What speaker cab are you using for a small amp like a Quilter?

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
I ordered the Quilter 45 when it was the Musician's Friend SDOD. Got it home. Plugged my headphones in to it. Complained about low volume. And then haven't used it again since November. Typical of me.

I should get a small cab to use with it. It would probably be ideal for taking to my weekly jam if I did. I am currently using a Boss eBand JS-10 which works well for that, and for traveling, but it is showing early signs of dying. A entirely different subject.

So what small, very small, cabs are people using with a little amp like this for jamming, traveling, small gigs? What cab can you recommend?
 

JohnHurley

Rock and Roll
Well shoot brand preferences jump in quickly.

Personally I am a big fan of the Orange ppc112 cabs. They come equipped with a 60 watt 12 inch celestion vintage 30 with a closed back and solid construction.

Obviously not everyone loves the orangle color they have a black model.

Mesa engineering has a number of options for a 1 x 12 cab. My new one is an open back Mesa 1x12 widebody with a celestion 90 watt lead.

Bugera i guess has a relatively new 112 that is way less expensive.

Marshall Fender everyone is in this game.

The Fender SC112 looks good not everyone cares for Celestion G12P.
 

Al Holloway

Devizes UK
I built a 2x12 for my setup which is driven by 2 Mooer babybombs (probably similar to the quilter). However I found at home volumes it didn't sound very good as you just don't drive the speakers. So I built a 2x8 using celestian 8x15 16ohm speakers (so 30 w at 8 ohms). I would think anything round that would be good. Don't quilter make a 8" cab? Just watch the impedances. Even though solid state amps shouldn't fail like valve with the wrong impedance it will effect the power output. Most of these small ss power amps use the same class d amp. This is about 50-60 w with 4 ohm (however the power suply needs about 2.5A for this so if the power supply is to small you could burn it out). 30W at 8ohm and 15 wats at 16ohm.

cheers

Al.
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
I am certainly no expert regarding these [most] things but...

I wonder if for the time being you would be able to use your existing amp as a speaker cabinet ... at least to play with the Quilter 45 for a while?

Perhaps someone with more smarts than I have will chime in and give this thought a yay or a nay!
  • Is that feasible?
  • Could it cause any damage to anything?
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
If you want to maximize the volume you get out of any amp via speaker selection, the 2 most important things are getting the right impedance match, and the speaker's efficiency rating. The efficiency can make a big difference. A 12" Cannabis Rex would probably be a good match for that little Quilter. High efficiency and good tone for blues. Maybe put it in a cheap bee hive box for an enclosure, or find an empty cab for a 12" speaker. I got lucky and found an empty Fender cab for my CRex.
If you are trying to get something physically small, the smaller the speaker gets, the more and more important and difficult it gets to have a properly designed enclosure to avoid it sounding small and boxy. Designing these small speaker enclosures to sound good is both an art and a science, and for the amateur builder, could require quite a bit of experimentation. For that reason, I would stick with a 10" minimum speaker and preferably a 12".
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I ordered the Quilter 45 when it was the Musician's Friend SDOD. Got it home. Plugged my headphones in to it. Complained about low volume. And then haven't used it again since November. Typical of me.

I should get a small cab to use with it. It would probably be ideal for taking to my weekly jam if I did. I am currently using a Boss eBand JS-10 which works well for that, and for traveling, but it is showing early signs of dying. A entirely different subject.

So what small, very small, cabs are people using with a little amp like this for jamming, traveling, small gigs? What cab can you recommend?

I bought a Harley Benton Cab from Thomann Music (About $120) ( https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_g112_vintage.htm )
It comes with a no name speaker, which I replaced with a Celestion BN12-300S (Neodimum) (About $146)
Now I have an ultra light kick ass cabinet, and I'm loving it.
 

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
How small do you want to go? I have a 10" cab I made to use with my 101 Mini, using a Warehouse Guitar Speakers G10C. Sounds great! Quilter uses Celestions a lot with their amps, the smallest being the 8" TF0818 in my MicroPro. Orange has a nice 8" cab for $100, or you could get one of the Harley Bentons that MikeS mentioned for something a little bigger.
 

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
I am certainly no expert regarding these [most] things but...

I wonder if for the time being you would be able to use your existing amp as a speaker cabinet ... at least to play with the Quilter 45 for a while?
Chris, thanks for the response but that isn't what I'm looking to do. At home my existing amp is my Blues, Jr., or, increasingly, I am using my POD HD500X through a couple monitors. I need something to use with the Quilter for my weekly jam or traveling. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to join the guest jam on the blues cruise coming up, but maybe someday!:rolleyes: That type of travel.

How small do you want to go? I have a 10" cab I made to use with my 101 Mini, using a Warehouse Guitar Speakers G10C. Sounds great! Quilter uses Celestions a lot with their amps, the smallest being the 8" TF0818 in my MicroPro. Orange has a nice 8" cab for $100, or you could get one of the Harley Bentons that MikeS mentioned for something a little bigger.
The smaller the better! And even more important than size is weight. I should have mentioned this in my OP. The most important consideration is weight. Chris knows what's going on but I am highly susceptible to weight. I know this is blasphemy on a blues forum but I have no choice but to sacrifice quality of sound/tone for mobility.

