My searching for tone took a Carmen Ghia detour

[rob]

So, I’d been playing a Maz 18NR for a while and I was looking to expand my tonal spectrum per say... so I sold off the Maz Jr and purchased a stangray combo on reverb. Well, long story short... returned the stangray back to the seller due to some work needing to be done on the amp. This left me with a deluxe reverb reissue to fill the spot while I decide which Z flavor to use next. My thoughts on getting the stangray were to move toward a more powerful amp than the Maz jr and gain a little cleaner sound with some added beef... I was surfing around and happened upon a nice 1x12 ghia combo with the celestion gold already installed for a fair price. So, a few clicks later and it is on its way to me. Now here are my thoughts. My deluxe reverb reissue is actually a fairly nice sounding amp. I am using the celestion Alnico cream 90 watt in it. It’s got a nice creamy edge around 7-8 on the volume dial. I’m thinking I’m going to run a dual amp setup with the 1-12 ghia gold and the deluxe reverb Alnico cream. I’m a country/tele player and I think this should be a great combo for some hairy cleans with a lot of punch... this makes my 4th z amp...

[meanslide]

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on a Ghia vs a DRRI. My money is on the Ghia. You may not need two amps. If you'd like to get a little more clean 'umph' outta the CG, here is some great advice the Doc gave about some minor tube substitutions.

"1) NOS 5751 in V1, Nashville pickers trick acts like a low sense input.
 2) Tung-Sol or JJ 12AX7 in V2
 3) JJ EL-84's bolder tone and response will add headroom.
 4) NOS 5V4 rectifier, will add more plate voltage to increase wattage, but will still feel right.

DR.Z"

ztalk.proboards.com/thread/67304/looking-little-more-headroom

[John]

Yes, a DR is a nice sounding amp. But the Ghia has a certain 'something' to it. You will be pleased. After hearing the Ghia, you may not want a dual amp setup.

Since there's only a tone control on the amp (it's more of a mid sweep), be prepared to use your guitar's tone control to back off any unwanted high end...especially with a gold.