Carl Martin Quattro 2

I bought this unit 2 month ago and I did gigs with from the start. No long reading through manuals...wonderfull!

The range of settings in every effect is - in my opinon - limited in a very positive way, because it is allmost impossible to create a really bad sounding setting. I think - there are two possible ways to assess this...
1) if you are looking for extreme sounds and surprisingly effects - forget it - Don??t buy the Quattro 2.
2) when you want to obtain a very good sound that can reproduce the wellknown Rock - and Pop-Sounds that we all expect in a good performance - compared to the Live - and -Radio-Standards in the last two decades - this unit can do it for you.

I encountered a problem when I tried to conect my old MXR Phaser to the Quattro2-loop (thats the place where all aditional effects should be placed) there was a loud snap-noise when I pushed the MXR-pedal on and off. I asked our technician and he figured out, that it was because of the buffer-circutry in the MXR. I tryed different other stompboxes and finally I found my solution.
The easiest way is two stick to CM-Stuff. They all fit (and sound) together very well.
The quattro 2 sounds as you expect an analog device should sound.

Typically I gig or rehearse without a backup (a strat, a 335 and my standard setting), because if something would broke down, I can rely on my Koch-Amp alone. It has a wonderful sound on its own.
I bought it two month ago - no problems so far...but that??s what I expect from every high-price-good-quality-handmade-in-Europe-gadget.
It does what it should do. It works well.

Never dealt with them.

I was born in 1962 and I started guitar-playing in 1978 with no break since. Currently I am playing in two semi-professional Bands (Cover-Songs from the 80th(the Hits) and Dance-Songs from Motown to Chic and every now and then with a RocknRoll Band in my sparetime.
I bought all the fashionable things in their bloom: Racks and different Amps (too many to name them). I finally found in 1998 a Koch Multitone-Amp and it was like heaven. (If you are looking for a real versatile and affordable Amp - Please: Read the Koch Multitone Amp-Reviews!!!) I used a lot of stomp boxes and also a POD through the serial loop and was never really satisfied with all aspects of the sound (..allthough the Amp alone is brilliant). A friend recommended the Quattro 2 and it was like love on first sight.
My current setting is:
Main Guitars: A Fender Stratocaster (USA) or a Gibson 335
Effect Chain: Korg Pitchblack Tuner (the new one - Great!), a Cry Baby Housing with a Red devil -Roger Mayer - Mod-Kit, the Quattro 2 and a Rocktron Nitro Booster.
I plan to add two more effects in the Quattro2-effect-loop! A CM Two Faze (Phaser) and a TremOVib
Amp: Koch Multitone Combo 2x12 50W

I give a clear "10" for the convincing sound and a "11" for the Easyness of adjusting it. Wonderful concept!
I recommended the Quattro to my musician-friends and I also want to recommend it to you. Try it out. It is worth every $ or ???.
If you have any question: wright an email

This is a extension of my previous review of the Quattro 2.

There is a problem with the chorus in this unit. As the previous reviewer said, there is a hiss when engaged; not too much for me, but the other problem with the chorus is what made me change my Quattro 2 for the old version, the one with tremolo.

I bought a Boss FBM-1 (Boss Fender Bassman pedal), I plugged it in the effect loop of the Quattro, and as I turned on the chorus the noise was terrible. Not only hiss, but something like a spaceship inside my amp. I wrote Carl Martin (best customer service, even on their holidays! Sorry, Rid!) and they told me that???s because something about the LFO of the chorus, that makes Quattro unusable with certain pedals. Anyway, I tried other three pedals in the effects loop and everything was fine.

But I decided to change it, because maybe I will add other stompboxes in the future, and it may happen the same problem again.

Be sure to try the quattro before buying it if you need to add pedals in the loop, and it won??t happen to you what happened to me.

Anyway, still happy with it. More than happy, I am in love with this thing???

First of all, sorry for my poor english, I??m spanish.

I think it???s impossible make a multieffects easier to use. I??ve been a pro for fifteen years, I??ve owned lots and lots of gear (racks, stompboxes, multieffects, modelers, etc), and this is the best sounding and easier to operate thing I??ve ever had. Guitar, amp, Quattro, a couple of cables, and ready to rock!

Friday afternoon I picked it up and in the evening I had to play with it. No time to try it, so I was a little scared; I don??t like going to a show without testing and trying my gear.

