Post by tonegrinder on Mar 20, 2015 11:40:51 GMT -7
I wrote about this on TGP and got some decent answers, but wanted to try it here to see what people think. Also, let me know if there is a better place on this forum to ask this.
I am a couple months away from having the funds for a new amp and I am leaning toward a Dr Z EZG-50. I don't currently own a Dr Z, but I did own a MAZ18 for a short while. I really liked this amp at low volumes when it was squeaky clean. It took all my pedals very well. I tend to go for a very clean pedal platform and get my drive out of pedals. I think the reason for this is that I don't care for Power Tube breakup much, and I may be in a considerable minority for my taste. It is also what I didn't like about the MAZ18 - when I pushed it, I hated the breakup; it sounded brittle and harsh to me, almost like a blown speaker. All the lows fell apart and all I heard was high mid and high end fizz. Now, let me add that that's not a value judgment on the amp - I wouldn't be looking into another one if it was. I think it just speaks to my personal taste. I sold it and bought a Bogner Barcelona, which is a single channel 40W amp, mainly because it has more headroom and sounded similar to what I liked about the MAZ. It has a lot more headroom, and I notice when I push it into drive territory, which is probably about 2/3 cranked, I find myself wanting to back it off for the same reason I did the MAZ. The Maz just got there before it moved the speaker to where I like it.
So I want something to complement my Bogner in a stereo setup, but also to use on its own, and something with even more headroom than the Barcelona, with an American flavor to it.
I use it at church for lower gain contemporary stuff, although we do Switchfoot and that kind of thing also, but I also like to do heavier stuff; nothing I would consider "Metal" by today's standards, but sonically things like recent King's X, Jeff Kollman/Cosmosquad, Richie Kotzen, George Lynch, the last 2 Galactic Cowboys albums, etc. I like to do drop D and even drop C from time to time, and need something that's not going to flub out when I do that. I'm finding that lower gain can sound pretty heavy when playing aggressively, but you need enough gain to get a bit of chunk.
So originally I thought of the Therapy, but someone steered my toward the EZG, mainly because the Therapy may not give me the headroom I'm looking for. I also though of a Mesa Lone Star Classic, as price-wise it's in the same range, but a bit more versatile, but I really like the build quality of Dr Z's.
So am I looking at the right Dr Z?
I am a couple months away from having the funds for a new amp and I am leaning toward a Dr Z EZG-50. I don't currently own a Dr Z, but I did own a MAZ18 for a short while. I really liked this amp at low volumes when it was squeaky clean. It took all my pedals very well. I tend to go for a very clean pedal platform and get my drive out of pedals. I think the reason for this is that I don't care for Power Tube breakup much, and I may be in a considerable minority for my taste. It is also what I didn't like about the MAZ18 - when I pushed it, I hated the breakup; it sounded brittle and harsh to me, almost like a blown speaker. All the lows fell apart and all I heard was high mid and high end fizz. Now, let me add that that's not a value judgment on the amp - I wouldn't be looking into another one if it was. I think it just speaks to my personal taste. I sold it and bought a Bogner Barcelona, which is a single channel 40W amp, mainly because it has more headroom and sounded similar to what I liked about the MAZ. It has a lot more headroom, and I notice when I push it into drive territory, which is probably about 2/3 cranked, I find myself wanting to back it off for the same reason I did the MAZ. The Maz just got there before it moved the speaker to where I like it.
So I want something to complement my Bogner in a stereo setup, but also to use on its own, and something with even more headroom than the Barcelona, with an American flavor to it.
I use it at church for lower gain contemporary stuff, although we do Switchfoot and that kind of thing also, but I also like to do heavier stuff; nothing I would consider "Metal" by today's standards, but sonically things like recent King's X, Jeff Kollman/Cosmosquad, Richie Kotzen, George Lynch, the last 2 Galactic Cowboys albums, etc. I like to do drop D and even drop C from time to time, and need something that's not going to flub out when I do that. I'm finding that lower gain can sound pretty heavy when playing aggressively, but you need enough gain to get a bit of chunk.
So originally I thought of the Therapy, but someone steered my toward the EZG, mainly because the Therapy may not give me the headroom I'm looking for. I also though of a Mesa Lone Star Classic, as price-wise it's in the same range, but a bit more versatile, but I really like the build quality of Dr Z's.
So am I looking at the right Dr Z?