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Post by tiptiptip on May 6, 2018 6:48:51 GMT -7
Hey everyone. Short time lurker, long time Dr. Z seeker. About two months ago I saw my first Z-amp in the wild. It was a Maz 38 Invasion. I’ve never heard such fantastic and inspiring tone in all my life, I couldn’t play a wrong note! It’s as if I channeled one of the greats and my fingers were no longer my own. I wrung it out for about an hour until I just ran out of steam, still stunned as I flipped the switch off. I had heard a lot about Dr. Z amps and how great they are. I had watched countless YouTube videos demoing every amp in the line. Nothing can suffice for what these amps sound like in person, and even more, how they feel to play. Fast forward six weeks and I can’t stop thinking about the tone and experience. I decide to stop back in to that same music store in our beautiful corner of NE Wisconsin and take her for another test drive, just to see if it’s as good as I remember. The salesman saw me as I walked in; asking, “Here to play the Z again?” It’s as if fate was beckoning me toward tone nirvana. I plugged in and was blown away all over again. After 30 minutes the salesman came in and asked with a grin, “So what do you think?” I could only reply, “Yeah man, take my money.” I found myself at the counter putting 20% down on the amp with matching 4x10 cab and a Rivera K412T 4x12 (also killer). I couldn’t keep the joy to myself and had to tell the story of this fantastic amp to my dad, who is also a musician and guitar player. The only downside to this adventure would be the wait. Thankfully I’ve grown patient through my 20’s and could deal with the suspense. I stopped in to the store again yesterday to put another 10% on the balance only to have the shop tell me I couldn’t do that. Confused and afraid I began questioning them, worried wires had gotten crossed and they sold it online as it was listed on reverb.com as well. They tried to keep any details from me until they just couldn’t. My dad had called and paid off the balance, arranging delivery to my house later this week! Needless to say I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. I don’t know how I can repay him. The truly interesting thing about this amp is it doesn’t seem to fit the mold of what it’s supposed to be. I’ve read almost every post on this forum and I think I might have something unique on my hands. The amp is a Maz 38 Invasion in head form with horizontal input jacks, no effects loop, no pull knobs, and three different speaker outs on the back. The serial number is K-5184. Can anyone help me figure out any details?
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Post by Maddog on May 6, 2018 7:02:42 GMT -7
IIRC, the Prefix "K" stands for the year of production ie: year 2000.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 6, 2018 9:50:42 GMT -7
Congratulations on a fine first Z amp! Welcome to the forum...
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Post by thatstatuemoved on May 7, 2018 7:36:34 GMT -7
Great story--you have a great dad. Brought back a flood of memories for me as my mom and dad bought me a strat and a deluxe reverb for me back in the late 60's. I will never forget their generosity cause it was not easy for them. Enjoy your amp and please post some pics when you get time.
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Post by daveyk on May 7, 2018 9:24:43 GMT -7
Congrats on the amp!! I love my 38 Senior NR! I'll never get rid of it. From what i understand the 38 Invasion is cleaner than the newer 38 Seniors. I believe the mid pot is supposed to be a push/pull knob to engage a mid boost. Maybe yours was modded at some point. Killer amp!!
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Post by Jaguarguy (Mike) on May 7, 2018 10:14:30 GMT -7
Great story! Here's my Maz Invasion #005
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Post by Jaguarguy (Mike) on May 7, 2018 10:18:01 GMT -7
This Maz 38 Special is one of the few Maz Specials that Doc made. He made a few of them then he was asked to change the name by another manufacturer so he changed it to Invasion.
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Post by tiptiptip on May 8, 2018 9:19:57 GMT -7
Those are some beautiful pieces of machinery, I’ll definitely post some pics as soon as I figure out how. (Forum newb) Can anyone point me in the right direction on finding out the details of this amp? It also doesn’t seem to have as much clean headroom as people describe..
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Post by daveyk on May 8, 2018 13:59:28 GMT -7
Those are some beautiful pieces of machinery, I’ll definitely post some pics as soon as I figure out how. (Forum newb) Can anyone point me in the right direction on finding out the details of this amp? It also doesn’t seem to have as much clean headroom as people describe.. I also expected my 38 to have more clean headroom than it does. I play a p90 sg and almost always have hair on each note. The only way i can get a really clean tone is if i roll the mids back, roll the volume back on my guitar, and have the amp volume below 11 o'clock and the master below 10 o'clock. Otherwise, the amp is always slightly broken up. Also, i use a 5751 in v1 which quiets down the amp slightly and gives a little more range on the volume control before breakup.
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Post by tiptiptip on May 8, 2018 18:56:34 GMT -7
I definitely don’t mind the edge of break up, it’s my favorite guitar tone to play with. I was wondering if that’s normal or if that’s a mod indicator?
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Post by detuned on May 10, 2018 6:00:40 GMT -7
First off: welcome to the Forum, new Z brother!
Headroom's dependent on a lot of factors, chief among them speaker selection and tube complement. More efficient speakers mean you don't need to turn it up as much to get loud, and you can do a lot of shaping with the V1 preamp tube, the phase inverter, and the "hardness" of the output tubes. An amp that distorts quickly doesn't necessarily mean it's been modded. Maybe its time for some new tubes...
Dig in to the Maz forums, there's a lot of great info there about all this and more. Also, if you like the way it sounds, don't stress about it. I had the exact opposite "problem" with my old MAz Jr NR 2X10. I could barely get that amp to distort even set at stun. If it really starts to bother you, you can always send it back to the mothership for a tuneup - not surprisingly, they do great work there!
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Post by tiptiptip on May 10, 2018 9:30:54 GMT -7
Thanks man! I really really do like the tone and sound. I’ve never experienced an amp like this in my life! I’m in no way looking to change anything about it. I’m just trying to find out some history behind it. This Maz seems like an odd build considering everything I’ve read about the Invasions. I’m running it through a Z 4x10 loaded with Z designed blues (the cab came with the amp). I know next to nothing about speakers/cabs haha.
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