Quilter Travis Toy 12 Signature Steel Guitar Combo Amp

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 30 Sep 2019 8:00 am

So proud to launch my Travis Toy 12 Signature steel guitar combo amp with Quilter Labs today, and be the first in their artist series. Y’all check it out!

https://www.quilterlabs.com/index.php/p ... vis-toy-12

-Travis

Josh Braun · Post by **Josh Braun** » 30 Sep 2019 1:21 pm

Nice. I have both your 12" and 15" inch speakers - really dig them.

I have an old ProBlock - doesn't have quite the eq control the Tone Block 202 has. Do you use the Tone Block 202? Any likes/dislikes/comparisons to other amps you've used/like?

Jack Stanton · Post by **Jack Stanton** » 30 Sep 2019 8:18 pm

Travis,
Exciting stuff! Can you do a demo video. Looks like the perfect grab and go rig.

Michael Johnstone · Post by **Michael Johnstone** » 1 Oct 2019 6:54 pm

How does the single 12 in an open back cabinet handle the low end of C6 at concert stage volume? That would be my concern.

Chris Grigsby · Post by **Chris Grigsby** » 1 Oct 2019 7:08 pm

Hey Travis, how would you compare the Quilter to the Little Walter '89 featured in your Eminence Double-T 12 video?

Best,
Chris

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 2 Oct 2019 10:31 am

How would you compare it with the Steelaire?

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 2 Oct 2019 8:34 pm

Michael Johnstone wrote:How does the single 12 in an open back cabinet handle the low end of C6 at concert stage volume? That would be my concern.

It handles it just fine. The Double T-12 is a 300 watt speaker. Lots of guys have been using 12â€ speakers for C6th with great results for a long long time. Paul Franklin, Buck Reid, Tommy White, etc. Itâ€™s not a problem if you have the right speaker, and the right amp.

-t

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 2 Oct 2019 8:41 pm

Chris Grigsby wrote:Hey Travis, how would you compare the Quilter to the Little Walter '89 featured in your Eminence Double-T 12 video?

Best,
Chris

Hey Chris. The short answer is, I like it better. I do really like my LW 89, and itâ€™s a very fine amp. One of the best made. That being said, I havenâ€™t used it for probably 10 months or so, which is the first time I played through the set of components that would become this signature amp model. Itâ€™s pretty tremendous sounding. Iâ€™ve played it on at least a hundred songs in that time period. It delivers every time, to great fanfare from engineers, producers, and fellow musicians.

-t

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 2 Oct 2019 8:50 pm

Mike Perlowin wrote:How would you compare it with the Steelaire?

Hey Mike! A few things...It has low, mid, and high controls, versus the extra low-mid control on the Steelaire. I thought I might miss that. I donâ€™t. (Iâ€™ll get into more on mids in a minute). Itâ€™s a single knob reverb, instead of having the extra tone and dwell controls like the Steelaire. Again, Iâ€™m not missing those. I find it to be a very usable reverb tone/length as-is. If I need something more exotic, I have several pedals to choose from.

The 3 position â€œvoiceâ€ switch is what really takes this to another level. The voice switch is a super powerful tool for tone shaping on this thing. There are 3 modes. FRFR (full range frequency response) is sort of a flat response thing meant for modeling pedals. I havenâ€™t used it much, even though in the right scenario, it would be incredible. FullQ is EXTREMELY similar, if not identical to the sound of the Steelaire, which is a nice sound. I have done quite a lot with it. My favorite though for me, and what Iâ€™m in 90% of the time, is Vintage mode. It dumps some of the typical solid state mid honk (ala Peavey), and makes the bass and treble knobs act passive instead of active. So, 10 is the sound of the amp, and youâ€™re only cutting. Instead of 5 being flat and youâ€™re cutting or boosting. Because of that, the bass and treble really change tonally in that mode. The highs especially get a really airy/silky thing happening. Almost like a nice Fender, but with unlimited clean headroom (if you have the limiter on). I really think itâ€™s a special and extremely complimentary combination of amp, speaker, and cabinet for steel.

On top of that, you have multiple direct out options if you need that type of thing. Very flexible options on those as well. Pre or Post master volume, cab sim, etc. Lots of fun stuff.

I have used the Steelaire heads for 4 years or so now. For me, this is better.

-t

Charley Paul · Post by **Charley Paul** » 3 Oct 2019 7:54 am

I just bought a rig that is very similar to the new Quilter package..

Quilter Tone Block 202 and a Raezer’s Edge 1x12 loaded with a TT speaker. It’s en rout now, and I am really excited to give it a whirl. I have smaller tube amps that I like to use for indoor gigs, but wanted something powerful for outdoors. As much as I love the Pro Reverb I have been using, I am excited to drop a few pounds and have endless headroom for steel!

I bought a Raezer’s Edge cabinet a few months ago loaded with a Fane double cones speaker. I paired it with the Acoustic Image Clarus Head that I own. The primary purpose was for acoustic guitars and banjo. However I tried it with my steel and have been more than impressed with the sound. After talking with Geoff at a Raezer’s Edge, I thought it might be worth it to give his dedicated psg cabinet a try....

I’ll report back about my finding a with the TT loaded RE can and Quilter, as I imagine it will be quite similar to the full Q Branded rig.....

Wade Romonosky · Post by **Wade Romonosky** » 3 Oct 2019 6:15 pm

How does this head compare to the Quilter 101 Reverb?

