johnm
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Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Dec 31, 2007 11:51:49 GMT -7
New member here to this board, been lurking & reading for a long time though. On a CD project last year I played through a Maz 38 Sr combined with a 65 Dlx reverb, miked with a few different things, including a standard sm57 and most importantly a Royer Ribbon (the magic ingredient IMO) into some nice mic pres and into protools. The combination of the dlx reverb and the Maz 38 head was pretty awesome, one of the better tones I have gotten on a recording. The Z added the grind and meat, while the dlx added the sparkle and clarity. Pedals used were Xotic AC and/or RC booster, demeter compulator or modded Boss cs-3. The Maz 38 was plugged into a DrZ 2x12. Scroll to the bottom of this page for the solo snippets. Opinions welcome! johnmcniel.com/sounds.phpAnyone else have good experiences combining amps in the studio? What did you use?
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Post by Fiestared69 on Dec 31, 2007 13:38:10 GMT -7
Very cool !!! some really nice tone and playing!!!
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Post by Bill on Dec 31, 2007 14:42:12 GMT -7
New member here to this board, been lurking & reading for a long time though. On a CD project last year I played through a Maz 38 Sr combined with a 65 Dlx reverb, miked with a few different things, including a standard sm57 and most importantly a Royer Ribbon (the magic ingredient IMO) into some nice mic pres and into protools. The combination of the dlx reverb and the Maz 38 head was pretty awesome, one of the better tones I have gotten on a recording. The Z added the grind and meat, while the dlx added the sparkle and clarity. Pedals used were Xotic AC and/or RC booster, demeter compulator or modded Boss cs-3. The Maz 38 was plugged into a DrZ 2x12. Scroll to the bottom of this page for the solo snippets. Opinions welcome! johnmcniel.com/sounds.phpAnyone else have good experiences combining amps in the studio? What did you use? Welcome, John...it's good to see you here! Last time I saw you (with Kips band), you were using a Suhr Custom Audio I think? Anyway I'm glad to see you've discovered Z amps. Everyone, John is hands down THE best guitarist in the Richmond area, and a heck of a nice guy too!
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 1, 2008 10:08:03 GMT -7
Thanks for the compliments...I'll just claim to be the NICEST guy in Richmond...the other has way too much responsibility Yeah, I still have that Suhr head, that and a deluxe are my main gigging rigs. The Dr Z lives in the studio. I played one of those Z Prescription Jr's the other day...that looks like a pretty handy little guy to have around the studio as well. I want to get a Z to tote around to gigs but I can't seem to figure out which one. Richmond music of course has EVERYTHING so I really need to do some test runs. I really like combining two amps but for most club gigs it's just not that practical. I know this is a tricky question, but which Z is the most similar to a 65 deluxe? If I could get a head that behaves similar to a deluxe but with a little more low mid chunk, that would be ideal.
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Post by benttop (Steve) on Jan 1, 2008 10:59:18 GMT -7
Very impressive tones and playing - welcome to Z-Talk!
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Post by Harvey on Jan 2, 2008 10:29:56 GMT -7
Thanks for the compliments...I'll just claim to be the NICEST guy in Richmond...the other has way too much responsibility Yeah, I still have that Suhr head, that and a deluxe are my main gigging rigs. The Dr Z lives in the studio. I played one of those Z Prescription Jr's the other day...that looks like a pretty handy little guy to have around the studio as well. I want to get a Z to tote around to gigs but I can't seem to figure out which one. Richmond music of course has EVERYTHING so I really need to do some test runs. I really like combining two amps but for most club gigs it's just not that practical. I know this is a tricky question, but which Z is the most similar to a 65 deluxe? If I could get a head that behaves similar to a deluxe but with a little more low mid chunk, that would be ideal. Johnny, Its good to see you finally made it to the Z-forum, I wondered when you would pop in..... As far as the nicest guy thing, hmmmmm I don't know, I thought that was me great clip, I see all those licks I showed you are paying off Ok, maybe it was you showing me, I get them mixed up . Check out the red jr 18 Dave has w/choc. piping, great amp and when Tommy becomes CEO of UDRT, he can give you that raise you've wanted and you can buy 2or 3 Z's....Oh, welcome aboard Harvey
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 2, 2008 11:14:58 GMT -7
Harvey! damn they'll let anyone in this place! Oh wait...I'm supposed to be nice! Ack... But really, there are so many dang nice Z's sitting in RMC...it's crazy. I really want a deluxe reverb HEAD, with some Z-ness. We'll see. Good to hear from you...I'll be haunting the threads I'm sure!
