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Post by Sean on Dec 7, 2011 7:44:39 GMT -7
Decided it was time to get the Monza out of the house. I have been helping host an open mic night on Tuesdays at a local pub - playing bass and guitar as needed. I usually bring my Z28 that I put into a 1x10 combo cab, but I have been so impressed with the Monza this last week I thought I would let it have some fun. This is the 1x12 combo with a G12h30 I got from Zane here on the board. I am happy to say it sounds as sweet as it looks! I brought a EJ Strat and my "bar pedal board" (smaller, 5 pedals). Never plugged into the pedalboard. I thought the strat worked great, and got some compliments on the tone. Had the knobs and about 11, 11, 12. Brake lite at 3 clicks to start, 2 and 1 later. Other guitarist were also diggin' in. One guy just wanted a clean strum sound, and was using an old Ibanez hollowbody...I put the brake lite to 0, gain at 0, and brought up the tone a bit....had him leave the vol knob on the guitar at 5 or under and it was perfect. Another player had a sweet custom shop tele that was the bee's knees through this thing. He couldn't stop playing! Here's the pair.
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Post by Norrin Radd on Dec 7, 2011 8:08:10 GMT -7
Excellent! That's what I like to hear about this amp. I want to get mine out gigging too - but I need all the dirt it offers ;D so I'll be getting the MV mod when I can. Anyone there last night hit it with some HBs? I'm assuming it was plenty loud, even when played clean though, right? Was the amp mic'd or no? Did you sell any more Z's?
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Post by Sean on Dec 7, 2011 11:10:14 GMT -7
Norrin, The Ibanez had some pretty hot humbuckers. I have also played this through my Les Paul and 335. Plenty of dirt - even with the gain down. Wasn't miked, was plenty loud - but not so loud it was unplayable. I was planning on a Maz8 for small places like this but honestly the brake lite in this and my z28 are keeping that money in my paypal account at the moment. And yes, lots of "What's a Z amp" questions from people.
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Post by Sean on Dec 7, 2011 12:46:43 GMT -7
I realized that I should also speak to the music style...I know when I was looking at this amp and checking out vids and audio clips I was thinking that the amp was not my style. As you probably know, open mic nights tend to vary from night to night and venue to venue depending on the local, the clientele, and how it is "marketed." For the last two months, this place has been eclectic to say the least! Sure, there are the required blues jams, classic rock tunes, and a few acoustic-y numbers. This amp really shined in the Stones covers, a messy rock through of "Jenny Jenny", and even some Marshall Tucker Band. When others played, it was fun to sit out and hear how it sat in the mix of things. At one point there was an impromptu "super group" of players jamming out. Tele into a Fender HRD, Bass into a Peavy POS, Keys into a little keyboard amp, singer, and even a flute! Other guitarist was playing through some dual humbucker solidbody - didn't recognize the guitar and can't recall the maker - and it just sounded spectacular. That nice thick on the edge of crunch sound. And he loved just using the volume knob for gain! He told me later that he had never played through a touch - sensitive kind of amp. It was a new experience for him. You prob know this amp isn't really "clean" at all, but you prob also know that that is not what it was designed for anyway. I can tell you that I loved playing it last night and others did as well...and that is what makes all the difference.
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