RedWire75
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Posts: 37
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Post by RedWire75 on Feb 21, 2006 11:28:55 GMT -7
I'm trying to tweak my Maz 18 to get the best possible tone w/ my Strat. I've got my Les Paul there and noted all the settings but still fighting with the Strat. I know this is all subjective (depends on guitar, effects, fingers, humidity, etc) but I'm sure a lot of you have spent some considerable time doing this and if nothing else it would be a good starting point. Plus I'd like to see what sound come out with other people's settings for me. I'm currently playing a Fender John Mayer Strat. I like most of his stuff but it's nothing to do with the player, it's really the best Strat that I have played. At least that I can afford!! ;D This is going into a pedalboard with the following: Ernie Ball Volume Pedal Jr, Barber Direct Drive (soon to be replaced with an OCD, when I can find one to hear first), Fulltone Full-Drive 2, SIB Treminator and a Boss DD-3 Digital Delay. Then into a Maz 18-NR Head and Z-Best 2x12 cab. Music samples of what I'm playing can be found at www.wakeupreport.com if you're interested. Thanks for the help!!! Steve
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Post by Lefty on Feb 21, 2006 12:13:01 GMT -7
I don't know if my settings will help you much as I have a 2x10 combo, but just the same here they are...FYI (Fender AM Strat, Rosewood neck with Fralin Woodstocks/bridge baseplate).
Vol-12-1:00 (been toying around with it higher though) Treble-11-1:00 Mid-9-11:00 Bass-11-1:00 Master-1-2:00 (yes it's loud) Cut-9:00
My thoughts to you are to put everything at noon and work from there.
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Post by tele1962 on Feb 21, 2006 14:33:22 GMT -7
Lefty is right as far as I'm concerned. You can't stray too far if you start at 12:00...or let's call it "flat" ?... and work from there. With the junior I like a little bit of hair on it , so I run the volume @ 3:00 and master @ 10 -11:00. Treble 12, Mid 9, Bass 12. If you run the cut up, beware of the extra highs. You may now want to back off the treble a bit if you run the cut control, as a combination of boosted treble and cut makes for some really harsh highs and that's not always enjoyable. This is a mid scooped EQ, and works really well for snappy country stuff, and sounds a bit "black face" in certain ways as well.
I like Lefty's setting as well, and know where he's going with those!
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Post by John on Feb 21, 2006 14:50:04 GMT -7
Since I come from a 'hi gain' background, I want more overdrive from the amp. So here are my settings for my strat;
Volume: 4:00 Treble: 9:00 Mid: 12:00 Bass: 11:00 Cut: 9:00
The only thing I play with is alternate moving either the treble up & cut down, or opposite: treble down & cut up. Never both up at the same time.
Redwire: How do you set the amp for your LP?
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Post by hatstrat on Feb 21, 2006 15:39:37 GMT -7
Redwire:
I have the same set up you do and I wouldn't recommend any one setting because there are so many great tones from the Maz 18 NR Head through a Z Best 2x12.
But here are some settings to consider, because I know my first answer wouldn't give you what you asked for:
The guy who sold me the amp plays in a country rock band in Tennessee and his settings are as follows: Cut 9 o'clock, Master 10 o'clock, Bass 2 o'clock, Mid's 11 o'clock, Treb 9 o'clock, Volume 11 o'clock.
Currently I have mine set at Cut 9 o'clock, Master 11 to 1 o'clock, Bass 12 o'clock, Mid 11 o'clock, Treb 12 o'clock, Volume 1 o'clock.
I think you will like these next settings because you are a Mayer fan; I found out SRV was Mayer's hero when I first heard John play 4 years ago and I predicted he would take a Clapton like road because you can never not be like your idol SRV and not play the blues (Mayer is no Clapton or SRV) but he did go from pop band to blues, the new trio CD he just put out indicates that he is headed down the right path. Here are the settings I recommend for the the Mayer sound, Cut 1 o'clock, Master 11 o'clock, Bass 12 o'clock, Mid 1 o'clock, Treb 10 o'clock, Volume 3 o'clock. Play with the volume of the guitar and throw an RC booster or a modded TS-9 and you should be cookin' in true Mayer fashion. A T-Rex Replica wouldn't hurt either; he loves T-Rex pedals and I can't wait to get one for myself.
