NAD: Quilter Micro Pro Mach 2 Combo (8" speaker)

I've had the amp for two weeks, now. Bought it from Sam Ash (the sales guy was happy to get the commission) with the thought I could return it within 30 days if I didn't like it. That's a downside of the amp: you can't try it out before plunking down the $$$. But order and receive it, I did.

First: There's absolutely NO way I'll ever be returning this amp.

Second: It's a great amp. Seriously...

Except for a Peavey Backstage amp that I bought in the early '80s, I've always owned and loved tube amps. Fender Deluxe and Twin Reverbs, Peavey Artist, Boogie Mark IIB, Blues Jr, and a Port City Pearl 50w head. All were and still are wonderful amps.

But I'm not a tube snob. The Peavey Backstage was surprisingly nice for practice and small venues when set correctly (sparing on the Saturation knob...just breaking up). Especially with the LP. So when I read the reviews and watched videos about the Mach 2 with the different speaker sizes, I got interested. The versatility and light weight made it look pretty darn good (by crackee!).

Well:

The amp is all it's cracked up to be and more. You can only get a taste of it from the YouTubes (though the Ford Thurston link at the end of this post was what really got me goin'...nice and straightforward). It's got a definite presence when you play through it live. Yes it "sounds and reacts like a tube amp" (definitely), but it's really more of what it is: an amp designed and built by Pat Quilter, who knows a thing or two about amps and guitars. Definitely got his stamp on it and, as far as I'm concerned, he's hit a home run with this one.

Here are my impressions, so far:

> The 8" speaker has no business, whatsoever, sounding this full and good. It sounds beautiful from bedroom to loud (the amp does get loud, folks) volumes and in between. And it only weights 19 pounds. Blows me away.

> The reverb is a good one and adjustable (deep, bright, etc) and the tremolo is sweet, as well. I'm very happy to have that option on the amp. Sounds great!

> The Master and Volume knobs in tandem with the three EQ knobs work as well as any amp in dialing in everything from a super clean jazz or country tone to filthy hard rock tones and everything in between. I've found a nice sweet spot in the "just breaking up" category. Add the Select and/or Voice settings and it gets that much better.

> You can ride the volume knob on your guitar(s) very nicely with this amp. Everything cleans up and then comes back strong and dirty, as it should. Touch sensitive, too. The whole 9 yards (why isn't it "10"?).

> My favorite Boost "Settings" choice, so far, has been "Loud" and sometimes "Cream". The "Scoop" is great for rhythm work (real nice for funk). They're all good except I haven't found something that worked for me in the "Crush" (fuzz) setting. But I have a pedal for that (more on pedals later) so out of all the choices, I'm cool with nixing just one for my uses.

> The "Voice" settings are a really cool feature. Right now I'm very into the "Brown" and "Surf" (Fender) tones the most. Don't be fooled by the term, "Surf". It's not specific to that genre. It's just a great Fender like clean tone.

> The amp takes pedals extremely well. All types. The effects loop works as expected for mod and delay pedals and the dirty stuff translates as it should, straight into the front, whether the amp's set clean or dirty. The clean stuff sounds really good straight into the front, too, but the delay, especially, shines through that effects loop. My compressors sound fantastic straight into the amp. That was a big one for me. I like my squish.

> I haven't experimented with the limiter much, pretty much leaving it at 11:00 and being happy there. Same for the second channel: haven't tried it but will probably use it for playing tracks to jam off of.

I kept reading reviews here and elsewhere with the cheerers and jeerers, but now that I've checked one out, I can say that, for me, this is great amp with so many different sound possibilities. Definite keeper. It'll work well on it's own or with pedals. Versatile and light. I couldn't be happier.

 

(Of course I'm quoting you, lol.)

I can add to that (and it's one of the things that made me skeptical and hold off, at first): He says that everything's set at 5 on the Fender. My first thought was, "Why? That's not how I'd set a Fender or any amp". Definitely raised my antennae.

I love(d) my Fender amps. The Deluxe sounded very good on this video and could have sounded even better with the right settings...but, besides the bright punch, the Quilter can be nuanced, too.

Despite what I thought was a lame comparison, I just decided to give this one a shot at 19 lbs and some versatility. If it didn't do it for me, I'd have returned it.

It def works for me.

 

It's a leap of faith putting money down on something you haven't tried in the flesh. I'm not rolling in the $$$. But I put my stock in the money back guarantee and was rewarded this time. YMMV.

It's a very cool amp.

 

Great amp for jazz, btw. He doesn't cover that in the video. Clean tones are excellent.

 

Yeah...I'm pretty blown away by the effectiveness of the speaker.

 

I love mine.

For me, it was easy dialing in a tone. Others; not as much so...might take a bit of time. Bottom line: once you've gotten the hang of it; there are a LOT of great sounds.

The larger pedal board gives you all the possibilities in terms of switching between effects (including the effectsl loop. I had a smaller footswitch when I was using it for only jazz and blues. Got the bigger one when I added in country, rock, and fusion...aka: when I realized how nice it was and used it a lot more.

One thing that I found extremely useful, when using the Fender Blackface type clean sounds (Surf and Scoop...you'll see them in the controls. I love that sound) was running through a nice OD pedal before the amp. Something that works well in a clean amp (I like the XTS stuff). Was able to get that super clean sound and choice of dirt.

Great amp!