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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 11:05:14 GMT -7
After spending a lot of money and time testing every conceivable modern production tube (from various distributors) and running all the combinations against my THD-Flexi and Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R at gigs and having band members, musicians in the audience and music-lovers judge the results, the following rig was unanimously judged as having the "best tone". One bassplayer said it "sounds like Robben Ford's Dumble...what is that Z thing you're using"? Several guitarists said the high gain leads "sound like Eric Johnson" while the lower gain leads/rhythm "sound like SRV". The guitar used was an Anderson Classic with Kinman AVn-Blues PUPs and all signal cabling was George L's. Speaker cable was Evidence Audio. Try this out and thank me later. ;>) Maz 18 Junior NR into Kinman Highway 61 with British-made G12H-30s: V1-V3: Tung-Sol 12AX7 Power: GT-EL84-S, #6 Rectifier: GT-5AR4 (i.e. Sovtek) Maz 18 Settings: Volume: 12:00 Treble: 9:00-10:30 (to taste, to room) Middle: 1:30 Bass: 10:30 (+/- to room) Cut: MAX Fulldrive 2 Lead: (Vintage Mode, Comp Cut OFF) Volume: 1:00 Tone: 3:00-3:30 Overdrive: 11:00 (low gain lead) Boost: 3:00 (high gain lead) Fulldrive 2 Rhythm: (FM Mode, Comp Cut OFF) Volume: 10:30 Tone: 3:00 Overdrive: 10:30 (low gain dirty rhythm) Boost: unused
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 11:11:31 GMT -7
OOPS!
I forgot to include the Master setting above. Easy. As loud as the venue permits, usually around 9:30-10:00.
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Post by gwayne on Mar 6, 2006 13:42:19 GMT -7
Question: By Comp Cut "OFF" I assume you mean the volume knob is pressed down? I'll try these settings and see how I likes .
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 14:00:32 GMT -7
Question: By Comp Cut "OFF" I assume you mean the volume knob is pressed down? I'll try these settings and see how I likes . Yes, sir. The Volume knob is pressed down, meaning the compression is ON. Another guy on this board was having problems getting the OD tones he wanted and said these settings did the trick for him. But, the tubes mentioned above also play a very big role.
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on Mar 6, 2006 14:36:10 GMT -7
I have a Jr with the G12H and I find that it's still a bit bright with my Fenders (Tele and Strat) after having played it for over 9 months. I am mystified that some users will dial in max settings on the Cut control. I find that I can barely dial any Cut in and keep the other EQ set about noon.
Has anyone else experienced this issue with Cut?
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 6, 2006 15:00:51 GMT -7
I have a Jr with the G12H and I find that it's still a bit bright with my Fenders (Tele and Strat) after having played it for over 9 months. I am mystified that some users will dial in max settings on the Cut control. I find that I can barely dial any Cut in and keep the other EQ set about noon. Has anyone else experienced this issue with Cut? No, but I'd never run the Treble anywhere near noon! Max the CUT and start with Treble at 9:00. I typically run my Treble about 9:30-10:30, at the highest. Keep in mind too that the Volume knob affects high end. The higher it goes, the brighter the amp gets. I never run mine past 12:00 or the amp gets too bright and there's too much preamp saturation when pedals hit the front end. Try out my settings above (along with the tube choices) and let me know how that works. Everybody tells me my Maz is the warmest, fattest, sweetest amp I own! BTW, the reason I feel that Cut needs to be maxed is to get the very best pedal overdrive tones. Maxing it out seems to make pedals sound fatter and allows for a better balance between amp and pedal distortion. It's easy to dial back the high end by turning down the Treble knob. It's also important to run the Mid up past 12:00-1:00. I set mine at 1:30. With anything lower than 12:00, OD pedals sound thin. Same with Cut. If it's not maxed out, dirt boxes sound too thin.
