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Post by leadpicker16 on Jan 25, 2015 23:25:16 GMT -7
I had the privilege of demoing the Z-Wreck a few times at my local guitar shop and I'm convinced that it is the amp for me. However whenever I plug into it I barely get the volume off of zero and I'm annoying the other customers. This last time I went in, the store was empty besides the owner and myself and he encouraged me to crank it wide open. I got the volume to noon and the walls were rattling! I love it, but it's gonna be too much to play in my apartment or at smaller gigs. How much will the brake lite bring the volume down? I am also considering getting the Mesa Boogie Cabclone. I can run the Z-Wreck head direct in situations where the cab might be overkill and I can use my in-ears at home for practice.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2015 8:54:13 GMT -7
Yep, the Wreck is super duper loud but sounds sooo good. Brake lite maxed out with 8 ohm speaker load will get pretty quiet, maybe even apt quiet on cleaner amp settings.
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Post by headshrinker (Marc) on Jan 26, 2015 9:17:53 GMT -7
If you want to play it in an apartment I would get the full on Airbrake. It will give you the bedroom settings, which will make it a lot more apartment friendly, especially if you play it in that 10:00 to 2:00 sweet zone. If you are getting a head, you will be setting the brake on the head in either case. It's worth the extra money for the insurance of being able to get the volume wherever you need it.
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Post by telejas on Jan 26, 2015 10:07:20 GMT -7
For live gigs and louder (than bedroom level) home use - Brake Lite For low volume home play & gigs of any volume - AirBrake
I have a Brake Lite in my Z-Wreck. I started with the head/cab and now have the 1x12 combo, both very loud! There are many gigs I couldn't play at the settings I like without the Brake Lite. I play most indoor gigs at 3 or 4 and the outdoor gigs at 5 (which is bypassed).
At only 1 or 2 clicks down, you don't notice any tone change..... When it's really attenuating the volume, like 3 or 4 clicks down, you notice a very slight change in tone. The slight tone change is much less than with other attenuators. Dr. Z attenuators just seem to work really good with Dr. Z amps in maintaining the pure tone.
For $170-ish new ($100-ish used), you can't go wrong with a Brake lite....But if you do want bedroom use, as mentioned by headshrinker, the full on AirBrake is the way to go. It has the 5 clickable levels, plus a "bedroom" knob for adjustment on the lowest setting.
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Post by leadpicker16 on Jan 26, 2015 10:12:21 GMT -7
Yeah I'll probably go for the air brake. The sound guy at the local Toby Keith's where I play regularly urged me to get a speaker emulator for when I play there. Typical sound guy! Ha.
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Post by leadpicker16 on Jan 26, 2015 10:15:47 GMT -7
I'm also considering grabbing a Maz 18 combo for those smaller gigs and home use. As much as I'm excited about owning a Z-Wreck silver set, I'm dreading the haul down from a 2nd floor apartment every weekend.
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Post by telejas on Jan 26, 2015 15:45:22 GMT -7
Yeah I'll probably go for the air brake. The sound guy at the local Toby Keith's where I play regularly urged me to get a speaker emulator for when I play there. Typical sound guy! Ha. I also use a plexi-glass shield in front of my amp....This makes sound men really happy too! When I set it up, the sound man usually says something like "finally" or "you've done this before"?
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Post by leadpicker16 on Jan 26, 2015 22:21:28 GMT -7
Ahhhh yes, the old plexiglass shield. The thing that makes all drummers hate sound guys. Ha. I've used them before with some success. I'm looking to cut back on the amount I have to haul in my old beat up Ford Taurus. Since this amp is huge I'm ditching the 2 tweed hardshell guitar cases and getting a double guitar gig bag. Also downsizing my pedalboard. You would think with my limited cargo space and the flight of stairs I have to lug it up and down every weekend that I would go with a small combo, but I must have this amp!
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Post by leadpicker16 on Jan 26, 2015 22:22:01 GMT -7
Anybody tried the Weber attenuators? They're a bit cheaper.
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Post by telejas on Jan 27, 2015 13:30:20 GMT -7
Anybody tried the Weber attenuators? They're a bit cheaper. I had a Mass-Lite (which I don't see on their site) and a Mass that had the low/hi adjustments. Both of these really killed my top end and seemed to do something funky to the mids(??)...Even the Mass with the low/hi adjustment just didn't sound right....I could compensate by turning up the top end on my amp, but they just weren't as transparent as the Z attenuators. But, they were cheap and could attenuate pretty far down. Over all, I'd choose the brake-lite (or Air Brake) over any attenuator.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 27, 2015 15:23:39 GMT -7
Anybody tried the Weber attenuators? They're a bit cheaper. This is just my own opinion : Z Wreck in apartment even with Brake is Loud!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Unless you muffle the sound to a point of killing the tone. If there's an Amp that is colored more then others in the Z Line - It's an attenuated Z Here's a video that is a good example how loud the Wreck is : Note it's not even at 12 Volume wise Wreck
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Post by nicholas on Jan 28, 2015 6:25:57 GMT -7
I think the suggestion you received about the cab clone is spot on for home use, and up to you if you want to ditch the cab entirely for gigs. There are many devices like the cab clone, Palmer makes a good speaker sim as an example. It's my option that attenuators work great for shaving off a few DB's from your rig, but not very well to squash everything down to apartment playing levels. With a cab clone, or any speaker simulator and power soak you can crank the amp up as loud as you want and listen to it through your computer, stereo system, headphones, or whatever.
