|
Post by live2worship on Feb 14, 2022 12:34:11 GMT -7
Hello ZTalk peps. I'm looking/wanting a ZWreck Jr (I think) but most every video I see/hear is someone going straight in with a Tele. Sounds stellar but I'm wondering does it do the mix cutting but big guitar thing too. I currently play an AC15HW and Matchless DC30 (Churches backline) on the ef86 side in stereo and love the aggressiveness of the EF86 preamp. I hear (at least to my ear) a lot of similarities b/t the ZWreck and the ef86 side on the Matchless DC30. I've been wanting to try a Z out for a while and the Zwreck seems to have the 3D, aggressive on the edge of breakup thing going on from videos I've seen but without playing one I'm just left to wonder. Does it take pedals well and do the big ambient with high fidelity thing. I love my AC15HW too but there's a point where it gets a little soft feeling/sounding with ambient effects whereas the DC30 seems to get really wet but continue to maintain fidelity/mix cut ability.
Anyone spent anytime on a DC30 (EF86) side or Nighthawk that could speak to the similarities/difference with the ZWreck. If the ZWreck is in this sonic spectrum and I don't have to deal with the fickleness of microphonic EF86's I'm very interested. I've seen the Maz series and they sound fabulous and super versatile but not as aggressive/cutting to my ear.
Whatever I get will be run in stereo with my AC15HW.
|
|
|
Post by jhen86 (jordan) on Feb 14, 2022 13:13:05 GMT -7
Welcome! This is a great site. There are quite of few church guys here (self included) so you will find some helpful comments for sure. Might even have some helpful insight from non-church goers as well.
The Stangray is fantastic. Way too clean to really compare to the DC30 (although my only DC30-ish first hand experience is with a bad cat cub). I have a few Stangray profiles that I love for kemper when I get to play through one.
A few questions and observations:
1) Does wattage/volume matter? 2) How much do you really on pedals for drive? 3) The ef86 thing is very different. I absolutely love it and think pairing an EF86 front end with a 12ax7 gives a great tonal landscape. I’d definitely miss not having an ef86.
I have an M12 that I’ve tweaked with a higher voltage rectifier. That may be a great option to consider (cheaper too). With the 5AR4 you get closer to that chimey vox thing, but still will ample headroom for pedals. And it still does the pushed clean amazingly, but with a thick midrange fullness that a 12ax7 can’t really copy. Maybe a omething from matchless with a paralleled 12ax7 stage one may get closer, but it will probably be dirtier. M12 maintains amazing fidelity as well. As would the Stangray.
The wreck jr is a great amp though, so I don’t want to discourage you from that path if your heart is set on it.
|
|
|
Post by nick0 on Feb 14, 2022 13:41:03 GMT -7
I can't offer anything up on the Z Wreck because I don't have one. Bummer.... I've used a few different Dr Zs regularly in a worship setting. Really, they all seem to take the saturated wet effects really nicely. Currently been digging the headroom and fidelity of the Jetta. Especially when using a bunch of effects. It's a lotta versatility in a simple, small, and cost effective package. Like Jordan said, if your heart is set on the Wreck Jr, I don't think you can go wrong. I've never heard a bad review on that thing.
|
|
|
Post by jhen86 (jordan) on Feb 14, 2022 13:44:38 GMT -7
Whatever I get will be run in stereo with my AC15HW. Where are you located? May be a fellow Z brother in your area.
|
|
|
Post by sharkboy on Feb 15, 2022 8:49:32 GMT -7
I have a DC30 clone that was my main amp for years. I almost never used the 12AX7 side- virtually always used the EF86 side. I mostly stopped playing it as soon as I bought my first Z.
I have a full ZWreck. It’s only 3db louder into the same load than a jr, but that is some available headroom. It takes pedals well. Minimal knobs lets me dial in tone quickly. I love it in the range of clean-to-full distortion- it stays articulate even distorted. The real magic happens at the edge between clean and distortion.
I usually like to play with 2 or 3 amps, but would be comfortable with only the ZWreck for any gig. I would say that the amp has a slight preference for single coils, but still sounds great with hbs. My favorite humbucker amp is a Z Route66 (EF86,) but it has a lot of similarities to the ZWreck.
|
|
|
Post by Paul (TRANE) on Feb 15, 2022 11:11:38 GMT -7
I have a DC30 but I do not have a Z Wreck for comparison. Hope you find the tone you seek.
|
|
|
Post by live2worship on Feb 16, 2022 8:26:32 GMT -7
Tone I'm seeking is on the edge of breakup dynamic/3d that will still take pedals and not fall apart. I play mostly worship but it's a more aggressive/dirtier sound than most ppl perceive worship to be. It's a good bit of dirt/hair just with fidelity and note separation. Z Wreck videos I've seen sound like they have the dynamic 3D thing going on but just about everyone is playing a Tele in front doing the country thing which worries me that maybe that's it's only cup of tea since it's designed to do/for Brad Paisley (which he sounds AMAZING doing/playing). I really just wanna the master volume dimed (out of line) with the volume around 11o'clock and tone set accordingly to guitar. I "hate" master volumes on any amp. If it's that loud take it off stage/isolate and put a mic in front of it. I want the best the amp has to offer and not willing to sacrifice for volume. That's also why I stay in the 15watt range b/c sweet spot on a 30Watt + amp is just too much to deal with for even me. I had a 65 SuperReverb reissue that I LOVED but it was just stupid loud in the sweet spot and it didn't matter where we put it in the best ISO cabs (that contain AC30's and DC30s) we have it just got obnoxious loud even for a 2k+ person auditorium in a iso cab, in a room offstage - sorry for the rabbit hole folks.
