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Post by mudman on Oct 26, 2017 11:41:32 GMT -7
Just picked this fun little guy up! Can’t wait to play it more at home. Got it from Parkway Music, here are a couple of photos they had taken. Serial number starts with AA, that means 2016 right? It looks brand new. Haven’t popped the hood yet to see what tubes are in it. Cheers, Eric
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Post by charliebrown on Oct 26, 2017 12:29:34 GMT -7
Hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine. It's an amazing amp.
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Post by mudman on Oct 26, 2017 14:41:47 GMT -7
Thanks. Kills me that I have to work until 10 tonight. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get to play with it more.
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Post by LuckyBlackCat on Oct 27, 2017 9:10:40 GMT -7
I've said on this forum more than once...I have a Maz and a Mini. If I had to keep only one, it would be a really hard decision, and I may very well keep the Mini Z! I can't say enough good things about it, I absolutely love it.
Try some different speakers if you are interested in experimenting. I love mine equally with a Greenback 10 and a Red Fang 10, as it really shines in different ways with each.
There is a lot of good info in this Mini subforum, and it's pretty manageable to read it all since there are relatively fewer threads than, for example, the Maz or Ghia.
Enjoy!
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Post by limenine on Oct 27, 2017 10:25:00 GMT -7
+1 for the Mini Z love!
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Post by mudman on Oct 27, 2017 14:38:14 GMT -7
I just picked up a Z 1x12 cab for it too! Bright red. Irreversal would love it lol
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Post by mudman on Oct 28, 2017 20:30:19 GMT -7
I may have to haul the amp out to my barn and do a recording tomorrow if the weather permits. Love the clean tones as well as the OD! It’s like what I always wanted my marshall class 5 to sound like.
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Post by simpleton on Oct 29, 2017 10:26:20 GMT -7
Congrats on the new amp! The Mini was on my list of amps when I went with the Cure.....I think you’ll continue to love it!
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Post by mudman on Oct 30, 2017 16:26:43 GMT -7
They had a cure in stock too. Really awesome amp. But it overlapped too much with what I already have in my maz jr and my ‘73 PR. The mini fills the hole in a lower powered amp. The attenuator is perfect. Played the other day with my wife in the next room over and she could barely tell I was playing. Winner winner.
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Post by mudman on Nov 1, 2017 19:45:44 GMT -7
Took the amp apart today, which was unintended but turned out to be necessary. I was curious what tubes were in it, as I’ve found people rarely trade an amp in with their best. A Chinese 12ax7b and a well worn jj el84. I also found that one of the screws had come completely loose on the output transformer, which is what led me to taking the amp apart.
I’m glad I decided to check the tubes! On the bright side I got to see the impeccable soldering job on the inside of the amp. Screws were loose on both the ot and pt in the amp. Tightened everything down and put an RCA 6bq5 and an old 12ax7 tung sol in the amp. What was already a quiet amp is now dead silent. A bit sweeter and more clear sounding cleans too, though I didn’t get a chance to crank it (found the screw right before bed). I’m betting the 60’s era tubes will be lower gain than their modern compatriots.
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Post by mudman on Nov 4, 2017 20:55:50 GMT -7
Been having fun with the mini z! I switched the g12h30 out for a celestion blue. I like both speakers for different reasons though. The g12h30 seems to be a more robust sound than the blue, but I prefer the treble more with the latter.
As suspected the old tung sol and the rca are much cleaner tubes than the chinese and jj that were in there. Breakup doesn’t really start until noon now. When it does go, it’s a beautiful tone though. Super creamy with none of the nasal after bits that the other tubes had. I’m curious about switching out the tung sol for another 12ax7. I’ve got jj, eh, sovtek, rft, mullard, and rcas kicking around, it’ll be fun to experiment. I like the smooth clean tone from the tung sol but miss a bit of the more raunchy nature that the higher gain 12ax7b brought out.
The built in brakelite is awesome. I can practice without disturbing my wife. It’s the first amp I can play distorted without bothering her in the room next door. Honestly wish I had bought one sooner!
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Post by purpletele on Nov 4, 2017 21:16:14 GMT -7
Good report!
I'm enjoying a couple of my Z amps as well
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Post by mudman on Nov 7, 2017 7:41:42 GMT -7
Dived further into the Mini Z this morning. What a little tone monster it is! It’s darker than my Maz 18 and obviously not as loud. For a similar amount of distorted tone it’s about 2-3 clicks of the attenuator in difference. The Maz has a gold in it, the Mini a blue. Taking the back off the 1x12 helped a lot though. It almost sounded muffled in comparison before, and now it’s much more similar. I haven’t compared the two with the tonestack bypassed yet on the Maz. I also haven’t compared them yet with my les paul or strat, only my avri tele.
What I’m finding to be most amazing thing about the mini is how sensitive it is to pick attack and guitar volume. It’s an amp that you can really go from clean to mean on in a hurry. I mean literally jazz chording cleans to full OD with a turn of your guitar volume. You’re not losing clarity either when you work like that.
The closest amp that I’ve tried that is similar to it is the z-wreck, though the wreck has more clarity (and obviously a largesse of volume). I wonder what the mini z would be like with a cut knob.
