Quilter AViator 8...

[CHuckmott]

Went and played one over a friends tonight, actually an old bandmate who was checking out my guitar out fpr a truss rod adjustment. HAs become a must have piece of gear for me. You think you hear of an amp being solidstate , know that it's built by the QSC speaker guys, hear the claims how it gives the best of the tube amps a run for their money, and are STILL floored when you plug it in, it's that good. Rivals or surpasses the best of the Fender line I think, and I am a gear snob when it comes to guitars and amps, and this guy is worse - and he's essentially replacing his Fender Vibrolux with it. If your a guitar player who appreciates gear and you get the opportunity to play one, definitely do I. I'm already sold and plotting my purchase . Just sayin'.

[andygabrys]

pretty impressive really. just watched this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzQxVvQ86EQ

sounds pretty good. nice range of tones esp on the cleans.

btw - i have been using solid state amps for years on rock / blues / country-esque gigs. and even longer for jazz gigs.

I have a Raezers Edge Twin 8 tower and Acoustic Image Clarus head for louder stuff, and an AER Alpha 40 for Jazz stuff and low volume. Then I drag a pedal board to run into these.

I don't think its quite the equal of a nice tube amp, but its dependable, lightweight (the AER is 14 lbs - very convenient esp for jazz stuff and that's why I bought when i lived in NYC and was taking the train everywhere) and sounds good enough. And most of the sound is in your fingers IMO.

If you pick The Quilter up I would love to know what you think firsthand.

[CHuckmott]

Larry Carlton talks a lot about how he used to be a studio player and have to hit a few places a day in NYC, so a lot of his sound then was through and old Deluxe Reverb or little Princeton, something he could easily cart around. Yes the cleans were outstanding on the Quilter, andwere what grabbed me, even more then the gain channel. You set the gain just right and it's indistinguishable from my Fulltone OCD, I thought. ANd the tone controls really have a huge range, and the reverb is very good. To cap it off he ran the direct out through his full range speakers, but more importantly, if you check out some of the Quilter Micro Pro demos, they run one back to back with the amp mic'd and then going recording out in it's great. And cheaper then a really good tube amp, and very light.

[SteveJCurtis]

They look interesting. I don't think they've made it to the UK yet. The clean channel on the demo does sound very good. I'll try and check them out and thanks for the tip.

Have either of you ever tried the ZT Lunchbox amp? I love the fact it's tiny, but haven't ever seen one in the flesh and wonder if they are any good to gig with?

Cheers
Steve

[andygabrys]

re: ZT - haven't tried them, another one that looks / sounds pretty cool. lightweight. looking at the videos on youtube I was wondering about the clean headroom.

[SteveJCurtis]

Yes, I had the same thought Andy. I suppose that's why I always end going "home" to Fender. But I'd certainly give that Aviator a go.

[andygabrys]

Yes, I had the same thought Andy. I suppose that's why I always end going "home" to Fender. But I'd certainly give that Aviator a go.

got ya.