Quilter Overdrive 200 200W Guitar Amp Head

I play in a punk hardcore band and have been using tube amps for 24 years. I started with a Carvin 100w, then a Marshall JCM 2000 50w and a JCM 2000 100w. I then bought an EVH 5150 iii 50w because its high gain and lighter than the Marshalls. I've also played through JCM 800 and 900's. I've also played and heard SS amps and never liked the sounds. There was always a certain something in the sound missing in SS that I felt in tubes. SS distortion usually sounded horrible to me. Our other guitarist uses a Quilter but I never really dug the sound to much, wasn't bad but not my preference. However his distortion comes from a pedal, not the unit itself. It didn't impress me enough to look into Quilter.I wanted something lighter as Ive been gigging and practicing for 24 years and its taking a toll on my back. I also didn't want to wear out the tubes on my amps for practice and lug heavy equipment every Wednesday. I ended up buying a Joyo Zombie (GREAT little amp btw) and an Orange Dark Terror. But it wasn't loud enough for practice. Then I got a Marshall Code 100... loud but returned it quickly due to sounding off. Not saying its bad but requires lots of fiddling...not something I had time for before return window ended. So I went back to my tube amps. After dropping my Marshall a couple of times during practice, I said dangit Im continuing my search. Everything kept pointing to different tube amps or...Quilter.I started watching reviews and found that some people were getting pretty good modern sounds with the Overdrive 200. Overdrive to me sounds like it would be tame compared to the sounds I'm looking for. The logo, the presentation doesn't scream punk nor modern metal to BUT what I saw seemed promising. Then the size...its small, weighs 4 lbs. Then I saw the price. $575? that seemed like a lot but I said let me buy it and try it.When I received it I was pleasantly surprised to find it came with a gig bag. The fit is tight the first time around but loosens up. The build is nice and doesn't feel cheap at all. The included power cable is really nice too as it actually locks into the amp! Not a fan of the vintage style knobs nor the Quilter font but it was lightness and sound I was after.First practice I used it with a Boss Overdrive pedal to push it into a more modern tone. Its not bad without the OD but I needed that little extra. Especially if you're going for modern tone. The OD tightens it right up as it should. This thing sounded tighter than my other tube amps. It had some feedback (we play loud)Had a nice tone. My drummer even commented that he liked the tone of my guitar that night. He didn't even know I had changed gear. The second practice I used it with a Horizon Precision drive and dialed in a very good sound that wasn't tiring to my ears and had more clarity than I was used to. Needless to say, it's here to stay. My plans were never to replace my gig gear as the tube amps have a nice stage presence, but the more I play it the more I feel like it will replace all my amps. Oh and the cleans are really nice! no reverb though. I carry a bookbag with my quilter and pedals (OD pedal and Tuner) and my guitar. That's it. No carrying a heavy amp and leaning my struggling body to one side. Its just as loud as my tube amps except I don't need a hand cart to move it around. I have the watt dialed into about 25w and its loud enough to play over everyone else. I am very happy and the $575 hit is much easier to swallow after it has just saved my back and sounding very very good. Its also rack-mountable with their rack mount kit. I feel myself wanting to sell my tube amps now... almost 'cause old habits die hard.EDIT 01/13/2020: I was feeling run-down and sick before a gig so I decided to use this live instead of lugging my heavy equipment around. It sounded amazing! No fiddling around just plugged in and it sounded clear and loud at the 35w mark. All I had to bring with me was my guitar, OD pedal and tuner pedal....that's it. A guitar and a bookbag. I may switch over from tubes at this point. I'm getting a better sound somehow over my Marshall and EVH (at least for the kind of music we play) and it's MUCH easier to move around. I just recently bought a Positive Grid BIAS mini to compare. Can't imagine being able to pull a better sound (at least right out of the box) but we'll see.

Super loud and lightweight, can't get any better than that. It really does sound like a tube amp.

I’m a 40 year player of tube amps. I thought I’d give this new breed of class D amps a try as I’m tired of carrying 80lb Mesa Boogies and Marshall and Hughes & Kettners and you name it. But that driven tube sound is mandatory. This Quilter is so close it would take an experienced ear to tell the difference. I side by sided it with my new EVH EL34. The EVH is a bit better but the. Convenience of this is worth it. The clean is very good the lead channel is a very good rock rhythm channel. It needs an Overdrive to truly cook though begging the question why didn’t Quilter kick it up but probably wouldn’t be an issue for a majority of players. The crunch channel defeats the EQ and it is not to my liking. The kicker, I have it mounted on my pedal board with everything else minimizing cable length. I run 1 cord back to a Marshall 2x12 or I can run direct without a cab (the direct out really needs a cab emulator though). So overall I’m happy and less gear to deal with. It ain’t cheap but the quality is there. Give it a try I’m very discerning about my sound and I’m happy. (Still use tubes in the studio but damn close).

solid state was weak, solid state is magic now, people behind the quilter products are as close to real magicians and wizards as we will ever see. tubes are linear, simple, more tubes, more heads, more cabs, louder. i’m not saying there is anything wrong with that idea. i personally love it. but these solid state heads are game changers, i have a hard time believing there will be any kind of “limitations” to the future of solid state products. nonlinear. these will go in every direction imaginable and i bet you they will stay the exact same size. very excited for the future of solid state products! i hope quilter will be at the forefront of that future!! long live da real wizards and magicians!!

Unbelievably great sounding little amp, doesn't sound like any solid state amp I've tried before, responds like a tube amp.

This is amazing, you don't have to carry tons of gear to a gig, and it's loud!!

Dirty leaves a bit to be desired but the overall clarity at higher powers is incredible. XLR out is fantastic. Low volume playing is as good as club volumes.

I love this amplifier. It has so much versatility I could not believe so many different sounds came out of this amp. I got a real clean sound at band level volume and good distortion without fault.