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Post by gotmojo on Jul 12, 2010 15:38:55 GMT -7
Well ..... The Route 66 came in. Plugged in and began the A-B'ing thang with the Rem and Maz18. The 66 is nice enough. Gotta jack it all the way up to dimed status on the volume to get it to distort the way we rockers like it (and then just barely enough), then need to put the Air Brake on it to use it in the home setting, 2 clicks off to match up with the Rem on low setting. Here's the thing: if you just plug into the 66 it seems pretty hip, treble dimmed and bass at 11 o'clock. But as soon as you switch to the Rem, you realize the 66 sounds like the Rem with your Tele's tone knob turned down more than half way. Yeah, the 66 has a little tighter low end to it, but I can get essentially the same sound with some twisting of knobs on the guitar or on the other amps. Can get the Maz to sound like the 66 by turning the cut knob WAY back, like 8-9 o'clock!. Can get the Rem to sound like the 66 by running the hi vol on 9 o'clock and the normal volume on 2-3 o'clock (I love the hi on 1-3 and the normal on noon-1). So my question to myself is: why do I want an amp that is very limited in tone when I can get nearly the same tone on another amp, and the other amp has the versatility of lots more tonal choices. I'm afraid the 66 is gonna be a bit too dark for me to use very much, if at all. Read the 66 blogs about pedals et al to bring out the highs, but why bother? Just plug into the Rem and go for it. If I want dark, I'll roll off my Tele's tone knob or twiddle the amp. I'll give it a few more tries, but I'm afraid it's not for me. Watch for it on eBay? Any Einsteins out there with a philosophical solution? I had high hopes that the good Dr.'s amps would be lovable, every one. Reality bites. So, I'm a lil disappointed, but not disheartened. (My sickness: I still wanna try a Galaxie and a Maz38 and a RxES! Will I never learn?)
Aside philosophical question: Gonna post this on Rem and 66 threads to go for maximum exposure and feedback. Is that a bad thing?
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Post by markT on Jul 12, 2010 16:59:32 GMT -7
Sorry to hear about the 66....but glad to hear about the Remedy! I've got one on order and never set eye's on one. All the good Dr's amps are works of art and there are different flavors for different folks. I started with a Carmen Ghia and loved it! So I got a RxES 2-12 and although it had a spectacular, deep, clear, clean sound...I didn't care for the way it sounded when it started to break up. I sold that one and bought the Maz Jr NR w/blue I have now....It sounded so awesome, I sold the Ghia to fund a Maz 38. I liked the 38 but for some reason the Jr had more lowend than the 38. So..I sent it back and have the Remedy on the way! I'm hoping that one will be THE one... I use a 2 amp stereo set up so the Rem & Maz will be killa....I'm sure. That's my short story. I'm sure there are others here that love every one of Doc's amps...some even have the complete collection. So...I feel your disappointment and Glad your not dishearten....move on to the next flavor!~
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Jul 12, 2010 18:39:56 GMT -7
If you look over the Doc's web site, you see almost two dozen different amplifiers there. Every one of them (and several that have been discontinued) have their particular fan clubs. Some have bigger fan clubs (the Maz Jr NR comes to mind here) but a lot of great music has been made with every one of them. But they are not all for every musician. I know. I've been through about eleven of them, but I only have six right now. The others, as good as they were, did not do it for me. And some of those that I let go are VERY popular amps. They just aren't exactly what I was looking for at the time, and if I had more space here I'd still have them all. No foul, it is what it is. Now I'm retired from playing out, so I'm thinking I need to trim a bit more, and there are really only two amps that I'll not separate from: The Maz Jr NR and the Remedy. I bet I'd love the Z-Wreck, but it seems a lot to spend just for noodling in the basement. Anyway, give the Rt 66 a bit of a try on a gig - you might be surprised. All of my Z amps were entirely different once cranked up on a stage next to the bass player's thundering mountain of bottom end.
