm unsure of though is how this volume would stack up against a full band (Heft?) I have no reason to suspect that it would fare badly except the implausibility of so much volume coming from something so small.

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  • 2 months later...

Good review.

One thing I'd point out though is that the FX return can function as a mono aux in (without a device plugged in the send) by design. 

The Interbass is designed to break up nicely at higher gain settings especially with vintage mode selected.

I'm using it as a recording DI preamp in vintage mode and the tone is superb. 

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