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Post by dcarver on Aug 12, 2016 22:53:39 GMT -7
Yup.. I'm officially on board the Z Train. Ordered her last Monday and she rolled in this afternoon. Black with Z Wreck grill - all classy, sexy & bad arse she is.
Anybody care to venture a guess on about how long it will take to break in a Creamback if I play for 3 to 4 hrs a day with both volumes around 12:00 ?
Looking forward to rattling some windows tomorrow.
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Post by simpleton on Aug 12, 2016 23:39:17 GMT -7
Lucky duck.....enjoy
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Post by BritInvasion on Aug 13, 2016 4:32:41 GMT -7
Congrats!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 13, 2016 5:52:04 GMT -7
Cool! What do you think about it? Celestion has some good thoughts on speaker break-in on their webpage.
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Post by digs57 on Aug 13, 2016 7:10:09 GMT -7
play it it will happen...nice amp and and welcome to forum.
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Post by dcarver on Aug 13, 2016 10:39:18 GMT -7
Thanks for the welcome. So far, I think it's great. Build quality looks top notch. That's one heck of a power trany for an 8 watt amp.
I made the 2 hour drive to the nearest dealer a couple weeks ago. They didn't have any MAZ 8's in stock, but I was able to demo the MAZ 18 (greenback), the Monza (Dr. Z 12"), and the DB4 (alnico blues). I was really impressed with all of them. I took my own guitar with me, and couldn't believe how much better it sounded. What impressed me the most was how rich the tone was in all 3 amps, even at low volumes. I was hearing things out of my guitar I'd never heard before.
Hence my question about speaker break in. I'm guessing the demo models are well broken in. Compared to them, the new creamback seems kinda 2 dimensional. It doesn't have the richness and complexity, the little subtleties that the floor models had.... yet.
I'm gonna play the bejesus out of it and see what happens. Thanks for the tip on the Celestion site. I'd read that break in info about 6 months ago, but totally forgot about it. Must be NGD distraction syndrome.
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Post by ianrossiter on Aug 13, 2016 11:35:46 GMT -7
Congrats!!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Aug 13, 2016 16:32:37 GMT -7
Yeah, just pound away and it's going to be sweeter and sweeter. Incredible amp, congrats again. I keep finding new tones in mine all the time (true for all my Z amps!).
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Post by dcarver on Aug 13, 2016 21:39:04 GMT -7
She's getting there. I wailed away for a few hours today and couldn't be happier. The amp sounds better every time I fire it up.
I've been reading about the problems people have with current production tube rectifiers, so I ordered a NOS JAN Philips/Sylvania 5AR4 from KCA. The ones that are mislabeled as 5V4GA. Hope I made the right move. Is this a good tube ?
I found the "Dr.Z on Tube Rectifiers" thread in the Tubes Forum. Markus's video comparison of the 5AR4 and the 5V4GA was very interesting. So I got the idea that the 5V4GA would be good to try out, and have around as a back up.
So after a bit of digging, I found NOS RCA 5V4GA listed on Brent Jessee's site for $12. Seems like an amazingly low price. Is there a catch ? Has anybody tried this tube ?
Thanks for the welcome guys. Z-talk Rocks!
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Post by purpletele on Aug 13, 2016 21:48:04 GMT -7
dcarver I have a new Maz 8 as well. I have the Mislabled Jan Phillips in my Therapy and it is solid. I am going to order the same for the Maz 8 tonight for a back up. Another good tip from the pilot zpilot. The tube you mentioned from Brent Jesse must be marked incorrectly. I can't make heads or tails of his web page, but I have ordered tubes from him with success.
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Post by redzsrock on Aug 14, 2016 5:34:41 GMT -7
Congrats bro! I just keep finding new tones in mine. Rich sounding amp! Enjoy!
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Post by walt on Aug 14, 2016 7:20:01 GMT -7
Congrats!pics?I have in the past run my mp3 player through a speaker for days straight to break in faster-IDK if it really made a difference.