For now I’m sticking with the rca 6bq5 and the OS tung sol. Breakup is later on the dial (little past noon for blues Od and about 2:30 for full on rock distortion) but it sounds so good I can’t see messing with it.
Hope you guys don’t mind me getting so detailed on the amp.
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Post by limenine on Nov 7, 2017 12:27:19 GMT -7
Not at all! I'm always happy to see new stuff in the Mini section I've often thought that a proper Dave Baker kinda demo would be a great thing for the Mini - most folks would be surprised at it's range of tones and volume!
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Post by LuckyBlackCat on Nov 7, 2017 13:15:39 GMT -7
Me too, I love reading about love for the Mini!
You can read back on my old posts for more info, but I ended up having a bright switch installed on my Mini. I previously had another Mini with with the old, smaller transformer before getting my current one with the larger transformer (had both for a while).
The old one was much brighter at low volumes, which I liked, as I use it a lot for late night playing. The new one, though, sounds sooo much better above noon, but it is too dark at low volumes. So I had the right switch added, and now I can brighten it up when I play soft and then turn it back to stock when i play louder.
I honestly liked both versions equally for different reasons, but the bright switch gives me the best of both worlds!
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Post by mudman on Nov 7, 2017 20:10:16 GMT -7
Me too, I love reading about love for the Mini! You can read back on my old posts for more info, but I ended up having a bright switch installed on my Mini. I previously had another Mini with with the old, smaller transformer before getting my current one with the larger transformer (had both for a while). The old one was much brighter at low volumes, which I liked, as I use it a lot for late night playing. The new one, though, sounds sooo much better above noon, but it is too dark at low volumes. So I had the right switch added, and now I can brighten it up when I play soft and then turn it back to stock when i play louder. I honestly liked both versions equally for different reasons, but the bright switch gives me the best of both worlds! Honestly I have no problem with brightness on the amp, it just doesn’t have the same treble on tap as the Maz. This is the first practice amp that I can get a great OD tone with and not have my wife come in upset over volume. Thank you DRZ for making a product that doesn’t compromise tone for practice volume!
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Post by mudman on Nov 11, 2017 11:36:57 GMT -7
Well some more mini fun today. I just did a complete setup on one of my strats; a 2001 mim classic ‘60s series. Replaced the bridge with a callaham unit, buffed the frets, oiled the board, got the trem floating about 1/16” off the bod and set intonation. Sounds incredible with the mini z now, where I was a bit meh about the strat and the mini before. Fat but chimey. I was honestly surprised at the difference. I had just done a similar setup on the strat with the stock bridge and wasn’t anticipating a large change. It’s much less muffled now. Played the mini a hair over noon and got some great edge of breakup tone. Launched into Folsom prison blues and then hideaway. Had my strymon el cap on for some slap back delay. Tone heaven.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Nov 12, 2017 16:34:08 GMT -7
I spent an hour or so getting my Mini-Z ready to ship, I'm doing a trade for another piece of Z gear. I noticed my output tube was humming a bit and it was running pretty hot, so I subbed in a couple of other EL-84's that I have...and in the process I marveled at how dang great this little amp sounds. It's amazing and I'm missing it already! But I haven't played it in months and I can't justify keeping gear around that just sits. But it's a dang great sounding amplifier. One knob plus a built in attenuator? Getouttahere! Anyway, enjoy that amp, mudman. It's a fine piece of gear.
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Post by captainron (Ron) on Nov 13, 2017 16:26:53 GMT -7
Congrats on the Mini. Looks like a fun amp! I'll take good care of her Dave.
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Post by mudman on Dec 7, 2017 8:27:22 GMT -7
Still loving the mini z! It sounds so good through a blue. Nails the tone I have in my head lately. I’ve been working on Julian Lage’s Atlantic Limited, and with a touch of reverb it really nails that tone on the bridge pickup of a tele. I don’t know if an amp and guitar combo have ever fit so well together for me.
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Post by captainron (Ron) on Dec 7, 2017 21:38:28 GMT -7
I have not tired my recently acquired Mini Z with my blue yet.(Why didn't I think of that?). I did try it in a 1x12 cream back M, and my Avatar 2x12 loaded with a V30 and an Anniversary. Sounded crazy huge with the 2x12 and really good in the M.
Enjoy the Mini Eric! Thanks for the details!
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Post by mudman on Dec 7, 2017 22:25:51 GMT -7
I have not tired my recently acquired Mini Z with my blue yet.(Why didn't I think of that?). I did try it in a 1x12 cream back M, and my Avatar 2x12 loaded with a V30 and an Anniversary. Sounded crazy huge with the 2x12 and really good in the M. Enjoy the Mini Eric! Thanks for the details! I have the blue in a red dr z convertible cab. Pulled from my Maz Jr, where I put a gold instead. The cab came with a g12h30 which sounded nice, but I prefer the blue by a country mile.
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Post by mudman on Apr 11, 2018 18:11:31 GMT -7
Such a great combination!! Florance voodoo nocaster in the bridge, back to stock in the neck. Sounds fantastic with the mini z
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