frank9310
Full Member
Now dig this baby...
Posts: 146
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Post by frank9310 on Feb 26, 2008 7:45:26 GMT -7
I'll tell you, the more I play the Route 66 the more I love it! When I go play at open stages or just anywhere, it smokes all the Fender vintage and hot rodded to sound like Stevie Ray amps out there. I get one compliment after another at how I have the best tone. I could just listen to it forever the tone is so pure, smooth and singing!
The simplicity of the 3 knobs (volume-tone-bass) really makes the difference when it comes to tone purity. I sometimes use multiple stacked overdrive pedals like the Fulltone Fat Boost, OCD and a Fuzz like the Soul Bender or '69 or '70 but most of the time I just like having the Fat Boost to just push the 66 into a clean, pure and smooth overdrive with a beautiful Strat sound the way it was meant to sound! It is just the sweetest tone on earth to my ears and I know that Jimi would have loved this amp from his earlier recordings because it has just that same level of soul. Yes, this amp's got soul! Mojo!
I used to walk into Guitar Center and want to try all the amps out, all the time and want the latest greatest Marshall JVM or Mesa or whatever and now he minute I turn one on and hear that nasty, raunchy, noisy printed circuit board mess, I flip the switch off and count my blessings that my search is over!
In fact, I have several other amps sitting here such as a hot rodded JCM 900, a Supro, Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, Marshall MG100 DFX and none of them have been turned on since getting the 66 except maybe once or twice as a stereo experiment.
That said, my current rig consists of 3 Strats with different decade custom shop pickups, custom '50s (Trower Signature Strat), Custom '65s (relic), custom '69s into a Fulltone Deja 2>Soul Bender>OCD>GT-500>Eventide TimeFactor (Pristine Delays - Leslie sounds)> Boss TU-2 Tuner into 66 into 2 x12 Celestion G12C speakers (as used in Marshall Jimi Hendrix 100 stack and vintage modern series - made for KT66s) Many more pedals and speakers on the side and occasionally used, but these are the ones I've been using most.
So there's been lots of posts on what you DON'T like about the 66 (as if!) Now let's all weigh in on what you DO like most about it! ;D
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Post by John on Feb 26, 2008 13:40:17 GMT -7
tone
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 26, 2008 18:08:42 GMT -7
+1 for tone and it's easy to use...just 3 knobs.
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Post by LeftyLang on Feb 26, 2008 21:37:11 GMT -7
I love both of the 66 Logos
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Post by dixiechicken on Feb 27, 2008 8:50:44 GMT -7
Ditto for tone of course. As a consequence - this amp sits so easy in mix of everything else. Really easy to use live that way.
Plus for the size and weight of my 2x10" cab and the head. Feels very lightweight compared with my old Fender Blues DeVille.
Added: 2008-03-01: Beeing i bit of techno-geek I like the deceptive simplicity of the amp. Volume, Treble, Bass - 5 tubes only can't have fewer in clas AB-amp.
Cheers: Dixiechicken!
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Post by brad737 on Feb 27, 2008 11:06:36 GMT -7
I like the fact that the 66 is a hand-wired amp versus a PCB P.O.S. I also really like the fact that the knobs make it very easy to operate. Lastly, the tone is frickin' awesome. I think it's the perfect bluesy rock amp.
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Post by iggs on Feb 27, 2008 11:34:10 GMT -7
Forces me to play better.
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Post by The Fifth Column on Feb 28, 2008 22:50:44 GMT -7
Another +1 for tone, but I think what I like the most about this amp is that it can sound massively thick and rich, but is still super articulate. Oh, and simplicity is a good thing.
Just like you, the more I play it the more I love it, and also just like you I went to a Guitar Center recently to play a few LPs (looking to buy) and every amp I plugged into sounded god awful. I'm confident that any guitar will kill with the 66 though.
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Feb 29, 2008 5:50:54 GMT -7
The Route 66 was the first Z I ever bought - I preordered it from the Doc while he was still selling direct!! It is a great amp- especially with NOS KT66's.