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Post by doctorice on Aug 14, 2016 8:31:55 GMT -7
Congrats on the MAZ 8. A wonderful amp with a huge number of tones inside.
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Post by dcarver on Aug 15, 2016 19:11:37 GMT -7
Walt, I'd post pics, but I don't have an account with a hosting site. PM me your email address if you want and I'll send you some.
I got the mislabeled NOS 5AR4 from KCA today and and swapped out the Sino 5AR4 that came with the amp. Wow ! The NOS 5AR4 is quite a bit larger than the stock tube. Looks pretty stout. I think the amp is a little cleaner... crisper. I've been trying lots of different settings, but usually end up with the cut control up around 2:00 or 3:00 to get a bright clean tone. After swapping rectifiers, I ended up with the cut around noon or 1:00. Maybe the speaker is just breaking, but it seemed like the NOS 5AR4 brightened up the amp a little... like turning up the presence.
I also put in an order for a couple of the $12 NOS 5V4GA on Brent Jessee's site. Might be a good inexpensive back up. I'll post a report in a few days.
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Post by trojanhov on Aug 17, 2016 17:59:19 GMT -7
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Post by Stephen on Aug 18, 2016 20:22:11 GMT -7
I don't mean to high-jack your thread, but I just got an email that my new Maz 8 will ship tomorrow.
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Post by purpletele on Aug 18, 2016 20:49:44 GMT -7
I don't mean to high-jack your thread, but I just got an email that my new Maz 8 will ship tomorrow. Stephen, I am really enjoying mine. I had Mather build a matching extension cab. I have the Z 12 in the amp and the Eminence SC64 Alessandro, a very nice pairing. I recommend picking up a rectifier. Send photos
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Post by dcarver on Aug 18, 2016 22:09:14 GMT -7
I don't mean to high-jack your thread, but I just got an email that my new Maz 8 will ship tomorrow. Way to go man! Which speaker did you opt for ? BTW.. a pic of mine is my temporary avatar. The wacing wabbits will be back in the future.
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Post by Stephen on Aug 19, 2016 6:12:50 GMT -7
I don't mean to high-jack your thread, but I just got an email that my new Maz 8 will ship tomorrow. Way to go man! Which speaker did you opt for ? BTW.. a pic of mine is my temporary avatar. The wacing wabbits will be back in the future. I had a 2013 Maz 8 and really liked the G12H30 in it, so that's what I got.
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Post by dcarver on Aug 22, 2016 21:17:01 GMT -7
I received 3 NOS GE 5V4GA rectifier tubes from Brent Jessee today. One in an original box. Another one labeled Sylvania. $12 bucks each plus $6 for a 2 year warranty.
Haven't had a chance to try one yet. The amp has a ton of headroom now. Should be interesting to see how it changes with a low power 6n14n and a 5V4GA.
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Post by dergit (Markus) on Aug 23, 2016 5:52:56 GMT -7
Should be interesting to see how it changes with a low power 6n14n and a 5V4GA. That's what I'm running at home in my MAZ 8. It gets a little warmer and looser at lower volumes, especially in triode mode. A little too much for me so I'm running fairly high gain preamp tubes (Tung-Sol re-issue in V1, Mullard re-issue in PI) to sort of get the best of both worlds: aggressive and clear front end and a warm and live poweramp stage. In my 18NR I like the 5AR4s a little better. Probably because I use that amp in a band context more and like all the headroom and cut I can get. It's a very small difference, however.
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Post by dcarver on Sept 16, 2016 0:04:31 GMT -7
Last Monday I swapped out the NOS 5AR4 rectifier and put in one of the RCA 5V4GA's from Brent Jessee. The amp sounds great. Getting really nice crunch in triode mode with Brake Lite on 2 at living room volume levels. No problem playing late at night with the BL on 3. In pentode mode, I really can't tell a whole lot of difference between the 5AR4 and the 5V4GA. Not really noticing any sag. Basically just confirming what Marcus said... they both work great. So if you're looking for an inexpensive NOS rectifier, the ones Brent Jessee has at $12 each are looking like a very good option.
