Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Jan 31, 2006 15:29:23 GMT -7
I received my Stingray yesterday! I couldn’t sleep since last Thursday, knowing it was on its way. Mine’s #5, a two-tone red head with a tan front. I also got a matching 2X12 open back cab with Celestion Blues. You can see the amp on Fatsound Guitars web site or under the “Who want to see a gorgeous Stingray” thread on this board.
What can I say about the sound? I thought I knew what it was going to sound like before I got it. I have three other Z’s, including one of the very first Route 66’s. I know what a good AC/30 sounds like. Well, I was right and I was wrong. It absolutely nailed the sound I had in my head…but it does a lot more! Anyone who thought that Dr. Z just copied the AC30/4 schematic (nobody thought that anyway!) is sorely mistaken. It’s capable of so much more. The descriptions by Stu at Fatsound and by Dr. Z himself were right on the money, but I had to hear it for myself to fully understand what they were talking about.
Brad Paisley said on the CMT special that he wanted an amp that combined some of Z’s best features. Well, they did it. It’s got the chime and beautiful top end of the best AC/30 you’ve ever heard. It also seems to have the great, super tight low end snap of the MAZ 38 with that just right “studio quality compressor feel” of the Route 66. It's got the clarity and pedal-loving qualities of the EF86 input amps. It has the great “cut” knob from the MAZ. It has the Ghia’s one knob tone control BUT it seems to work much differently, I think because if the interaction with the cut control. I have put thousands of hours on my Ghia, and am very used to dialing in each of my guitar's sweet spots very quickly. However, there always seems to be one sweet spot that I really love with each guitar with just enough bass and just enough treble. The Stingray has sweet spots all over the place; it just depends on what you want. It seems to revoice the entire instrument, with the cut control adding back in just enough presence. Tele too thin? Not any more, and you keep all the clarity. I have named it the “Infinitely Variable Sweet Spot”.
The clarity and harmonic complexity are off the charts, even for a Z amp. I hate using all these “guitar amp adjectives” but I don’t know of any other way to put it. I’m used to the richness and clarity of my 66, Ghia, and Z28, but this amp is better still. The sustain is unreal; and as the notes die you can hear all those harmonics interacting. And this is on a “clean” amp! Did you ever wish for that liquidy sustain and harmonic complexity without distortion? Did you ever want to bring out those zillion natural harmonics that lie around the second and third fret without distortion? This is your amp.
With single coils, the amp never gets really distorted, even in the “HI” input. Above 1:00, it starts to very slowly go into that Carmen Ghia-like power tube overdrive. One of the coolest things about the Stingray, though, is how touch sensitive it is. Picking lightly makes a wonderful clean tone, like the amp makes with the volume at 9:00. Varying your picking technique and picking harder does not just control the overdrive, like on other fine amps. On the ‘Ray it adds more fullness and harmonic complexity, basically letting you control the tone of each note. How cool is that? You have to play one to see what I mean. If I had to use one word to describe the tone of this amp it would be “beautiful”. Playing complex chords on this amp is a thing of beauty; you really can hear every note, even more than on the 66 and Z28. How Z got this much note separation while keeping the string-to-string balance I don’t know.
Another thing I discovered is that playing 6th’s on the “G” and “E” strings and popping the high notes with your finger is unbelievable on this amp. The top notes just seem to explode out of the speakers, without ever being harsh or spiky. Just what a country picker needs!
The tone controls are very wide ranging, and very sensitive. I play single coils probably 60-70% of the time, but I did play with my Gibson Johnny A. Signature model for a while. It has never sounded better.
I thought I was beyond the point of being this knocked out by an amp; I thought I had “heard it all”. After all, I owned three of the Doc’s best amps, in addition to a bunch of other gear over the years. I thought I’d never in my lifetime find an amp more fun and satisfying to play than my Carmen Ghia, and I try to play everything that’s out there. Boy, was I wrong. I love it when I’m wrong.
PDW
What can I say about the sound? I thought I knew what it was going to sound like before I got it. I have three other Z’s, including one of the very first Route 66’s. I know what a good AC/30 sounds like. Well, I was right and I was wrong. It absolutely nailed the sound I had in my head…but it does a lot more! Anyone who thought that Dr. Z just copied the AC30/4 schematic (nobody thought that anyway!) is sorely mistaken. It’s capable of so much more. The descriptions by Stu at Fatsound and by Dr. Z himself were right on the money, but I had to hear it for myself to fully understand what they were talking about.
Brad Paisley said on the CMT special that he wanted an amp that combined some of Z’s best features. Well, they did it. It’s got the chime and beautiful top end of the best AC/30 you’ve ever heard. It also seems to have the great, super tight low end snap of the MAZ 38 with that just right “studio quality compressor feel” of the Route 66. It's got the clarity and pedal-loving qualities of the EF86 input amps. It has the great “cut” knob from the MAZ. It has the Ghia’s one knob tone control BUT it seems to work much differently, I think because if the interaction with the cut control. I have put thousands of hours on my Ghia, and am very used to dialing in each of my guitar's sweet spots very quickly. However, there always seems to be one sweet spot that I really love with each guitar with just enough bass and just enough treble. The Stingray has sweet spots all over the place; it just depends on what you want. It seems to revoice the entire instrument, with the cut control adding back in just enough presence. Tele too thin? Not any more, and you keep all the clarity. I have named it the “Infinitely Variable Sweet Spot”.
The clarity and harmonic complexity are off the charts, even for a Z amp. I hate using all these “guitar amp adjectives” but I don’t know of any other way to put it. I’m used to the richness and clarity of my 66, Ghia, and Z28, but this amp is better still. The sustain is unreal; and as the notes die you can hear all those harmonics interacting. And this is on a “clean” amp! Did you ever wish for that liquidy sustain and harmonic complexity without distortion? Did you ever want to bring out those zillion natural harmonics that lie around the second and third fret without distortion? This is your amp.
With single coils, the amp never gets really distorted, even in the “HI” input. Above 1:00, it starts to very slowly go into that Carmen Ghia-like power tube overdrive. One of the coolest things about the Stingray, though, is how touch sensitive it is. Picking lightly makes a wonderful clean tone, like the amp makes with the volume at 9:00. Varying your picking technique and picking harder does not just control the overdrive, like on other fine amps. On the ‘Ray it adds more fullness and harmonic complexity, basically letting you control the tone of each note. How cool is that? You have to play one to see what I mean. If I had to use one word to describe the tone of this amp it would be “beautiful”. Playing complex chords on this amp is a thing of beauty; you really can hear every note, even more than on the 66 and Z28. How Z got this much note separation while keeping the string-to-string balance I don’t know.
Another thing I discovered is that playing 6th’s on the “G” and “E” strings and popping the high notes with your finger is unbelievable on this amp. The top notes just seem to explode out of the speakers, without ever being harsh or spiky. Just what a country picker needs!
The tone controls are very wide ranging, and very sensitive. I play single coils probably 60-70% of the time, but I did play with my Gibson Johnny A. Signature model for a while. It has never sounded better.
I thought I was beyond the point of being this knocked out by an amp; I thought I had “heard it all”. After all, I owned three of the Doc’s best amps, in addition to a bunch of other gear over the years. I thought I’d never in my lifetime find an amp more fun and satisfying to play than my Carmen Ghia, and I try to play everything that’s out there. Boy, was I wrong. I love it when I’m wrong.
PDW