22
QuiDLeY
beautiful, sparkling Andy Summers-esque cleans
and soft mid-gain tones suddenly gave way to an
onslaught of ripping, aggressive Malcolm Young
sounds. The new tones had more of a Marshall
flavor, reminiscent of the famous 18-watter
that has enjoyed a recent revival amongst tone
enthusiasts (Ed Quidley credits this revival as the
start of the low-wattage amp trend). With the
amp in such a belligerent state, I figured that a
solid humbucker guitar was in order, namely a
2006 Gibson Flying V with a Bareknuckle Warpig
in the bridge position. The Warpig is a very hot
pickup, but thick and clear at the same time,
great for just about any use, but geared more
towards higher gain rock tones. At this point, I
was pretty much pushing the Quidley as far as
it could go in the gain and volume department,
and it held up very well. Some of the more modern riffing that I threw at it was too glassy, but
that’s the nature of the amplifier itself. Personally,
I was surprised at how well it handled vintage
Sabbath. Most low-wattage tube amplifiers that
I’ve come across have too much high end and
too little definition when highly saturated for
those sorts of applications. For the Billy Gibbons
crowd, this is definitely an amp that should be on
the radar, as dropping the Tone knob down to 6
and playing double stops gave some extremely
satisfying and thick tones.
the Final Mojo
The past few years have seen the release of
plenty of low-powered tube amplifiers. Luckily,
many have been quite good, with their manufacturers understanding that a small tube
amp produces tones all of its own, tones that
usually cannot be produced by their stadium-ready brethren. The Quidley 22 more than
easily handles those sounds, and also pumps
them out at a volume that can sit well in a
band setting. The internal power attenuator is
a major step in the right direction of expanding versatility, while keeping the tone vibrant
without dropping the low end frequencies that
plague many other devices with that purpose.
It’s most certainly a vintage-voiced amplifier,
so players needing a darker, more modern
overdrive should probably consider other
options. However, for that player looking for
that intoxicating, singing tone that only the
best low wattage amps provide, the Quidley
22 serves it up in spades.
you want a simple but classy and
feature-rich tone machine won’t
blow your eardrums out.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you need more modern overdrive
tones or a lot more power.
Rating...
4. 5
ONTHEWeb
Click here to hear sound
clips of the amp in action at
premierguitar.com
Quidley Guitar Amplifiers
MSRP $2699 (as reviewed);
$1999 (head only); $2169 (combo)
quidleyamps.com
MUSIC IS PRICELESS. YOUR GUITAR? BETTER CHECK THE BLUE BOOK.
BOOK & CD-ROM
(84-1886768935)
$39.95
includes:
• over 1,200 pages
• Features bound-in CD-RoM
with over 7,500 color guitar
images
• Pricing for vintage and new
guitars is completely revised,
and nearly all 2009 makes
and models are listed.
Blue Book of Acoustic Guitars, 12th Edition
(84-1886768943)
Book & CD-ROM, $29.95
Blue Book of Guitars on CD-ROM, 12th Edition
(84-1886768951)
CD-ROM, $49.95
ALso AvAiLAbLe :
All prices in $US and
subject to change.
