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Post by aaronblues on Aug 10, 2011 16:48:14 GMT -7
just recieved the Jaz20/40 combo djc had up for sale a week or two back.....won't be able to give her a full run til tomorrow morning, but am extremely pumped, and will be writing up a bunch soon...
cheers!!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2011 16:50:54 GMT -7
Congratulations on a great amp - welcome aboard. cheers
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Post by nicholas on Aug 10, 2011 18:24:10 GMT -7
Congrats. You not only got a great amp, but a great deal. Keep us posted.
I bought mine just a few months ago.... havent plugged into anything else since.... rare for me.....
The reverb and trem are just icing, the cake stands on it's own.
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Post by wayben on Aug 10, 2011 22:41:09 GMT -7
Gratz on a great amp!!
Wayne
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Post by JasonM on Aug 11, 2011 5:53:40 GMT -7
Great choice!
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Post by doctorice on Aug 11, 2011 6:25:10 GMT -7
Congrats on the newly acquired JAZ. Look forward to hearing what you think and find dialing it in. Very happy with mine
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Post by aaronblues on Aug 16, 2011 9:41:30 GMT -7
Just a couple quick thoughts....away we go...
So recieved the amp last Weds. Had a gig Friday, and almost,almost,almost grabbed the Jaz. Liked what i heard playing it on Thursday, but the dirt pedals were all acting a lot different, and didn't have time to rearrange the board and figure which worked with the amp...Still haven't actually! I had a rehearsal Tuesday, if the amp had shown up for that, i would have taken it for sure....Anyways, Maz went (like always!) and performed as good as it always has. Love my Maz.
But the Jaz....still figuring it out. I think i like it best Full Power, Master up, Volume down. Treble isn't getting above 9oclock, mids and bass i've been moving around a bunch but generally just past noon on both. If i bump to half power, i might raise the treble a touch, bump the volume up to noon, and back the Master to noon....Real nice Blackface Fender Dirt, with better volume control
I;m still trying to figure out if this can replace the Maz as a gig amp. Maz is staying either way, but i've had a hard time finding another amp that i can gig with alone, and i don't play big enough places to warrant a two amp setup. I think i like the cleans a little better, but still haven't figured out if i can dig in enough on single note lines. I think once i figure out my boost/dirt setup for the Jaz everything will be well. The Maz is all about being a pedal platform, and as long as i have a Lovepedal COT and Eternity, i know i'll be able to get whatever i want for different songs..The Jaz right off the bat hated the COT, which is a bright pedal anyways, light on mids. Well, the Jaz is a bright amp thats light on mids, so that's out. The Eternity also didn't sit quite right, sorta sounded like the mids were notched...So i'm going to pull out some other stuff (Honey Bee, LTD, Amp11, Pro Analog Power Driver, Freakshow Brown Rabbit) and see what i can figure out.
I definitely enjoy the Jaz more for strumming, and i like a few different tone setups....One big question: Does anyone find this amp quiet? At least for a Z? Maz, Ghia, Rt, Remedy, Monza, MazSR, heck even my MiniZ, they have all seemed LOUD and punchy at all settings. The Jaz sorta seems muted. Maybe it's due to the fact that i have always played head/ cab, and this one is a combo? Or maybe it's just that the Master is really really controllable. The Maz tho has always been an extremely loud 18, where the Jaz at half power seems like 10 watts....I haven't done an exact side by side with all my amps, but even my Savage Macht 6 seemed louder then it's wattage, and i'm thinking once i A/B/C these 3 amps, that i'll be right in the thought that the Macht can hang next to the Jaz in half power mode. Opinions thoughts here?
Thanks , more to come, haven't even touched on the Trem and Verb yet...(hint:they are awesome)
cheers
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Post by doctorice on Aug 16, 2011 13:42:18 GMT -7
I also find the JAZ a little "quiet" given its Z power. My MAZ 18 is also a 2x10, so it's not a speaker "thing."
I'm gigging it tonight -- stay away rain, go down to TX -- so I tried my regular pedals last night. These are dialed in for a Z-28 and sound good with MAZ and Ghia too. Interesting results on the ODs. Xotic BB sounds great; it's set for low gain. FET Dream not good; may need serious tweak. Landgraff OD sounded great too; set for higher gain than BB. Carbon Copy delay worked fine.
