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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Quilter 101 Mini Head

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Glad you guys dig it, it was a fun find.

fenderfan - I had a Micro Pro Mach II here for a few weeks and it sounded huge with that head, thunderous!
I'd still like to have a 1x15 for it too, why not? LOL

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

Bought these last week. 101 mini-head into WGS ET90 housed in a Montage convertible cab. Extremely well-built cab. Might be too heavy for some. Excellent customer service from them.

image

I stuck my Zoom MS70 in the effects loop and used the reverb setting I use for rhythm guitar in my 60s vocal group. I was mainly looking for rhythm setting in the photos below. I also used the MS70s Stereo EQ to get rid of a bit of bass boom. Seemed to work well. I went through three of the voices.

This one suited fine for what I need fine.

image

This one was quite mellow and doubt I’d use it. The cat was interested, though.

image

Tried to be surfy on this. Sounded okay.

image

All this was done with the back of the cab closed. I’ll do some more experimenting and see what I have to tweak with the back open. Then I need to add surfy bear, surfy trem etc. and tweak some more.

Last edited: Aug 02, 2017 09:56:56

First rehearsal post-summer last night, so I tried the 101 at rehearsal volumes for the first time. Marvellous! Rings and chimes beautifully on Strat middle pickup for my rhythm parts and a flick of the volume and the few lead parts I play really sat well with the other instruments. No need for a boost pedal. And no need for a boost/overdrive pedal too when playing more “garage” sounds; just upped the gain. Ironic for a “British Invasion” band really, with the amp on Surf setting.

Had it on Gain 3, Tri-Q full right (5 o’clock), Treble Cut between 7 and 9 as I played with it, Output 20W (5W for “garage”, gain 9/10).
Used the equaliser on Zoom MS70 for dropping some bass out; works well. Had a few nice settings on Lead setting too. Need to get the next gig out of the way then the band can go back to “farting about with stuff” phase and I can try more in a loud setting.

The rehearsal rooms only have Marshall 4 x 12s, so I’ll have to lug my cabinet in and give it a work out too. The owner gets upset when you bring new gear in though, because you haven’t bought through his shop!!

Has anyone spent any time with the new 101 Reverb head? I'm curious about the new tone controls vs. the old tone shaper.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I have!
(Disclaimer: Due to my, ahem, close relationship with the founder of Quilter Labs, I get to play with almost all of the products before they hit the market. As a beta tester, I'd like to think that my input has in some small way made it into the final versions. Doubt if there would be a "Surf" setting, anyway 8^).

For my birthday, I got a very cool little 101 Mini Combo, featuring a prototype 101 Mini Reverb head, which is pretty much the same as the production version. In many respects, it's my favorite of their heads. This new version features a very authentic bass-mid-treble Fender tone stack, along with a "voice" knob that kind of shapes the overall mids. Even though all of the amps probably use the same reverb chip, I think this one sounds the best for some reason. (It's very usable, but still no substitute for a tank). Not that ANY surf musician would use it this way, but it sounds outrageous when dimed! Huge gobs of Cream-y overdrive! For yucks, I took it to a bar band gig along with my orig 1X15 Tone Ring cab, and it was sensational---perfect on clean setting for the surf tunes, and great with a Gibson for rock stuff. (There's a live video on Quilter Labs user forum of this set-up from several months back, if anyone wants to bother looking for it).
Your text to link here...

The ONLY thing I miss is the Limiter control---a great feature on the Micropro series that is perfect for sparkly clean playing. And, while I've gotten used to the Tri-Q and limited EQ on my Bass Block, as a retro geek I really appreciate the trad Fender tone circuit. I've used this tiny combo as-is with no external cabinet on several gigs, and it totally cuts it with headroom to spare. Do I like it? Yes!

photo

photo

Thanks for the info Matt! I figured you had some influence on the Surf setting! And probably the reverb sound.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Sonichris wrote:

Has anyone spent any time with the new 101 Reverb head? I'm curious about the new tone controls vs. the old tone shaper.

I've had one on loan from a friend for about 9 months (maybe I own it now, I guess I should inquire, LOL)
I still favor the overall sonic character of my original 101.