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Post by dock66 on Jan 2, 2008 11:18:28 GMT -7
Some nice tone and playing. Thanks for sharing.
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Post by dei305 on Jan 2, 2008 12:58:25 GMT -7
johnm, Welcome John! Great playing. IMHO, if you really dig your DR (I have a 73 totally blackfaced, sozo caps, weber F150, Beam Blocker). Check out a Maz JR 1-12 combo with verb. If you can use a JR on a live gig, or studio, well, you may never go back to the DR. My DR sounds really good (for a DR). Again, IMHO, the JR eats the DR alive (or in the studio). What kind of pups are on your tele? Have a fun and welcome aboard! Rick
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 2, 2008 14:23:34 GMT -7
Thanks Rick...I have a duncan Jerry Donahue bridge and a Fralin neck. I haven't really messed with the maz jr 18 combo much. For bigger stages, or outdoors I don't use the deluxe usually because of the lack of headroom. I use a 50w suhr head paired with the deluxe or an old blackface twin along w/the dlx. The ultimate amp for me would be a 40watt deluxe I just haven't figured out which Z that is yet... The Maz 38 sr is a little more towards a marshall type of thing once you get it cranking.
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Post by Harvey on Jan 3, 2008 8:56:41 GMT -7
Had a chance to listen to your clips last night Johnny, you've been a busy boy.....I really liked the trading off with you, Velpo and Butch. Nice to hear The M&M band is doing well, lets try to get together soon and turn up some elbows ;D Oh, +1 karma coming your way
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Post by 6strang (aka Paul) on Jan 3, 2008 9:44:25 GMT -7
Welcome! Great playing and tone. I really appreciate it when a player of your level posts great sound clips! Inspiration at it's finest. Thanks! Paul
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 3, 2008 14:42:19 GMT -7
Thanks 6strang...I guess the place can handle another Virginia guy? haha.
Harvey - the band is doing well, we should be cranking up a new CD project sooner or later. Still gigging away - I think we're going to be a little more selective this year, so that's good. Thanks for checking out the clips...I just got the site going so I still have a lot of clips I want to post. I'm still waiting for the 36 hour day...
amen to turning up some elbows! 16oz curls are the best workout! Oh and thanks for the Kharma --- I need to figure out how all that works!
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Post by Harvey on Jan 3, 2008 21:31:52 GMT -7
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Post by dei305 on Jan 4, 2008 5:22:49 GMT -7
John, I have a 1-12 MAZ SR/verb with GT's, NOS Mullard GZ-34, Weber reconed my G12H, and, a Beam Blocker. I can get very cool Fendery type tones by reducing the midrange and dialing in the treble, bass, and cut to taste. One of the major features of the Z amps is the touch sensitivity. I find this gives you huge dynamic versatility. Shifting gears, IMHO, at some point, if you were to consider either a fralin blues special bridge pup or a complete set of Lollar tele vintage (highly recommend)..you will find an incredible tone with a MAZ SR. For a recording artist here in the Bradenton area, I recently fitted a set of Lollar Tele Vintage pups in his 93 tele replacing a Duncan 59 bridge and O.E. Fender neck along with a 5 way switch (Neck, both in series, Bridge, N+B slightly out of phase...gives a great strat like tone, and lastly 10% less bass on the neck), Sozo .047 tone cap, and a sozo .002/220K resistor for treble maintenance. You are an excellent player and I believe this stuff will take to your musical experience on a totally new journey. Have fun! Rick
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 4, 2008 7:22:57 GMT -7
Harvey - thanks for clearing that up! +1 to you for being a helpful kinda guy!
Rick - that's some good info to chew on. I actually had Fralin bridge pickups (you wouldn't believe how many) in my tele before settling on the JD. My problem is I want to get the big fat rock tone AND the country twang out of this one guitar, and the only pickup that nails them all is the JD. Lindy lives within crawling distance of me and is a very helpful cat with a great ear for vintage stuff. I tried some weird magnet/wire/bobbin combos and all that but ended up only keeping the neck pkp. I have only heard the Lollar vintage T, and it sounded a little thin, but it wasn't in my axe so it's hard to judge.
