Quilter 101 Mini Head

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

The Quilter 101 Mini Head has been out a while now. Does anyone have any first hand experience with it for steel guitar? I have never had (or understood) the need for massive wattage so the 50 - 100 watt range is just about right for me, as I normally use a Twin that puts out about 66 measured watts. Good enough for bar gigs and the handful of well supported outdoor summer gigs that come my way. The $300 price is right if the sound is good.

Paul Honeycutt · From: Colorado, USA

I don't know about pedal steel guitar, but I've hear nothing but good reviews on them from guitarists. I think paired with a good speaker, it should work well. I plan on getting one to use with my lap steel. The "Surf" mode is supposed to be the most Fender like.

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

It's so hard to find any reviews useful to steel players. I see demos of the Mini-Head that mostly mask its basic sound with pedals - very annoying. Some say it's too dark and some say it sounds too thin. I know that Ashley Kingman and JD McPherson, two guitarists that I greatly respect, have said very positive things about their Quilter Tone Blocks. I may have to pioneer this for steel guitar. Still looking for a lightweight substitute for the old Twin Reverb. The Mustang III ultimately proved to be unsatisfactory.

Cartwright Thompson · Posted 5 Jan 2016 12:33 pm

Check out the MicroPro. I have a head version that I run into a Rick Johnson pine cab with a D-120.
Very portable, loud enough for most venues and it sounds really good. It has a lot of bells and whistles that I never use ( trem, distortion etc.) but the EQ control is excellent. I A/B'd
a tone block, a Steelaire and the MicroPro. I liked the MicroPro the most, especially through a JBL. If you need something tiny, get one of the mini amps , but you'll have to sacrifice most of the EQ control. My amp is plenty small and light, it tucks-in behind the speaker inside the cab for transport.I bought my "version one" MicroPro used and it was a bargain. I think now that they've change it a bit, there will be more used ones around.

Bill Moore · From: Manchester, Michigan

I don't know about the Quilter, but the Carvin BX250 is more powerful, has more eq and costs less. On sale right now for 199.00. I have this amp and also the BX500, they are both excellent.

http://www.carvinaudio.com/products/bx250

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

I looked at the Micro Pro and liked what I saw. I'd like to have the built in trem and reverb but it's a bit outside my budget at the moment.

The Carvin looks like an exceptional value but I'm a bit leery about bass amps. My bass player has an MB200 and a Fender Rumble combo. I may give them a try.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

Tommy Boswell · From: Virginia, USA

I've got the 101 Mini. First impressions are that it could easily replace my tube amps (a 70-watt Fender Bassman and a 40-watt Frenzel Mini-Bassman). I don't want to give a full review because I'm not a pro and I've only played it at home, but I can't imagine that it would not handle a gig with ease. I like the controls, voicing and EQ, gain and master. The Quilter web site made some tall claims for tube-like sound out of this little solid-state amp, so I had to give it a try. To my ear it sounds great. And, it fits in my seat-side rack case:

Tommy Boswell · From: Virginia, USA

I called it a "solid-state" amp above, but if you read the Quilter web site carefully, they call it "switchmode technology". And it does sound a lot better to me than any solid-state amp I've ever owned.

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

Tim, I got a mini 101 on the way, I will have it in my hands Saturday at the latest. I will give it a spin with pedal steel and lap steel as soon as possible. I already own a Quilter Steelaire so it will be interesting to compare the two. I also intend to compare it with my 1965 Deluxe reverb (vintage, not RI) using the same speaker and cabinet. This should be fun.

John Sluszny · From: Brussels, Belgium

Alex,I'm curious to know what you think about it !

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

Perfect Alex! I'm sure many forumites look forward to your review as well. Thanks!

Karen Sarkisian · From: Boston, MA, USA

Charley Paul · From: California, USA

I regularly use/gig a Quilter Tone Block. It is just a touch bigger than the 101, but also has an excellent DI built in. I use it for electric guitar, and it sounds fabulous. I think that the key with these amps is finding the speaker you like....I use a Telonics TSNEO12 and it sounds like an old Twin Reverb to me. I also use an Ethos Clean pedal for a bit more tone shaping, and the combination is just excellent, and handles electric, acoustic guitar and banjo well.

I tried a MicroPro Mach2 and liked it, but not the stock speaker. I get a lot of my tone from pedals, so the onboard verb/trem/EQ was a bit redundant to me....so I stuck with my Tone Block. I am considering getting another 12 inch Mach2 combo (I'd replace the speaker with another Telonics) for home practice....