Well, it was plug in the guitar, light up the quattro and everything was PERFECT. Easy, noiseless, great sound, no cables or adapters... What more can you ask for?

The manual doesn??t show much, I??ve only missed some suggested settings, but this thing is really like four simple stompboxes, so there's no need for a manual.

I??m not looking for a certain artist sound, but with this thing, a little tweaking and, most important of all, a good ear, you can find lots of good and different sounds.

I have used it with a couple of Fender Strats: a Plus Deluxe with Lace Sensors and a JB on bridge, and a Deluxe with Noiseless.

I use compressor as a booster (clean, transparent, and a lot of db to boost), distortions are clear and can go very far (no metal, no rectifier, but I doesn??t need that kind of sound: I need good definition and lots of sustain, and this thing has both things), chorus is clear and great (turning up speed you can get a little close to leslie sounds; in fact, the other night I played ???While my guitar gently weeps??? and the sound were very close to the original), and the echo (don??t know why isn't called delay??? maybe because it doesn??t have a useless 16 seconds delay time? For me, it??s a delay) is very analog sounding, warm and with a maximum time of 1000 ms, which I think it??s more than enough. Tap tempo works right, but I have only two things to complain about this effect: when you turn off the quattro, the delay tempo disappears, every time you turn the thing on, you have to tap again to get the tempo you want, and that??s the other thing I don??t like: yo don??t have a ???tempo knob???, only the tap button. That??s the only reason I give it a 9 instead of a 10.

The thing is incredibly quiet. I don??t play with lots of gain, but in drive two and with the compresor on (lead sound with big sustain), I thought there was going to be a lot of noise. There???s not. There is noise, obviously, but 10% of what you would have with a normal compressor and a very saturated amp (or pedal). I think I can live without a noise gate. When I add more pedals in the loop, maybe I??ll need it, but for now it???s ok.

I use a Koch Studiotone (tubes, class A, 20 w, incredible clean and crunch sound and incredible high volume for such a small thing), and I wasn??t able to get a good distorted sound out of it. Tried with the amp tube distortion, and with a good number of pedals (some stock, some boutique). With the Quattro I can. Before I bought the Quattro I was thinking about getting another stompbox for a lead distorted sound with more gain, but for now I think I don??t need it.

Only had it for three days. Tonight is my third show with it, so I don??t know about reliability of the unit. But if Carl Martin says their warranty is forever, I think they believe in the reliability of their products.

Of course, I use and will use it without a backup. Metal, solid, hard... I think it will last (maybe as much as my Marshall JTM 310, which I have played in aprox. 1500 shows and still working!).

Best of all customer supports I??ve known. I??ve said before I have owned hundreds of things (really hundreds, 15 years as a pro and ten more as an amateur). Most of customer support don??t mind about the customer, they only want you to spend the money and then they disappear.

Before I was a Carl Martin user, I wrote a message in Carl Martin forum. It was sunday morning, and my question was answered in half an hour. Great. You can find Niels (Rid is his nick) in other forums (The Gear Page forum, or the Carl Martin forum) answering quickly and clearly questions from anyone.

I play mostly rock, pop, and blues. I??ve been playing for almost 25 years, and have had too much gear to list here. Now I usually use two sets of gear: one for small clubs (Fender Strat Plus Deluxe with lace sensors and JB, Koch Studiotone and lots of pedals before i had the Quattro. Now is guitar, amp and Quattro. I??m happy!), and the other for recordings and musicals (I usually work on musical theaters, and there you can??t go with an amp, that??s forbidden!) which consist of POD, Variax, and that kind of gear. It??s not the best sounding gear, but it's useful and it makes well its work.

If it was stolen or lost, I would buy it again. I love its simplicity, its quality, that it's noiseless, its very good switches, its weight (only 2 kgs). I only miss what I said above about delay features, but you can always add a delay in the loop. But I think I won??t do that, I??ll get used to te tap tempo thing. It can??t be compared to other products, as there is not other thing like this in the market. Every digital multieffects (and I??ve tried and owned almost all of them), sound like a toy compared to this thing (I mean straight into an amp, that things are very good and useful for recording and plug to PA, but destroy the sound of a good tube amp).

It help me to make music, because I don??t worry about menus, screens, lost of sound quality, cables, adapters... I only worry about playing and enjoying the show.

