Quilter SuperBlocks - impressions

[Gitterbug]

Finally got 'round to test mine. Expectations exceeded. Great design, perfect fit with both smaller and larger Toobs. Loud enough for human-size gigs. Brings out the best of the basic Metro 6.5GP, makes the Toob 10S shine. Very jazzy sounds available from both versions, UK a positive surprise (on a very quick tryout.) US already sold out from Thomann.

Photo shows the US version placed lengthwise on a TOOB 12S. All controls visible and accessible to the player

[Ray175]

My superblock UK arrived just as we were sitting down to lunch yesterday. A starter, main course, a selection of cheeses, dessert and coffee disappeared in less than 40 minutes, and an hour after delivery the Superblock UK was hooked up to my recently arrived Toob 12S with a Jensen Blackbird 40 AlNiCo speaker at its heart (think Celestion Gold). I bought this combination (Superblock and Toob 12S) to get a close approximation of one of my favourite amps that I had to sell (along with a 1962 sonic blue strat) back in 1975/76 when I was an impoverished student. The amp was a 1964 Vox AC30 Top Boost that I had bought for the princely sum of £40 (60$ in the exchange rate of the time). The aim was also to have different voicings to my Tone Master Deluxe Reverb and the tc electronics BAM200.

I spent 2 hours testing the setup with several guitars

• Ibanez Artist AR 2619 Prestige for rock/pop sounds
• 1961 ES-175D with PAFs which I usually play through a tc electronic BAM200 bass head couples to a Toob 6.5 Metro BG speaker (also used for my violin bass), for a jazz sound
• 1980 Ibanez AS200 for blues and R&B
• 2005 Custom shop 1961 strat in sonic blue (next best thing to the one I had to sell in 1975/76)

I initially set all the controls at noon (except gain, reverb and limiter), but after 20 minutes pushed the bass to about 3 o’clock and middle to 2 o,clock which was a better sound for me.

Vox AC30 voicing : vibrant, full sound with chime. Break up comes earlier than using the Toob Metro. Nice 1960s Beatles/Monkies sound. When pushed a little harder gentle break up in Scofield territory – could be a nice jazz sound if it’s one you want to use. When I pushed the gain, breakup became a nice solid crunch suitable for rhythm guitar or bright cutting solos. Best rhythm sounds came from the Artist 2619 with pickups in parallel mode.No creamy fat sounds.

Vox AC30 top boost voicing : super clean until you push the gain, then a nice crunch comes into play, and more importantly the chime now has lots of complex harmonics. No creamy fat sounds except to a lesser degree on the neck pickup with gain and pickups on max. I may be “listening with rosy couloured ears”, but this took me back to when I was 21 years old in terms of the sound I wanted. In that respect the buy is a good one.

Marshall JMP voicing: I don’t feel competent to comment on whether or not this is close to a Marshall sound as I’ve never owned one. However, as a rock sound in its own right this setup is a rocking beast! Full creamy overdrive and sustain without having to use a TS pedal. Dialed back to the edge of distortion gave a fantastic Keith Richards Honky tonk Woman tone.

All voicings were very responsive to pick attack. At this stage I’m still comings to terms with the limiter control which I’ve not used before, so there are still plenty of areas to explore in the soundscape. I want to try the setup with my Gretsch Electromatic Jet later today to play in Neil Young and Steve Stills territory.

Globally a great setup which I think would be fine playing out in a small venue with a drummer who is not “over-enthusiastic” – otherwise XLR out or miking would be called for. Congrats to Quilter for a great amp which has made me feel younger. Congrats also to our own forum member Gitterbug for designing and producing these great Toob speakers – they really are amongst the best I’ve ever played and in terms of portability are amazing.

Here are some photos showing the setup, and also the other Toob pairing – you don’t get more compact than this! In the final photo you can see my road warrior 1961 ES-175D and in the background is the Ibanez Concorde 754 Everly Brothers that took me 46 years to find after my original was stolen in 1976. In the foreground is the Fender Tre-Verb pedal which I use with the BAM200 (great plate reverb)

[orri]

I got mine on Friday. I got the US version.
First impressions is that I really like it. The sound feels musical and inspiring (sometimes solid state amps tend to feel a bit dead and sterile somehow).
It's easy to use and easy to dial in tones I like. I haven't really mastered the limiter control though.

I like the reverb quite much. It's easy to dial in the small amount I like (contrary to some tube amps). I'm not crazy picky about reverbs and don't have much of an opinion on which reverb is the best in the world or anything like that, but some some reverbs I've struggled with dialing in to something useful.

I put it on my kitchen scale and it weighs 600g but 1100g with the PSU and power cable.

I think me personally, I would have preferred a larger unit that connects to mains power. The power supply adds cable mess both on the floor/room and in the bag. But I do understand it is intended to be pedalboard friendly for a different customer group.