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Post by dcarver on Sept 30, 2016 23:34:37 GMT -7
A little over a week or so ago I took out the 6n14n power tube that came with the new Maz 8 and put in a low power 6n14n from Perry R. Wow, what a great tube... thanks Perry ! I really like the the way the amp sounds in both triode and pentode mode. Marcus was right though. The amp is pretty loose in triode mode. It's nice for late night playing when I need to keep the volume down, but in the daytime it sounds great in pentode. There's a real nice moderately over driven tone with the volume at 2:00 or 3:00, master at 10:00 or 11:00 and the BL on 3. I back off the guitar volume a little and get that beautiful edge-of-crunchiness at a pretty reasonable volume.
Unfortunately, this has exposed a weak link.... my OD pedal. It sounds no where near as good as the tone I can get from the amp by just playing with the volume and BL. Kinda sad, it was a good pedal.... not cheap, came from a good guy with a solid reputation, sounded really good with my last amp. Sorry to have to send it down to the minors so to speak.
I've been looking at a lot of pedal demos on you-tube lately. Can't find any that feature a Maz 8, but I did fine one that used a Maz 18. Do the Maz line of amps have similar enough circuitry, so that a pedal that sounds good through a Maz 18 will also work well with a Maz 8 ?
In some of the other forums, people have said good things about the Rockett Blue Note. Has anybody tried the Blue Note with the Maz 8 ?
Basically what I'm looking for can be heard at 1:50 in this Mike Hermans Blue Note demo. Also, do you think he's playing a stock American Standard Tele ? Man! that thing sounds good. Thanks in advance.
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Post by dcarver on Sept 30, 2016 23:47:32 GMT -7
Ooops. I just realized I basically posted somebody's advertisement. If that's against forum rules, let me know. I'll take it down.
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Post by dergit (Markus) on Oct 1, 2016 1:25:21 GMT -7
I run the same pedal board into my 18 and my 8 and what works with either will work with the other as well. The Blue Note was very high on my list after watching that video a few months ago as well but Z-Drive and Klone do all the OD I need for now. You're entering the troublesome territory of single channel amps and OD pedals now, however. Mike Hermans sets his MAZ to work specifically as a pedal platform. Most videos where you can see his settings, his preamp volume is around 10-11 and his master is around 11-12 o'clock with all the EQ set fairly neutral as well. The way you set your amp, it's already compressing and overdriving a lot more on its own. When you hit it with a pedal, the pedal's tone and the amp's OD mix. This can work really well with some transparent OD pedals and really not well at all with more specific "character" pedals. So before you ditch your old pedal, try setting your amp up for it a bit more and see what you get with that. This video explains it fairly well with a somewhat similar amp: What you're hearing around 1:50 in Mike's demo is a very mid-heavy, bluesy sound. Blue Note as well as Tube Screamer style OD pedals will get you there. It does depend on how you set your amp, though. An OD that's a good fit will push the "right" frequencies of your amp into the amp's organic saturation. A bad fit will try and force it to do something it won't. Straight up distortion pedals will rarely sound great into an amp that's distorting on its own. WRT to guitars... I don't know the Tele in that video but most of Mike's guitars are pretty top-shelf stuff (Grosh and Xotic Strats, for instance). And he's a beast of a player, don't forget that.
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Oct 1, 2016 8:01:18 GMT -7
Marcus is, as usual, right on the money. I set my Maz'es up differently depending on whether I'm using an overdrive/distortion pedal or not. My overdrive of choice lately, (last 2+ months, must be a record for me!) is the Barber Gain Changer. Love that pedal, and it works well with all my Z's.
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Post by doctorice on Oct 1, 2016 8:10:13 GMT -7
If you like what you're getting from the MAZ 8 with Vol up higher consider trying a "clean" boost. That will further compress the amp sound, i.e., a bit more sustain and so forth, and, depending on the pedal, you can eq the pedal to hit the zone Markus (dergit) describes.
