I played an event this past weekend in an airplane hangar and I knew from previous experience that the natural reverb is very intense. Vocals always sound super blurred in this space. I left my tube heads, surfy bear classic, and larger speaker cabs at home and packed up the Quilter MicroPro II with the 8” speaker. I placed it on a plastic folding chair that the catering company provided and moved it behind the drummer’s hi-hat side. Instrument gain just above noon and master volume at a similar level, which was the loudest I’ve ever played it.

That little amp sounded so great. My band members told me they could clearly hear my playing and several musicians in the audience told me that it was the best we had ever sounded together. They also noted that, because we didn’t have vocals, that our version of surf sounded perfect in the hangar.

I took a gamble and it paid off nicely.

https://ifmarshadwaves.bandcamp.com/releases

I sold my 101 Mini, and now own a Tone Block 202. It is now my main practice/gigging amp. I own a '65 Bandmaster, and a '76 Princeton, but the Tone Block gets played more than both of those combined.

I love the clean, Fenderish tone that I get from it. Speaking of clean, it has clean headroom for days. The fact that it only weighs 4 pounds makes buying this amp a no brainer.

MooreLoud.com - A tribute to Dick Dale. New videos uploaded

DeathTide wrote:

So, everyone talks about Tweed and blackface tones - what about the brownface tones? I have not read of anyone changing out their brown tube amps for a Quilter, coincidence? Is it because the brown and tweed are closer than the other tones? I’ve never heard a Tweed in real life, but the brown/black/silver tones are vastly different sounding to me. I’m a fan of both of the Showman / Twin brown tones and I have not heard a bassman brown in real life yet.

You never heard because you never read my posts
Send me an email and I will tell you in details. I have posted so much and so many times that I will now make a note and do copy/paste! I am joking man of course. But we have really discussed this for long time. We have even produced a pedal with Surfy Industries, called the Brownfacer, based on the experience I made on the subject.

I mention the Brownface Showman even at my Quilter page:
https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/artists/details/lorenzo-valdambrini

Lorenzo "Surfer Joe" Valdambrini
(www.surfmusic.net)

Last edited: Mar 11, 2020 15:18:36

Don't forget my Steelaire, which is louder than my showman, much louder. Not that I ever play that loud.

Danny Snyder

Latest project - Now That's What I Call SURF
_
"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I'm back playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Has anybody played the Interblock 45 for guitar? I’m looking for a small rig the goes direct to the PA for some upcoming fly in shows (non surf).

Rev

Canadian Surf

http://www.urbansurfkings.com/

DeathTide wrote:

surferjoemusic wrote:

DeathTide wrote:

So, everyone talks about Tweed and blackface tones - what about the brownface tones? I have not read of anyone changing out their brown tube amps for a Quilter, coincidence? Is it because the brown and tweed are closer than the other tones? I’ve never heard a Tweed in real life, but the brown/black/silver tones are vastly different sounding to me. I’m a fan of both of the Showman / Twin brown tones and I have not heard a bassman brown in real life yet.

You never heard because you never read my posts
Send me an email and I will tell you in details. I have posted so much and so many times that I will now make a note and do copy/paste! I am joking man of course. But we have really discussed this for long time. We have even produced a pedal with Surfy Industries, called the Brownfacer, based on the experience I made on the subject.

I mention the Brownface Showman even at my Quilter page:
https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/artists/details/lorenzo-valdambrini

Oh snap! You have a ‘62 Double Showman too! Okay okay I admit it, I haven’t read your posts about it. I’m thinking of investing so as to have a backup. But of course I’ll need two heh.

You won’t need two.

Los Fantasticos

PSA: Pro Block 200 available for $299 from Quilter.

DeathTide wrote:

djangodeadman wrote:

You won’t need two.

I bi-amp (wet & dry) so I would need two, sorry I didn’t mention that. I bring two Showmans to each gig, so if one dies I have another. But it’d be great to have a lightweight backup! I don’t need reverb or trem, but it seems the Tone Block 201 may be a good fit. A Steelaire is pricy!

Correction: you WOULD need two.

Los Fantasticos

Last edited: Mar 13, 2020 01:52:06

I ran down the differences between the main "clean" 200-watt versions here - https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=355378

I think my Tone Block 201 works pretty well for surf guitar too. I use it with either a Furlong 12" speaker into a LOPO cab or Telonics 12" speaker in a Little Walter cab. These speakers were designed for pedal steel and handle 350 Watts RMS. Set up like this, it can get real loud and clean, and by appropriate tweaking of the Tri-Q and Voice controls, I think gets a pretty good Fendery sound. The gain control can be used to either keep it very clean or push it into the edge-of-breakup type of tube amp sound. I used it for a pedal steel recording last weekend and I was pretty surprised how good it sounded recorded direct even without the speaker plugged in. And I'm a pretty old-school tube amp kinda' guy.

I also picked up one of the Microblock 45 small-pedal-sized 45-watt power amps (into 4 Ohms) when they were getting blown out for < $100. It's nice for grab-and-go situations with everything but the speaker on a pedalboard, as long as a ton of clean juice isn't required. I think it sounds pretty good through one of those speaker cabs or the JBL D120F in my Deluxe Reverb. It doesn't have enough clean headroom for a loud+clean pedal steel gig. Clean pedal steel requires lots of clean volume to give plenty of clean headroom for volume pedal expression use. But I think it works pretty well for guitar with some complementary pedals (reverb, delay, OD, maybe an EQ if you can't get enough mid-scoop from the basic Tri-Q control supplied) if the stage volume isn't deafening. But it does run out of clean volume if you wanna be loud.

The Delverados - surf, punk, trash, twang - Facebook
Chicken Tractor Deluxe - hardcore Americana - Facebook and Website
The Telegrassers - semi-electric bluegrass/Americana - Facebook

DeathTide wrote:

stratdancer wrote:

DeathTide wrote:

FritzCat wrote:

PSA: Pro Block 200 available for $299 from Quilter.

I would love to know the difference between that Pro Block 200 and a Tone Block 200. I wish they would just list the damn differences.

Different EQ function.

Well that tells me a lot! Marketing, sigh. My job shut down last night so I’m not buying anything now.

Sorry to hear that, Death Tide.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.