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Post by harpercases on Apr 27, 2013 7:32:46 GMT -7
Ok, here is my story... I bought a MAZ38 from a buddy of mine about a year ago. It is a "Studio Lead" model, and sounded absolutely killer. Life was good. The majority of the time it would sit up at church where, since the cab was in an iso box, I would run the master all the way up and the volume around noon. This gave me a little hair on my "clean" tone, and if I stomped on a boost I would get this super fat natural overdrive that was unlike any overdrive I have ever heard. It was truly a blast to play. (Ok, let me preface this next part by saying when I got this amp the only tubes that had been changed, to the previous owners knowledge, was the rectifier tube.) But the honeymoon ended. First the rectifier tube blew. No biggie, got it replaced everything was back to normal. Then my preamp section started acting a little funny. Once again, no biggie, I just replaced them as needed and ultimately just ended up buying all new preamp tubes from the tubestore (although my Z has 6 preamp tubes, not 5 like the ones their kits are for). But now I am noticing my headroom is gone. And on top of that the drive that the amp is prematurely producing sounds like, well, for a lack of a better word, pure crap. Its not a farty overdrive or anything that may suggest a bad tube. Its more of a raspy, cheap sounding overdrive. Any suggestions of what could be causing this??? HELP!!!!!
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Post by DRZ on Apr 27, 2013 8:06:16 GMT -7
I guess I should be more carful with my responce due to remarks on my earlier direct responces.
But here it is. You have a 10 to 15 year old EL-84 amp there, with all original tubes but the rectifier. Loss of headroom IMHO is mostly caused by weak EL-84's. The first thing I would have done is put in a New set of Matched meadium gain JJ EL-84's ( yes JJ's in early MAZ's).
You say the amp now sounds like crap, well your troubleshooting of the pre-amp is most probablely the cause, ala shot yourself in the foot. Wrong pre's in wrong slots. Also your amp has a Tube Driven parellel Effects Loop which acounts for the 6 pre-amp tubes ( 12AU7 in position V5 for loop).
Here's a good tube layout V1 is directly behind the input jack: V1= JJ 12AX7 V2= JJ 12AX7 V3= JJ 12AT7 V4= Sovtek 12AX7 WB V5= Any good 12AU7 maybe NOS they are available cheap. V6= Sovtek 12AX7 LPS V7-V10= JJ EL-84 Medium grade V11= Sovtek 5AR4
Baring any other internal problems with the amp, these tubes new and in good working order will bring your amp back to glory, not CRAP.
Also did the Original owner tell you the amp was modified? It was a Studio Deluxe 1X12 combo converted to a Studio Lead head, check out the back panel.
Z
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Post by harpercases on Apr 27, 2013 8:33:53 GMT -7
I figured I probably had something to do with it acting up haha....Thank ya sir for the info!!! That is exactly what I needed to know! I'll check my preamp tube order, throw some JJ's in it, and hopefully have some killer tone once again!
Thanks again!
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Post by harpercases on Apr 27, 2013 8:51:56 GMT -7
Also did the Original owner tell you the amp was modified? It was a Studio Deluxe 1X12 combo converted to a Studio Lead head, check out the back panel. Z Well, the person I bought it from was not the original owner. A sticker on the inside of the head says "built for Pat Buchanan" ( not sure if that is referring to the Nashville player Pat Buchanan or just a name coincidence). I have been curious about the upside down back panel, and knowing it was modified, it now makes perfect sense lol . It is a peculiar amp, I'm sure they are out there, but I haven't really seen another one like it. When it is up and running, it is literally the best amp I have ever heard in person, it is truly fantastic.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 27, 2013 10:04:07 GMT -7
Once again, the Doc delivers The Word.
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Post by DRZ on Apr 27, 2013 11:21:03 GMT -7
Yes Harpercases, that was built for my good friend Pat Buchanan, from Nashville.
DR.Z
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