I'd like to check out that Steelaire. In the meantime, got my own Quilter 15" setup - an Aviator head into a 1x15 Jenkins cab, pine, open back. With a WGS G15C speaker. It's only 75 watts, so I wasn't sure if it would work well with the Aviator. But it does. Have to be careful I don't blow it. This has quickly become my favorite 15" speaker, out of so many tried. Anyway, Quilter has something going on with these amps. Not quite tube, but they are very tubelike in response, have some great sounds however you want to characterize it.
MD

My turn! I finally received my own Steelaire a couple days ago in the mail. I never really considered getting one of them, but I happened to play a gig awhile back where one was in the backline and I was seriously impressed. I then borrowed it for a few weeks and was really impressed. Now I have one and played a gig with it last night and I'm totally impressed

This thing screams, in fact I was told by my drummer Tony that I was overpowering him, and he's a very loud drummer. It didn't sound that way to me, but this is the first time I've played an open back cabinet in full volume for as long as I can remember I'm sure that contributed. But there were many gigs where he couldn't hear me at all due to the stage configuration so I'm sure this will help in the long run. The point is though, I only had this thing up about halfway.

I found a few settings on this amp that really help in a surf band context, well at least my surf band. I love the 3 band EQ, having a lo-mid and upper-mid knob, really helps dial in that thunky surf sound. The first thing I did was set up the 2 button switch***, settling for "mode" and "boost". Counter intuitively the mode switch acts as a volume boost, basically letting you add channel 2 to channel 1. I like volume boost, or in the case of the Tmen where I play lead, a volume decrease, for the songs that I don't play lead on.

The 'boost' button is actually a treble boost, not a volume boost. At first I wondered why they did that, and I'm not sure they intended it to work the way I use it, but boy it sure works great. As most of us know reverb lives in the upper range of frequencies. Turn your 'tone' knob up on your tank and you'll hear more drip. Well over the years I tried lots of ways to boost the drip on demand, as many of my songs have sections that drip but then need to drop back to more moderate reverb for other sections, lest all the notes become a big morass of sound. I've had custom A/B boxes, I've run pedals parallel to the tank, or inline with the tank, or onboard reverb with a tank. And I could never quite get it, either too much knob twiddling needed or just not the right balance and tone. So, while checking out my new amp and hitting the boost switch - Boooootch! There it is! Like someone turned up the dwell and tone to just the right level for Hot Doggin' levels of drip, and with a quick tap back to normal. Those of you without Steelaires, try a treble boost pedal and see how it works. I wish I did years ago.

I've also found that with one of the tape delay preamp simulator pedals out there ( I use and EP-pre and Nocturne Dyno brain) it adds just enough lo-fi grit to help the amp sound completely authentic and a very suitable substitute for my '61 Bandmaster, at 1/3rd the weight and space! It also excels the Fender at low volume, which most of us are forced to do on occasion. I loathed playing my Bandmaster on 2, nothing could help the anemic sound. Not a problem for the Steelaire.

I highly recommend this amp for anyone looking for a something compact that can stand up to all the big boys we surf bands usually tow around. It's not cheap, but you get a ton of versatility out of one.

***they sell 2 kinds of 2 button switches, one is preset to reverb and something? and the other kind is assignable for 6 different parameters. Be sure to get that one. Who turns off reverb anyway?

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

The Steelier sounded GREAT from where I was at, especially a bit into the set, after you'd tweaked a couple of settings. That new SG101 strat sounded excellent, too.

Bob

There is an EU seller:
http://www.jazzisten.dk/Quilter-Jazz-Amps

http://noskons.bandcamp.com/

So, I had been considering a Quilter Steelaire combo. It sounds like a great amp and I may still yet purchase one, but I think I'm going to wait and see a while longer and here's why.

After reading a post about a guitarist (unnamed) blowing multiple speakers, I wrote Quilter asking about said issue. In short a representative responded back telling me about a different endorsed guitarist having the same issue.

• Here's a part of his response explaining the fix:

"unnamed guitarist plays both traditional electric guitar with very specialized distortion effects as well as steel guitar.
In his case, the vibration was causing the Aluminum dome to break apart.
We worked closely with Eminence and changed the design of the speaker which now includes an undercoating that should prevent this from happening.
unnamed guitarist is now using this speaker on tour and thus far we are doing just fine. (This is also the only speaker we are currently shipping with the product.)

After receiving the response I wrote back telling them that the guitarist I was referring to is a different musician. He then acknowledged that he also had the same problem and had been shipped a new speaker (3rd one) that was working fine as far as he knew.

The idea of a light weight combo that can get close to the sound of a Fender Showman or the like sounds boss, but I have my doubts that these new super light weight speakers can do the same job as a 15" JBL. I'd rather have a heavier amp with a better speaker than go through the hassle of multiple blown speakers.

I also asked if Quilter had any plans to produce a head version (non-rack mount) and the answer was no. Personally I think a head version would work better for me by allowing one to pair it up with a cabinet / cabinets of choice.

I'll bet Quilter comes up with a solution soon if not already, but for now I'm holding off; that's a lot of $$$ to throw down on a new rig only to have "issues."

Just my .02

METEOR IV on reverbnation

Last edited: Oct 03, 2015 09:05:09

Hello all, I got a Steelaire recently and am enjoying quite a bit! Wondering how others are setting it up.

Does anyone use the limiter? I love how it sounds but I believe it is ducking the reverb tail (if I play a staccato chord the reverb tail volume increases). I haven't decided if this sounds cool or not yet. Interesting to hear what others have to say as most non-surf players probably don't use lots of reverb pre-limiter.

What kind of settings are you using?
I'm using Gain1 at about 8 and Gain2 at 4. I use both in series when playing lead and just Gain1 for rhythm. The limiter at 5 keeps things sounding huge and clean. EQ is flat except for a bit of bass cut.

-Pierre
The Obsidians! (Ottawa surf)
The Obsidians debut EP

Yikes! No problems with mine. Did Quilter replace the first one?

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF

Quilter ended up sending me a replacement with a paper dome (they had a sample speaker from Eminence on hand). Sounds great! Difference in tone is negligible to my ears. They think that the paper dome will be more resilient.

-Pierre
The Obsidians! (Ottawa surf)
The Obsidians debut EP

I did. Send a facebook message to them and see if they'll let you.

Danny Snyder

"With great reverb comes great responsibility" - Uncle Leo

I am now playing trumpet with Prince Buster tribute band 'Balzac'

Playing keys and guitar with Combo Tezeta

Formerly a guitarist in The TomorrowMen and Meshugga Beach Party

Latest surf project - Now That's What I Call SURF