Maz 18 MKII NR in Studio Cab ROCKS!!
Mar 3, 2023 9:02:51 GMT -7
DRZ, Russell B, and 3 more like this
Post by pcns on Mar 3, 2023 9:02:51 GMT -7
Hey all,
I've owned a lot of Z amps over the years and current own . . . alot of Zamps!
I recently picked up a new to me Maz 18 NR MKII from a brother here on the forum. After I unboxed it and was getting it ready to power it up I realized that this is the first time I have played a NR Maz 18. I've been to Zfest many times, Mini Zfest many times, the MuZeum lots and lots of times and several buddies houses that have multiple Zamps and had NEVER played NR Maz. Can't believe it.
Anyway, I powered this little baby up and plugged a Gibson SG (SGJ, lower output pickups) into. I was completely shocked by how much gain there is in this little amp. I mean this is up in the Monza territory. I say Monza with caution because this amp sounds nothing like a Monza (I love my Monza by the way, killer overdrive) but the NR has a ton of gain like . . . a Monza.
I only played for a few minutes at first but then grabbed my son Joshua and ran it through some paces (I found out later that my wife (Patty) had already gone to bed . . . ooops, sorry honey)
Joshua grabbed my SG and he sat down and I turned knobs. First thing, master was set about 9:30 o'clock, I dimmed the volume. Wow, Joshua smiled, I smiled, we both smiled. Its a bit hard describe (I'll work on getting a video and decent recording posted) but this amp when driven with humbuckers gives a really great lush thick overdrive tone that I was not expecting. Its not very compressed and to my surprise it does not sound angry when cranked up. Happy overdrive?? Is that a thing? My Monza, EMS, CAZ get more of a GRRRRRRR sound to the overdrive when you crank them up. The Maz 18 MKII NR gets more of an AHHHHHHH when cranked up. Really amazing tone.
We didn't keep it dimmed for very long, we eventually landed on the volume knob at just shy of noon. With humbuckers that was still plenty of gain (just ask my trying to sleep wife). Here is the best part. Joshua started playing a piece of music he has recently written, some picking and pretty sounding stuff that builds into a nice drive. He played both parts without touching anything. He backed off a little bit on his picking hand and this amp cleaned up beautifully and then when he started stroking it, back came that awesome overdrive.
Back to the MKII updates . . . . I owned a Maz Jr (2006 era) that sounded really great but the tone controls were a little squishy. They changed the tone and allowed you dial in your tone so that they did their job, the MKII control knobs are really stunning. They change the tone very well and do not really affect the overall level you are hearing. So its nice to move the tone control and not affect the over output or relative gain. The CUT knob is the star of the show in my opinion. Full sweep of the cut knob really changes the tones of the amp and helps you go from Voxy chime to more of a Marshall stack tone profile (just trying to give an example, the amp doesn't sound like those amps but . . . I think you get my drift).
If you have been on the fence about an MKII amp or MKII update to your current amp. I highly recommend it.
If you have been on the fence about a NR vs Reverb Maz. I'll say this, you can't go wrong with either choice, they are both great sounding amps and cover a lot of tonal ground but if you like great sounding amp overdrive (I do!) the NR is something you should really consider!
my 2 cents,
Todd
I've owned a lot of Z amps over the years and current own . . . alot of Zamps!
I recently picked up a new to me Maz 18 NR MKII from a brother here on the forum. After I unboxed it and was getting it ready to power it up I realized that this is the first time I have played a NR Maz 18. I've been to Zfest many times, Mini Zfest many times, the MuZeum lots and lots of times and several buddies houses that have multiple Zamps and had NEVER played NR Maz. Can't believe it.
Anyway, I powered this little baby up and plugged a Gibson SG (SGJ, lower output pickups) into. I was completely shocked by how much gain there is in this little amp. I mean this is up in the Monza territory. I say Monza with caution because this amp sounds nothing like a Monza (I love my Monza by the way, killer overdrive) but the NR has a ton of gain like . . . a Monza.
I only played for a few minutes at first but then grabbed my son Joshua and ran it through some paces (I found out later that my wife (Patty) had already gone to bed . . . ooops, sorry honey)
Joshua grabbed my SG and he sat down and I turned knobs. First thing, master was set about 9:30 o'clock, I dimmed the volume. Wow, Joshua smiled, I smiled, we both smiled. Its a bit hard describe (I'll work on getting a video and decent recording posted) but this amp when driven with humbuckers gives a really great lush thick overdrive tone that I was not expecting. Its not very compressed and to my surprise it does not sound angry when cranked up. Happy overdrive?? Is that a thing? My Monza, EMS, CAZ get more of a GRRRRRRR sound to the overdrive when you crank them up. The Maz 18 MKII NR gets more of an AHHHHHHH when cranked up. Really amazing tone.
We didn't keep it dimmed for very long, we eventually landed on the volume knob at just shy of noon. With humbuckers that was still plenty of gain (just ask my trying to sleep wife). Here is the best part. Joshua started playing a piece of music he has recently written, some picking and pretty sounding stuff that builds into a nice drive. He played both parts without touching anything. He backed off a little bit on his picking hand and this amp cleaned up beautifully and then when he started stroking it, back came that awesome overdrive.
Back to the MKII updates . . . . I owned a Maz Jr (2006 era) that sounded really great but the tone controls were a little squishy. They changed the tone and allowed you dial in your tone so that they did their job, the MKII control knobs are really stunning. They change the tone very well and do not really affect the overall level you are hearing. So its nice to move the tone control and not affect the over output or relative gain. The CUT knob is the star of the show in my opinion. Full sweep of the cut knob really changes the tones of the amp and helps you go from Voxy chime to more of a Marshall stack tone profile (just trying to give an example, the amp doesn't sound like those amps but . . . I think you get my drift).
If you have been on the fence about an MKII amp or MKII update to your current amp. I highly recommend it.
If you have been on the fence about a NR vs Reverb Maz. I'll say this, you can't go wrong with either choice, they are both great sounding amps and cover a lot of tonal ground but if you like great sounding amp overdrive (I do!) the NR is something you should really consider!
my 2 cents,
Todd