@OG_Blues thank you for that information. I definitely need to educate myself in this entire speaker business.

@MikeS and @MikeR I will look at both of your recommendations, Thank you.
 

JestMe

Student Of The Blues
Chris, thanks for the response but that isn't what I'm looking to do. At home my existing amp is my Blues, Jr., or, increasingly, I am using my POD HD500X through a couple monitors. I need something to use with the Quilter for my weekly jam or traveling. I still haven't gotten up the nerve to join the guest jam on the blues cruise coming up, but maybe someday!:rolleyes: That type of travel.
.

I gotcha Ron... I only suggested that as a possible interim solution while you were researching and ordering a new cabinet.

BTW shouldn't you be busy packing? ;-)
 

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
How small do you want to go? I have a 10" cab I made to use with my 101 Mini, using a Warehouse Guitar Speakers G10C. Sounds great! Quilter uses Celestions a lot with their amps, the smallest being the 8" TF0818 in my MicroPro. Orange has a nice 8" cab for $100, or you could get one of the Harley Bentons that MikeS mentioned for something a little bigger.
I looked at that Orange at my local store. But it is only rated for 20 Watts. Will the Quilter, with 45 Watts, melt it? Or would it be ok if I don't crank the Quilter up? Again, I'm only going to be using this for a local jam. Certainly no stage volumes. I probably won't even use it for practicing at home; I have so many other options here.
 

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
This is just me speaking, based on a comparatively short amount of time messing around with musical hardware.

Personally, I'd find the lightest cabinet I could get my hands on and then attach a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. That speaker is good for a solid 60 watts without worry, and it's lighter than the biggest weight-adders I know of, like the Texas Heat and/or Swamp Thang, which weigh in at several pounds each. I have a Swamp Thang in a Carvin 1x12 cab, but to me it's crazy heavy and I'd counsel against going for one of those heavy speakers.

In my digital experiments I find myself going back time and again to virtual cabs using 1, 2, or 4 Vintage 30s. To my inexperienced ear it's a great good speaker and not as heavy as some of its high zoot brethren.
 

Iheartbacon

Blues Junior
First, get a neo speaker in 10" form and a baltic birch or even pine cab to keep things light.

BUT, what kind of tones are you after? Early British Celestion Alnico tones? later 60's+ British Celestion Greenback type tones? Clean Fendery American tones? Speakers make a big difference to tone, so it is important to know what you are looking for vs what speakers others like.
 

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
I looked at that Orange at my local store. But it is only rated for 20 Watts. Will the Quilter, with 45 Watts, melt it? Or would it be ok if I don't crank the Quilter up? Again, I'm only going to be using this for a local jam. Certainly no stage volumes. I probably won't even use it for practicing at home; I have so many other options here.

I doubt it would be a problem, as the Microblock only puts out 33 watts max into 8 ohm speakers. Quilter uses an 80W speaker with their 100W amps. Still, if you went to a 10" cab, it would be easier to get a higher rated speaker.
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
I've got 3 cabs. Two Carvin Vintage and one Nace Pro-18 cab. I'd hook it up two one of those and see which one I like best.
 

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
Personally, I'd find the lightest cabinet I could get my hands on and then attach a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. That speaker is good for a solid 60 watts without worry, and it's lighter than the biggest weight-adders I know of, like the Texas Heat and/or Swamp Thang, which weigh in at several pounds each.
Mark, why didn't you post this suggestion 20 minutes sooner?!?!?!?!?!? :D:rolleyes:;)

I just ordered some light cabinet off eBay and a Celestion Rocket 50 (and then checked in here) I don't know if either is any good. The speaker is 50 Watts rated, 8 ohms, and only 4 lbs. But I thought it would be fun to assemble them and a learning experience. They are to be here Monday.
 

MikeR

Guitar Challenged
Staff member
The Rocket 50 is often used in 2X12 and 4X12 cabinets. Known to be a solid performer with all styles, so it should be a good match.

I was going to build a new cabinet for my Lil' Texas Neo to go with my Quilter MicroPro, but couldn't pass up the $77 Kustom cab I mentioned above. Should be under 20 lbs which is just about my carrying limit these days. :(
 

matonanjin

Chubby, old guy trying to play some blues.
The Rocket 50 is often used in 2X12 and 4X12 cabinets. Known to be a solid performer with all styles, so it should be a good match.
The cab and speaker came earlier than the predicted delivery time.(y) They both got here yesterday rather than Monday. So I found the screwdriver, put the speaker in the cabinet, put the amp on the cabinet, plugged everything in, and...................

It sounds great!!! It really sounds better than I had any expectations of it sounding. With the "Drive" up on the amp it does have kind of a nice growl. And what fun playing through it. Somewhat disappointing it is marginally small enough and light enough to take to my jam. But on the other hand I could see taking a couple pedals off their power supply and sticking batteries back in (distortion, delay?) and setting them on top with the amp. What a great mobile unit!

Did I mention this is fun?;)
 
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