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Post by peanutavalon on Mar 3, 2012 10:27:01 GMT -7
Hey all. I'm looking to get either one of these amps or something different if swayed. I want an el84 amp with big cleans that are slightly broken up for rhythm sounds and then I usually step on a clean boost for solos. I play teles and les pauls equally. My les paul is chambered with burstbuckers and sounds like a high powered tele to me. Very bright and airy with alot of spank for a les paul. I listened to the willcutts demos of the wreck and it sounds like it's got a ton of gain. Maybe too much. Is this just because it was wide open? So which amp do you guys think would be a better fit for rock, blues and country covers? thanks.
or even a max 38 would fir the bill?
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Post by bryan0418 on Mar 3, 2012 12:49:52 GMT -7
I never played a StangRay buy I own a Z Wreck. The Z Wreck with a Les Paul at a volume at 11:00 or less is fairly clean with a touch of breakup as you are looking for. The amp is 30 watts and really loud. Unless you are playing really big places I doubt clean headroom would be an issue for you. I found the Z Wreck great for rock blues and of course country. There is a youtube video of Brad Paisley and Dr Z where Brad is trying out the Z Wreck. The video has captions from time to time with indications of the amp volume setting which should be helpful for you to see if it will be what you want. Part of the Z Wreck's sound is the 2x12 cabinet with the Celestion Blue and Gold. The blue will break up before the gold so keep that in mind as well. I can tell you first hand that the Z Wreck will give you an "Edge of breakup" sound at a pretty good volume so it may be just what you need. I owned a MAZ 38 and it was good but the breakup was a lot more aggressive than the Z Wreck. Plus the MAZ 38 was really really loud.
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Post by jammers5 on Mar 3, 2012 15:58:15 GMT -7
yeah this amp is so crazy loud I cannot imagine playing a smaller club without attenuation. But having said that, this amp sounds better attenuated than most amps unattenuated!
as for headroom, there's enough. You will start to hear some "hair" on the notes at about 9 to 10 o'clock. I like to run mine there and roll back the volume knob to clean it up more or kick on the Paisley Drive or the Les Lius to give it more dirt. That's plenty loud for a smaller venue.
I am a single coil man, although I have a LP Std, it sits in the case. It has seen very limited time with the wreck so I couldn't pass judgement on hb's......sorry.
I've never tried a stangray so I cannot comment on them. I have played thru a maz 18nr and loved it. Probably would be a better amp versatility wise for my current needs but I love the tone of my wreck too much to leave it home. I am sure the Standbys is equally nice too.
J5
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Post by mfirst on Mar 14, 2012 15:39:01 GMT -7
I've played through zwrecks several times and I own a stingray. The ray has more headroom. Even at noon or or so the ray is still very clean. In fact, it really never gets very dirty. The notes compress more and it sounds a little harrier at high volumes, but it really doesn't distort the way a zwreck will.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 14, 2012 18:57:43 GMT -7
My Stingray gave up quite a bit of distortion when played wide open, but I agree the 'ray has more clean headroom available. That does not mean the Wreck has none - it can do a pretty decent clean too. But for this question, the 'ray is king. I have clips of both over at www.gear.strayca.com - I know clips aren't the end all for this kind of stuff, but you can at least compare. Most of them have settings recorded on the page there.
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Post by dock66 on Mar 15, 2012 7:38:58 GMT -7
ZWreck.
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Post by muzacman02 "Jamie" on Mar 15, 2012 8:09:04 GMT -7
STANGRAY!!!!! ALL THE WAY!!!! The Ray is a very impressive amp! Hard to beat and it yeailds great Voxish to Marshallesque Tones! Oh yeah I have one in a Head, Use a Ceramic Speaker if you want clean as possible I use a Gold and Its so AWESOME! 2x10's are pretty tasty too
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Mar 15, 2012 11:48:41 GMT -7
I still have my 2x12 open back with Blues that I bought for my Stingray. Best sounding cleans I ever heard. Of course, with those speakers, there was a bit of crunch on the top edge.
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Post by blueschicago79 on Aug 30, 2012 18:44:06 GMT -7
These amps are totally different animals...and both absolutely sound amazing and move a lot of air. If you need lots of clean headroom go with the StangRay. However, if you've got the cash for a Z-Wreck and you don't need super clean guitar sounds you will not regret it as it is a very special amplifier. I say check them both out and let your ears decide.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 30, 2012 18:59:12 GMT -7
Z-wreck cleans up great w your guitar volume.
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Post by muzacman02 "Jamie" on Aug 30, 2012 20:29:28 GMT -7
THE RAY "ALL THE WAY" 100% ;D VERY clean and snappy very tele friendly and will do great calssic rock tones with A- playing with the Volume very high B- a great OD like a Timmy , BB, OCD, etc....
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