Here are my observations:

The 101 Reverb Head is great if you mostly want Blackface style sounds.
It has a bright sound to it, brighter than the original 101.
The Reverb is o.k. but not great. It's a little long in the dwell and too complex for my tastes.
The three band EQ is a cool idea but for me the mid control, which can be a very important EQ band on an amp is voiced just a little too high, frequency wise. Instead of adding "body" or mid gain it adds a sort of nasal, higher mid that I've not found very useful.
The limiter is cool. Add a little of that and it definitely gives it more of a tube rectifier thing.
I find this mini head good for pop or pop rock sounds and it does sound very good but I still prefer my original 101.
The flexibility of different sounds in the original is a plus for me.
The 100 watt settings are great when needed. The Reverb 101 is one voice at 50 watts.
I had high hopes for the Reverb 101 but I feel the original is better capable of sounding like my collection of tube amps.

I've had no problems using the tone controls on the Original. Like some have reported, I sometimes use and EQ or pedal to take some low end out of the "Surf" setting but that's about it. The Hi-Cut and Tri-Q have not left me feeling limited or dis-satisfied. This has surprised me because I'm usually an old school, Bass, Mid, Treble or even just Treble control kind of guy.

I'm beginning to ramble and not be specific so I'll leave it at that and these are just my personal impressions. Others may be different.
We all hear and use gear differently.

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

Thanks for that input Jeff!

I had an original 101 for a while, and I really liked it, but like Jeff and others mention, it has a lot of low end, maybe too much. Certainly for the cabinets I was running. I know I could run an EQ, but that sort of defeats the small/simple nature of the head. And, I don't like pedals usually.

I've sold all but 2 of my tube amps, and want something small/light/compact, but not at the expense of "that sound".

Maybe a 101 with a different cabinet. I've tried a 1x15 JBLD30F tonering, (way way way too boomy) and several 2x12 vintage style fender cabinets. I've been thinking of a smaller 1x15 cabinet that i could use for the Quilter, and with my other amps.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Sonichris wrote:

Thanks for that input Jeff!

You're welcome. I hope it helped some.

I know I could run an EQ, but that sort of defeats the small/simple nature of the head. And, I don't like pedals usually.

Yes, this is exactly why I was hoping the Reverb 101 would be IT and I feel the same way about add on's to a small package but the sound won me over.

Maybe a 101 with a different cabinet.

The 101 works great with most speakers but I did find that open back cabs worked better (for less low end) and I searched for a while for speakers that didn't have boomy response.

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

Oh and...
For what it's worth,
I bought and tried a Micro Pro head for a week, hoping that it would give me the same sounds only with the added EQ and Reverb and I found the same result there.
My ears likes the overall sonic character of the 101 better.
and..wow, that Micro Pro has a LOT of knobs, Ha Ha.
It's a great sounding head that many here use to great effect but I didn't love it.

Cheers,
Jeff

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

I've gigged twice with my 101 Mini (non-Reverb) now, and it sounded great both times. Never had to go above 10W mark (20W) in Surf setting with Gain at 2/3.

Asked the band whilst setting up for first gig to turn their backs and listen whilst I strummed a few chords, then removed the back of the convertible cab and they definitely preferred open back.

Clarry wrote:

I've gigged twice with my 101 Mini (non-Reverb) now, and it sounded great both times. Never had to go above 10W mark (20W) in Surf setting with Gain at 2/3.

Asked the band whilst setting up for first gig to turn their backs and listen whilst I strummed a few chords, then removed the back of the convertible cab and they definitely preferred open back.

I think open back might be the hot ticket.

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

Last edited: Oct 04, 2017 11:36:01

CrazyAces wrote:

Maybe a 101 with a different cabinet.

The 101 works great with most speakers but I did find that open back cabs worked better (for less low end) and I searched for a while for speakers that didn't have boomy response.

Cheers,
Jeff

What speaker did you end up liking the most?

"You can't tell where you're going if you don't know where you've been"

I don't have a Quilter 101, but recently got a Mach 2 combo w/10"
Still dialing it in. My plan is/was to replace my reissue 59 bassman with it.

Sonichris wrote:

CrazyAces wrote:

Maybe a 101 with a different cabinet.