I love my strat but by far the best thing I did to my Maz Jr. was upgrade to a 51' Nocaster Relic. "They go together like peas and carrots" or "lamb and tuna-fish" whatever you prefer.
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RedWire75
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Posts: 37
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Post by RedWire75 on Feb 21, 2006 18:28:29 GMT -7
Gtrman... For the LP I've found my setting to have ended up (depending on the room):
Volume: 11:00 Treble: 10:00 Mid: 2:00 Bass: 12:00 Cut: 10:30
But it sounds AMAZING if you just crank the volume all the way up too w/ the LP.... But I still want a clean sound so that doesn't work all the time.
Hatstrat: I'm actually really wanting a '51 Nocaster thinline. Bad. But I'm probably going to go for the G & L ASAT classic I played tonight.... Not to bad, and not NEAR as expensive.
Now if you'll excuse me... I'm off to try some of these out!
Steve
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Post by hatstrat on Feb 22, 2006 6:51:14 GMT -7
There is just something about the feel of the Nocaster that I love; I tried the G&L but each to their own, have fun!
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Post by garyh on Feb 22, 2006 21:20:40 GMT -7
For my strat:
Vol: 3:00 treble: 1:00 middle: 9:00 bass: between 9 and 10:00 master: 12:00 cut: 9:00
This is heavenly with the bridge/middle in between for country and the neck pup for blues. I think it's pretty well where Buddy sets his 38.
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Post by LeftyLang on Feb 23, 2006 21:47:37 GMT -7
1)"Vintage Tweed" Volume Max, T,M,B Max, Master 9-11:00, Rev 10:00, CUT 10-12:00
2) "British Pop" Volume Max, T,M,B 12:00, Master 9-10:00, Rev 10:00, CUT 10-12:00
3) "Black Face Scoop" Volume 9:00, T,B Max, Mid Off, Master Max, Rev 12:00, CUT 10-11:00
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Feb 24, 2006 5:08:00 GMT -7
I can only think of two things to add right now:
1) I primarily play a really sweet Strat built by myself and an awesome local luthier (Jamon Zeiler in Rising Sun, Indiana). It has a swamp ash body, birdseye maple neck, Callaham hardware, and Lindy Fralin '54s. I use a Fulltone TTE and a Xotic RC Booster. When I first got my Jr. NR I struggled with my Strat (for about 10 minutes!) until I realized that I had to use the "Low" input on my Jr! To get that clean/just on the edge of breakup sound, the low input is essential. The "high" input gains out the sound too quickly for me. The "Low" input on Z amps do way more than some other amps- you've got to use 'em! Works great on the Stingray, too, by the way. My RC Booster settings are treble and bass just past 12:00, gain 12-2:00, and volume around noon too.
2) The settings that all the guys are posting sound great with the 2X10 Z setup or the 1X12 combo. However, I use my Jr. with my Z-Best as you do, and the bass must be backed off to around 9:00 or it's too much bass. As BW said once, just turn it up until the bass starts to respond. That seems to happen at a lower setting on the bass control with the Z-Best.
PDW
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RedWire75
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the underground is overcrowded
Posts: 37
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Post by RedWire75 on Mar 2, 2006 9:39:08 GMT -7
Thought I would drop a line to let everybody know what I ended up with for the Strat:
Cut: 11:30 Master: loud as I can get away with Bass: 12:00 Mid: 11:45 Treble: 10:00 Volume: 3:00
Almost Tele-like spank with that Strat sparkle!! Thanks for all the suggestions... it made this a lot easier!
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gstan
Full Member
What, me worry?
Posts: 180
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Post by gstan on Mar 3, 2006 15:22:48 GMT -7
This is some what Buddy-like, great with strats and teles.