I think it??s the perfect thing for a pro or an amateur musician that wants to keep things simple, have the best sound, and don??t spend too much money. Yes, it's no bargain, but after years of trying almost everything there is in the market, I think bargains doesn't exist. Anyway, this are four (really five, with the two distortions) pedals. If you want four stompboxes with that quality of sound, plus adapters, cables, and a bag to keep it all together, you'll be spending so much money... Well, this is a bargain.

Bad thing is now I want a phaser, and maybe a fuzz, and all those little Carl Martin pedals are calling me, I hear their voices in the night, and when I go to my local shop they look at me and say "adopt me, adopt me...". Don??t know what my wife will say about that...

This review is for the model with the Vintage Chorus. Very easy to use. You can dial in your sounds real fast. I got rid of my Boss GT-8 to buy this. I am an Electrical Engineer by trade, and even I grew tired of all the messing around I did with the Boss Product. I really like the ease of use...I don't know how it could be much easier. My only grip would be that the two overdrives really could not be set to significantly different sounds, as there is only one volume control for them.

I found the sound not quite what I expected. The Echo was awsome! All aspects of it sounded great. The chorus added a whole bunch of hiss when engaged, and it prevented me from using it. The overdrives, OK, but nothing to write home about. Compared to my Fulltone OCD, the overdrives were flat. The compressor did not seem to do much...I'm used to my Barber Tone Press, so that would be my basis for comparrison...and it does not come close.

Rock solid! I have had several Carl Martin products, and all of them are mini tanks!

No idea...I did send them some emails on the Quattro before I bought it and they got back to me pretty quick. That's better than a lot of the companies out there!

I like Blues, Jazz type of music. This should have fit the bill, but it just did not match up to the pedals I am used to. I play with several bands, Christian music mostly, and it would have been great for what I needed. In the end, I got rid of it and went back to my analog pedal and bought a delay from Analalogman to fill out my pedals. I might have got a bad Quattro, but maybe I am just too picky.

Very Easy, no manual needed.

No noise at all, very transparent. It lets your true tone stay true and pure.

We will see.

Not yet

I play Metal -blues and this seems to fit the bill. www.abinlist.com

Carl Martin chained four effects together and simplified the controls for each.A 6 year old child could get a sweet sound out of the Quattro in 3 minutes.Foot buttons for effect on/off.Effects loop for any other pedal(s)One page of what is not really a manual is included but Quattro does not need a manual unless you have never played guitar before in which case why would you have a Quattro?

Spooky transparent.No tone sucking like my other effects.I have a PRS Santana 3 going into a Buddha Wah into the Quattro then an Alessandro Working Dog.I get hiss from the Wah,the Quattro's high gain drive and Compressor when I turm the Amp gain up really high which dissapears when I play.This is not relly important as I am doing a 1968 feedback type thang with this gain setting.All effects are well above average.These are quality effects from a quality manufacterer.The effects are all balanced to work well with each other and none are set at either the low or high end of the spectrum.You can get an expensive seperate effect that may sustain a little more or throw a more wicked echo but you will be pleased with the range of all the included effects.

Rock solid build quality.Heavy direct electrical cord plug-in,no wall-wart.Cannot imagine it breaking even if you threw it out a motel window in a black-out.

www.carlmartin.com has answered any question I have asked.New Jersey distributer has always been there for me.This company cares about it's customer's and reputation

I vary between a melodic Santana bag to a 60's psychedelic,feedback laced heavy thing.Have played 30 years.I had a Boss GT-6,Mesa Boogie and hated all the controls and variables.What a relief the Quattro and Alessandro are.I would replace it in a heartbeat.It is unigue.I am on the list for a Zendrive 2 and plan on putting it in the effects loop to get a completely over-the-top overdrive.You have to buy handbuilt Pete Cornish grade effects to match or beat the performance of Carl Martin.

This is the new version that replaces Tremolo with Chorus, for me this makes a great unit perfect for stage use, great sound, simple to use, very quiet.

Chorus is vintage sounding Carl Martin, added to great compression, delays and 2 overdrives

Just got it but Carl Martin stuff is very well built and reliable

Never needed it, never had issues and dont need manuals

Great unit, great sound, easy to use, very quiet, put a wah in front of it and you have a perfect stage set up