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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 17:38:34 GMT -7
When I first got the amp it was the best sound I heard, back in January.
It came loaded with JJ EL 844s. I noticed the tone was getting extremely farty and hashy about 2 months ago.
Changed out the old JJ EL 844s with a brand new set of Tung Sol El 84s. The farty hashy sound still there, like all the life got sucked out of the amp, no more dynamic feel either. no harmonic content.
Went ahead and put in all brand new preamp tubes and rectifier. No relief. sprayed contact cleaner in every jack on the amp, and checked the inside for any burned out leads or resistors or caps.
Before I send the amp back to Z, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Tung Sol El 84s and found the amp sounded too dark and lifeless? My last try will be to get some JJ El 84s or some NOS 6p14 but wanted to get some opinions on the tung sols.
Also, I tried it with the celsestial blue in the combo, and a Z12 and a G12H30 and the same thing happened.
Thanks
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Post by digs57 on Aug 14, 2017 19:10:04 GMT -7
try the 6n14n's first...maybe a new v1 and lps?
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Post by "Z" Steve on Aug 14, 2017 19:44:19 GMT -7
I have not heard the JJ EL844's, but when I had my Maz 18 the JJ, Tungsol, TAD, or Mullard RI EL84's all sounded great. "Almost" all issues like yours are tube related so as Dave suggested I would try the preamp tubes before buying more 84's. BUT, even though it is a bit more $$ Perry's 6N14N tube sound wonderful in my Maz 8 so I can only guess it would only add more tone to your Maz no matter where the issue lies!
Keep us posted!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 20:16:42 GMT -7
thanks guys- the V1 (JJ AX7) V2 (JJ AX7) V3 (Sovtek LPS) and rectifier (sovtek 5ar4) are all Brand New as of today, and i'm still having this issue. Which leads me to believe it's the tung sol power i'm not digging, or that the amp needs to be sent back to Z.
I'm going to try some JJ EL 84s, and if the problem persists, i'm emailing Don and sending it out to Ohio ASAP.
MH
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Aug 14, 2017 20:19:30 GMT -7
try the 6n14n's first...maybe a new v1 and lps? +1000 Had the same issue as OP and found success with the aforementioned 6n14n's.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2017 20:35:07 GMT -7
the 6n14n are something i should definitely get around to trying at some point. but to be honest, the best I've ever heard any MAZ sound was my particular amp about 6 months ago when I got it. Making me think I should just go back to how it was back then?
The amp actually had a JJ AX7 V3 JJ rectifier and JJ EL 844s.
So maybe I should just get that going again. Will try everything
MH
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Post by purpletele on Aug 14, 2017 22:24:56 GMT -7
the 6n14n are something i should definitely get around to trying at some point. but to be honest, the best I've ever heard any MAZ sound was my particular amp about 6 months ago when I got it. Making me think I should just go back to how it was back then? The amp actually had a JJ AX7 V3 JJ rectifier and JJ EL 844s. So maybe I should just get that going again. Will try everything MH Update: I just re-read your last post. Chances are that you have covered the tubes, and your problem may be in a cable, a capacitor or a loose ground wire on a pot, or possible a pot that needs to be snugged up. Just ideas. I was similar amp issues yesterday and today. Smelltheglove, I have been tweaking my pedal board's and I have been blown away at how a standard patch cable can become dull in signal processing while being static for years. I found at least one bad cable on each board and replaced them with cables that I made. The blanket came off with a vengeance and I didn't even realize I was loosing tone. I went as far as tube rolling and such to see if I had a bad tube, then I noticed it on another amp through the same board. Don't rule out something simple, but if your tone is getting farty and hashy then you may have a leaking filter cap. You may want to pull the chassis and see if you have a big capacitor swelled up or oozing brown fluid. You may want to do that and send the photo to Don at the shop, but post it here if you do so we can follow the progress and view the resolve. It would not be common for a Filter cap to go bad, but it does happen. Let us know what happens.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2017 4:36:15 GMT -7
the 6n14n are something i should definitely get around to trying at some point. but to be honest, the best I've ever heard any MAZ sound was my particular amp about 6 months ago when I got it. Making me think I should just go back to how it was back then? The amp actually had a JJ AX7 V3 JJ rectifier and JJ EL 844s. So maybe I should just get that going again. Will try everything MH Update: I just re-read your last post. Chances are that you have covered the tubes, and your problem may be in a cable, a capacitor or a loose ground wire on a pot, or possible a pot that needs to be snugged up. Just ideas. I was similar amp issues yesterday and today. Smelltheglove, I have been tweaking my pedal board's and I have been blown away at how a standard patch cable can become dull in signal processing while being static for years. I found at least one bad cable on each board and replaced them with cables that I made. The blanket came off with a vengeance and I didn't even realize I was loosing tone. I went as far as tube rolling and such to see if I had a bad tube, then I noticed it on another amp through the same board. Don't rule out something simple, but if your tone is getting farty and hashy then you may have a leaking filter cap. You may want to pull the chassis and see if you have a big capacitor swelled up or oozing brown fluid. You may want to do that and send the photo to Don at the shop, but post it here if you do so we can follow the progress and view the resolve. It would not be common for a Filter cap to go bad, but it does happen. Let us know what happens. that's definitely something I've had in the past, something in my pedalboard gone wrong, but I have plugged straight into the amp and it's the same problem. also plugged the pedalboard into my jaz and i don't hear any problems there. I noticed a bunch of black goop on most of the capacitors when I took the chassis out. will post pictures ASAP. damn, this could be worse than I thought.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2017 5:12:31 GMT -7
tried posting a picture but photobucket is all screwy, how can I go about sharing the image?
