Quilter Labs Phantom Block Phantom Powered Electric Guitar Interface

I'm stunned at how great this is for direct recording.I was hoping it was just be passable, to lay down some demos without cranking up my amp to record it. Well, it sounds gorgeous. Clean to medium light gain especially. Works brilliantly with a pedal board.One extra thing I did was use IR software in Pro Tools when recording. Specifically, an IR plugin called Pulse. It's free, and comes with a default IR, which is the one I use. I leave the Phantom Block Cam Sim switch on, but also use the Pulse IR plugin. Tones are smooth and sound fantastic. The Phantom Block changed everything for me in regards to recording. Did not expect to like it quite this much. I've used lots of different direct recording methods, including lots of different guitar amp sim plugins, and also the Strymon Iridium. It's safe to say the Phantom Block is my favorite solution so far.

I play bass through it and love it. It doesnt come with a power supply, you can power it many ways but make sure you got at least a 9v when it shows up.

As the silent rehearsal & amp-less live show approach is becoming more and more common, this little DI is ideal. Yes, if you plan to run your guitar straight into this, with few effects, you shouldn't expect too much from it. However, this box is outstanding, a must-have, for anyone running their pre-dialed-in tones (via pedal chain or FX processor) to your PA or amp. I run a variety of IRs in my FX patches and when all that is run through the Phantom Block, there is no compromise to the tones. The simple 3 knob eq set up on the box really helps boost tones quickly on the fly.The ONLY reason I don't give it 5 stars is due to lack of a secondary or parallel 1/4 output so you can run a line to your amp, should it ever be needed for some stage volume. Fortunately, my processer has secondary line out options so I'm unaffected by this, but it could be a potential issue for someone else.

The phantom block is a mixed bag. On one hand, I like the power options (battery, phantom, and powered 9v) which many preamps have, however, the block has a dedicated switch for battery operation. This is good if you’re the type like me that likes to keep the guitar cable connected at all times. This won’t drain the battery. Also, the FRFR (flat frequency) switch may be good for acoustic operation however I haven’t tried that as of yet.My main quibble is that it just doesn’t have a variety of tones. Logic would suggest that if one turns up the gain and the master down, you’d get a dense tone. Conversely, turning the gain down and the master up would produce a cleaner tone. But oddly, they seem to sound pretty much the same. So I feel like what’s even the point of the gain knob. Oh sure you can max it out and it will overdrive, but it sounds pretty bad.I’m on the fence about the phantom block. If tone is like a stew, then this your chicken broth. It’s waiting for elements to be added to it.It would be nice to have a ground lift as well, but it’s not a deal breaker. The pots could be a bit cleaner too when turning.For a hundred bucks, I’d say it’s worth it if you know what you’re getting going in. I marked this as 3 stars but it’s probably closer to 3 1/2. There are other options worth considering out there, but, the battery switch and analog nature of the phantom block are good,reasons for quick and easy (and tonally basic) operation.

This is terrible to track with and live its just lacking in everything tonal

I used the phantom block for the first time yesterday during service, and it worked as promised. It was set with the 9 volt battery not phantom power, so I can't tell you about that. It gives you control to set set up your sound and signal strength to the sound board before the sound tech makes adjustments and balance with you and the singers. I used a Schecter C1- E/A guitar it has peizo and humbucker pick ups combined. This created a very hot signal, I was told by the sound tech I was at 1db. I'll try a guitar with just humbucker next week to brind up the balance. This piece of equipment is well worth the money when you have to go ampless.

Takes a while to dial in a usable sound. Clean sound is just OK but that is all it is useful for. If I just needed this for practicing quietly or for an emergency replacement then it would be sufficient but I was looking to permanently replace my stage amp. It falls short in that regard. Might be acceptable for your use but when you just want to add a few electric guitar songs to your solo set, its not worth the effort. I decided to just use a MoJo MoJo pedal with my acoustic guitar for songs that need a little more grit or boost during the solos. Can't bend strings as well on acoustic so I just modify how I play solos and that seems to work. Good luck!

This outstanding bit of technology turned up at exactly moment that I needed it. I bought two in order to send stereo signal from my pedalboard. Simple, good-sounding, and versatile enough for me to run either acoustic or electric.