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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 4, 2022 10:53:15 GMT -7
Hi all, appreciate any help here.
I just got a Maz 18 MkII and the thing is pretty loud even with the gain (volume) at 9 o clock.
When I dial up the reverb the thing starts to buzz even louder. I've also noticed that when I pick up my guitar while its plugged in theres a loud static pop coming from the amp. Doesn't happen every time but I've never had this happen in an amp before.
I live in a newer building with decent wiring so I don't think thats it.
Is the Maz 18 MkII naturally a pretty loud amp. (humming not volume) Or is this abnormal?
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Post by adam on Oct 4, 2022 16:10:56 GMT -7
The normal functioning amp should basically have no noise, like the rest of the Z's, so something is off.
Start with the most basic stuff, like try a different guitar cord, different guitar. I've had more than a couple guaranteed for life cords cause a problem and it was the last place I looked. Maybe even a different power cord. Does it still make noise with nothing plugged into it?
Next, maybe look at proximity to wifi routers or cell phones, or anything electric. Next try a different electrical circuit and different location in the home. I know that sounds stupid, but it could help weed out a problem with the amp or something else as the cause.
Next is the amp and you could try replacing tubes with known good ones one at a time.
For me, I've run into failed guitar cords more than anything. Next, once put a wifi router near an amp and thought it was the amp, but it was the router. Placing a cell phone on an amp can make all kinds of seemingly random noise and makes me wonder what those things are doing to our general health. I personally have an issue in that when the dishwasher is running, everything in my studio makes noise. I asked an electrician about that when he was here recently and said sometimes that stuff is just black magic, like they'll move that breaker to the other side of the panel, or to the top of the panel, and he has no real idea why that ever makes any difference.
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Post by purpletele on Oct 4, 2022 16:50:51 GMT -7
Docholiday,
Is this a brand new amp or a used amp?
Is it a combo or a head?
I would try to roll a new tube into V2 and V3, one at a time to see if that changes affects the noise.
If it's a combo you might have an input or output jack on the reverb tank that is not fully engaged
That is my two cents
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Post by Chilly Gibbons (Todd T.) on Oct 4, 2022 16:53:14 GMT -7
Does it do that with no guitar cable plugged into it?
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Post by dcarver on Oct 4, 2022 17:38:42 GMT -7
Welcome to the forum docholiday. I have a Maz 8. It's single ended, so it will hum a lot if I set it up that way. It's pretty much dead quiet. Hum is no problem. This is with single coils.
In addition to what everyone else said: Volume at 9:00 should be dead quiet. Where's the Master V ? Cranking the verb adds some hum to my amp too. Overhead lighting, especially fluorescent lighting causes hum. Also, some lighting dimmer switches are notorious hum producers. Turn`em off. Turning them down doesn't always help. Cranking the cut control increases hum in my amp. Stand or sit at about a 45 degree angle to the front of the amp about 10 feet or so from the amp. With the guitar in playing position, rotate 90 deg left and 90 deg right. Does that effect hum ? Find the quiet spot. Does the amp behave the same way at a friends house ?
The loud pop sounds like a bad instrument cable or a loose jack. Does it pop with other guitars, or just this one?
It's a process of elimination. If this is a brand new Maz 18 MkII, I'm pretty sure it's not the amp or the tubes. Doc and his crew test these things to perfection before they ever get near a shipping box. Yes, the Maz 18 is naturally a pretty loud amp. Doc rates his amps pretty conservatively. Good luck Let us know how it goes.
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 7:43:55 GMT -7
My Wi-Fi router is on the other side of the wall. I have tried another outlet but I’ll try moving to the outlet furthest away or even unplugging the router to see if that helps. The normal functioning amp should basically have no noise, like the rest of the Z's, so something is off. Start with the most basic stuff, like try a different guitar cord, different guitar. I've had more than a couple guaranteed for life cords cause a problem and it was the last place I looked. Maybe even a different power cord. Does it still make noise with nothing plugged into it? Next, maybe look at proximity to wifi routers or cell phones, or anything electric. Next try a different electrical circuit and different location in the home. I know that sounds stupid, but it could help weed out a problem with the amp or something else as the cause. Next is the amp and you could try replacing tubes with known good ones one at a time. For me, I've run into failed guitar cords more than anything. Next, once put a wifi router near an amp and thought it was the amp, but it was the router. Placing a cell phone on an amp can make all kinds of seemingly random noise and makes me wonder what those things are doing to our general health. I personally have an issue in that when the dishwasher is running, everything in my studio makes noise. I asked an electrician about that when he was here recently and said sometimes that stuff is just black magic, like they'll move that breaker to the other side of the panel, or to the top of the panel, and he has no real idea why that ever makes any difference.