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Post by dcarver on Oct 1, 2016 12:14:18 GMT -7
Thanks for the info guys.
I'm not looking for a very distorted tone. I want to hear as much of the nuances of the pickups, the amp and the speaker as possible, with a little, to a moderate amount of OD. The Gain Changer and the Timmy seem to be well regarded by Dr. Z patients.
I've tried every combination of volume and EQ settings on the amp. Starting with the amp as clean as I can get it and pushing a fair amount of gain with the pedal, to setting the amp on the edge of breakup and just pushing it over the edge with a little pedal gain (and everything in between). After giving it some more thought, what I don't like about the pedal is it changes the tone of the amp substantially, even at low gain settings. It's very non-transparent. It takes away a lot of the mid and lower-mid frequencies, so that what I end up with is a much thinner, more brittle tone. When I adjust the amp and/or pedal EQ (pedal has a bass & treble knob) to compensate for the loss, what I end up with never sounds as good as the crunch I can get from the amp with no pedal in front of it. I also tried running it through the effects loop... didn't help.
My once loved dirt box has gone full vampire on me.... suckin all the life out of my Z.
The best results I've gotten are by using the stock boost foot switch to push the amp into a little OD. Man! that thing works good. Sometimes I just end up leaving it on all the time.
Marcus's comment "troublesome territory of single channel amps and OD pedals" ... yup, I think that's what I running into here. Hope I can avoid the "endless search".
I notice that some pedals say their EQ's are cut controls, and have no effect on the amp EQ when set all the way counter clockwise. This sounds like a good way to go. Anybody know of pitfalls to avoid with "cut control" OD pedals ?
Thanks for your help.
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Post by dergit (Markus) on Oct 2, 2016 5:28:42 GMT -7
The best results I've gotten are by using the stock boost foot switch to push the amp into a little OD. Man! that thing works good. Sometimes I just end up leaving it on all the time. Marcus's comment "troublesome territory of single channel amps and OD pedals" ... yup, I think that's what I running into here. Hope I can avoid the "endless search". I notice that some pedals say their EQ's are cut controls, and have no effect on the amp EQ when set all the way counter clockwise. This sounds like a good way to go. Anybody know of pitfalls to avoid with "cut control" OD pedals ? The variable boost switch will probably be the best replacement for any OD pedal if "cranked amp" is the tone you're after. With regards to setting your single channel amp... essentially, there are three paths: 1. set the amp clean and get your tones from pedals. This works well if you like how your pedals sound and you need a lot of variety. 2. set the amp dirty and use guitar volume to vary OD. This works well if you need mostly one sound and don't use many other fx which you won't have a lot of headroom for. 3. set the amp to the "edge of breakup" and get the best of both worlds. This is a balancing act and any change to the amp settings (half a notch more master volume) or signal path (guitars, buffers, even cable length) will knock you off balance. But to me, it's worth the trouble because I use my amp tone 85% of the time and want that to sound as good as possible. Pedal EQ is very useful... either you get a pedal that "just fits" your amp or you get one you can "make fit". For me, the Klone "just fits" and I use the Z-Drive to push the mids into breakup for a cutting lead tone. The most important EQ control for me is usually going to be the bass, however. Don't think of it as adding or removing low-end but keep in mind that amplifying low frequencies takes a LOT more energy than amplifying mid and treble. This is relevant for how much of your amp's headroom is being used up. So if you boost bass, you're going to push your amp deeper into break-up. This is good if you want it to just OD the amp, not good if you want to use your pedal as a solo boost. Cutting bass will let the amp breathe more and pushing mids and treble into OD will make it cut. Have fun tinkering.
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Post by ianrossiter on Oct 2, 2016 9:57:40 GMT -7
Markus,that post was so dead-on,it should be qoited on the Main Site,and included with every Amp. I live in the #3 category and have always had such an awful time getting effects that work with the amp. Your comments about the balancing act are so accurate,I'm almost relieved!! I was starting to think it was just odd on my part. Thanks
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