About the PCB thing- my degree is in electronics, and I've been into it as long as I can remember (was dipping my own PCB's in third grade). I love hand wired amps (and have made a few myself). I'd just like to stick up for the poor maligned PCB. Amps like new Marshalls, Fenders etc. that are made with thin boards, thin traces, cheap components, and board mounted tube sockets are indeed crap, IMO. However, there are some companies like THD that makes a *great* PCB amp. Look inside a Univalve or Flexi 50- that's the blueprint for how to make a great guitar amp with a PCB. Having said that, I'm not ditching my Z's anytime soon ;D
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Post by martyib on Feb 29, 2008 10:58:16 GMT -7
Brutally honest. I love this thing. It has that certain something either with the hair or without (unfortunately I'm reeeeeaaaaalllly familiar with this). As I play I actually find myself fantasizing about the sound that I'm producing. It's just a wonderful indispensable piece of gear. -Marty
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Post by dixiechicken on Feb 29, 2008 16:45:43 GMT -7
I'm with Phil on this one - there is nothing intrinsic wrong/worse with a PCB-based amp - as compared with a point to point wired one. Only/or one reason PTP-amps are better is because they are generally hand wired boutique amp with high quality components - and as in Z-amps a sound good design. A well designed PCB-amp with high quality components is just as good an amp as any other. It will almost certainly look neater too. It's akin to produce a good quality wine - you can produce really really good wine any way you want - almost. Thing is: 1) You must have clear idea/philosophy of what you want to accomplish. 2) You must be meticulous and precise in your handiwork. 3) You must use top quality ingredients 4) You must have enough knowledge to know what you're doing That's it - if you follow those four rules - you can produce a really good amp - or a very high quality wine - any which way - almost. Cheers: Dixiechicken!
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Post by Dr.T on Mar 1, 2008 2:34:21 GMT -7
I like the fact that it surprises me every time I play in different stages, I can appreciate different colours.
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Mar 1, 2008 6:51:50 GMT -7
One of the biggest advantages in a PCB amp is consistent layout. A sometimes overlooked but *incredibly* important aspect of amp design/building is wire layout or "routing*. Running the wires incorrectly in a guitar amp can lead to all sorts of things from parasitic oscillation, hum, strange noises, bad tone, etc. If you "get it right" and then design a good PCB, this will be exactly consistent from amp to amp to amp.
Just one example: I've seen Fender blackface amps that looked great, but I've worked on silverface amps that were a *mess* and sounded like it. Those parasitic oscillation dampening caps were on there for a reason- band aids for something that should have been done correctly in the first place.
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Post by dixiechicken on Mar 1, 2008 7:10:59 GMT -7
Amen brother - an expensive lesson I learned in the 70:ies - building some fancy tubedriven transformerless stereo hifi-amps. Cheers: Dixiechicken!
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Post by taswegian on Mar 1, 2008 8:29:24 GMT -7
Well, I'd better get in on this thread! For me the Route 66 is just about the perfect power rating. I love KT66 valves and this would have to be one of if not the greatest KT66 designed amp ever. I love the way it inhales pedals, but most of all I love running hot thru a ZBest! Huge big deep crunch. Never harsh, always warm and oh so toneful. Nuff said.
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Post by jwr on Mar 1, 2008 20:20:40 GMT -7
EVERYTHING It's especially great with a Analogman Sunlion. KoT is a close 2nd.
Turn everything to 3:00-dimed. With a Scumback H75 and H55 in my Z-Best I couldn't find a better JTM 45 anywhere.
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Post by dixiechicken on Mar 2, 2008 4:18:21 GMT -7
Yes absolutely - what took you so long Jaye? ;D
I think "iggs" is on to something - just want add what everybody I think has stated but not exactly said straight out.
Playing this amp just make me plain happy - I often sneak down to the rehearsal studio to play the damn thing all by myself - not even trying to learn anything new - just play away.
Cheers: Dixiechicken!
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frank9310
Full Member
Now dig this baby...
Posts: 146
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Post by frank9310 on Mar 3, 2008 10:59:23 GMT -7
Right on! Right on! I figured I'd step back on this one and let it roll like the what you don't like thread. I guess a well designed PCB board with good components could sound good but I've never heard one that souded as naturally clean and pure or rich as the 66. For example, I have a Marshall JCM 900 with EL34s and great tubes, well biased etc. great Celestion speakers, and it sounds great running it in stereo with the 66. In fact, when I run a Fulltone OCD at around 1 o'clock with the 66 at around 9am and the JCM 900 at a similar gain and volume levels, they both get very similar overdrive overtones. However, playing at a nice clean boost level alone, the 900 is noisy, has rough edges, missing a lot of richer tone complexity and is somewhat harsh sounding in comparison to the 66. I like them both but 99 times out of a hundred, I plug into the 66 instead of the 900. An amazing combo though is doing like Robin Trower does running 2 amps, one set on clean and the other at a higher gain for a bigger sound on stage and while recording with mics set at different distances to create spacial depth. So I run a Deja Vibe 2 through both amps at the same time with an OCD set on overdrive and both amps relatively cranked at around 5. You get the smooth creamy milkshake goodness of the 66 combined with the incredible raunchy growl of the 900 and it's just this huge tone all around that's like the earth and heavens just opened up and resonates out their mighty roar back and forth! Yahooo!!!
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