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 7:46:57 GMT -7
Docholiday, Is this a brand new amp or a used amp? Is it a combo or a head? I would try to roll a new tube into V2 and V3, one at a time to see if that changes affects the noise. If it's a combo you might have an input or output jack on the reverb tank that is not fully engaged That is my two cents It’s a combo that’s brand new. I tried unplugging the tank which knocked down the humm a decent bit. The amp overall is a bit buzzy with the volume cranked but that’s to be expected. It’s the loud buzz when the reverb is dimed that I find concerning.
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 7:49:52 GMT -7
Welcome to the forum docholiday. I have a Maz 8. It's single ended, so it will hum a lot if I set it up that way. It's pretty much dead quiet. Hum is no problem. This is with single coils. In addition to what everyone else said: Volume at 9:00 should be dead quiet. Where's the Master V ? Cranking the verb adds some hum to my amp too. Overhead lighting, especially fluorescent lighting causes hum. Also, some lighting dimmer switches are notorious hum producers. Turn`em off. Turning them down doesn't always help. Cranking the cut control increases hum in my amp. Stand or sit at about a 45 degree angle to the front of the amp about 10 feet or so from the amp. With the guitar in playing position, rotate 90 deg left and 90 deg right. Does that effect hum ? Find the quiet spot. Does the amp behave the same way at a friends house ? The loud pop sounds like a bad instrument cable or a loose jack. Does it pop with other guitars, or just this one? It's a process of elimination. If this is a brand new Maz 18 MkII, I'm pretty sure it's not the amp or the tubes. Doc and his crew test these things to perfection before they ever get near a shipping box. Yes, the Maz 18 is naturally a pretty loud amp. Doc rates his amps pretty conservatively. Good luck Let us know how it goes. I think you might be right about the loose jack in my guitar part. Tested it with a strat and a Les Paul and the strat has more buzz which is normal. My concern is for the noise with nothing even plugged in. I’ll try moving the amp to different circuits to see if it helps because now it gets loud (buzz wise) with nothing plugged in
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 7:52:22 GMT -7
Docholiday, Is this a brand new amp or a used amp? Is it a combo or a head? I would try to roll a new tube into V2 and V3, one at a time to see if that changes affects the noise. If it's a combo you might have an input or output jack on the reverb tank that is not fully engaged That is my two cents It’s brand new so I could try a tube roll but I’d have to order the tubes which isn’t ideal for a new amp. Still not the worst thing though. I’ve unplugged and plugged back in the reverb tank. With it unplugged the hum goes away. We’ll at least the hum from the reverb. The other hum there is likely just due to the master being turned up which i assume is more normal
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 7:52:46 GMT -7
Does it do that with no guitar cable plugged into it? Yes it does it with no guitar plugged in
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 8:41:05 GMT -7
Uploaded a quick video to YouTube. Started with the reverb tank unplugged. Then plugged it in. No cable inserted and I moved it further away from my Wi-Fi router.
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Post by frankie on Oct 5, 2022 10:20:44 GMT -7
Uploaded a quick video to YouTube. Started with the reverb tank unplugged. Then plugged it in. No cable inserted and I moved it further away from my Wi-Fi router. Plug your guitar into the return of the FX loop. Does the noise go away? If so, take the first preamp tube nearest the input jack, and swap it with the second. It's possible the first tube is just microphonic. If the noise does not go away after plugging into the return of the FX, then it's possible you have a power tube issue. Replace with tubes with ones that are know to work without issue and report back. (Sorry, I initially hit "edit" when looking for the reply button)
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 5, 2022 10:55:04 GMT -7
Uploaded a quick video to YouTube. Started with the reverb tank unplugged. Then plugged it in. No cable inserted and I moved it further away from my Wi-Fi router. Plug your guitar into the return of the FX loop. Does the noise go away? If so, take the first preamp tube nearest the input jack, and swap it with the second. It's possible the first tube is just microphonic. If the noise does not go away after plugging into the return of the FX, then it's possible you have a power tube issue. Replace with tubes with ones that are know to work without issue and report back. (Sorry, I initially hit "edit" when looking for the reply button) Guitar into the effects loop still makes noise. I’ll test the power tubes. Idk if they’re good but I bought some NOS 6n14 power tubes from the UK when I made the decision to buy this amp. I’ll wait for the amp to cool off from that last test and try swapping them out.
