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Hi everyone, I've got a question for the Quilter TB202 owners. I first had a Superblock US, which was awesome but not quite enough oomph for anything but the smallest rooms (without PA support, at least).
So I got a TB202 on Reverb thinking it'd be just what the doctor ordered. But I'm finding it's really not all that much louder. I'm running mine through a Raezer's Edge stealth 12 and a stealth 10, stacked. At 6 o'clock or 100 Watts I'd describe it as "loudish but still bedroom acceptable". Not too much different from the Superblock, tbh. And at the full 200 Watts, it's maybe 5% louder than at 100 Watts.
By comparison, my 1967 Bandmaster Head (40 watt transformer) is ear-splitting with the volume at 4, into the same speakers.
I know that describing relative volumes can be tricky, but I guess I was expecting it to be significantly louder than the superblock.
I'd love anyone's thoughts on this, as I'm trying to determine whether my unit is functioning properly. Thanks so much!
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08-22-2025 05:23 PM
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OP, this doesn't directly address your question, but you may find my experience with the Superblock US helpful.
My experience with my Superblock is similar to yours when I run it directly into my Raezer's Edge Stealth 10. But it does much better when I play it through my AI Clarus amp into the Raezer's cab.
I normally play jazz, and my usual jazzbox (humbucker) straight into the Clarus sounds great. Occasionally I need to play pop/rock/soul, which I do on a Strat with single coils, often with pedals. That sounds great through my tube amps, but dead through the Clarus. But I don't want to bring any of my tube amps to gigs (too big, heavy, etc.). The Superblock is light and small, and putting it ahead of the Clarus gives me tone close to the tube amps and plenty of power.
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I’ve found my solid state 200 watt BAM200 to be almost as loud as my 15 tube watt Blues Jr.
The scientists on the forum of course, will tell me I’m wrong…
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AA - I'm not one of those scientists, but I understand wattage and volume don't have a linear relationship. If they did, my 400 watt Clarus would be 4 times louder than a 100 watt twin reverb. I'm pretty confident it isn't (though I haven't tested that).
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Any EE or physicist will happily point out that a guitar amp tube watt provides a lot more volume than a guitar amp solid state watt, all other things being equal. In fact, isn't that common knowledge?
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A watt is a watt, but the relationship between stated wattage and max. sound pressure level (SPL) varies wildly from one amp to another. I'm sure our friend Nevershouldhavesoldit can explain this correctly - once again - but here's how I've undestood this: First, there's no uniform standard to which amp manufacturers conform in their wattage declarations. Second, the question is how much total harmonic distortion (THD) they allow into the output signal. For tube amps, some hair even in clean signal is a desired property on higher volumes, while solid-state amps try to avoid it. This may be why tube amps are louder. Third, the heftier transformers, the more headroom. This goes for Class D as well.
I don't have a current 200W Quilter. An earlier version was plenty loud, though. I've run occasional comparisons between many of the amps I have. Loud for stated output: Mooer Baby Bomb 30W, Kyro Dulo 30W, Warwick Gnome, DV Mark Micro 50. Not so loud: Raezers Edge Luna 200R, TC Electronic BAM200. At 1 m distance, the top readings from a simple noise meter typically range from 112dB to 122dB.
Whether Quilter SuperBlock is loud (enough) depends on one's needs. For me, it does the job through the 91-92dB , 6.5" speakers I use on my Metros, but blossoms through a sensitive 12" speaker.
If we were living in the world of HiFi, manufacturers or at least test reports would reveal true SPL, distortion and response data. Now we have to believe our ears and less than precise marketing lingo like "loud", "vintage" and "mojo."
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To the OP: I have not played Superblocks nor big Fender amps but a lot with Quilter TB202, and all of the members in my three bands can testify that I play too loud! And the sound men too! But of course it is not 100 tube-Watts loud.
The amps volume depends a lot from the speaker. Your RE cabins have Eminence Beta speakers inside them. Their ”calculated” sensitivity is below 85 dB’s. It ain’t the lowest possible value, but there is more sensitive speakers too.
I have two Quilter TB202s. One for jazz with Eminence Beta 8A and one for rock with Jensen Blackbird 100. The sensitivity of the latter is only about 3 dB higher than the Emi but it feels very much louder than the Emi combo.
