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Post by funtez on Feb 22, 2011 4:15:01 GMT -7
Hi folks, lovely community here!! Since this fine morning and i received my Mazerati GT i know EXACTLY what brings you all here...Z amps are KILLER, this is my first and sure not to be my last!! ALTHough....my gt is pretty darn quiet and i think it may have a problem!! my other amps are all 100watt monsters, except my ac30 combo which through its alnico blues is a LOT louder than the Mazerati. I have the Mazerati plugged into my vintage 30 4x12 as it's the only cab on hand but i figure the amp should certainly be putting out some more heat than it is. Its definitely got some serious tone and im loving it with the volume up high but from what i've read on here i really shouldn't be able to be in the same room as the beast when its up that loud(as with the vox) its not displaying any noise or obvious problems but perhaps there's something up.. any suggestions before i mail the z guys and or try some fresh tubes?!?? thanks a lot
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Post by Rich (fbb90) on Feb 22, 2011 10:59:25 GMT -7
Loudness (unless you're measuring it w/ a db meter) is sort of a relative thing based on your experiences. If you are used to playing cranked 100 watt tube heads through efficient speakers (and I'd consider the Blues and Vin 30's pretty efficient), then the GT may not be all that loud to you. I play the GT pretty regularly at band rehearsals and gigs. I run the Volume between 1:00 and 3:00 depending on how saturated I want it, and I control the volume w/ an Air Brake. Sometimes I'm surprised to see that I only have the Air Brake attenuated to one click or straight-thru. How old are the power tubes? It wouldn't hurt to email or call the shop for suggestions, but if everything sounds good, you may just be desensitized to volume from playing cranked 100 watters. Congrats on picking up a great and tone-ful amp! And welcome to the Forum!
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Post by drew on Feb 22, 2011 16:47:05 GMT -7
Congratulations on a great amp. You're right it's hard to stop at one Z amp. Like Rich said, loudness is relative depending on what you're used to. IMHO running the GT into a 4x12 cab is a great rig. An AC30 pushing 2 blues is a very loud amp, IMHO. The GT should be loud running 4 V30s but maybe not as piercing and in your face as an AC30 pushing 2 screaming blues. The GT and the AC30 each have 4 el84 running hot so it not surprising that the GT is not louder than the AC30 w/blues. I'd be curious to know how the GT sounds running the 2 blues but would be careful not to harm the blues.
I'd also recommend a new set of output tubes. el84's have a short lifespan compared to some the big bottle output tubes.
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Feb 23, 2011 6:31:30 GMT -7
+1000 on changing the power tubes. The Mazerati GT is pretty hard on tubes and I think modern EL84's only sound their ultimate best in amps like these for 30 hours, then sound pretty good for about 100 and are dead by 300 hours. Just my take Some amps like the Ghia are easier on '84's but some of Doc's amps run 'em pretty hot. My Stingray runs really hot...you can feel the heat comin' off it from 6 inches away in the back. Boy does it sound glorious though The GT's not far behind. If you got yours used DEFINITELY change those power tubes. I've had my GT for a while Let's just say it's got a low serial number. It's seen a few tubes changes. I will tell you that mine can be pretty picky about tubes. I like to think of my GT as a high performance fighter jet like an F16. Those planes push the edge of the flight envelope and are on the edge of stability. Now, the GT isn't on the "edge of stability" per se...it's an extremely reliable amp but it really pushes those power tubes. A couple of tube changes have reminded me of a high performance sports car...kind of finicky. I blew an EL84 once and didn't have a spare with me (shame on me) so I took the near-new set of GT EL84S #5's out of my MAZ 38 NR and the GT didn't like them at all. It hummed. I ended up putting them back in the MAZ where they're still happy to this day. I got a new set of JJ EL84's from Eurotubes and the GT loved them. I've never talked to the Doc about this but over time I've come to believe that the GT likes really closely matched tubes. I've *never* had an issue when ordering using new matched quads from Eurotubes. I always buy my EL84's directly from Eurotubes. If you tell them when you order that you have a Dr. Z designed for Groove Tubes rating #6 they'll give you the equivalent on their rating scale...which last time I ordered was #28. (The JJ EL84 is the EXACT same tube as the GT EL84S the amp was designed with.) They might have revised their rating scale since then. Keep us posted on the amp!! I think it's a modern classic. It's a ton of fun to play and I think you haven't heard it at 100% yet.
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Post by jimmysmith on Feb 23, 2011 21:40:20 GMT -7
great posts fellas, my gt blows me out of the room (well it is a small room, but still) i cant really get it to 9 0clock without an airbrake. thru a z 4/10 cab. thumbs up on eurotubes. never had a problem. fast fast service. even joe morgan of morgan amps ( got one of those too) says jjs are the best el84 you can get. i trust his judgement too. i mean, you can get some other brands of tubes, but i dont have time to experiment with other el84, but i do have fun biasing and trying other el34s in another z amp i got.. congratulations on the amp, i havent begun to find out what it will really do..
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Post by Phil (aka Phil) on Feb 24, 2011 9:52:24 GMT -7
There are other good EL84's out there other than the JJ/Tesla ones. However, one thing that I love about the Doc is that he designs and tweaks his amps to sound the best they can with the tubes they ship with, i.e. current production tubes. He and his staff spend a lot of time auditioning different tubes and then optimizing the amp before it goes out the door. There's nothing wrong with trying different tubes to get the sound *you're after*, but over the last 14 years I've been a Z guy I've seen many players go back to the factory tube compliment.
I've told the story here before about how when I got my EZG-50 it had Winged "C" 6L6's. As fantastic as the amp sounded, I wondered how it would sound with the NOS RCA blackplate 6L6's I got for my Super Reverb ($300-something a pair). The answer was, "not that great". The mids weren't as smooth, the highs were't as nice, and the bass wasn't as fat and tight. The same tubes sounded great in my SR. I put the Winged "C"s back in, rebiased, and never looked back.
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Post by asattwanger on Feb 25, 2011 13:59:21 GMT -7
off topic but I have had nothing but issues with the last 4 JJ 6v6 I have bought.
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Post by funtez on Feb 26, 2011 21:56:19 GMT -7
Guys, thanks for all the responses, I did infect get in touch with Z service center aswell who recommended I try a fresh set of tubes. switched out the power tubes with a few spare minutes last night but had no improvement, then tried the rectifier and preamp tubes and I now seem to be upto power, although had some serious noise issue which I'd did not have time to troubleshoot but I imagine it was a crappy or microphonic EH preamp tube from my vox. Thanks for the recommendations regarding the use of stock tubes, the jjs seem nice, although I think I may experiment with the preamp tubes a little. Cheers guys.
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Post by jimmysmith on Mar 14, 2011 7:44:28 GMT -7
i was watching an old "sopranos" episod and one of featured cars they were using was a mazerati. they were all marveling at how fast it went from a dead stop. that is exactly the way to describe the mazerati gt. it is really a sleeping genius of a design. i wonder if it is not heard of more because it is too loud, or maybe a one trick pony. i have been able to tame it with an airbrake (not on too much) and a quality reverb or delay, and i also use a boss noise suppressor that completely makes it dead quiet when you get that hiss from the tubes when you turn it up passed 2 oclock. fantastically satisfyiing blues rock amp. i have experimented also with a few preamp tubes, i have a groove tubes sag mpi phase inverter i found on line, and an older mullard 4004v. stock jj s for power tubes. chaging out the sovtek gz34 for a nos one really really made a noticable difference all around.
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