Karen Sarkisian · From: Boston, MA, USA

interesting.. I am thinking about selling my twin and buying another quilter. something smaller than the steelaire for smaller gigs and rehearsals that I can also use with my Heritage archtop guitar for jazz gigs/jams.
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Emmons, Franklin, Mullen

Dyke Corson · From: Fairmount, IL USA

I've gigged with one about 5 times and it's held up quite well, even with a loud drummer. I'm running a V8 in front of it all housed in a Rick Johnson custom cab with a EPS-12C whole thing weighs about 31lbs

Prior to this I was using the Tone Block and I actually like the Mini 101 better. Plus its 2lbs lighter Smile

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

That's a right nice looking rig Dyke. Something like that is swirling around in my brain as well. Do you find you have good tonal range with the 101 - good bass, mids and treble? What does the V8 do and could you get by on a gig with just the 101 if you had to?

Dyke Corson · From: Fairmount, IL USA

Tim I was mostly using the Tone Block or the Mini as a power amp, and using the V8 as a tube preamp. I have not tried going straight into the Mini yet, but maybe I will try that on tomorrow night's gig. The V8 is a unique sounding pre-amp that I have tried with several power amps and so far like the Mini the best.

Tommy Boswell · From: Virginia, USA

Dyke Corson · From: Fairmount, IL USA

Tommy I've tried it both ways and like using the regular input jack better.

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on a new 101. I have an old Altec 418B that should pair nicely with it. Any last minute reviews, updates, thoughts?

Aaron Jennings · From: Montana, USA

Tim, I'm really interested on your opinions.

I've been looking for a small, rugged amp, that I can use to switch between guitar and steel without lugging around a ton of pedals.

So far my favorite demo has been https://www.youtube.com/embed/HsXOOOtEOKc

But am interested in hearing a steel players opinion.

John Sluszny · From: Brussels, Belgium

Alex Cattaneo · From: Quebec, Canada

Guys, sorry it took so long to get back to this thread.

Well, about the Mini 101, I can't really say that I like it... because I LOVE it!!!

I'm trying to contain my enthusiasm, but it's not easy. First I tried the Mini 101 along with Deluxe 1965 (vintage), using the same cabinet and speaker for both. Speaker is a vintage Greenback. I used my Telecaster first. The Mini 101 more than held up it's own. The Deluxe has a sweet spot, obviously, with the volume somewhere around 4. You got to at least push it past three, and often that's just too loud on stage or at home. With the Quilter, the sound is consistent at all volumes. On the first channel of the Deluxe I have a treble and a bass knob, that's it. I felt that I had a better tonal range with the Quilter knobs. Both the the TRI-Q and Hi-CUT are incredible in the way they affect the shape of the sound. These controls are very clever and dare I say it, more useful than traditional EQ controls. Playing chickin pickin' a la Albert Lee felt incredibly satisfying on this amp, more than it ever did on any solid state amp I have ever tried. I couldn't believe it. A few buddies of mine came buy and they were equally impressed. One comment was how the sound is really "in your face". The one thing that always seems to be lacking with non-tube amps is dynamics. I didn't have that feeling with the Quilter Mini 101, I felt like it was totally responding to pick attack and what not. I will reserve comments regarding other amp settings for later, but as far as the clean Blackface sound, it's all there, and then some. I used the amp in a studio session on Tuesday, and at first the guys were surprised I didn't bring a tube amp, but they were quite impressed when I plugged in the Mini 101 and started pickin!

But you guys want to know about pedal steel, right? Well, I finally plugged it in this morning, and whatever the Steelaire can do, this thing can do. I guess some people will be concerned about volume, but I couldn't get past 10w in my open basement, and the dial goes to 50w, so I can't imagine I will ever run out of headroom. This thing is clean with a capital C. The FullQ setting is identical to the Steelaire, which I also own, but I really enjoyed the using the Surf setting. It is a little less neutral, and maybe closer to the sound of a Twin. Also, the Surf setting puts out a 100 watts, so it's plenty loud. In terms of EQ-ing, I felt like the TRI-Q should be dialed all the way back (mid cut) and the Hi-CUT dialed all the way in. In certain rooms, I would probably bring back some highs. I'll get back to this thread a bit later once I try my lapsteel but these are my first impressions. I tried both a closed Egnater cab with an EPS-12 and an open cab with a EPS-15. I preferred the later, but I think that's just me not really digging closed cabs. The Egnater is getting ready to meet my skill saw!

Allright guys, sorry that took awhile, let me know if you have questions. I'd like to record some demos at some point, but I don't really believe in those anyway. You have to ear an amp in the flesh to really appreciate it and make up your mind. Listening to internet demos recorded (and listened to) with phones and other cheap gadgets just doesn't provide any evidence of anything as far as I'm concerned. So in short, I'm super thrilled with this little beast.

Stephen Abruzzo · From: Philly, PA

Will be very interested in your opinion of how the 101 is with your lap steels.

Well regarded little amp head that just has win-win-win written all over it.

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

Thanks for the review Alex - very informative. My question is based your comments about the hi-cut. Do you find the 101 lacking in bass at all? This seems to be the downfall of many solid state amps that I have tried.

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