I put the 25W of tube power claim to test by trying to compare it to a 22W tube amp. I used an attenuator (I have neighbours) and speaker cab and just listened to how loud I percived them. I think I percieved the 22W tube amp to sound slightly louder but it seemed to be in the ball park of being as loud (but the test was quite brief and unscientific).

[Gitterbug]

The separate power unit adds to clutter but opens up an opportunity: quality busking. With Covid, I believe people have come to appreciate accomplished street musicians, who inject a dose of art into their dreary lives. While it's difficult to find a 24V, 3A power bank, it's easy to assemble a 24 V, rechargeable battery pack. The drone guys are using battery packs of different voltage and duration, and there are people supplying them, as the best results come from spot welding the batteries together. Why integrate the charger if you can leave it at home and carry two battery packs instead? I'm no expert on this and Quilter, predictably, tells us to use their power source only. But hey, DC is DC.

[orri]

I'm no expert on this and Quilter, predictably, tells us to use their power source only. But hey, DC is DC.

My guess would be that they are far more concerned about cheaply manufactured 3rd party PSUs rather than batteries.

Note that they do "allow" 3rd party 9V 300mA PSUs (with a lower power output) which makes me think they are genuinly concerned about reliability, user experience and quality, rather than just aiming at profiting from selling their own brand replacement PSUs.

[Gitterbug]

I have now logged in some time with the UK version. The middle-position AC voicing gives a nice clean, if so desired darkish, jazz sound. Plenty of volume from 10"-12" cabs.

[docsteve]

Just pulled the trigger on the US version. I hope it arrives before our first post-COVID rehearsal next Tuesday.

I briefly wavered whether to get the UK version following Gitterbug's last post, or get both and do a comparison, but I always hear the Fender sound in my head. I'll post some in a week or two.

Re the power supply: I have the Quilter MicroBlock that comes with the same supply. It's quite reliable, in particular if mains power supply is flaky. It kind of stores some power so when there is a slight outage it'll carry you through. Not that I ever needed it, I'm not playing these kind of places.

[docsteve]

The Superblock arrived today - great job from Thomann. I did two recordings for the Virtual Jam, so apologies for cross-posting. I've played around it for two hours or so, and I can only say that it exceeds expectations. The three channels are not wildly different, but each has its own character. The limiter seems to do some mojo - I hadn't expected to like it so much. But listen for yourself.

Soundcloud decided to make the two tunes a playlist. You may need to open a new window. Hope that's okay for y'all.

Spontaneous Decision was played on a ES 335 type of guitar with 2 P90 pickups, which I assembled from parts many years ago and refurbished during the pandemic. It 's using the 57 setting on the Superblock. Blues Boo Boo is played on a G&L Telecaster through the 65 setting. In both cases the cab is a 12" Fender. The previous owner swapped the speaker for another, but I don't remember which one.

[docsteve]

Another recording I made last night for the Blues thread, using my tele and the Quilter Superblock. This time, I played the first chorus on the neck pickup with the 65 preset, switched to both pickups and the 61 setting for the second chorus, and take it out on the bridge pickup on the 57 setting. All other settings remain the same so you'll get an impression of the various presets.

I turned the limiter all the way up this time, which works better on the 61 and 65 setting than on the 57 setting. Enjoy.

[0zoro]

Another recording I made last night for the Blues thread, using my tele and the Quilter Superblock. This time, I played the first chorus on the neck pickup with the 65 preset, switched to both pickups and the 61 setting for the second chorus, and take it out on the bridge pickup on the 57 setting. All other settings remain the same so you'll get an impression of the various presets.

I turned the limiter all the way up this time, which works better on the 61 and 65 setting than on the 57 setting. Enjoy.

Nice playing doc! I am struck with the tone quality and the light weight of your set up. A question from a tech novice. If one were prepare a backing track on which to record a track direct for the Quilter to an audio interface, is it possible to hear both backing track and ones own playing through the cab with the Quilter? Should the answer happen to be yes, please dexcribe the set up, I am quite close to ordering one.

[wcjazz]

Reading this thread prompted me to order the US version. I don't truly need another amp but this looks and sounds so sweet (from the audio samples and videos available). I will use it with a Randall RG8 initially and sometimes with two of these together (I link them with a switchable patch box I built for either 4 ohms total or 16 ohms total). I also have several 1x12 cabs to try (Eminence: Texas Heat, Legend 1275, Beta 12A-bass cab, and a Jensen c12n cab)...fun...I will also try the line out into the return on my Rumble 100 bass amp and the power input on a Katana MKii 50 watt...This thing just looks so versatile...hoping the 25 watts ss does approximate the same from a tube amp like Quilter says...