Then there is the Gain knob in the TB202. Rise it. I like to have my basic sound clean but rising the Gain warms it a bit – and makes the amp louder.
And finally: where You have Your amp and speakers. My legs don’t hear as well as younger so I rise my amps at least to a chair and sometimes even tilt them to my head level. Plenty of volume!
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I can report that the Superblock is what I would scientifically describe as ‘plenty loud enough to play with drums’ through my 10” T00b GP. But then I just play jazz guitar?
Originally Posted by Gitterbug
People always seem to neglect the speaker in these discussions for some reason. The amp does make a huge difference, but so does the speaker.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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My OD202 (which has the same power as a TB202) is as loud through the Block Dock 12 as my Boogie (an original Mark 1 before they were Marks) was. It may lack the last few dB at full output, but I've never had to push it that far. It’s a killer amp. My SBUS was not loud enough for bigger gigs through any of my speakers. Originally Posted by MarkL
As Gitterbug says, the relationship between power output and SPL is not linear. Driven by the same signal and powering the same speaker, doubling the power in watts produces a 3 dB increase in SPL if all else is equal. Energy losses in the speaker & cab (eg voice coil friction & heating, increased cone & surround deformation & surround stiffness as excursion increases with added power) reduce this a little bit.
Amplifier output is rated at a specific distortion, eg 100 WRMS @ 5% THD. But the distortion spec is never stated for guitar amps although it is for audio equipment. Since distortion rises as an amp’s output approaches its maximum (which is usually determined by its power supply limit), there’s a range of audibly acceptable distortion through which the amp could be rated.
The other big determinant of loudness at a given rated power level is how much reserve power the PS has to drive the instantaneous peaks at note attacks. Those big transformers and caps in tube amp power supplies can deliver brief bursts of current to the output tubes while maintaining the necessary voltage to push them hard. The smaller PS components in most SS amps don’t have this reserve and are operating much closer to their absolute limits. So they are not as loud despite having the same stated output in Watts.
The same amp can and often is sold as a 50 Watter and a 100 Watter, the 50 being rated @ 0.5% distortion and the 100 @ 2%. This difference is barely audible, if at all. Some are rated for the continuous RMS power they can put out when driven by a full range signal (eg white noise) at 1 volt. Others are rated for the absolute maximum peak output they can make driven by a 1000 Hz tone at 2 volts. So the same amp could be rated twice or more as powerful depending on how the rating was determined. It’s all marketing, disguised by smoke and mirrors.
The numbers on a volume knob are also irrelevant. There’s no standard for % of output power at a given setting - 3 on one amp may be the same a# 6 on another despite the exact same output power rating. Pot tapers vary, input impedances vary, circuits vary, pickup and effects outputs vary, and output power is determined by the strength of the input signal in volts. Amps are rated however the maker chooses - and those details are almost never included in the specs available to us.
It’s all a crap shoot because no meaningful specs are provided for guitar amps. Any decent audiophile amp comes with a pretty complete spec sheet. But we’re left to figure out for ourselves if an amp will do the job we need. It’s not uncommon to find out on the first gig with it that it won’t.
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Thanks, everyone, for sharing your knowledge with me. It is super interesting how many factors come into play to get to our perception of loudness. Nevershouldhavesoldit's point about how the bigger components in a tube amp's power supply having more current on deck vs the smaller SS components - I feel like this goes a long way to explain the difference between tube vs ss volume. I also wish there was a more universal standard for showing/rating this sort of thing, but it is what it is.
In any case, I still love TB202 and won't be parting with it anytime soon. There are just those once-in-a-while gigs with no PA and a larger room with a loud band, which is what brought me to this question. Thanks again.
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More sensitive speaker may give you enough perceived loudness. For example, I have a tweed Deluxe that I have a Cannabis Rex in, which is a pretty efficient speaker, to maximize clean volume.
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The 202TB is loud! It also depends what speaker or speakers and can you use. I used mine through a Carvin open back 2x12 cab loaded with Warehouse ET 90 12” speakers.
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The sensitivity value for ET90 is 99,94 dB so I have to agree: it is loud! Originally Posted by jads57
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