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 6, 2006 15:06:52 GMT -7
I agree with you Robt.......I have an Eric Johnson Strat and my fav fattest, cleanest with Maz 18 jr nr is; Strat tone (both) at 6 Strat Volume at 7-9
Maz input 1 V=12 T=10 M=11 B=12 MV=12 Cut=9
PRS McCarty w/Mc humbuckers Tone=6-9 Vol=6-9 Maz input 2 V-9-12 T=12 M=11 B=10 MV=12 Cut=12 Robt try my Strat setting and I think your brightness will be exactly what the Strat should sound like which is obviously on the brighter side as all single coils are. Victor
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robt
Full Member
Posts: 138
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Post by robt on Mar 6, 2006 15:40:53 GMT -7
Thanks, I appreciate any feedback. I either run a Hotcake or a Keeley DS-1 in front and sometimes with a Keeley Comp. I've had the Hotcake for about five years but am finding that the Keeley modded DS-1 can actually give a fatter, cleaner boost.
I should also add that I prefer to run the amp with the reverb completely off. It took six months before I realized that the natural sound is the sound that I prefer. Just me....
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 6, 2006 15:48:24 GMT -7
I agree. I bought a verb model 2 weeks ago and returned it for the nr model.........MUCH better. I might also suggest that if you removed the pedals and THEN try my settings, it might just tell you something about those pedals.
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 7, 2006 12:43:12 GMT -7
I agree with you Robt.......I have an Eric Johnson Strat and my fav fattest, cleanest with Maz 18 jr nr is; Strat tone (both) at 6 Strat Volume at 7-9 Maz input 1 V=12 T=10 M=11 B=12 MV=12 Cut=9 PRS McCarty w/Mc humbuckers Tone=6-9 Vol=6-9 Maz input 2 V-9-12 T=12 M=11 B=10 MV=12 Cut=12 Robt try my Strat setting and I think your brightness will be exactly what the Strat should sound like which is obviously on the brighter side as all single coils are. Victor Running the cut that low will not give you the best sustain and fatness.
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 7, 2006 15:17:48 GMT -7
Yo MazzMaster, Since I am a new Z owner please explain the "running the cut so low" comment. If I run it any higher than 10 with the Strat (with treble on Z at 10), it is too bright and running it at noon with the PRS seems about right. Give me some recommended tone settings here........it's also my first amp with a master volume.............many thanks!
Victor
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Post by garyh on Mar 7, 2006 19:20:38 GMT -7
I tried your settings last night with the cut at max and the treble down. Sorry, but didn't like it. I have three svetlanas in mine. That would make a difference but I found the sound really lacked any sparkle. It was very midrangey, therefore fat, but not open sounding. I'm sure the type of, and brand of preamp tubes dictate to a great degree what settings work best on any given amp.
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 7, 2006 19:33:35 GMT -7
Oh my, I hope you didn't think I said to use cut at max when I referred to the 12 setting!! That is 12 o'clock, not fully clockwise..........boy that sure would sound like arse, I agree!! Ouch.
Victor
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Post by garyh on Mar 7, 2006 21:12:16 GMT -7
I was referring to mazmaster's settings, actually. As above:
Maz 18 Settings: Volume: 12:00 Treble: 9:00-10:30 (to taste, to room) Middle: 1:30 Bass: 10:30 (+/- to room) Cut: MAX
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 7, 2006 23:18:35 GMT -7
I tried your settings last night with the cut at max and the treble down. Sorry, but didn't like it. I have three svetlanas in mine. That would make a difference but I found the sound really lacked any sparkle. It was very midrangey, therefore fat, but not open sounding. I'm sure the type of, and brand of preamp tubes dictate to a great degree what settings work best on any given amp. Well, that's the whole idea! Everybody was complaining about brightness and thinness! My settings are the cure for that, especially with Teles and Strats and especially when using the 2003 FD2s, as described. It balances them out perfectly and yields fat, creamy tones with perfect high end...if you like Robben Ford and Eric Johnson lead tones, that is. But, if you're using humbuckers, I would simply back off on the Mids a *little* and bump up the Treble a *little* to compensate for the extra sids and less highs in HB PUPs. Also, rolling off the Cut a little will thin out the tone, reduce gain and actually make it brighter (when overdriving the amp with the FD2s as described in my post). Lastly, the Svets are darker and have less gain than the Tung-Sols (I compared the two extensively), so you can run the Treble a little higher than I recommended above when using the Svets. However, I'd check out the Tung-Sols because they are just so much bigger sounding than the Svets.
