NAD a tale of 2 Juniors - MAZ 18 Junior MKII
May 30, 2018 22:54:02 GMT -7
heynewguy (Ol’ Bill), Jaguarguy (Mike), and 13 more like this
Post by perryr on May 30, 2018 22:54:02 GMT -7
20 Years ago, September 97’, I wrote a glowing review (imagine that!) on Harmony Central of the Original Gangster Dr Z MAZ 18-Watt “Studio Deluxe” Junior. It was my 3rd Z Amp, and the very first Maz-18, # H.7001. Designed as a half power variant of the MAZ 38 Studio Deluxe, the Junior was the first Z to feature a ‘Cut’ control, and this OG also sported a variable line out. Though Jr shares a similar front end to the MAZ 38, the tone and vibe stands on its own with a brilliant, snappy attitude and elastic feel that as Z put it so perfectly 20 years ago “gets a 10 for fun factor”. Plug in, crank it up, and let it rip!
Dr Z recently released the Maz 18 Junior MKII, a Junior with 20 years of polishing, a PPIMV, EQ Bypass Pedal w/Variable Boost, Buffered Loop and redisigned spring reverb. I listened to Dave Bakers video and promptly ordered one up, I wanted to plug-in my Lentz strat and hear for myself the 20 year evolution of the MAZ Jr.
First I gotta say, my OG is sweeter today than it was 20 years ago. In prep for the Arrival of the MKII, I freshened up the OG with a fancy selection of NOS tubes and a nicely broken in g12h30, an dthen spent some time re-aquanting (Zwreck user at the moment). If you have ever plugged into a Junior you understand how that feel and sound only comes outa a Maz Jr! They have a ‘thing’ that just sings, that EL84 chime and bloom when you lean into it.. without mushing out in the bottom, the MAZ 18 Junior is a bad boy.
Plugged my Lentz into the MKII and it was clear straightaway that though the new and the old may share DNA, the new is significantly refined. I hate to make this an old vs new, cause I love my OG, but there is no doubt the MKII has eveolved! At the core its Junior tone full on, but it sounds bigger, it is not as beamy (as my older studio cab), it radiates sound better and has a better bass response. Overall the eq is more evenly balanced, its flatter, with same brilliance, though a touch less upper mid emphasis. It still has that aggressive vibe, but theres more around it. I’m sure what I hear is the combined benefits of the the new light weight cabinet design and 20 years worth of small tweaks optimizing the amp.speaker.cab combination.. its peas and carrots end to end.
I could spill on for a very long time.. I could write a few paragraphs on the ‘Cut’ control and the g12h30 70th anniversary, they were meant for each other! In a nutshell, you cant be afraid to turn down the treble or turn the ‘Cut’ below noon.. or crank the treble and gain and turn the cut down even further.. or open the ‘Cut” and sparkle away on some inbetween clean tones, sound like Buddy Guy on the strat #2, the range of tone control is huge and you really need to explore!
The PPIMV is another big improvement, it works better for dialing in lower volume overdrive tones. The OG design was more usefull for dialing in the output drive which is a cool feature, guys like Buddy Whittington dial in the front end gain and then use the master to tune the output drive.. a gain and tone shaper rather than purely a volume level controller. The new PPIMV works better as a volume level controller, sure it still controls drive to the power tubes, but being post phase inverter means you can also overdrive the phase inverter stage to help build a denser overdriven tone at lower volume.. and it works great. I did find that even where volume wasn’t a concern (like in the video below) I liked the master down a bit, around 3pm.. like the OG
Rather than write another 3 or 10 paragraphs, which I easily could, I’m gonna wrap this up and let my fingers do the talkin! I haven’t tried the EQ bypass with variable boost, I’m sure that’s killer. And the buffered effects loop is ironic as Z has messed with effects loop design since day 1 with tube buffered variable send and returns! He never stops tweaking! Speaking of tweaking, gotta say the redisgned reverb is really another significant improvement, even in the videos it sounds stellar. Reverb, another feature Z has never stopped tuning. Kudo’s to Dr Z for never settling, always in a state of creation or optimization, Dr Z Amps are the best they have ever been, keeps on hitting it out the park.
Maz 18 MKII Junior Demo: Gain 2p, Cut noon, Master 3p, turned on reverb midway.
Dr Z recently released the Maz 18 Junior MKII, a Junior with 20 years of polishing, a PPIMV, EQ Bypass Pedal w/Variable Boost, Buffered Loop and redisigned spring reverb. I listened to Dave Bakers video and promptly ordered one up, I wanted to plug-in my Lentz strat and hear for myself the 20 year evolution of the MAZ Jr.
First I gotta say, my OG is sweeter today than it was 20 years ago. In prep for the Arrival of the MKII, I freshened up the OG with a fancy selection of NOS tubes and a nicely broken in g12h30, an dthen spent some time re-aquanting (Zwreck user at the moment). If you have ever plugged into a Junior you understand how that feel and sound only comes outa a Maz Jr! They have a ‘thing’ that just sings, that EL84 chime and bloom when you lean into it.. without mushing out in the bottom, the MAZ 18 Junior is a bad boy.
Plugged my Lentz into the MKII and it was clear straightaway that though the new and the old may share DNA, the new is significantly refined. I hate to make this an old vs new, cause I love my OG, but there is no doubt the MKII has eveolved! At the core its Junior tone full on, but it sounds bigger, it is not as beamy (as my older studio cab), it radiates sound better and has a better bass response. Overall the eq is more evenly balanced, its flatter, with same brilliance, though a touch less upper mid emphasis. It still has that aggressive vibe, but theres more around it. I’m sure what I hear is the combined benefits of the the new light weight cabinet design and 20 years worth of small tweaks optimizing the amp.speaker.cab combination.. its peas and carrots end to end.
I could spill on for a very long time.. I could write a few paragraphs on the ‘Cut’ control and the g12h30 70th anniversary, they were meant for each other! In a nutshell, you cant be afraid to turn down the treble or turn the ‘Cut’ below noon.. or crank the treble and gain and turn the cut down even further.. or open the ‘Cut” and sparkle away on some inbetween clean tones, sound like Buddy Guy on the strat #2, the range of tone control is huge and you really need to explore!
The PPIMV is another big improvement, it works better for dialing in lower volume overdrive tones. The OG design was more usefull for dialing in the output drive which is a cool feature, guys like Buddy Whittington dial in the front end gain and then use the master to tune the output drive.. a gain and tone shaper rather than purely a volume level controller. The new PPIMV works better as a volume level controller, sure it still controls drive to the power tubes, but being post phase inverter means you can also overdrive the phase inverter stage to help build a denser overdriven tone at lower volume.. and it works great. I did find that even where volume wasn’t a concern (like in the video below) I liked the master down a bit, around 3pm.. like the OG
Rather than write another 3 or 10 paragraphs, which I easily could, I’m gonna wrap this up and let my fingers do the talkin! I haven’t tried the EQ bypass with variable boost, I’m sure that’s killer. And the buffered effects loop is ironic as Z has messed with effects loop design since day 1 with tube buffered variable send and returns! He never stops tweaking! Speaking of tweaking, gotta say the redisgned reverb is really another significant improvement, even in the videos it sounds stellar. Reverb, another feature Z has never stopped tuning. Kudo’s to Dr Z for never settling, always in a state of creation or optimization, Dr Z Amps are the best they have ever been, keeps on hitting it out the park.
Maz 18 MKII Junior Demo: Gain 2p, Cut noon, Master 3p, turned on reverb midway.