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Post by stratdev on Feb 5, 2006 0:23:01 GMT -7
Hi Folks,
Well my fourth Z amp arrived from Wild West Guitars, a new Maz Jr head but I'm having my first Z problem. The head has the short reverb pan and appears to be hooked up correctly but, even when turned fully up, the reverb is just barely perceptible. I do normally use reverb, but not a lot (I use a Kendricks tank for my Ghia, and Z-28; on board for my Maz Sr). But this is darn near non-existant. I swapped in another known good Mullard AT7, no go. Nothing seems to work. If you move the head, you get some mild "reverb rumble," but at a very low level. No loose wire I could find in the tank proper. I'm perplexed. So now it's a Maz Jr AAR (almost a reverb).
Any ideas folks before I pester the Dr. ? Thanks!
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Post by bluzsteel on Feb 5, 2006 7:25:05 GMT -7
can you hook up your kendrick or your 64 Delux Rev pans to the RCA plugs coming out of your Z, if its still a no then it inside , possible you got a short delay tank in there. Accutronics makes 3 kinds , short, medium and long delay in their short tanks, the stamped 4th number on the tank is the delay 1- short 2 medium 3 long
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Post by JASON (aka jgleaton) on Feb 5, 2006 10:39:51 GMT -7
Hi stratdev,
I had the exact same problem with my Maz 38 head, I tried swapping tubes, several different tanks run to it that I knew worked (deluxe reverb and external fender tank), tried different rca cords and nothing worked, visual inspection of the tank nothing looked/ obviously broken, even took the Maz tank and tried to run it into the deluxe, but still no reverb....
I e-mailed doc and he suggested for me to try several of these things before I had to send it back to him but none of them worked.... and he finally said to just send it back to him....
It took a couple of weeks but I got it back from him and It has worked GREAT ever since...mine wasn't under warranty like yours would be either but he didn't charge much at all and went through it to.....It sounds great now!!!!
What the doc said; was mine probably took a good knock... I bet thats what happened to yours also, during shipping??.... I think this is a fairly common problem with the reverbs....I've heard of several others on the forum with similar problems.....
So I know your dissapointed, but I just wanted to encourage you that if anyone will take care of you Doc will.... Sorry that it happened to ya but the Doc will take care of you...
course, since yours is under warranty he may want you to use/ go through wild west but most of his dealers are GREAT and he's got some of the best (if not the best) customer service in the business... I wouldn't hesistate to e-mail him though... BTW when I e-mailed him it took him a couple of days to respond (pretty busy guy) but when he did he just kept e-mailing back and forth with suggestions, and I think we tried everything before I just had to sent it back to him.... just something he had to fix...
Jason
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Post by guitarman1 on Feb 8, 2006 12:28:46 GMT -7
What the doc said; was mine probably took a good knock... I bet thats what happened to yours also, during shipping??.... I think this is a fairly common problem with the reverbs....I've heard of several others on the forum with similar problems..... I have to agree with jgleaton. It seems there have been problems with the new Accutronics short tanks in the Maz series. My Maz Sr. tank was DOA from Wilcutt Guitars. I know mine took a real hit from UPS, because the metal brackets holding the fan on were actually bent in mine. The fan was hanging down at a 45 degree angle. I pulled the chassis and tank and sent it to Mike. It was a bad tank after all. He did offer just to send me a new tank before I sent the amp back, but seeing that it got whacked badly in shipping, I wanted the whole thing to be checked out. Dr. Z will take care of it....guaranteed!
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Post by stratdev on Feb 9, 2006 10:33:43 GMT -7
Guys,
Thanks for all your timely suggestions. I've contacted the Dr and he will take care of the reverb issue. I appreciate all your help.
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Post by jessterr on Feb 28, 2006 17:31:35 GMT -7
Hey Stratdev,
Could you do me a favor and let me know what you think of the reverb when you get it back from the Doc? I had exactly the same problem when I bought mine new a couple of years ago. I sent it back to him, and it came back really quick, within just a few days, but I didn't really notice a difference. I still consider the reverb wvery eak but figured that was just the way he disigned it, and I've never heard another Maz 18 reverb to really know. I'd be interested in hearing whether you perceive the reverb to be a lot stronger when you get it back.