|
|
|
Post by live2worship on Feb 16, 2022 8:28:33 GMT -7
Whatever I get will be run in stereo with my AC15HW. Where are you located? May be a fellow Z brother in your area. Located in North Alabama currently but relocating to North Texas in the next month.
|
|
|
Post by live2worship on Feb 16, 2022 8:30:18 GMT -7
Welcome! This is a great site. There are quite of few church guys here (self included) so you will find some helpful comments for sure. Might even have some helpful insight from non-church goers as well. The Stangray is fantastic. Way too clean to really compare to the DC30 (although my only DC30-ish first hand experience is with a bad cat cub). I have a few Stangray profiles that I love for kemper when I get to play through one. A few questions and observations: 1) Does wattage/volume matter? kind of. 15W is kind of the sweet spot. 2) How much do you really on pedals for drive? definitely use them but stack no more than 2 and that's rare, I do work the guitar volume. 3) The ef86 thing is very different. I absolutely love it and think pairing an EF86 front end with a 12ax7 gives a great tonal landscape. I’d definitely miss not having an ef86. I have an M12 that I’ve tweaked with a higher voltage rectifier. That may be a great option to consider (cheaper too). With the 5AR4 you get closer to that chimey vox thing, but still will ample headroom for pedals. And it still does the pushed clean amazingly, but with a thick midrange fullness that a 12ax7 can’t really copy. Maybe a omething from matchless with a paralleled 12ax7 stage one may get closer, but it will probably be dirtier. M12 maintains amazing fidelity as well. As would the Stangray. The wreck jr is a great amp though, so I don’t want to discourage you from that path if your heart is set on it.
|
|
|
Post by nick0 on Feb 16, 2022 8:40:30 GMT -7
Seems like you dig some drive from the amp. Do you use an effects loop for the wet stuff? I will also offer up that the Dr's PPI master volume design is not your average master. It works really really well at maintaining tone while shaving off some dBs.
|
|
|
Post by live2worship on Feb 16, 2022 8:55:23 GMT -7
Seems like you dig some drive from the amp. Do you use an effects loop for the wet stuff? Never run effects into effects loop because of how far amp is/offstage. We convert output signal to XLR to amp room and then back to TS into the amp. I will also offer up that the Dr's PPI master volume design is not your average master. It works really really well at maintaining tone while shaving off some dBs.
|
|
|
Post by nick0 on Feb 16, 2022 9:00:55 GMT -7
Seems like you dig some drive from the amp. Do you use an effects loop for the wet stuff? Never run effects into effects loop because of how far amp is/offstage. We convert output signal to XLR to amp room and then back to TS into the amp. I will also offer up that the Dr's PPI master volume design is not your average master. It works really really well at maintaining tone while shaving off some dBs. We do the same thing. I usually run the amps pretty clean and have enough headroom to take the drives and wet effects without falling apart. Dr Z's I've used do great in this environment.
|
|
|
Post by jhen86 (jordan) on Feb 16, 2022 11:38:03 GMT -7
Very familiar with this. Did this for years in my large church, using the yellow Radial reamping boxes. Fwiw the M12 doesn’t get as much love (understandably) but for this context and my tones, I’d be hard pressed to ever let go of my M12. It covers this beautifully. Pushed clean with room to stack a drive and maybe boost for solo. FX stay pristine. With a higher voltage rectifier it gets to about 18w and bring out more bits of Stangray, wreck, and Rt 66 to my ear.
I’m north of Dallas. You’re welcome to come try mine out when you land. Don’t have a wreck, but I do have an RXJR if you’re into Paisley stuff.
|
|
|
Post by jhen86 (jordan) on Feb 16, 2022 12:03:25 GMT -7
I know my handle says Denver, but we just moved to Sherman TX
|
|
|
Post by live2worship on Feb 16, 2022 12:41:00 GMT -7
I know my handle says Denver, but we just moved to Sherman TX We will be in Wichita Falls so not too far from you at all.
|
|
|
Post by Jason Cornelius on Feb 18, 2022 19:36:05 GMT -7
I have a Zwreck Jr. that you’re welcome to try. I’m in the Fort Worth area.
|
|
|
Post by telejas on Feb 19, 2022 14:23:04 GMT -7
I've had a few Stingrays/StangRays and a Black Cat (very similar to a DC30).
IMO, the Z-Wreck Jr compares more to your AC15HW.
It'd be like an AC15HW had a tighter bottom end and a little more aggression, with a little something extra added to the complexity of the tone.
The Wreck Jr sounds more vintage than a StangRay and doesn't have near the low end as the Ray (not that that's a bad thing). The Ray is more of a modern take on the AC30 type of tone, where the Wreck (jr and Sr) are more rooted in the vintage sound. Even my Maz 18 has more low end and is more "modern" sounding than the Wreck (once again, not a bad or good thing).
The Black Cat is a little more vintage sounding than the Ray as well, so if I had to choose between the Ray or the DC30 as to which one the Wreck is closer to, it'd be the DC30..... But, still closer to your AC15HW.
|
|