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Post by kenbrolux on Dec 31, 2017 13:35:14 GMT -7
I received my studio cab Z Plus on Thursday. I played a gig with it that night, and it held it's own in a moderately loud four piece band. I used a telecaster ran the volume at about 10 or 11 o'clock with the master wide open. I was particularly surprised by the headroom. I used my J. Rockett Archer for a solo boost with the output below noon--this provided a massive volume boost.
However, I have found the amp's noise floor is higher than I expected. In Dr. Z's AMA video about the Z Plus, he described the amp as very quiet. And in the Premier Guitar preview video, John Bollinger remarked by how quiet it was. However, I get quite a bit of white noise at idle--with all volume, reverb, and tone knobs at zero and the master and cut all the way up. The white noise is much louder than my Maz Jr., not to mention my Remedy in 20 watt mode, which is practically silent at moderate volumes. I switched all the preamp tubes with the Maz Jr. one by one to see if it was a bad preamp tube, but the noise remained. For other Z Plus owners, I'm curious about how you're finding the noise level.
Secondly, the bass response is not quite as high as I had hoped or anticipated from watching the Premier Guitar video. When I'm running the amp clean, I find myself running the bass almost all the way up to get a bit of thump with a my telecaster. This is almost the opposite of my Maz, an incredibly warm amp with which I usually run the bass at 8 or 9 o'clock.
I love the features of the amp and its light weight, I'm just trying to confirm to that it's running properly.
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Post by headshrinker (Marc) on Dec 31, 2017 15:31:07 GMT -7
I too run the bass on the z-Plus higher than on a Maz with both the Z-12 and Blue speaker. Higher with the Blue than the Z-12. Usually between noon and 2. I run my Maz at 10:00. That's generally with humbuckers. As for the cut, I run it at 10:00 on both of them. Since it controls the output tubes, not the preamp tubes, my guess is that the white noise is in the power tubes. Got to say, I have never run any cut control on any amp above noon. If you run it that high when you play, I would go with the, if you can't hear it when you are playing, forget about it. If you run it lower and can't hear the white noise, again forget about it and have some fun with the amp. In my opinion, if an amp sounds fine where you set it to play, don't worry about how it sounds in extreme settings.
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Post by DRZ on Jan 1, 2018 8:51:05 GMT -7
I received my studio cab Z Plus on Thursday. I played a gig with it that night, and it held it's own in a moderately loud four piece band. I used a telecaster ran the volume at about 10 or 11 o'clock with the master wide open. I was particularly surprised by the headroom. I used my J. Rockett Archer for a solo boost with the output below noon--this provided a massive volume boost. However, I have found the amp's noise floor is higher than I expected. In Dr. Z's AMA video about the Z Plus, he described the amp as very quiet. And in the Premier Guitar preview video, John Bollinger remarked by how quiet it was. However, I get quite a bit of white noise at idle--with all volume, reverb, and tone knobs at zero and the master and cut all the way up. The white noise is much louder than my Maz Jr., not to mention my Remedy in 20 watt mode, which is practically silent at moderate volumes. I switched all the preamp tubes with the Maz Jr. one by one to see if it was a bad preamp tube, but the noise remained. For other Z Plus owners, I'm curious about how you're finding the noise level. Secondly, the bass response is not quite as high as I had hoped or anticipated from watching the Premier Guitar video. When I'm running the amp clean, I find myself running the bass almost all the way up to get a bit of thump with a my telecaster. This is almost the opposite of my Maz, an incredibly warm amp with which I usually run the bass at 8 or 9 o'clock. I love the features of the amp and its light weight, I'm just trying to confirm to that it's running properly. Well Ken, Happy New Year first, and second thank you for your support of DR.Z Amps with your many purchases. You ask if you're running it correctly, when your first statements report your success of using this low wattage amp with a " loud four piece band." Quite an accomplishment I must say I would say your running just right. But you take it home and experiment with various settings , almost looking or testing for a flaw . The Master control on the Z Plus single ended amp is completely different then the MAZ Master Volume. Since there is no Phase Inverter the Master is a Driver circuit to the 6V6's and will generate white noise when set to max. This coupled with the CUT , which is a High Pass Filter will allow all that White Noise to pass to the 6V6's and be amplified. This is NO WAY the operating condition of the amp in normal use, so I wouldn't be alarmed . As for the Bass response not sure there is a concern there either as this low powered amp generates ample Low end , maybe you just need to hear more when your at a low volume level for your personal taste with your Tele. Z
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Post by kenbrolux on Jan 1, 2018 12:00:21 GMT -7