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Post by markT on Jul 12, 2010 19:20:25 GMT -7
If you look over the Doc's web site, you see almost two dozen different amplifiers there. Every one of them (and several that have been discontinued) have their particular fan clubs. Some have bigger fan clubs (the Maz Jr NR comes to mind here) but a lot of great music has been made with every one of them. But they are not all for every musician. I know. I've been through about eleven of them, but I only have six right now. The others, as good as they were, did not do it for me. And some of those that I let go are VERY popular amps. They just aren't exactly what I was looking for at the time, and if I had more space here I'd still have them all. No foul, it is what it is. Very well said Steve~
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 12, 2010 19:53:37 GMT -7
Um ......... I may have been a little wrong, maybe a little confused. Maybe just a little green and a little stupid. Just finished a little run of Keefing on the 66 now with the volume backed off to about 1-2 o'clock and it is, um, actually, um, a superb sounding amp and I don't know what I was king saying earlier this afternoon. Maybe you needn't watch eBay for it to show up for auction after all (though there are two of 'em on eBay right now for $1150, one is a good looking tan one!). I did order one of those dario EF86's and I'll look into that bias adjusting, thanks to G on the Studio 66 thread. I'm not beyond tweaking an amp in ways I have absolutely no knowledge of. I rock and roll. I make snap judgements on amps I haven't given a fair shake to! I'm an idiot! I end sentences with prepositions!
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 12, 2010 20:07:37 GMT -7
Now if I just had the guts to order a Galaxie .......? (Would life then be complete?)
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Jul 12, 2010 21:05:59 GMT -7
Now if I just had the guts to order a Galaxie .......? (Would life then be complete?) It would be closer, but you need to try them all...
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 13, 2010 5:32:15 GMT -7
And I do mean "need"! Yes! Embrace the addiction. Getchure arms around it!
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Post by taswegian on Jul 13, 2010 6:38:14 GMT -7
There is nothing I could do to make my Remedy sound like my Route 66. They are very different and there is a girth and thickness that no matter what, the Remedy just won't get. Keep in mind that the tone controls after 12 oclock, saturate those frequencies. You really don't get more treble or bass by turning them past 12 oclock, you just get mre breakup. So if you're looking for more rock breakup you need to turn the treble and bass knobs both up high like around 3 oclock. On my 66 with an inefficient speaker and humbucker guitar I get plenty of crunch with tone knobs at 12 and volume at 10-11, so you can generally set it up to your liking. A Tele you will have to wind up those tone controls and volume. The nice thing about the 66 live, is it just sits in the mix wonderfully, and is so mid strong that it's always prominent but never harsh.
The Remedy however has that classic upper mid grind and bite that says "classic Marshall" and it's fairly hard (for me at least) to get the 66 to sound like the Rem. Which is why I have both! ;D
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 13, 2010 8:20:29 GMT -7
Yeah Taz, I agree. You can't get the 66 to sound like the Rem. And the 66 always has that cool smooth mid that the Rem really doesn't quite get, but I can get it fairly close through a tight speaker cab (my Matchless 2-12). I'm playing the Rem mostly through an old Vox cab from the 60's with silver Celestian bulldogs - softens up the low a bit but sound really good. Playing the Remi, thus far, through the tighter Matchless. Hope you read my reassessment thread above. The 66 is a great sounding amp, and those mids and the full, tight lows are a cool and useful tone. Sounds better not cranked to the max. Look forward to trying it with the band.
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Post by asattwanger on Jul 13, 2010 9:24:35 GMT -7
Glad your starting to like the RT66, but what you say about it sounding like the tone nob was turned down on a tele. That is kinda how I felt on the Z-28 once I got it cookin. Like my guitar was no good unless it was in the bridge pickup. That is why I like bright amps. I can always and generaly do tone it down a bit with the tone nob.
DAVE
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 13, 2010 9:31:33 GMT -7
Yeah, but my error was to play the 66 wide open on the volume (with the air brake down a few notches). That produced a pretty dark tone, not bad, just dark. By turning the volume knob back to 2 o'clock or less, the overbearing darkness went away, letting the mids and highs come through - very nice. Very useful, I think. Very Stonesy. Sounded great on a wide variety of tunes and on any pickup setting. Eating my earlier words tastes pretty good, actually.