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Reading this thread prompted me to order the US version. I don't truly need another amp but this looks and sounds so sweet (from the audio samples and videos available). I will use it with a Randall RG8 initially and sometimes with two of these together (I link them with a switchable patch box I built for either 4 ohms total or 16 ohms total). I also have several 1x12 cabs to try (Eminence: Texas Heat, Legend 1275, Beta 12A-bass cab, and a Jensen c12n cab)...fun...I will also try the line out into the return on my Rumble 100 bass amp and the power input on a Katana MKii 50 watt...This thing just looks so versatile...hoping the 25 watts ss does approximate the same from a tube amp like Quilter says...

Yes it would be nice if someone A/Bs it against a DRRI, running it through the DRRI cabinet, so apples-to-apples.

[docsteve]

Nice playing doc! I am struck with the tone quality and the light weight of your set up. A question from a tech novice. If one were prepare a backing track on which to record a track direct for the Quilter to an audio interface, is it possible to hear both backing track and ones own playing through the cab with the Quilter? Should the answer happen to be yes, please dexcribe the set up, I am quite close to ordering one.

Thank you

I am working on recording through the Quilter with a backing track myself. Basically, you can plug whatever you have in the FX return, play along, and have it all come out of the speaker. With a 1x12 cab, however, the quality of the backing track is so-so. It's probably a better idea to go from the Headphone output into a DAW and add the backing track there, but I haven't yet worked that out.

I asked and received some helpful hints in the Blues Jam thread on JGBE Virtual Jam (Round 21) - The Blues. Hope that helps!

[orri]

Thank you

I am working on recording through the Quilter with a backing track myself. Basically, you can plug whatever you have in the FX return, play along, and have it all come out of the speaker. With a 1x12 cab, however, the quality of the backing track is so-so.

You're right, the FX return can be used as an aux in, but playing a backing track through guitar cabinet will give usable but not any good sound (unless the backing track is guitar only, bass might work too with cabinets that do bass decently).

I tried it today to connect a drum machine to the FX return and a guitar to the input of my Superblock and it certainly did work, and was usable for jamming.

If you already have an audio interface connected to a computer running DAW software, you probably also want to have active speakers/monitors that you connect to your audio interface line out signal.
That should give you far better sound for backing track playback rather than using a guitar cab.
You can then use the Superblock to record guitar tracks into your DAW, or just as an amplifier to play along to the backing track.

It's probably a better idea to go from the Headphone output into a DAW and add the backing track there, but I haven't yet worked that out.

Using the line-out XLR output of the Superblock to connect it an audio interface input will probably work better (but you can try both and compare the results if you like).

[0zoro]

You're right, the FX return can be used as an aux in, but playing a backing track through guitar cabinet will give usable but not any good sound (unless the backing track is guitar only, bass might work too with cabinets that do bass decently).

I tried it today to connect a drum machine to the FX return and a guitar to the input of my Superblock and it certainly did work, and was usable for jamming.

If you already have an audio interface connected to a computer running DAW software, you probably also want to have active speakers/monitors that you connect to your audio interface line out signal.
That should give you far better sound for backing track playback rather than using a guitar cab.
You can then use the Superblock to record guitar tracks into your DAW, or just as an amplifier to play along to the backing track.




Using the line-out XLR output of the Superblock to connect it an audio interface input will probably work better (but you can try both and compare the results if you like).

Hej orri. Thanks for the pointers. If I may let me describe my set up as I am at my cottage and things are kept very simple here, thus no external monitors. The sound quality of monitors is much better, but for simplicity/necessity the guitar speaker will have to do for the backing track. I have a Scarlett interface, and a DV Mark head that runs the singnal into the Scarlett. My backing tracks are either BIAB generated or downloaded and installed into Reaper. Thus far I have used my pc speaker line out to connect to aux in on the DV, however this makes terribly irritating static undertones through the guitar speaker cab. A connection from the pc is necessary to get the tracks to sound over the guitar speaker in order to play over them and record, but how with out the electronic haze? I am very unsure myself as to what to connect, and more especially what NOT to connect so as to blow out equipment. The problems I have seem to center around the pc speaker line out going to the aux in on the DV. I believe that the same reasoning used in connecting the Superblock will apply to my rig. Any help is much appreciated. Is a possibility to connect the pc sound outlet to the fx loop in on the the DV?

[orri]

So you take the sound output directly from your PC (usually a 3.5mm stereo jack)?

Does it work better (less static/haze) if you unplug the scarlett interface from your PC while you play the backing tracks? If the PC is a laptop, does it work better if you unplug the power supply and use the battery?

Is there a line out output on the backside of your Scarlett interface? Does it work better to connect that to the aux input of your DV. You can try it with only the left line out, but you can get a 2x6.3mm mono to 1x3.5mm stereo adapter, if you want to use it permanently (or possibly you can have your PC to output mono sound (depends on OS, software, drivers etc) and permanently only use the left output)
You could also try the headphone output on your Scarlett.
Either way you need to select the Scarlett as the output audio device in your PC's OS.