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 15, 2017 6:33:28 GMT -7
When I first got the amp it was the best sound I heard, back in January. It came loaded with JJ EL 844s. I noticed the tone was getting extremely farty and hashy about 2 months ago. Changed out the old JJ EL 844s with a brand new set of Tung Sol El 84s. The farty hashy sound still there, like all the life got sucked out of the amp, no more dynamic feel either. no harmonic content. Went ahead and put in all brand new preamp tubes and rectifier. No relief. sprayed contact cleaner in every jack on the amp, and checked the inside for any burned out leads or resistors or caps. Before I send the amp back to Z, I'm wondering if anyone has tried the Tung Sol El 84s and found the amp sounded too dark and lifeless? My last try will be to get some JJ El 84s or some NOS 6p14 but wanted to get some opinions on the tung sols. Also, I tried it with the celsestial blue in the combo, and a Z12 and a G12H30 and the same thing happened. Thanks smelltheglove: I noticed that nobody so far has mentioned the effects loop. On one of the loop jacks there is a leaf spring type switch that closes when there is no plug inserted in the loop (I forget whether it's send or return). It's not uncommon at all for that contact to get intermittent and cause bad tone. Plug an instrument cable, preferably a short one, from the Send to the Return jack and see what happens. If it clears up, you've got to either clean/burnish the contact on the jack or replace the jack. It's an easy thing to try, please do so and let us know what happens. Good luck, I love my Maz 18NR. EDIT: The input jacks also have that switch contact. Have you tried using the high (or low) guitar input? EDIT 2: I see that you sprayed the jacks but since the contacts in question are normally closed that usually isn't enough to get the contact clean. I have found that a piece of printer paper cut into a 1/4" strip and soaked in contact cleaner is a great tool. You gently spread the contact on the jack open to get the paper in, and let it close on the paper. Then pull the paper through the contacts to clean it. About a 3" strip usually does it, and you'll see a line of crud left on the paper as you pull it through the contacts. Good luck, please let us know if this helps.
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Post by heynewguy (Ol’ Bill) on Aug 15, 2017 6:57:51 GMT -7
try the 6n14n's first...maybe a new v1 and lps? Yes, this!
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Post by purpletele on Aug 15, 2017 8:48:05 GMT -7
tried posting a picture but photobucket is all screwy, how can I go about sharing the image? e mail it to me at otis8@sbcglobal. I have been using Google Photo
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2017 14:42:50 GMT -7
hey guys figured id check back in with you to let you know where i'm at.
I sent a picture to Don, nothing looks wrong, and that black goop is just a glue to keep the caps form vibrating against the circuit board.
Basically, I just think these Tung Sol's are a particularly dark output tubes for the MAZ.
I turned the cut knob all the way up on the amp and now it seems a lot closer to sounding like a "real maz"
Waiting on My JJ EL 84s should be here in a day or two and i'll report back.
Matt
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Post by digs57 on Aug 15, 2017 16:44:19 GMT -7
Good news..that sounded serious...do try if you can the 6n14n...while you can get them...
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 15, 2017 19:16:34 GMT -7
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 22, 2017 6:24:12 GMT -7
Matt, did you ever check out the effects loop jacks?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2017 10:51:59 GMT -7
Matt, did you ever check out the effects loop jacks? Yeah I did. Basically, there's nothing wrong eith the amp. Compared it side by side with a 2017 Max 18 nr with same speaker. My ears changed I think. The old maz is definitely darker sounding than the new style. Most of my trials with my MAZ over the last few weeks have been with a brake-lite on 2. The brake-lite is the culprit. With the old style MAZ, the brake-lite just makes it way too dark and the distortion doesn't sound as good. Even on 0 I can hear a little effect from the brake-lite. And it wasn't just my brake-lite, tried a couple others as well and same thing. Tried JJ power tubes and the tung sols actually sound about the same. So my solution? Running cut and treble higher up, and not using a brake-lite ever again. Thank you everybody for your help. I thought the amp was messed up- just don't like the brake-lite with the old style maz. the new style maz is bright enough that it can use a brake-lite and still sound good. MH
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Post by zpilot on Aug 22, 2017 16:22:05 GMT -7
I feel the same about attenuators that use a resistance load. Some folks don't hear or don't mind the difference they make so they work fine for them. They work OK for me at home and sometimes are a necessity, but I don't like them at a gig where it counts that I have my best tone. There are other attenuators that use a reactive load but they are usually much more expensive. Everything in engineering is a compromise.
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Post by ch1naski on Apr 13, 2018 23:22:34 GMT -7
Old post, but my two cents : brake lite on max attenuation does suck tone.
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