Quilter Aviator Mach 3 Head

[Francesco Porcu]

Hi guys good evening to you, I wanted to ask if there was anyone among the forum users who has used this Quilter Aviator Mach 3 Head with the steel, I would like to build an amp and use this head since it has the ideal dimensions in length plus it has two channels and the reverb, in the past I owned a Quilter Tone Block 202 and a Quilter Steelaire rack mount but I sold them because the sound of my steel was medium high a sharp sound in short, it lacked warmth towards the medium low frequencies, I obtained a perfect sound with the Dv Mark Little GH250 head that I have been using regularly since 2019 in my live combined with an Effectrode Black Bird valve preamp and I get a perfect sound, as a pickup I use the BL 705 Chrome (my favorite), and as a speaker now and since 2017 I use the Peavey Black Widow 1201-8 model with black central ball and I get the sound that you will hear in my videos that You'll see it on my YouTube channel. If any of you have used and tested this head, I'd appreciate it if you'd leave your feedback. Thanks to everyone who leaves a feed and shares their experiences. I'll include the link to my YouTube channel where you can hear the sound of my steel guitar that I get with the rig I mentioned earlier. Enjoy the music, Francesco.

https://www.youtube.com/@francescoporcumusic308

[Rick Contino]

Hi Francesco! I use this head as my main amp these days. I have it in a case next to me while I play so I can adjust settings easily. In my opinion, this is far better than having a combo amp for pedal steel.

I have struggled with getting enough volume out of this head. Now I always bring a boost pedal with me, which helps quite a bit. If things get really loud I switch it to the "Plexi" voicing which has way more headroom than the "1965" which is my preferred sound for classic steel.

I love the versatility of the amp though. The two switchable channels are really nice. I set one as a clean channel and the other channel for dirty overdrive. I also like the built in effects. I can get a pretty gnarly sound just by using the onboard voicing of the amp (Plexi, Sweet, or Top Boost) and turning up the gan and "distortion boost" control. The onboard tremolo is also pretty versatile and nice to have.

I also keep a set of headphones hooked up to the head and in my case so I can tune and warm up as much as I want to during sound check.

[Francesco Porcu]

Hi Rick, thank you for your comprehensive reply, which really helped me make my decision. I've owned two Quilters in the past, the Steelaire rack mount and the Tone Block 202. I sold both of them because they weren't powerful enough while I was playing live with a 9-piece Dire Straits band on stage, as you'll see in my YouTube videos. The Steelaire rack mount sounded flat, lacking in mid-bass, and here the sound wasn't warm. I use the chrome Bill Lawrence 705 in my steel amps. The Tone Block 202 sounded a little better, but those front-facing inputs, send, return, and inputs, all so close to each other, bothered me and created space issues. Thanks again for your reply, and I wish you a good day. Francesco

[Rick Contino]

I am happy to help! Yeah, with a boost pedal and the "Plexi" setting you will blow the rest of the band out of the water. I use the Sarno Earth Drive as a boost, but imagine any boost would work.