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mjn
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Post by mjn on Jan 29, 2015 12:33:55 GMT -7
I have a brake lite in my z wreck combo and it works wonderfully. The volume is always around one o' clock on my z wreck so I kinda use the brake lite as my volume control. But even at full attenuation, it's still too loud in my little practice room. I think the size of the room you're playing in makes all the difference. In large venues or outdoor shows, I always go through the PA.
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Post by gtrfxr on Jan 30, 2015 18:33:48 GMT -7
With due respect to all...a disciplined right hand and the volume knob on your guitar will allow your Z-Wreck to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion.
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Post by gplayer1965 on Feb 1, 2015 17:28:24 GMT -7
With due respect to all...a disciplined right hand and the volume knob on your guitar will allow your Z-Wreck to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion. True that!!!!!
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Post by telejas on Feb 1, 2015 21:31:59 GMT -7
With due respect to all...a disciplined right hand and the volume knob on your guitar will allow your Z-Wreck to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion. Yes, very true......But, and it's a big one, that "roar like a lion" volume would get me kicked out of most of the smaller clubs I play in I have to have my cleans and dirt all at about the same volume, which is something I (personally) have never been able to do with a single channel amp and my volume knob. To go from playing Buck Owens to SRV to Metallica is hard (about impossible) to do and keep the volume the same level without help from pedals and an attenuator....... So, in my case, I need an attenuator and several pedals. I really wish I could get by with less pedals, but realistically between my 2 bands, I need a lot of different sounds at a very manageable volume.
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Post by leadpicker16 on Feb 2, 2015 10:29:28 GMT -7
That's just it. I need my clean tones at the same volume as my OD tones. I use a Paisley Drive and a Fulltone OCD. Think I will just order it with the brake lite installed for stage volume control, and get a speaker emulator for practice. I know the emulators suck the tone out, but when I'm working with my in-ears at home it's not as important to have the full effect of the amp.
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Post by zpilot on Feb 2, 2015 20:08:49 GMT -7
Anybody tried the Weber attenuators? They're a bit cheaper. I had a Mass-Lite (which I don't see on their site) and a Mass that had the low/hi adjustments. Both of these really killed my top end and seemed to do something funky to the mids(??)...Even the Mass with the low/hi adjustment just didn't sound right....I could compensate by turning up the top end on my amp, but they just weren't as transparent as the Z attenuators. But, they were cheap and could attenuate pretty far down. Over all, I'd choose the brake-lite (or Air Brake) over any attenuator. I tried a bunch of attenuators. I much prefer not to use one at all but I realize in some situations it is unavoidable. The best one I've found is the Koch LB120-11 Load Box. Lots of features and the most transparent I've heard. Downside is they are impedance specific and very expensive. I still have a Break-Lite mounted in my MAZ and I use it occasionally on the first or second click. It is the best attenuator at that price point.
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Post by nicholas on Feb 3, 2015 8:26:04 GMT -7
With due respect to all...a disciplined right hand and the volume knob on your guitar will allow your Z-Wreck to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion. Nobody here is going to argue with you about that. But the OP was asking about low volume practice and small gigs. leadpicker16, I think what you mentioned is a good idea. Use the attenuator for your small gigs and some sort of speaker emulation at home in your apartment. But if your going to use pedals for dirt and your amp for clean maybe you won't even need an attenuator? It has nice cleans at lower reasonable volumes. Good luck with whatever way you go.
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Post by gtrfxr on Feb 3, 2015 18:37:22 GMT -7
With due respect to all...a disciplined right hand and the volume knob on your guitar will allow your Z-Wreck to purr like a kitten or roar like a lion. Nobody here is going to argue with you about that. But the OP was asking about low volume practice and small gigs. leadpicker16, I think what you mentioned is a good idea. Use the attenuator for your small gigs and some sort of speaker emulation at home in your apartment. But if your going to use pedals for dirt and your amp for clean maybe you won't even need an attenuator? It has nice cleans at lower reasonable volumes. Good luck with whatever way you go. I did stray from the OP's initial question. My apologies. leadpicker16...you're gonna love your Z-Wreck. I hope you can find the balance you're looking for.
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