Start here:
V=anything past 12:00 T=Start at 1:00-2:00 M=Start at 8:00 B=Start at 8:00 C=Start at 9:30 Reverb to taste Master=like the man said, whatever you can get away with.
With this as a base line start feathering in a little M & B, just to get things filled out and blooming, probably more B than M.
Then work the C and T, to get the right amount of zing, usually as one increases the other will decrease. The interesting thing is the different character that each of these gives to the highs. It really is two different high frequency filters, T in the preamp and C in the power amp, and you will find that you will prefer to use the T with certain pickups or combinations while the C will work better with others.
This approach seems to wake up the touch sensitivity of the amp.
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Post by greenmachine on Mar 3, 2006 16:16:51 GMT -7
my current strat settings
reverb 9:00 cut 11:00 Master 3:00 Bass 1:00 Middle 10:00 Treble 3:00 volume 11:00
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 11:26:49 GMT -7
See my most recent post. My settings are pretty different from what I usually see for the Maz 18, but I think they may solve your Strat problems, which is what I play too. In order to get the fattest, creamiest, biggest pedal-based overdrive tones out of a Strat (I use the neck PUP for those EJ style lead tones), you need to crank the Cut knob and then tame the high end with the Treble knob to taste (see my settings). You also need to use the high gain input and run your Mid knob substantially above 12:00 (I set mine to 1:30).
I found the best balance between amp and pedal distortion by running the Maz 18 Volume at 12:00 and the FD2 Volume around 1:00, which also assumes you're using the tube complement and EQ settings I listed. Every single tube in this amp makes a huge difference in tone & feel, especially when running pedals upfront.
Well, give those setting a try and lemme' know how you make out.
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 11:41:12 GMT -7
One other thing. That Vintage 30 in the Z-Best may also be contributing to some of your headaches. I just have never been able to live with the harsh high mids in those things. You might want to try replacing it with an Avatar "Hellatone-30" (which is an aged Celestion 70th Anniversary G12H-30) or an Eminence Wizard (which is based on the Celestion G12H-30) or a Weber 1230 (which is also based on the Celestion G12H-30).
I read in one post below about a guy having trouble with the Tone Tubby Hempcone H1E and I agree that it's a bad choice for the Maz 18. I have an H1E in my Hot Cat 30R combo and it sounds incredible with that amp, but really lousy with the Maz 18. The slightly scooped mids of the G12H-30 work extremely well the Maz 18 settings I listed and the Fulldrive 2 in Vintage mode.
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Post by humphreyaudio on Mar 19, 2006 19:38:05 GMT -7
This subject is totally dependent on the type of pickups used, what effects are in your chain, etc.
I Mod my own Strats. I use all Lace Holy Grail pickups. HG1000's in neck and middle, and an HG1500 in the bridge. I utilize star grounding to rid the instrument of the accidental group loop from the factory which they've never bothered to correct in almost 50 years.
I run a master tone knob, which is a Delta tone set up. At '10' there is a detent on the pot, and no tone load at all on the guitar. I use a .0047 tone cap too. Literally all stock tone caps are WAY TOO DARK to be of any use really, and with this cap I can approach Les Paul land when I pull it back to around '5'. Since I play a WIDE variety of music with these guitars, that comes in handy. I leave it on '10' or bypassed with all pickup selections except for the Bridge pup, which is too bright without a tone load. I regularly run the tone on'7' with the bridge pickup selected.
Amp settings:
VOLUME: 11:00 TREBLE: 12:00 MIDDLE: 10:00 BASS: 12:00 MASTER Anywhere from 9:00 to dimed, depending on venue. CUT: 3:00
I get a nice crisp, clean Strat tone, with plenty of control over the high end using my tone knob to make adjustments accordingly.
I also use my volume control to take me through many different shades of guitar, and I regularly use two drive pedals, one heavy, one for SRV style blues and classic rock and country.
I get everything I need with this set up at all times, and I've been very satisfied with it after having had 50 something amplifiers in the past.
I'm diggin' it!
Mark Humphrey Humphrey Audio
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