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Post by asattwanger on Jul 13, 2010 18:52:33 GMT -7
Cool, but not me. I ended up selling the Z-28 for a RxJr which I liked much better. It's alot brighter. The Z-28 did have some cool tones but it was always just to brown.
Good luck with the 66.
Dave
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Post by taswegian on Jul 13, 2010 21:47:27 GMT -7
Yeah Taz, I agree. You can't get the 66 to sound like the Rem. And the 66 always has that cool smooth mid that the Rem really doesn't quite get, but I can get it fairly close through a tight speaker cab (my Matchless 2-12). I'm playing the Rem mostly through an old Vox cab from the 60's with silver Celestian bulldogs - softens up the low a bit but sound really good. Playing the Remi, thus far, through the tighter Matchless. Hope you read my reassessment thread above. The 66 is a great sounding amp, and those mids and the full, tight lows are a cool and useful tone. Sounds better not cranked to the max. Look forward to trying it with the band. Boy, I bet those cabs sound great! I should have added I love playing the Rem and 66 together in stereo. That is one big fat crunch and they can be played together at stage volume quite comfortably. In my head I'm thinking of a rig that is an A/B rig but in stereo with the 66 set just breaking up with the A side bringing in a rocked out Remedy and the B side bringing in a Stangray clean thru 2-12 blues. So the 66 would be always on and the switch would bring in either the Remedy for dirt or the Stang for clean alongside the 66. I don't even know if that's possible but it kinda has me excited thinking about it. Might have to throw that question in the experts section. sorry getting sidetracked and yep I agree, the 66 is a great Keef amp.
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Post by gotmojo on Jul 14, 2010 8:48:48 GMT -7
Hey Taz, a great piece of gear for multiple amp owners is the Voodoo Lab Amp Switcher. Allows you to hook up 4 amps and then switch between them or add any of them on at the same time as the others, potentially switching on 4 amps at once. Is a powered unit, and there seems to me to be no loss of signal going through it (read their blurb on the unit at the Voodoo website). You could easily have a Stang and a Rem and a 66 plugged in and leave the 66 running all the time, and add in the Stang or Remi as your little heart desires. The switching on and off of amps is totally silent. Let's you plug into several amps at home and do amp comparisons with ease, even A-B'ing to see if you can get similar sounds outta different amps. We sometimes use it for recording: run the track and try several different amps to see which you like best for the guitar track of that tune. Pretty hip. I use the poop outta mine.
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Post by Adman103 on Jul 14, 2010 20:40:59 GMT -7
Choosing between a couple of gorgeous instruments is a pretty nice problem to have!!!
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Post by chetz on Jul 14, 2010 20:44:37 GMT -7
Choosing between a couple of gorgeous instruments is a pretty nice problem to have!!! No crap! .....can I say crap on this board? ;D Everyone has their tonal prefecences and upstram gear from the amp.
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Post by taswegian on Jul 14, 2010 21:15:53 GMT -7
Hey Taz, a great piece of gear for multiple amp owners is the Voodoo Lab Amp Switcher. Allows you to hook up 4 amps and then switch between them or add any of them on at the same time as the others, potentially switching on 4 amps at once. Is a powered unit, and there seems to me to be no loss of signal going through it (read their blurb on the unit at the Voodoo website). You could easily have a Stang and a Rem and a 66 plugged in and leave the 66 running all the time, and add in the Stang or Remi as your little heart desires. The switching on and off of amps is totally silent. Let's you plug into several amps at home and do amp comparisons with ease, even A-B'ing to see if you can get similar sounds outta different amps. We sometimes use it for recording: run the track and try several different amps to see which you like best for the guitar track of that tune. Pretty hip. I use the poop outta mine. Hey cheers for that gotmojo, I was thinking about one of those a few years ago but had totally forgotten about them with all the tonebone and quality a/b pedals around now. Probably a bit of overkill for most gigs but could be useful for one or two!
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