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Post by aj1169 on Jan 4, 2008 9:09:35 GMT -7
I've heard the KT45 has a ton of clean headroom. I own a StangRay and it's a very clean amp as well. For those who have played both, which do you think has more headroom on tap, the 45 or the Ray? Likewise, as you get the volume up, which one provides more crunch?
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Post by Curt on Jan 4, 2008 17:44:53 GMT -7
More? Hard to say/compare.
Different? YES
IMO the KT45 has more crunch..in a wonderful crushed glass top end kinda way.
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Post by eliot1025 on Jan 8, 2008 2:04:38 GMT -7
Crunch is a great way to describe the KT-45's type of distortion. You don't get to that sound until it's up almost all the way. Tele62's description nails it; crushed glass. It's sort of Townshend -y. Doc says it's similar to a Hiwatt and an AC30. I agree but to me it sounds better than either one. Rich, warm, bright all at the same time. I love mine. I use it with a Weber ceramic Blue Dog.
It's not a high gain sound. If you're looking for creamy sustain or a metal sound you'd probably be disappointed. But for crunchy break up, it's great. And tons of headroom. From what I hear, it has the most headroom of all the Z amps. Ask Myles, he owns one and he has lots of experience with the whole Z line. The sound sample at the Z site gives you an idea of it's break up crunch.
Myles says you can get to the break up at quieter levels by changing the rating of the EL34s. I'll be trying that.
Hope that helps. Eliot
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Post by myles on Jan 25, 2008 16:52:24 GMT -7
Crunch is a great way to describe the KT-45's type of distortion. You don't get to that sound until it's up almost all the way. Tele62's description nails it; crushed glass. It's sort of Townshend -y. Doc says it's similar to a Hiwatt and an AC30. I agree but to me it sounds better than either one. Rich, warm, bright all at the same time. I love mine. I use it with a Weber ceramic Blue Dog. It's not a high gain sound. If you're looking for creamy sustain or a metal sound you'd probably be disappointed. But for crunchy break up, it's great. And tons of headroom. From what I hear, it has the most headroom of all the Z amps. Ask Myles, he owns one and he has lots of experience with the whole Z line. The sound sample at the Z site gives you an idea of it's break up crunch. Myles says you can get to the break up at quieter levels by changing the rating of the EL34s. I'll be trying that. Hope that helps. Eliot A few corrections here ..... Not an AC/30 but an AC/50. To get the amp to break up at a lower level use the tone controls set to a higher level and back down on the volume. Do not think output tubes at a lower level are the way to go ... it is much less pricy and much more effective to go to a lower plate current output phase inverter. The KT-45 will produce a higher dB level of wattage to the speaker cab at 5% distortion than the Stangray if we are talking a clean waveform out of the speaker outputs of each amp so technically the KT-45 is capable of more clean headroom but how those clean tones sound or preferred is up to the end user.
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Post by eliot1025 on Feb 6, 2008 4:55:35 GMT -7
Crunch is a great way to describe the KT-45's type of distortion. You don't get to that sound until it's up almost all the way. Tele62's description nails it; crushed glass. It's sort of Townshend -y. Doc says it's similar to a Hiwatt and an AC30. I agree but to me it sounds better than either one. Rich, warm, bright all at the same time. I love mine. I use it with a Weber ceramic Blue Dog. It's not a high gain sound. If you're looking for creamy sustain or a metal sound you'd probably be disappointed. But for crunchy break up, it's great. And tons of headroom. From what I hear, it has the most headroom of all the Z amps. Ask Myles, he owns one and he has lots of experience with the whole Z line. The sound sample at the Z site gives you an idea of it's break up crunch. Myles says you can get to the break up at quieter levels by changing the rating of the EL34s. I'll be trying that. Hope that helps. Eliot A few corrections here ..... Not an AC/30 but an AC/50. To get the amp to break up at a lower level use the tone controls set to a higher level and back down on the volume. Do not think output tubes at a lower level are the way to go ... it is much less pricy and much more effective to go to a lower plate current output phase inverter. The KT-45 will produce a higher dB level of wattage to the speaker cab at 5% distortion than the Stangray if we are talking a clean waveform out of the speaker outputs of each amp so technically the KT-45 is capable of more clean headroom but how those clean tones sound or preferred is up to the end user. I got my AC-30 comparison straight from Doc's site - www.drzamps.com/kt45.htmlHe describes the KT-45 this way: "sweet drive and sustain of a AC-30" and "VOX AC-30/4 meets HiWatt." Maybe "AC-30/4" is another way of writing "AC/50." I don't know. But there's the quotes for ya.
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