The Maz 38 sr I use in the studio is a head, and we have a Zbest 2x12, marshall 4x12, and a Marshall 2x12 and Avatar 2x12 to run it into. Between these and a 65 Twin, 65 Dlx, Suhr OD50, Suhr Badger, Marshall 2061 head, voxAC30, DrZ 4x10 combo(cant remember the model) a tophat and a couple of others all compete for the mic, so the Maz holds up to some stiff competition. Like I said, the combo of 65 Dlx and Maz38 make a killer pair. The Dlx adds that little Fender sparkle that the Maz lacks. Amazingly, The little Marshall 2061 actually beats out the rest for a straight rock tone, with a little pedal pushing. We used that last night for a session and it was blowing us away. I'll get some clips of that soon. (Good mics and outboard gear help too)
Any opinions on the Z-28? I know that it specs out like a Dlx (22w, 6V6...)
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Post by (8^D) on Jan 4, 2008 7:43:17 GMT -7
Any opinions on the Z-28? I know that it specs out like a Dlx (22w, 6V6...) Great amp. More Brown Deluxe than Blackface. Clean 'Brown' Fendery type tones w/the Volume 7-12:00 and moderate tone settings. Great clean tones w/a Greenback, Blue, G12H30, - really cool w/an American voiced 12". One of the best Bassman/Super Reverb tones I've ever heard w/a 410 cab. Full-on Marshall tones w/everything around 3:00 (especially w/a Greenback). Eats pedals (EF86 front-end loves 'em). Surprisingly versatile amp. Not a ton of headroom, but lots of variety w/the tone stack, guitar/speaker/pedal changes.
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Post by Bill on Jan 4, 2008 8:20:11 GMT -7
I've played most of the Z line, and IMO nothing is going to dial in quite like your Deluxe...I think you've got the RI, right? I had one about 5 or 6 years ago (bought it from you!). It is a bright, bright amp. The plus side of the Z-28 or Maz Jr to me would be the incredibly tight bottom end when under full power, esp the 28. The Deluxe will collapse under fire down at the bottom, while the Z's maintain their articulation throughout the entire power sweep.
More karma for getting me a good deal on the DRRI back in the day!
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johnm
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Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 4, 2008 8:31:31 GMT -7
I do like to have the tight lows...I should mention that I put a (blues guys will cringe at this) Groove Tubes solid-state rectifier 'tube' replacement and an eminence red white & blues speaker (very american voiced) in my dlx. These mods of course help the headroom for the country stuff, and really tightened the lows up. I play pretty hard and abuse the front-end of my amps with pedals, so there you go. Right out of the box, a dlx is very thin but can be helped. The Z stuff seems to have a lot more depth right out of the gate.
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Post by Bill on Jan 4, 2008 8:44:04 GMT -7
I do like to have the tight lows...I should mention that I put a (blues guys will cringe at this) Groove Tubes solid-state rectifier 'tube' replacement and an eminence red white & blues speaker (very american voiced) in my dlx. These mods of course help the headroom for the country stuff, and really tightened the lows up. I play pretty hard and abuse the front-end of my amps with pedals, so there you go. Right out of the box, a dlx is very thin but can be helped. The Z stuff seems to have a lot more depth right out of the gate. True, I played a local guys modded SFDR who made speaker, SS rec tube, and pre amp tube changes and his was quite different from an off the shelf Deluxe. Sounded almost as good as his Matchless Clubman.
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Post by supafuzz on Jan 5, 2008 23:02:58 GMT -7
Great playing and tone. That holds up against anything coming outta Nashville these days. You could sling that axe for anyone.
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Post by (8^D) on Jan 6, 2008 8:34:29 GMT -7
The ultimate amp for me would be a 40watt deluxe Not to send you somewhere else, but you might investigate the Fargen Blackbird (40 watts of amazing Blackface tone - tweaked/hotrodded w/a tight low end). Former Z-natic has been using them and they sound amazing.
