rizos
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by rizos on Mar 29, 2023 10:51:13 GMT -7
Hi Maz fans, I am new here and this is my first post. I have read a lot on here about the Maz and volume levels, but I would like to be maybe more specific. Let me give some background on me first.
I play hard blues and Rock, along with some heavier and lighter stuff. I have amps: Marshall 2525 head, a Friedman JJ Jr head, Peavey Classic mini head, guitars: 2014 CS R9, CS 56 Strat, CS 64 ES 335 and a recently acquired Ben Wasser Shaft. I don't particularly like the Peavey head and I am considering selling and getting something that will give me, 1) better cleans, 2) better tone in general.
Pedals, my plan is to use: Keeley compressor plus, Warm Audio Centavo and if I get none reverb amp I would get the Strymon Flint V1, I have other pedals, but this is my plan going in.
I want this new amp for blues and classic rock, Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, etc. I think you get the idea. But also clean ambient, reverb/tremolo driven type playing.
A big consideration for this amp is how good the tone is at low volumes, it is a bedroom/living room amp, I have a decibel meter set up and usually play from 85-95db some peaks around 100db. I may do some jamming with a friends band once in a while, not concerned about it for that.
I am considering the Fillmore 25 and the Maz 18 II. Unfortunately, even being in the Bay Area its impossible to find a Maz to demo.
Will the Maz 18 Mk II fill all these requirements for volume and tone at under 95db? can I get the tone for blues and rock with out pedals at those levels, specifically the required gain?
Thanks in advance for your responces
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Post by Stephen on Mar 29, 2023 14:15:25 GMT -7
Listen to anything on YouTube by Buddy Whittington. He plays a red Maz 18 or a black Z-Lux. He may use a KOT on occasion, but he can all the tones he needs by riding the volume knob on his guitar. Here is an example of the Maz 18.
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rizos
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by rizos on Mar 29, 2023 15:11:45 GMT -7
Thanks Stephan, but Im trying to understand low volume tones, not in a band setting, appreciate the vid though. Thanks
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Post by LT on Mar 29, 2023 15:20:53 GMT -7
Welcome to the forum!
Since you mention low volume, I recommend you check out the Cure. It has the excellent Level control. My Cure is my main stage amp, but with the Level, I can dial in most any tone and then set the overall volume to taste.
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Post by CanadianBacon on Mar 29, 2023 15:43:46 GMT -7
Rizos, with the Mk 2 Maz18 you'll be able to achieve good tones at those volumes. The PPIMV is great and allows for lots of flexibility.
Also, you can get plenty of gain out of the amp to cover the genres you mentioned, and with the footswitchable EQ bypass boost you can get even more gain. The Maz 18 can cover a lot of territory tone wise. A very versatile amp and handles most pedals really well.
I have the NR version and it sounds great and run a strymon big sky for reverbs, so very similar to your setup.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Mar 29, 2023 17:16:05 GMT -7
To your point, the Maz 18 MKII does low volume tone very well indeed. I've got the NR, and it's a little gainier than the reverb model. It's just a great amp. Lots of great sounds in one amp and it gigs beautifully.
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Post by adam on Mar 29, 2023 17:51:06 GMT -7
Never tried that mesa amp, so prefacing with that.
At it's bottom lime, the maz18 is just a wonderful tone machine. With a strat, you can really get close to those Ed King Strat sound, like stunningly so. It can be really clean, a gritty sound, or more full on distortion/drive. It sounds good at low volume, but better when pushing it which I think is totally normal unless it's the type of amp where all the sound comes from the preamp.
I think, based on what you stated, you would really like the maz. The only way to know for sure is to have both amps on hand and play them for a while, but I think the maz is a very safe bet. And welcome to the forum!
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bigez
New Member
Posts: 46
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Post by bigez on Mar 29, 2023 17:53:02 GMT -7
tough one. the fillmore is a great amp (i have one), but to me it’s more firmly in the fender camp. it’s got wonderful cleans and works with any pedal. i also have the maz nr mkii. it’s very different than the fillmore. more crunchy and gainy for sure. brighter as well, but much easier to get good overdrive without pedals. i am a living room player like you, and i love both of these amps. the maz is a little quieter (ie, less hum) and it’s loop truly is dead silent as well. but with either you can get great tone at lower volumes (your speaker choice will also matter here). good luck!
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Post by Chilly Gibbons (Todd T.) on Mar 30, 2023 6:32:11 GMT -7
Then there is build quality to consider. Mesa builds solid amps until they need servicing, then the headaches begin. I looked into a MKV chassis the other day and was stunned. Just so much at work in there. More relays than I’ve ever seen, computer ribbon cables spanning the different boards, truly amazing to study but would definitely scare me off from servicing it. The Maz on the other hand, a tech’s dream. Clean layout, best in class construction, parts, and performance. Now, with that said, I play heavier music ( Stoner, Progressive Metal, etc.) and the MKII will surprise you with the amount of gain available at low volumes. The Maz is usually lauded for cleans and edge of breakup which I love, but as I stated in another post, these a dragon in there when needed. I have several older PCB based high gain amps as well, Orange Dual Dark, Thunderverb, Mesa Roadster, and JCM2000 100w plus some home brews. They sound great, but that Maz can crank out some surprisingly heavy tones.
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rizos
New Member
Posts: 5
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Post by rizos on Mar 30, 2023 7:24:17 GMT -7
Thanks for the reply's, nice to hear that the gain and volume levels should be in line with my use case thanks to the PPI MV. Build quality is important for sure, maybe later I can look at getting the Fillmore.
As for speakers, I have two cabinets, a 1 x 12 G12M-65 Creamback and a 2 x 12 with 1 Vintage 30 speaker and 1 G12-T 75. so Ill try those out, should do the job.
It sounds like adding reverb via effects loop is the best route?
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Post by runninwiththerevil (Matthew) on Mar 30, 2023 17:02:49 GMT -7
The master volume on the Maz 18 nr is phenomenal. You will absolute find what you are looking for. I've had two 18 nr's. Love 'em.
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Post by MattHays on Apr 1, 2023 12:09:30 GMT -7
Listen to anything on YouTube by Buddy Whittington. He plays a red Maz 18 or a black Z-Lux. He may use a KOT on occasion, but he can all the tones he needs by riding the volume knob on his guitar. Here is an example of the Maz 18. Just awesome! Thanks for posting
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