NAD: Quilter SuperBlock US (2024)

Kerrang said:

I’ve had my SuperBlock US now for 2 weeks and played it at home and in two band practices, two different bands. One band’s drummer is about average loudness and the other hits HARD (but in a good way). One band is guitar-keys-bass-drums and the other is 2 guitars-bass-drums. We practice at gig stage volume level. One band is high energy blues and the other is eclectic classic rock R&B and country. I’m a fairly aggressive player who likes to be heard.
I’m using the amp with a 1-12 open back cabinet with either a Celestion G12H30 or a Gold (both are efficient speakers). The SuperBlock has plenty power/volume in these circ*mstances. In the band with the quieter drummer/keys I’m good with master and volume/gain at noon or 1:00, limiter at noon to add a hint of tubey sag. In the band with the louder drummer I nudge the master to about 1:00-1:30. Better still, turning up the master does not bring on unintended distortion, and the amp takes a big kick in the front from boost, EQ, overdrive pedals with no issue whatsoever. Clean sounds and response are gorgeous Fenderesque and it works excellently with dirt pedals. So having given it a run in band settings I’m more impressed with this amp now than when I first got it. Unless you are playing really loud metal or something akin to that where you MUST have a cranked 50-100 watt tube amp, this amp is plenty.

My only minor niggle is with the special external 24v power supply - wish it was internal. If you forget to bring it with you you’re not in business. I might duct tape it to the side of the amp so I can’t forget it .

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You know it's solid posts like yours that really helps me sort out my thoughts on amps in general, these Superblocks and and my own current amp GAS issues. Especially given that I will likely never gig again, but it's nice to have confirmation that the Superblock can keep up with drummers anyway.

Back to that GAS issue: Despite loving my Superblock US... I still keep looking at other amps (including Quilters like the Overdrive 202! (See Corey Witt's latest OD202 video on Youtube).

So I have had to have several conversations with myself this week. I had to tell myself that I'm not going to find much else that satisfies my needs like the Superblock already does, and that realistically my amp search has ended.

This year, I have looked at dozens of other Fendery BF-style amps (many tube amps) with all sorts of different features and there's always something that doesn't fit my criteria, or I don't like, or a bunch of issues relating to tube amp physics (large, heavy, single-voltage transformers, for example). And then I finally find a couple of amps that I think I would enjoy but they come with a $2500 price tag! (e.g. Carr Super Bee) haha.

GAS. The struggle is real!

But still there is a more affordable possibility that has me thinking "Mmmm... I'd like to build a Mojotone PR Head Kit if it sounds like this":

I mean, that PR kit _does_ sound really sweet. Probably has a better transformer than a regular PRRI for a start. But then, the other night, I swear I had similar tones coming out of the Superblock US + fancy reverb pedal, anyway; but with more consistency of tone at any volume from the Superblock (no need to get it into a sweet spot on the volume dial). In some ways, the Superblock sounded better with more even frequency response and string separation. And the Superblock takes pedals so incredibly well. The Quilter just sounded so good and I found myself thinking "This is it. This sounds really good without the need for magical tubes. I have the sound and convenience that I wanted already - why do I keep looking at other stuff?".

The Superblock US is a great pedal platform and whilst I tend to play more clean and pushed clean, if I want more overdrive and different tonal flavours, I can just add some pedals ( I already have a Lightspeed).

So, repeating myself here, "realistically, my amp search has ended". Now just fighting the GAS.

To reduce GAS, I should probably stop watching these threads... but I enjoy the discussion too much, and I like you guys. I'm such a gear geek . I suppose sitting around a lot during the pandemic has made me explore a lot more gear than I usually would do, though.