I received my studio cab Z Plus on Thursday. I played a gig with it that night, and it held it's own in a moderately loud four piece band. I used a telecaster ran the volume at about 10 or 11 o'clock with the master wide open. I was particularly surprised by the headroom. I used my J. Rockett Archer for a solo boost with the output below noon--this provided a massive volume boost. However, I have found the amp's noise floor is higher than I expected. In Dr. Z's AMA video about the Z Plus, he described the amp as very quiet. And in the Premier Guitar preview video, John Bollinger remarked by how quiet it was. However, I get quite a bit of white noise at idle--with all volume, reverb, and tone knobs at zero and the master and cut all the way up. The white noise is much louder than my Maz Jr., not to mention my Remedy in 20 watt mode, which is practically silent at moderate volumes. I switched all the preamp tubes with the Maz Jr. one by one to see if it was a bad preamp tube, but the noise remained. For other Z Plus owners, I'm curious about how you're finding the noise level. Secondly, the bass response is not quite as high as I had hoped or anticipated from watching the Premier Guitar video. When I'm running the amp clean, I find myself running the bass almost all the way up to get a bit of thump with a my telecaster. This is almost the opposite of my Maz, an incredibly warm amp with which I usually run the bass at 8 or 9 o'clock. I love the features of the amp and its light weight, I'm just trying to confirm to that it's running properly. Well Ken, Happy New Year first, and second thank you for your support of DR.Z Amps with your many purchases. You ask if you're running it correctly, when your first statements report your success of using this low wattage amp with a " loud four piece band." Quite an accomplishment I must say I would say your running just right. But you take it home and experiment with various settings , almost looking or testing for a flaw . The Master control on the Z Plus single ended amp is completely different then the MAZ Master Volume. Since there is no Phase Inverter the Master is a Driver circuit to the 6V6's and will generate white noise when set to max. This coupled with the CUT , which is a High Pass Filter will allow all that White Noise to pass to the 6V6's and be amplified. This is NO WAY the operating condition of the amp in normal use, so I wouldn't be alarmed . As for the Bass response not sure there is a concern there either as this low powered amp generates ample Low end , maybe you just need to hear more when your at a low volume level for your personal taste with your Tele. Z Thanks Doc for the your response and making my favorite amps ever. Everything you wrote makes complete sense, and of course things like noise and bass response are always relative. And yes, I am an inveterate "tester." It really is a unique sounding amp that combines expansive harmonic content with a quick, percussive attack.
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Post by doctorice on Jan 3, 2018 17:23:23 GMT -7
Hi Ken,
I was playing my Z-Plus a few minutes ago. I have a Blue in the studio cab. Bass knob is up higher than I would run with, say, a MAZ 18, but comparable to where I set my MAZ 8. One thing that I heard clearly today was "more bass" when I hit the eq bypass, and I only have its knob up halfway. I also think the Blue's bass takes a while to break in before coming to life. I noted the same with my MAZ 8's Blue.
I'm bringing this up because I'm hearing this "bass wake up" only now after 20 to 30 hours of play time.
Like you, I gigged the amp soon after it arrived. It will be going out again!
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Post by captainron (Ron) on Jan 4, 2018 9:55:24 GMT -7
Hi Ken, I was playing my Z-Plus a few minutes ago. I have a Blue in the studio cab. Bass knob is up higher than I would run with, say, a MAZ 18, but comparable to where I set my MAZ 8. One thing that I heard clearly today was "more bass" when I hit the eq bypass, and I only have its knob up halfway. I also think the Blue's bass takes a while to break in before coming to life. I noted that same with my MAZ 8's Blue. I'm bringing this up because I'm hearing this "bass wake up" only now after 20 to 30 hours of play time. Like you, I gigged the amp soon after it arrived. It will be going out again! Yes, same here Mike. I have the Plus Studio cab with Blue. I'm reminded of how much I appreciate the tone and bass of a nicely broken-in Blue. I have about 25 hours playing time on mine with the bass knob turned up about 12-1 o'clock or so(much more than my MAZ). I played the Plus through my broken-in Blue Dr. Z 1x12 cab and wow! Big difference. Time on the new blue will work wonders.
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Post by doctorice on Jan 4, 2018 11:49:10 GMT -7
Hi Ken, I was playing my Z-Plus a few minutes ago. I have a Blue in the studio cab. Bass knob is up higher than I would run with, say, a MAZ 18, but comparable to where I set my MAZ 8. One thing that I heard clearly today was "more bass" when I hit the eq bypass, and I only have its knob up halfway. I also think the Blue's bass takes a while to break in before coming to life. I noted that same with my MAZ 8's Blue. I'm bringing this up because I'm hearing this "bass wake up" only now after 20 to 30 hours of play time. Like you, I gigged the amp soon after it arrived. It will be going out again! Yes, same here Mike. I have the Plus Studio cab with Blue. I'm reminded of how much I appreciate the tone and bass of a nicely broken-in Blue. I have about 25 hours playing time on mine with the bass knob turned up(much more than my MAZ). I played the Plus through my broken-in Blue Dr. Z 1x12 cab and wow! Big difference. Time on the new blue will work wonders. Thanks for confirming, Ron. My hearing ain't what it used to be
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2018 13:48:28 GMT -7
I guess I'm hypersensitive to bass frequencies. I don't think I've ever run a bass knob on a Z Amp over 11am EVER. The Z12 has a nice bottom to it, so much so that I had a hard time using it with amps that don't have bass knobs. I don't even go past the 2 position on the DB4's rotary tone knob, even with single coils.
A wise sound guy once told me that my real bass knob was actually the mids knob...
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Post by doctorice on Jan 4, 2018 15:57:48 GMT -7
A wise sound guy once told me that my real bass knob was actually the mids knob... I believe I've seen that attributed to Jerry Garcia also.
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