More to come...
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Post by twangstang on Aug 16, 2011 20:54:27 GMT -7
My Jaz is pretty loud in full power. When I first got the amp the treble never made it past 9:00, now it's always at 11:00.
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Post by aaronblues on Aug 17, 2011 6:24:31 GMT -7
Thx guys...definitely enjoying the tone, just trying to sort everything out. I definitely bump the treble a touch in half power mode. And i'm sure full power will be great for gigs, just seems to be less in your face then the other Z's. Some people might really enjoy this, i'm still learning it. Funny, but if nothing else the Jaz is an awesome home amp! Just a really heavy one.
Waiting patiently for that gig report, DrI. Waiting....waiting....alright, maybe not patiently!
I've always like the BB (and RC) when i've tried it out, might have to purchase one finally. Played the Jaz a bunch yesterday, but still didn't pull out any pedals, hope to have time to do that today, after kids go to the sitter and before i have to get to work...
cheers
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Post by twangstang on Aug 17, 2011 7:20:44 GMT -7
The Rockett Animal sounds great with the Jaz. I think you'll be surprised at how well the Jaz sits in the mix. I find it to be the most consistent amp from room to room that I've owned.
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Post by doctorice on Aug 17, 2011 8:23:36 GMT -7
Waiting patiently for that gig report, DrI. Waiting....waiting....alright, maybe not patiently! We got lucky on the weather. It was a beautiful evening overlooking Long Island Sound. As we finished playing the nearly full moon was rising. Just great. Oh wait -- you wanted an amp report It was wonderful. JAZ was miked through FOH, so I kept it at half power. It delivered perfectly on everything. To be sure, our repertoire was heavily tilted toward early Beatles, others 60s rock and soul music and a tiny bit of more hard-edged stuff -- but just a bit. The JAZ's blackface leanings were entirely in the zone I needed. As I was setting up, our drummer said "wow that amp sounds fantastic." But it sure is heavy
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Post by aaronblues on Aug 28, 2011 6:40:52 GMT -7
Since gotmojo updated his Jaz thread, i'm thinking i'll do the same....
I honestly can't figure out if this amp just projects totally different then my Maz with the old-style speaker cab, or if i've finally lost a good chunk of my hearing, after 19 years of blasting guitar straight into the ears....Lot of time's i think this amp isn't as loud as my Maz, but it's probably just the way the mids are less present.
Anyways, it's great at lower volume settings, like gotmojo says, and tho i've had opportunities to crank at home, i haven't gigged yet, so not a true fair comparison..Also, i've been running Maz/Jaz in stereo when i've played the last week or so (which hasn't been much really, but it's been fun!!). I've been really happy with these results, and i have even greater love for my Strymon El Cap, which sounds awesome when splitting to two amps.
As i touched on before, i'm still not sure this is going to be my preferred gig amp, but i'm getting to the point where i'm thinking less about selling it, just like gotmojo said....Should be able to get the higher volume cleans i bought it for in the first place, still just tweaking, and waiting for a band rehearsal so i can get a much better sense how it's all working.
cheers!
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Post by mtlrecords on Aug 28, 2011 7:26:24 GMT -7
Sorry to read that you may have some hearing loss. That is a serious issue for us guitarists.
As to the JAZ 20/40 being percieved as "less loud" than a MAZ 18, that could be for many reasons. First, human hearing. The ears percieve mids and highs in complex ways and the wattage is not the sole factor in why something will be percieved loud.
Second, the JAZ (to my ears) seems a bit more refined than some of the other Z amps. The MAZ 18, Carmen Ghia, Monza, Rx ES and Mini Z all have an underlying aggressive sound and feel (when cranked) that the JAZ doesn't quite do. That's what I love about the JAZ and EZG. They feel quite a bit like a Z amp but sound and respond more like a Fender.
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Post by matty6strings on Oct 30, 2011 8:08:00 GMT -7
mtlrecors post pleases me a lot to read. Bigben bought Aaron’ss JAZ and had it shipped to my sister's place in Wa which is where I'm headed after work today.
