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Post by bluesburst on Aug 17, 2010 16:18:43 GMT -7
Hi All I’m new on the block and thought I’d join up to the forum as a Dr Z in on the shopping list just before or after Xmas pending some other unfortunately necessary expenses. I’m keen on a red Monza in 1x12 configuration. My main guitar is a 56 reissue Les Paul. I love the growl of the P90’s particularly with a good fuzz box. Style wise I’m a big fan of Billy Gibbons and Slash with a chunk of Gary Moore, Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters thrown in for good measure. Any opinions on the Monza with P90’s and / or fuzz boxes? Here's my No1 All the best Martin
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2010 18:59:40 GMT -7
Nice Lester--love those 50s RIs w/ P90s. The Monza will love your guitar, but may be too gainy for your fuzz unless you're at very low settings, or in the mood for a trip to Feedbackistan. You'll be able to get both the cleanish and full-on dirty tones in La Grange straight in, just using your guitar's volume knob.
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Post by bluesburst on Aug 17, 2010 20:16:22 GMT -7
Thanks Fleabiscuit,
Yep, she's a beauty and getting better with age ;D ;D ;D
A couple more Monza questions:
1 - My thoughts is to have the attenuator for home use to get some grit straight out of the box but turn it off to use teh Monza as a pedal pony. Is there enough clean headroom in teh Monza for this sort of flexibility?
2 - My initial, and not totally discounted, thought was to get the head and buy 2 single 12" speaker cabs for a mini-stack. Is this viable as from what I see it has only a 4 and 8 ohm outlet. Ideally I'd like to get the speaker cabs as 8 ohm units and have the choice to use just one or both as the situation demanded.
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Post by Pete aka shouldb on Aug 18, 2010 0:16:01 GMT -7
Hey Martin, WELCOME!!! It's great to see someone on here asking all the right questions BEFORE they spend valuable wonga (unlike me who bought first and asked questions later - doh!) Be clear about one thing - the Monza is a little gain monster! I wouldn't call it a pedal pony to be honest - it'll take them, but you need a delicate touch with OD/Fuzz pedals as it has a fantastic gain structure all of it's own - and it's LOUD! I don't know what sort of venues you gig at, but the thought of a Monza through 2x12 with no attenuation? Better have a willing audience and a loud drummer to keep up! Check this out - If you run 2x 8ohm speakers through a parallel Y cable, you'll get 4 ohms, which is fine. When you want just one speaker, straight into the 8 ohm tap ;D Of course, Red ones sound better apparently ;D Enjoy! Pete ;D
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Post by mikeslub on Aug 18, 2010 5:38:27 GMT -7
The Monza is very loud, very high gain, and very dark. Keep that in mind. I like it better with a P-90 Les Paul versus a humbucker Les Paul. The red tolex is a bright, almost orange shade of red versus the color of your beautiful crimson red Les Paul.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2010 6:56:51 GMT -7
Do you find the Monza dark? Seems bright to me, like the rest of the Z amps I've owned. I keep the tone at about 9:00, and darken it a bit more with a Deep Blue delay, or even an RC booster w/ the treble rolled off a bit. But I'm playing single coils.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2010 7:06:23 GMT -7
Oh, and yeah--what Pete said. If you're looking for a pedal pony as you say, you might think about a MAZ Jr as opposed to the Monza. The MAZ set clean-ish makes a great canvas for a whole palette of dirt; the Monza will clean up with P90s but only with the guitar volume rolled off, as I say. With the Monza folks seem to find themselves thinking less is more where pedals are concerned. Your results may vary, of course.
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Post by doctorice on Aug 18, 2010 7:51:08 GMT -7
Welcome, Martin. The Monza's gain structure is more aggressive than both the MAZ 18 and the Z-28, which are the three ~20 watt Zs I've used. The latter two are great pedal platforms and will also give up great overdriven tones, although you may have to move the knobs around a bit to change from one "mode" to the other. I find the Monza has so much gain that I need to really back off the guitar volume to keep a cleanish tone. Of course you can then edge the gtr vol up to add overdrive, but the output volume will ramp up accordingly. One thing I'm contemplating -- I have the Brake Lite attenuator installed in a 1x10 Monza -- is to use low gtr vol + not much attenuation for cleaner tones then hi gtr vol + more attenuation for dirt. Not sure if that will be practical in a gig setting, though. FWIW, my perspective reflects moderate gigging with the need to cover a very wide range of material for some jobs. I would probably opt for my MAZ or Z-28 for such gigs over the Monza, assuming a one-amp gig On the other hand, if the sonic needs of the material are less wide-ranging, say, a blues gig, then the Monza can be just right. I agree that if at all possible, you should try one out before purchase. Ideally, do that side by side with some of the other Zs.
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Post by bluesburst on Aug 18, 2010 16:26:36 GMT -7
Thanks for the feedback guys and thanks for the nice words on my LP.
So it appears the Monza, when I get one is best left as a "Billy In The Box"!!! No problem ;D
Soooo... perhaps I have to plan for 2 Dr Z's!
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Post by doctorice on Aug 18, 2010 19:23:35 GMT -7
Soooo... perhaps I have to plan for 2 Dr Z's! Oh yeah, that's exactly how it begins...Z addiction ;D
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Post by Pete aka shouldb on Aug 19, 2010 4:21:29 GMT -7
Soooo... perhaps I have to plan for 2 Dr Z's! and there you have it! Just like a really great, home-made BBQ steak - one is never quite enough ;D
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Post by Deleted on Aug 19, 2010 6:29:01 GMT -7
The Monza pairs very nicely with the MAZ Jr.
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