Scott Henderson Discussion

[dizzy]

Hey Scott

Have you checked out Bruce's quilter amp yet?
I'm curious what you think of it.

Thanks!

[Scott Henderson]

It's delivers a big sound and I'm amazed that such a small, lightweight amp can do what it does. That being said, I can't get my personal tone from it. I'd say it's a great amp for clean or blues tones, but not for high gain. That doesn't have anything to do with it being a non-tube amp, but because it's voiced very much like a Class A amp - it lacks low midrange, a key element which makes distortion guitar sound fat (especially on the high strings). Also, the amp isn't that versatile in the high end because there's no presence control, another thing I don't like about Class A amps - you've got treble, and that's it. Getting a fat, non-fizzy distortion tone requires more complex tweaking of the high end. Sorry, it's no Marshall - and my back regrets everything I just said.

[dizzy]

Thanks Scott

Did you try it with a small cab or a 4x12?

Also. Did it take pedals well for more of a low gain sound? It sounds like mainly you didn't like what it did for high gain but you liked it for semi dirty tones.

[Scott Henderson]

I tried it with a 4x12 and a 1x12. It takes pedals well, and can compete with Class A tube amps, which is really amazing. However, like Class A amps, it can't do fat - for any amount of gain. There's a reason SRV played Fender and not Matchless. I played a Matchless on Dog Party - the tone is sweet, twangy, chimy... but definitely not fat. The Quilter sounds like a Class A amp, which is fine as long as you don't ask it to do things it can't do.

[dizzy]

Thanks Scott

There is another model with different "voicings" for the preamp.
I am going to try that one.

[slyzspyz]

[Scott Henderson]

Sorry, I don't remember which Quilter I tried, but it didn't have a high cut. I don't think transistor amps have a presence knob, but I've only seen a few of them so I could be wrong.

On a tube amp, the presence knob is a high cut on the power section of the amp. Too much presence makes the amp sound fizzy and harsh, too little makes it sound muffled and thin. Finding the sweet spot for the presence is key to getting good tone on a Marshall, and most Class AB tube amps. The actual frequency of the presence knob on a Marshall is higher than the treble knob, so the combinations of those settings can create many different tones. On an amp with no presence control, the ability to shape the high end is literally cut in half, making the amp far less versatile.

I'm not saying I don't like transistor or Class A tube amps. Albert King got great tone from transistor amps, and BB King played Lab amps, also transistor. I have a Suhr Badger and I love it, but my signature tone is from a Marshall, or Marshall style amp - I can't get that tone from anything else.