Thanks very much, Jesse
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Post by Seńor Verde on Feb 28, 2006 19:40:02 GMT -7
The reverb was pretty weak in both my Maz Sr. and Jr. They had short delay tanks in them. I bought a couple long delay tanks and they both sound fantastic now.
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Post by jessterr on Mar 1, 2006 16:43:44 GMT -7
Doobie,
Changing that reverb tank sounds like something I'd like to try, but I don't know very much about these things. Could I bother you for some specifics, where to get one, which part/model number, cost, etc? Thanks very much,
Jesse
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Post by Seńor Verde on Mar 1, 2006 22:32:04 GMT -7
Jesse, I got my tanks from Antique Radio Supply (AKA Tubes And More) They are long Delay, Accutronics, P-R9AB3C1B. I am a reverb maniac and keep the reverb on my Jr. cranked, but get enough reverb. For my Maz Sr. I keep the reverb down a little from all the way up. They sound very nice.
Let me know if you try it and what you think.
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Post by jessterr on Mar 2, 2006 11:09:22 GMT -7
Will do, Doobie. Thanks very much for the help!
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 2, 2006 11:17:16 GMT -7
I have a Maz 38. My reverb tank went down after about a year. I replaced it with a long delay big tank from Accutronics, bought thru Antique Electonics Supply. I found very little change in the sound of the reverb, just a hair nicer sounding. Also when the knob is at anything over 10:00 you could go surfing with mine. I don't know what would be different in our amps that you guys would have to turn yours up higher. Are you using a 12 AT7 or AY7 in V-3 or V-4?
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Post by jessterr on Mar 2, 2006 15:16:27 GMT -7
The amp has a 12AT7 in V-3 and a 12AX7 in V-4. I don't understand it either, but there's definitely no surf thing going on with this amp!
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 2, 2006 15:21:54 GMT -7
Try a 12AX7 in lieu of the AT7.
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Post by jessterr on Mar 3, 2006 13:41:25 GMT -7
Billy,
I tried it, dramatically improved the sound of the reverb but also introduced an intolerable hum. My next step is going to be to buy a set of longer connecting jacks and take the reverb out of the head, get it away from the rest of the electronics. I've always had a theory that the tank being very close to the transformers, etc may be introducing hum. There has always been a hum there when the reverb is turned up, and I'm suspecting that the Doc may have intentionally kept the reverb weaker in the head verson to keep that hum to a minimum. Anybody have any thoughts on that? If that works out to be the case, I can move the tank to the bottom of my speaker cab, using longer wires. By the way Billy, are you sure that using the stronger 12AX7 in place of the 12AT7 won't harm anything? Thanks.
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 3, 2006 13:50:03 GMT -7
12AX7 won't hurt anything. Most amps it would distort the reverb but not yours for some reson. Try, as you said, moving the reverb away from the amp or twisting it horizontally in relation to the amp. I don't think this would solve anything though.
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Post by jessterr on Mar 3, 2006 18:48:22 GMT -7
Hey Billy,
I played around with the amp some more this afternoon. Seems the "intolerable hum" was due to a bad 12AX7 tube. I tried several more, and ended up with a few good choices. I've been messing around with trying different tubes in the various positions in this amp all week, and am coming up with some great results. This amp sounds worlds better than it did just two days ago, I'll be publishing my findings once I'm all done. Thanks very much for your help, man! Appreciate it very much.
Jesse
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Post by billyguitar on Mar 3, 2006 19:36:58 GMT -7
Right on! That's good news!
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Post by stratdev on Mar 5, 2006 7:17:41 GMT -7
Jesse,
I got the Maz Jr head back in 6 days from the Dr and the reverb is gorgeous. I was stunned at the difference...actually better than I expected from a short pan reverb
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Post by bluzsteel on Mar 5, 2006 11:31:03 GMT -7
Jesse, I got the Maz Jr head back in 6 days from the Dr and the reverb is gorgeous. I was stunned at the difference...actually better than I expected from a short pan reverb you ask him what he did?
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Post by jessterr on Mar 8, 2006 18:26:44 GMT -7
Stratdev,
Thanks very much for the feedback. I was wondering also, did you ask the Doc what he did to make such an improvement in the reverb? And how would you compare the reverb in your Maz 18 now to your '66 Pro Reverb, that would be a good benchmark for me to compare to because I have a '67 PR.
Thanks, Jesse
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