Quilter Super Block 25 - what speaker/cab to use with it?

[bananafist]

I've always used Fender amps upto and including Vibroking. Now I'm ancient enough to find my PRs heavy, and no longer gigging, I'm thinking maybe a Quilter Superblock 25 but what speaker/cab? I have emi alnico 10s in my PRs and my vibroverb, and a Jensen alnico 12 25 watt spare currently. I play mainly clean to 'edgy' blues with teles and a 'jazzy' Slaman archtop so need something to do both well. Any advice? Based in UK

[Stringswinger]

I recently obtained a Superblock US and am running it into a Raezer's Edge Stealth 12 ER that I have owned for over 20 years. It sounds great! At 35 pounds, I am not interested in carrying the RE cabinet to a gig, but it makes for a fine practice rig at home. IME, the emi Beta speakers used in the RE cabs smooths out the high end much like an alnico speaker will.

The great thing about the Superblock is you can carry it and a 9v adaptor in the gig bag of your guitar and play a gig without an amp if the venue has a good PA and monitors. For us senior citizens, that is a very cool thing.

[Pierrot]

I've always used Fender amps upto and including Vibroking. Now I'm ancient enough to find my PRs heavy, and no longer gigging, I'm thinking maybe a Quilter Superblock 25 but what speaker/cab? I have emi alnico 10s in my PRs and my vibroverb, and a Jensen alnico 12 25 watt spare currently. I play mainly clean to 'edgy' blues with teles and a 'jazzy' Slaman archtop so need something to do both well. Any advice? Based in UK

I'd say Jensen Jet Tornado.
You have the choice of 10" or 12" version.
Handles up to 100W at 8 Ohms so no worry at all about speaker distortion.

[andrew]

I don’t think the Superblock is very picky about speakers. I’ve ran it with a bunch of different ones and generally had good results. An Eminence Lil’ Texas (12” Neo) makes for a very loud compact rig. TOOB Metro for an ultra lightweight portable setup. My favorite sounding speakers are Weber Alnicos. Eminence Alnicos are nice too. At 25 watts, you have a lot of options!

[AllanAllen]

I love my TOOB

[marcwhy]

I love my TOOB

Yes, Toob + SB = gold!!

[Little Jay]

I have an older (80ies? 90ies?) Fender speaker for it in a DIY solid pine cab (a cut up IKEA bedroom cabinet). Probably Eminence made. I have no clue about the wattage nor the efficiency, but it sounds very nice and if things don’t get unreasonably loud it’s a great combo to gig with as well.

[Gitterbug]

I'd say Jensen Jet Tornado.
You have the choice of 10" or 12" version.
Handles up to 100W at 8 Ohms so no worry at all about speaker distortion.

Regrettably, the excellent 10" Tornado has been discontinued due to low demand, despite my best efforts. 12" still reigns supreme. The Jensen P10/40 BB Blackbird 40W AlNiCo is now the standard speaker on Toob 10S. Up top the very best, whether Blue or Gold.

The SuperBlock and 6.5" Toob Metros have grown together since 2020. Almost 500 Metros sold. Nearing 80, I recently quit gigging, after almost 100 swing band gigs with a SuperBlock/Metro combination. -57 Tweed voicing, Gain at 11 o'clock and Master as needed. Treble way down.

[omphalopsychos]

The super block has a very standard fender voicing, perhaps the most common amp voicing on the market. As such it sounds great with great with a large variety of speakers. “Best” comes down to preference. My favorites for this amp: 12” celestion alnico cream, tone tubby 10” ceramic, 2x10 Jupiter midnight, 2x10 Jensen blackbird 40. Lot of great options.

[Stringswinger]

My practice rig:

[m_d]

Nano Cortex into the FX loop of the Superblock.

[Christian Miller]

Nano Cortex into the FX loop of the Superblock.

You absolute mad lad


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[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Nano Cortex into the FX loop of the Superblock.

I may be seeing the picture wrong, since the angle is not ideal. But it looks like the Nano Cortex is being run into the input of the SBUS. If so, that's not the best way to use the Nano Cortex. The SBUS voices are not removable from the front end, even if you use the XLR signal out. You can set the XLR and headphone outputs for FRFR, but you still have to use one of the 3 voices. No matter what amp you're emulating through the Neural, you're adding the coloration of one of those voices to it. So, for example, a BF scoop will be doubled in magnitude if you use the 65 voice.

The effects loop return is usable as a direct input to the power amp stage, which is linear and uncolored - so it's effectively FRFR. This is where the Nano Cortex output should enter the SBUS. That output makes a maximum of +10 dBU, which is over 2 volts and should drive the SBUS amplification stage to its full output.

The best speaker system for use with Nano Cortex and similar devices is also FRFR. Once the input device has shaped the sound to replicate that of a specific amp and speaker model, any coloration or limitation of frequency response in the amplifier or speaker will simply weaken the fidelity of the modeled sound to the original. The Toob Metro FRFR II is the best Toob for this purpose. It's linear +/- 3dB from about 80 Hz to at least 8 kHz and is one of the most neutral speakers I've ever used. I have one - it has far more usable high end than ordinary guitar cabs and is quite neutral.

So if you're planning to acquire a SBUS / Toob combo with an IR amp and speaker modeler, use the effects return as the input and a Metro FRFR II as the speaker. The current GP+ and BG are great for guitar, but they lack the extended flat FRFR needed for faithful reproduction of accurate models. You can get fine results from the guitar input of the SBUS and a standard Toob - but you won't get as faithful a model without a FRFR audio chain behind the modeler.