Post by John H on Dec 9, 2023 11:38:24 GMT -7
I'm just going to type so this may get a little wordy, so please bare with me..
I sing lead vocal and primarily rhythm guitar in most of my projects. I know everyone is different, but to really allow my best vocal performance, I absolutely NEED extended bottom since I play single coils. Yes, I know I could switch to Les Pauls and humbuckers, but for me, they congest up the midrange on top of my vocal too much. To give you some examples, both of my pedalboards have a Boss OC-3 which I use strictly for rehearsing without my bass player. I set the OC-3 Range control to only effect the bottom two strings and voila, it gives me enough of the bass extension that I can really belt out the vocal part. For live gigs, I was using an 18 watt single 12" open back combo and found that it's bass extension just fell apart entirely too high for me. Later I added a single 12" sealed cab underneath the amp and ran it in parallel with the open back amp which significantly improved the bass extension and gave me exactly what I needed. Later I acquired a Maz 38 Reverb MkI and a Zbest cab which was heavenly.. Amazing clarity, growl, extension, and so on. Fast forward a year or two later and I'm back to needing a 1x12 combo, at the most. I still have my Maz 38 MkI, as well as a number of other Dr.Zs, but considering my rehearsal room is up a rather steep, long staircase, I prefer to keep collection pieces up there. That said, I have recently acquired a Z28 MKII combo which I bought originally because it was a Z, and because it was lightweight. However, I didn't care for the MkII Z28 sound, so I sold the Z28 chassis and kept the super cool red cabinet and speaker. At first I mounted my Maz 38 MkI head chassis in it, but along with the controls being upside down, not needing the reverb tank, and preferring to keep that sound up in my rehearsal room, I changed it out to my Remedy. Wow, what a difference in the bottom end. The Maz 38 sounds extends nicely through my Zbest cabinet, but wasn't percussive enough in a 1x12 open back combo. The Remedy was a different story. It was more extended, and was definitely more percussive in the bass than the Maz. Additionally, the MkII master volume on the Remedy absolutely rivals the MkI master volume on my Maz, but I know everyone here knows that. Continuing on.. The Remedy is heavenly, however, I was missing the Maz's versatility.. Fender, Vox, Marshall in one box. That said, I'm back to wanting a Maz inside of my red combo box. So, here's the questions I have for you guys...
1) I've read the NR versions have a more authoritative bottom compared to the reverb versions. Considering I'm looking for the lightest load possible, do you feel that I would be OK with a Maz 18 NR, or should I stay with a Maz38?
2) Considering the above, do the 38NR's have more extended bottom over the reverb versions? Or does the biggest difference in bottom end come from the additional two EL84s in moving from an 18 to a 38?
3) Considering my Remedy is 40 watts and the Maz is close enough at 38 watts, do you feel the tightness/extension of the Remedy bottom end comes from the solid state rectifier, due to the fact that there's no reverb circuit in the signal path, the Remedy PPIMV master volume, or a combination of all of the above??
I'm sorry for such a wordy post and so many questions, but the answers you guys provide are always spot on accurate and incredibly helpful. Not to mention, you guys help from making regretful purchases which makes my wife happy.
Thank you, gentlemen!
2) Considering the above, do the 38NR's have more extended bottom over the reverb versions? Or does the biggest difference in bottom end come from the additional two EL84s in moving from an 18 to a 38?
3) Considering my Remedy is 40 watts and the Maz is close enough at 38 watts, do you feel the tightness/extension of the Remedy bottom end comes from the solid state rectifier, due to the fact that there's no reverb circuit in the signal path, the Remedy PPIMV master volume, or a combination of all of the above??
I'm sorry for such a wordy post and so many questions, but the answers you guys provide are always spot on accurate and incredibly helpful. Not to mention, you guys help from making regretful purchases which makes my wife happy.
Thank you, gentlemen!