Can't wait to rip it up with the JAZ. I just heard from Ben who has been snowed in, in Boston. Geez pal, I'm sorry about that. I'll keep the tubes nice n warm for ya. LOL
Anyway, interesting "blackface" comparison drawn between the JAZ and EZG (which he also owns in head/cab format). I’m really eager to put the JAZ up against a vintage 1965 deluxe reverb as well. Reports to follow, I’m sure.
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Post by doctorice on Oct 30, 2011 12:01:14 GMT -7
^^^
Looking forward to your impressions.
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Post by matty6strings on Oct 31, 2011 21:10:24 GMT -7
I will agree so far with Aaron's post above.
I had the MAZ but it was too.... a bit..... Ugh.
The JAZ fills me where the MAZ left me wanting.
Personally I find the JAZ to sound like a bigger amp than it is but it is very much quieter than my Remedy.
What I loved was the all out gain at half power when it was all dimed. My favourite sound was at full power though. Big and beefy but still delivered chimey clean tones that you could add some "hair" to. Last amp I ever played that did this was a popping and hissing 65 blackface Pro Reverb. Great tones but at sacrifice to a tremendous noise floor. Well, that is exaggerating the point just so you know that when I say the JAZ is quiet, I mean it.
THE JAZ IS STILL QUIET at full throttle and full power. With the guitar volume down, all I could hear was the fan quietly purring. I briefly thought that might be an issue but when I strummed a chord I was nearly pushed through the wall.
OUTSTANDING amp.
Clean to nearly mean would be accurate. My SRZ has the sickest mean sound I have known. Dirty as hell but still clean.
This baby gets nasty but in the blackface sense. Snarly and percussive. I found myself ripping out all my favourite Van Halen riffs with extremely recognizable tones from the earlier days. Just had to bring the bass down, mids up and treb around 9 to do it. Drop Dead Legs anyone? My God, I was all over it.
So, I then decided to try out the reverb and vibrato.
Verb was deep and lush but was easily over used if not careful. Surf easy, bluesy verbs took some tinkering to get it set just right. Seemed to not be happy from one EQ setting to the next. Something to keep in mind. Its delicious but not a set and forget verb.
The vibrato is delightful. I ran through Chris Issak's "Wicked Game" with the amp at full clean volume and a hint of vibrato.
Wow! O, WOW! So delicious.
Used a modded strat for this demo. Lil 59 in the neck, VanZandt middle and SD SHR1 Hotrail in the bridge. I can only imagine what my 08 strat or 74 Les Paul will sound like.
Cant wait to run through it again tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to watching and listening to BigBen play this thing when he gets back into town.
Ahhhh. Wish this was mine.
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Post by doctorice on Nov 1, 2011 15:48:17 GMT -7
^^^
Very informative report. I've mostly been using the JAZ as a clean platform as I hadn't found an OD tone that sounded right. Thanks for the ideas.
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Post by aaronblues on Nov 3, 2011 18:41:12 GMT -7
nice review Matty....great amp that i will definitely miss....Although i would have gotten a lot of home use out of the Half power mode, full Power is definitely where it's at with that amp. Just a full, rich tone.
cheers!!
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Post by mtlrecords on Nov 4, 2011 8:11:16 GMT -7
Nice review!
I am back on the market for the JAZ 20/40 and seriously considering a 1x12 combo that I saw used the other day.
Full power with the gain set around noon and the volume around 1 (and possibly a brake lite) is a very comfortable setting for me. At the moment I like to have an amp (if I am only using one) set up so that when I am on the bridge pickup (humbucker) I can get some excellent crunchy, but not super saturated tones. Then when I coil tap the bridge I get clean w/ tiny bit of hair.
The JAZ 20/40 does this very nicely, almost as well as my Germino Classic 45. However, the Germino is much more "marshall" sounding and has no master volume. So the JAZ will be perfect for times when I need a lower overall volume and perhaps a bit more of a 'fender" leaning sound.