The 101 works great with most speakers but I did find that open back cabs worked better (for less low end) and I searched for a while for speakers that didn't have boomy response.

Cheers,
Jeff

What speaker did you end up liking the most?

see page 4

Clarry wrote:

Sonichris wrote:

CrazyAces wrote:

Maybe a 101 with a different cabinet.

The 101 works great with most speakers but I did find that open back cabs worked better (for less low end) and I searched for a while for speakers that didn't have boomy response.

Cheers,
Jeff

What speaker did you end up liking the most?

see page 4

Sorry for the slow reply.
Currently and since the beginning of this year I've been using a 2x12 cab that folds in half for easy transport. It is open back and I'm using mis-matched speakers.
One cab has a Mojotone BV-30H (greenback copy) 30 watt speaker and the other cab has a discontinued Jensen Neo 100 - 100 watt speaker.
The nice thing about this setup is that for smaller gigs I just take one cab side with the Mojotone speaker. For bigger gigs I take both.
It can sound absolutely huge when needed.
The Jensen side sounds fine for smaller gigs as well.
I also have a Tweed Tremolux size cab with another, older and discontinued Jensen Neo 100 in it that I sometimes use and I have a cab with a Warehouse speakers ET90 that I occasionally use with the Quilter.

It's too bad that Jensen changed and discontinued this Neo 100. They now make the Tornado 100 which works well too but there is a bit more clarity and openness to the old versions. They now make an 80 watt version as well that sounds, looks good on paper but I haven't tried one yet.

The folding cab gets used the most.
I don't have anything with a 15" in it yet.
I haven't had the energy or finances for that journey yet.

I also think the Celestion Alnico Cream 100 watt speaker would kill with the Quilters but haven't tried it yet. Soon, as a friend has one in a cab.

For a while I preferred 4ohm speakers for the Quilter but now I just stick with 8ohm as some of the 4ohm speakers can accentuate the low end singularity that the "Surf" setting can have. There is very little noticeable difference otherwise in output between the 8 and 4 ohm speakers with this amp.

Speakers are tough to suggest because they are so preferential to the individual player and it seems my tastes can run different from a lot of Surf players so please, exercise some caution with my suggestions.

Cheers,
Jeff

This is the folding cab behind me.

image

http://www.facebook.com/CrazyAcesMusic
http://www.youtube.com/user/crazyacesrock
http://www.reverbnation.com/crazyacesmusic

I finally threw in towel on my Q101 and it's now regulated to a back-up head.

I just couldn't get an overall satisfactory sound with it on it's own. Adding an EQ pedal helped but defeated the purpose of the unit imho.

METEOR IV on reverbnation

Las_Barracudas wrote:

I finally threw in towel on my Q101 and it's now regulated to a back-up head.

I just couldn't get an overall satisfactory sound with it on it's own. Adding an EQ pedal helped but defeated the purpose of the unit imho.

@las_barracudas I hear you on the Quilter. I just purchased a Mach 2 10" combo hoping to replace my Fender reissue 59 bassman. After 1 week and 1 gig I was ready to return it, DONE. But I have a 45 day return policy and thought I should give it a few more gigs and some more time. I've gotten help with patience, Pat and Chris @ Quilter and the Facebook Quilter users group. When I play it I never think it's NOT a tube amp or whatever, it's more that I can't dial in my sound. I was ready to get a Blues Junior instead, but honestly not sure the Blues Jr would be better than the Quilter. At this point, I'm just going to give the Quilter a bit more time for me to dial in.

Las_Barracudas wrote:

I finally threw in towel on my Q101 and it's now regulated to a back-up head.

Yep, I hear ya. Am in the same space (almost)

https://www.facebook.com/lostremoleros/

Last edited: Oct 07, 2017 21:59:29

I'm still loving my PB200. Haven't used the mini 101. I think the limiter probably makes a big difference. My best tone is achieved running the PB200 and my bandmaster in stereo through two surfy bears into 15's. The bandmaster adds the chime and tube brilliance while the Quilter adds more grit and low end punch. I have gigged the quilter exclusively but in the future if I have the room on stage will go with the stereo setup.

The Kahuna Kings

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Kahuna-Kings/459752090818447

https://thekahunakings.bandcamp.com/releases

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