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Post by dcarver on Oct 5, 2022 12:06:13 GMT -7
Great video. It really helps.
OK .. I would say for the most part, my Maz 8 buzzes about like your amp. Cranking either volume, reverb or cut will add some hum. Dimeing 3 out of 4 like that, my amp would be buzzing about like yours. You do realize that the amp would be insanely loud with a metric sh@t ton of reverb ... right.
You might be able to quiet it down a bit with some different tubes, like reverb driver or recovery, V1 etc. But in a brand new amp, the tubes are probably good. Try a good 5751 in V1. They tend to be a little quieter.
When you plug the amp into a well grounded circuit, and plug a well grounded guitar into the amp and grab the strings, does the hum go away?
Work with it. You can find great tone at no-hum levels with that amp.
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Post by frankie on Oct 6, 2022 8:55:10 GMT -7
Great video. It really helps. OK .. I would say for the most part, my Maz 8 buzzes about like your amp. Cranking either volume, reverb or cut will add some hum. Dimeing 3 out of 4 like that, my amp would be buzzing about like yours. You do realize that the amp would be insanely loud with a metric sh@t ton of reverb ... right. You might be able to quiet it down a bit with some different tubes, like reverb driver or recovery, V1 etc. But in a brand new amp, the tubes are probably good. Try a good 5751 in V1. They tend to be a little quieter. When you plug the amp into a well grounded circuit, and plug a well grounded guitar into the amp and grab the strings, does the hum go away? Work with it. You can find great tone at no-hum levels with that amp. If the amp makes the noise with something in the FX loop, the tubes before the Phase Inverter are not the culprit. A single ended amp like a MAZ 8 is inherently more noisy because there is no phase inversion like a A/B push/pull amp in the power amp. Hum with something in the loop return can indicated either a microphonic power tube or a set of power tubes that are mismatched.
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Post by frankie on Oct 6, 2022 9:21:46 GMT -7
Plug your guitar into the return of the FX loop. Does the noise go away? If so, take the first preamp tube nearest the input jack, and swap it with the second. It's possible the first tube is just microphonic. If the noise does not go away after plugging into the return of the FX, then it's possible you have a power tube issue. Replace with tubes with ones that are know to work without issue and report back. (Sorry, I initially hit "edit" when looking for the reply button) Guitar into the effects loop still makes noise. I’ll test the power tubes. Idk if they’re good but I bought some NOS 6n14 power tubes from the UK when I made the decision to buy this amp. I’ll wait for the amp to cool off from that last test and try swapping them out. Power tubes are likely the culprit. Hum can be from a set that is mismatched. Also you may want to try swapping the phase inverter out (this is generally a low noise section of the amp) with another 12ax7 while you are at it.
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Post by frankie on Oct 6, 2022 10:30:08 GMT -7
Plug your guitar into the return of the FX loop. Does the noise go away? If so, take the first preamp tube nearest the input jack, and swap it with the second. It's possible the first tube is just microphonic. If the noise does not go away after plugging into the return of the FX, then it's possible you have a power tube issue. Replace with tubes with ones that are know to work without issue and report back. (Sorry, I initially hit "edit" when looking for the reply button) Guitar into the effects loop still makes noise. I’ll test the power tubes. Idk if they’re good but I bought some NOS 6n14 power tubes from the UK when I made the decision to buy this amp. I’ll wait for the amp to cool off from that last test and try swapping them out. I also took a closer look at this thread and you mentioned that it's a new amp. Are you located in the US? If so, your original 6n14n's may be under warranty still depending on the purchase date.
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Post by dcarver on Oct 6, 2022 10:31:58 GMT -7
How much does it hum when you are holding your (plugged in) guitar with the amp dialed in the way you want it to sound ?
Dimeing knobs with nothing plugged into the amp is pretty much maximizing hum.
Like I said, you can get an amp to hum real good if you work at it.
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Post by docholiday11x on Oct 7, 2022 22:04:28 GMT -7
The amp is likely under warranty. But I think I’ve settled to a point where I’m just accepting that this amp just buzzes more than other amps I’ve used in the past. Emailed the z repairs team and they assured me it’s normal.
I might try swapping power tubes in the future. But for now I can get past the buzz by keeping the reverb less than half way up. Which is more than enough for me anyways. Amp sounds amazing overall.
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Post by John on Oct 8, 2022 7:26:06 GMT -7
I've skimmed this thread, and I didn't see anyone asking the question: Are you playing the amp in a room with florescent lights? They've been known to cause guitar amps to buzz.
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