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johnm
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Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 6, 2008 9:50:48 GMT -7
supafuzz - thanks for the kind words! Mr. Mom - yes, I heard one of those at a gig we did with the band Carolina Rain. The guitarist from that band had one...that is definitely a cool amp. Hard to test drive one of those though without a dealer in the area I did take a little tour of some amps Friday at the local store and played the stangray 2x12 w/bluebells and a 1x12 w/a g12h...they sound pretty awesome. The 3 knobs on that amp really yield a lot of variety! I may be interested in the head version of that. I liked the vibe of that amp better than the maz jr combo. Aaaaaah the quest continues...
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Post by Bill on Jan 6, 2008 10:48:33 GMT -7
I may be interested in the head version of that. I liked the vibe of that amp better than the maz jr combo. Aaaaaah the quest continues... Hey John, let me know if you want to try my Stingray head for a gig. You'll be hooked if you do, great clean amp for that 'Marna & Macy' sound! I've got a Z 1x12 or THD 2x12 cab you can try as well.
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Post by Curt on Jan 6, 2008 11:16:08 GMT -7
;D That is exactly who Dan was refering too above J. Chance. funny...... supafuzz - thanks for the kind words! Mr. Mom - yes, [glow=red,2,300]I heard one of those at a gig we did with the band Carolina Rain. The guitarist from that band had one..[/glow].that is definitely a cool amp. Hard to test drive one of those though without a dealer in the area I did take a little tour of some amps Friday at the local store and played the stangray 2x12 w/bluebells and a 1x12 w/a g12h...they sound pretty awesome. The 3 knobs on that amp really yield a lot of variety! I may be interested in the head version of that. I liked the vibe of that amp better than the maz jr combo. Aaaaaah the quest continues...
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Post by (8^D) on Jan 6, 2008 17:15:11 GMT -7
+1 lol! ;D ;D That is exactly who Dan was refering too above J. Chance. funny...... supafuzz - thanks for the kind words! Mr. Mom - yes, [glow=red,2,300]I heard one of those at a gig we did with the band Carolina Rain. The guitarist from that band had one..[/glow].that is definitely a cool amp. Hard to test drive one of those though without a dealer in the area I did take a little tour of some amps Friday at the local store and played the stangray 2x12 w/bluebells and a 1x12 w/a g12h...they sound pretty awesome. The 3 knobs on that amp really yield a lot of variety! I may be interested in the head version of that. I liked the vibe of that amp better than the maz jr combo. Aaaaaah the quest continues...
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 6, 2008 18:54:59 GMT -7
Yup! That's the guy. Me and the other guitar player in my band were ogling his gear during their soundcheck. Sounded mighty nice!
Bill - so does that stingray head have as much or more clean headroom as a deluxe? It was hard to tell through the bluebells, since they are sorta low wattage.
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Post by Bill on Jan 6, 2008 20:04:45 GMT -7
Yup! That's the guy. Me and the other guitar player in my band were ogling his gear during their soundcheck. Sounded mighty nice! Bill - so does that stingray head have as much or more clean headroom as a deluxe? It was hard to tell through the bluebells, since they are sorta low wattage. The Stingray has quite a bit of clean headroom, I would imagine more than most Fender Deluxes...even a modded one such as yours. The alnico Cele blues will compress and break up sooner than your RWB, but then that's the final ingredient for that 'Vox' tone the Ray provides. I used a Weber alnico blue for a couple years with mine, but recently started using a ceramic Celestion G12H-30...and I'm putting a set of Tonkerlites in the 2x12 cabinet, so I expect a good amount of clean headroom from those. To me the biggest difference in the two amps is the Ray has the ability to be very fat & thick, all the while very clean...and it has the most thumping bottom of any 30w amp I've ever played. The Deluxe has a beautiful tone, but can tend to be a bit thin and sharp, even with the treble down. YMMV Here's a short example using a reedy thin Greenback with the Ray...and it still sounds pretty fat & punchy. www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=5487561&q=hi&newref=1
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johnm
New Member
Posts: 17
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Post by johnm on Jan 7, 2008 7:00:31 GMT -7
Yeah, agreed on the dlx being a wee bit sharp at times... That clip sounds great - there's something that the Z amps have in the lows and mids that Fenders don't. That's why I'm so friggin' intrigued with 'em right now!
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Post by Matt H. on Jan 7, 2008 18:54:07 GMT -7
Nice playng and tone - welcome!
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