I am though wondering if the newer models in the Yamaha THR series would be a better match for your cottage situation? I haven't owned one myself but my understanding is that you can connect them to your PC directy with a USB cable and it will work as an audio interface, both for recording guitar and playing back audio from the computer. Its speakers are also intended to be good at playing backing tracks. They also have bluetooth so you can use it to listen to music or other audio from your phone which might be nice in the cottage.

I am very unsure myself as to what to connect, and more especially what NOT to connect so as to blow out equipment.

some basic general tips:
1. Don't connect a speaker level signal to anything other than speaker(s) with appropriate impedance (or other device specially intended to take speaker level signal, such as loadbox or attenuator.)
2. try to avoid connecting an output to an output. If you do it by mistake it will probably not blow out anything, but it is still a probably you want to avoid.
3. reading the manuals can often help.

I see your location is set to Stockholm. That's pretty much where I live too (Sundbyberg).

[orri]

Yes it would be nice if someone A/Bs it against a DRRI, running it through the DRRI cabinet, so apples-to-apples.

I did almost exactly that.

I wrote this further up in the thread.

I put the 25W of tube power claim to test by trying to compare it to a 22W tube amp. I used an attenuator (I have neighbours) and speaker cab and just listened to how loud I percived them. I think I percieved the 22W tube amp to sound slightly louder but it seemed to be in the ball park of being as loud (but the test was quite brief and unscientific).

A bit after I did this test I did another test without the attenuator. I used a DRRI clone with a 8ohm jensen blackbird speaker put the amp to max volume, then I pulled out the speaker jack and put it into the superblock and set it to max. I just plucked the low E string rather carefully, because it shook the room and hurt my ears, so I did not feel I wanted to fully play the guitar at that setting, but I tried to be consistent between the two amps. The result was that I perceived the two amps, with the same cabinet, to be in the ballpark of being as loud as each other.

[0zoro]

So you take the sound output directly from your PC (usually a 3.5mm stereo jack)?

Does it work better (less static/haze) if you unplug the scarlett interface from your PC while you play the backing tracks? If the PC is a laptop, does it work better if you unplug the power supply and use the battery?

Is there a line out output on the backside of your Scarlett interface? Does it work better to connect that to the aux input of your DV. You can try it with only the left line out, but you can get a 2x6.3mm mono to 1x3.5mm stereo adapter, if you want to use it permanently (or possibly you can have your PC to output mono sound (depends on OS, software, drivers etc) and permanently only use the left output)
You could also try the headphone output on your Scarlett.
Either way you need to select the Scarlett as the output audio device in your PC's OS.

I am though wondering if the newer models in the Yamaha THR series would be a better match for your cottage situation? I haven't owned one myself but my understanding is that you can connect them to your PC directy with a USB cable and it will work as an audio interface, both for recording guitar and playing back audio from the computer. Its speakers are also intended to be good at playing backing tracks. They also have bluetooth so you can use it to listen to music or other audio from your phone which might be nice in the cottage.


some basic general tips:
1. Don't connect a speaker level signal to anything other than speaker(s) with appropriate impedance (or other device specially intended to take speaker level signal, such as loadbox or attenuator.)
2. try to avoid connecting an output to an output. If you do it by mistake it will probably not blow out anything, but it is still a probably you want to avoid.
3. reading the manuals can often help.

I see your location is set to Stockholm. That's pretty much where I live too (Sundbyberg).

Hej orri, thanks for the advice. I have been tinkering with all the ins and outs and at the moment I believe the cleanest way to monitor is using the headphone out on the Scarlett to the aux in on the DV. The sound is admittedly not the best, being a bit tinny, but is serves the purpose as far as time is concerned which is the greatest concern. And above all else the haze is gone which is what got me started on this thread. I may have to, and who can resist, playing with the adjustments, but I now have something that I can start with, particularly resting in the knowledge that I wont blow up my equipment.

What a surprise, I live in Nacka, but am presently on Värmdö at the cottage. Being this close it only feel natural that we get together some how. Let me shot you my address. Cheers!

[docsteve]

Can I revive this thread to add my impressions after using the Superblock US in a few rehearsals.

When I plugged it in for the first time, the whole band complimented me on my sound. It doesn't get any better than that The amp is loud enogh to compete with three to five horns, vocals, bass and drums, and had headroom to spare.

I took my tele last night and I liked the sound and response even better (but then the tele is much easier to play than the 335). The bass player couldn't make it, so I sort of subbed for him, turned up the bass and achieved nice round bass lines. Again, I had enough volume and headroom to act as the sole accompanying instrument, and it didn't sound thin, either.

So yes, a great investment on my part! Now I need a second cabinet for home practice...