Wade

forrest klott · Post by **forrest klott** » 4 Oct 2019 8:18 am

Travis,

Is there any video out there of this amp that you can point us to?

Thanks!

Skeeter

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 5 Oct 2019 7:59 am

forrest klott wrote:Travis,

Is there any video out there of this amp that you can point us to?

Thanks!

Skeeter

I havenâ€™t had a chance to do a video demo of the amp yet. That being said, all of the steel music clips playing in the background of the video on the amp page, are sneak peeks from my upcoming album. All recorded on the TT-12 combo.

-t

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 5 Oct 2019 8:01 am

Wade Romonosky wrote:How does this head compare to the Quilter 101 Reverb?

Wade

Wade, I canâ€™t give a fair answer to that question. I havenâ€™t played through a 101.

-t

Mike Perlowin RIP · Post by **Mike Perlowin RIP** » 5 Oct 2019 12:17 pm

Without having heard this amp, I'm willing to bet that it sounds terrific. But although we played can hear the differences between different amps (or pickups,or effects) can the audience?

I currently play with a Steelaire. Prior to that I used an early, all tube Music Man 212-HD made in 1976 while Leo Fender was still with the company. (I'd still be using it, but it weighs over 70 pounds and I wanted something lighter.)

To my ears, both amps sound fine, but very different from each other. My point though is that in all the years of gigging, nobody ever complained about the sound of the Music Man. Whenever anybody said anything to me about my playing it was always either a compliment, a question, or a request for the singer.

Audiences do not know, or care, about all the things we obsess over. Amps, what kind of picks we use, etc. All they care about is hearing their favorite songs, sung and played well.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 5 Oct 2019 7:10 pm

Well my 2 cents worth is I care. I just sat through 2 days of steel shows and I can say the sound makes all the difference in the song. Great players on all counts but not everyone had a great tone. Telonics and Peavey amps were well represented. Couple of Roland Cube 80s, Fender Steel King and some rack systems. It's impressive when a great tone comes across. Naturally the best players shine even on a lesser amp.

Karen Sarkisian · Post by **Karen Sarkisian** » 8 Oct 2019 2:57 am

This is the exact rig I am currently playing thru and it sounds great. My TT 12 is housed in a rick Johnson cab. It sounds great with guitar as well. And so light ! Travis how do you have your amps tone controls set ?

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 8 Oct 2019 4:47 am

Hey Travis. I'm curious whether you have specifically tried or heard a TT 12 as a replacement speaker in a MicroPro Mach 2.

I like the rig enough for gigging that I have no intention of replacing it at this time and I expect and respect that Quilter has chosen what they feel is the best match for this amp. But I'm always looking for smaller tweaks if they can make a good thing better. But I will not add weight to this wonderfully lightweight amp (one solid reason that I am so committed to this amp) so I rule out trying a PF, for instance.

Thanks, Travis.

K Maul · Post by **K Maul** » 8 Oct 2019 5:26 am

I am using a Quilter 202 like the TT rig, but with an Eminence TonkerLite 12 in an open back pine cabinet. This speaker is rated 125 watts, has nice high end with less low mids, which cuts the muddy wooffy sounds. However, the Quilter sealed speaker cabs are really impressive and I love the fact that the amp fits right in the cab.

Travis Toy · Post by **Travis Toy** » 8 Oct 2019 12:06 pm

Jon Light wrote:Hey Travis. I'm curious whether you have specifically tried or heard a TT 12 as a replacement speaker in a MicroPro Mach 2.

I like the rig enough for gigging that I have no intention of replacing it at this time and I expect and respect that Quilter has chosen what they feel is the best match for this amp. But I'm always looking for smaller tweaks if they can make a good thing better. But I will not add weight to this wonderfully lightweight amp (one solid reason that I am so committed to this amp) so I rule out trying a PF, for instance.

Thanks, Travis.

Hey Jon. I haven’t specifically tried that combination. All I can say is that my speaker is certainly gonna be voiced friendlier for pedal steel than the stock speaker is. I would imagine it would be a nice improvement.

-t

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 8 Oct 2019 1:39 pm

Thanks Travis.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 9 Oct 2019 6:11 am

Jon, I have a TT 12 I'm going to try in my micro pro mark II and see what it does. The stock speaker is not bad for Telecaster but isn't the sound I want for pedal steel. I currently have it in a Peavey special 130 and that was a big improvement. That small cabinet on the micro pro may not do as well.

Jon Light (deceased) · Post by **Jon Light (deceased)** » 9 Oct 2019 6:22 am

Great, Larry. Smart move for me would be to await the results of your experiment. As we know, all of these factors -- open back, closed back, large box, small box -- are in play and it's impossible to guess how it will work. I certainly hope you will share your experience once you try this.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 9 Oct 2019 3:18 pm

Jon, I should be able to make the swap by this weekend. I will post the results after that. I love the size of the micro pro and the weight. I have tried it plugged into a Peavey E115 cabinet and it was nice. I considered pulling the chassis and making a separate cabinet. I have high hopes for the swap working out.

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 11 Oct 2019 8:03 am

I tried the Quilter micropro mach2 combo amp 1x12, discontinued the internal speaker and connected to my TT speaker in a Peavey special 130 cabinet. I wasn't able to get a pleasant sound to my liking. To me it's better using the Peavey special 130 amp. I didn't use any outboard effects or eq. I'm going to pass on a speaker swap and sell the quilter. Not my cup of tea.