Grateful Dead Music Forum

I just picked up a Quilter Steelaire combo. HOLY CRAP! This thing might be the answer to my prayers. 35 pounds, 200 watts, 15inch speaker (based on JBL D130, complete with metal dustcap. So far, this thing has blown me away. Big, full sound with a ton of clean headroom and crispy highs. I think I would love it just for the portability alone! Going to gig with it this weekend, so I'll have a better review!

Congrats! I have friends who have been raving about them!!!

I used a Quilter amp at a gig last year, one with a bunch of guitarists switching in and out so it was a community amp. I was playing Stones/Lou Reed type stuff and not Dead but used my Scarlet Fire Wolf, the amp was awesome.

Hows the reverb sound for Jerry tone?

here is my criticism on that particular amp. I have a 1x15 K130 that I scored for about 100 dollars mint original on ebay (props to SK for the heads up), but paired with my half powered twin with mods, it will melt that Steelarie into a puddle. I didnt really get it either. I grabbed a steelarie thinking that it would be a nice porta version of my rig that doesnt need road cases, and meh, it doesnt really seem to turn my tone into something more / bloom / 3-d whatever you want to call it. I think it has something to do with the huge alnico magnet on the K, enormous transformers, and tubes on the twin rig. Also the breakup saturation is pretty night and day different. Quilter kinda squishes it down, where as the twin kinda melts into butter. so yup there is your standard SS vs tubes argument. I suppose that as Ive gotten older I'm more stubborn? but seems like there is more going on when you bring a real amp up to volume, where as on the SS amps, its just louder... Who gives a fuck about loading into a gig with road cases if your the only band and there is a little money on the table. If its a weekly / daily practice stick something portable in there sure, but practicing with the show rig is the optimal situation. It also was not deep enough to handle a real JBL. D class made it wonky noisie at random depending on the power situation. dumped it for more than I paid for it, which is cool (via auction -an act of the gods). probably always bother hauling heads and cabs just based on the cab rattle, and that added bit of control having the speaker cabinets made to compliment the speaker of choice... By my line of reasoning, you could order a twin, get a k130, also get a cab, speaker cable, have enough cash left over for a used road case, a pizza, and some green.