I sort of described it in an earlier post, but the nice things about the JAZ 20/40 to me are the MV and the overall hybrid tones. It sounds and feels like a cross between a vintage BF Fender and a Dr. Z. It has a little of the aggressiveness of the Remedy or a MAZ but more of the BF tones than any Z, EZG maybe excluded. Glad to see people are still excited about this underappreciated amp
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Post by matty6strings on Nov 4, 2011 9:04:41 GMT -7
Nice review! I am back on the market for the JAZ 20/40 and seriously considering a 1x12 combo that I saw used the other day. Full power with the gain set around noon and the volume around 1 (and possibly a brake lite) is a very comfortable setting for me. At the moment I like to have an amp (if I am only using one) set up so that when I am on the bridge pickup (humbucker) I can get some excellent crunchy, but not super saturated tones. Then when I coil tap the bridge I get clean w/ tiny bit of hair. The JAZ 20/40 does this very nicely, almost as well as my Germino Classic 45. However, the Germino is much more "marshall" sounding and has no master volume. So the JAZ will be perfect for times when I need a lower overall volume and perhaps a bit more of a 'fender" leaning sound. I sort of described it in an earlier post, but the nice things about the JAZ 20/40 to me are the MV and the overall hybrid tones. It sounds and feels like a cross between a vintage BF Fender and a Dr. Z. It has a little of the aggressiveness of the Remedy or a MAZ but more of the BF tones than any Z, EZG maybe excluded. Glad to see people are still excited about this underappreciated amp Still waiting for Ben to chime in here. He also owns the EZG with the Doc's 2x10 cab. He emailed me last night and said he wonders why he bought the JAZ after a run through with the EZG - LOL. Well, he has not played it yet. I left it at our other buddy's place where the two guys will be hanging out today. I expect we'll get a full review from Ben in the coming days if not tonight.
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Post by gotmojo on Nov 6, 2011 21:21:41 GMT -7
Holy Moly! What the ......? I love this amp with no pedals! Volume at 1-2 o'clock and master where ever the room volume needs to be and it is everything I need with a good Tele. Guitar volume back for cleaner rhythms and nutted for sweet nazzy solos ...... It's a beaut all by itself.
jj
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Post by matty6strings on Jun 24, 2012 14:37:20 GMT -7
I loved bigben's JAZ so much that I traded my Remedy for one! Thanks for the tade akbach! Love this amp! My first review still stands. That said, I hope to replace my beloved Remedy with another or possibly with the Antidote sometime next year. Ben, JAZ sounds a tad nicer than yours. LOL. Kidding. Maybe.
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Post by zpilot on Jun 25, 2012 4:08:07 GMT -7
I've posted most of this before but I'll do it again for the new JAZ owners. I've had mine for a little over a year now and it's become my main amp. I have several original BF and tweed Fenders and a MAZ Jr. but I prefer the JAZ over all of them. I have found that it sounds best on full power with the master at max. Sometimes at rehearsal I may run the master down around 2:00 but never lower. I originally had a 1x12 combo but I converted to a 2x10 and find it sounds much better. I'm mainly a tele/strat player but with the 10's it still sounds great with my Gibson humbuckers. I use the amp mainly as a clean platform and use an Xotic AC Comp or Paisley Drive for dirt. Yes, the amp seems to have a little less output compared to my MAZ but when I A/B'd it with my Vibrolux Reverb (35 watts) it was almost identical. I have changed the phase inverter tube (the small tube closest to the power tubes) from a 12AX7 to a 12AT7 which cleans up the amp even more than stock. The amp is not quite as bright now and I run the volume and tone controls higher. I've used the amp at about a dozen shows and had nothing but compliments about my tone. I've played everything from Motown and jazz to country and classic rock. It covers it all. I did one show where I needed a little more grit on my solos and I A/B'd the JAZ with my MAZ. I can't imagine ever needing more than that. The only complaint I have is that the combo is so heavy. I'm converting it to a head as soon as I can.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2012 11:25:23 GMT -7
It's great to read all of your reviews and impressions of the Jaz. Superb amp, in every way. cheers/tom
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Post by doctorice on Jun 26, 2012 13:53:12 GMT -7
Just played my JAZ for a couple hours with a Tele. Sounds great.
I take back what I said about the amp being "quiet." It's plenty loud. I think I was used to the taper of the MAZ volume knob. The JAZ's "feels" different sonically. I needed to run it higher than on the MAZ to get the overall volume.
I plan to use this amp for all my summer oldies/classic rock gigs.
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