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 7, 2006 23:20:34 GMT -7
Oh my, I hope you didn't think I said to use cut at max when I referred to the 12 setting!! That is 12 o'clock, not fully clockwise..........boy that sure would sound like arse, I agree!! Ouch. Victor Actually, maxing out the Cut is the key to unlocking the greatest tones the Maz has to offer! Just roll down Treble to compensate. Try my recommendations and see. They're the result of almost three years of experimentation with this amp in actual gig conditions.
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 8, 2006 7:04:34 GMT -7
Yo MazzMaster, Tried your setting......sounded good, very suprised. Your comments about them maximizing your pedal use suggest that perhaps if you used no pedals, you might go w/o the cut wide open? Perhaps you could post your recommendations for both a Strat and humbucker WITHOUT pedals. I would appreciate it immensely! Perhaps you could PM me your phone #.
Victor
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 8, 2006 9:41:28 GMT -7
Yo MazzMaster, Tried your setting......sounded good, very suprised. Your comments about them maximizing your pedal use suggest that perhaps if you used no pedals, you might go w/o the cut wide open? Perhaps you could post your recommendations for both a Strat and humbucker WITHOUT pedals. I would appreciate it immensely! Perhaps you could PM me your phone #. Victor Victor, Yes, if I were to use the amp without any pedals, I would probably set it up quite differently. My settings listed above attempt to optimize the interaction of the amp (with the aforementioned tubes) with 2003 FD2 pedals, George L's cabling, Kinman Avn-Blues PUPs in alder/maple S-styles axes and G12H-30s in a Kinman Highway 61 cab.....while still giving me a great clean rhythm tone. Those variables all make a big difference. Change one thing and everything else may need to change to compensate...it's a snowball effect! Of particular note is the excellent match between the FD2 Vintage mode and G12H-30s in the Kinman cab. That pairing sounds great with almost any amp in-between, although it seems the Maz 18 has, so far, been the "best" amp to stick in between. Once again, I have run a Flexi and a Hot Cat 30R right next to the Maz 18 rig listed above at several gigs and almost everybody preferred the Maz 18 rig. The couple folks who were on the fence, said there were tones they liked equally well with all three rigs...but if forced to pick ONE rig, it would be the Maz 18 rig, with maybe the addition of an OCD or Keeley DS-1 to get some of the more aggressive tones that the Hot Cat covered. I have an OCD on order right now! Getting back to the Cut knob. Yeah, when I'm practicing straight into the amp with no pedals, I tend to run the Cut and Mid knobs around noon with both the Master and Volume rolled back. Sometimes, I even run into the low gain input. At those low output levels, those settings give me a nice round jazz tone, which makes clean practice so much easier and more enjoyable. But, yeah, if I only wanted the absolute best clean tone out of the amp, I would use different settings than the ones I use when trying to strike a balance between the best pedal tones and best clean tones. If I were a touring pro, I'd probably use a separate Maz 18 or Maz 38 or Sting Ray(!) for cleans. In fact, I have done a gig or two where I used the HC30R for cleans and some high gain leads with the Maz 18 & pedals for everything else. But, it's usually not worth it because the Maz 18 cleans, even when adjusted for best pedal distortion, are still awesome!
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 8, 2006 9:49:45 GMT -7
Yo MazzMaster, Tried your setting......sounded good, very suprised. Your comments about them maximizing your pedal use suggest that perhaps if you used no pedals, you might go w/o the cut wide open? Perhaps you could post your recommendations for both a Strat and humbucker WITHOUT pedals. I would appreciate it immensely! Perhaps you could PM me your phone #. Victor Victor, I said a lot, but didn't really answer your question! I don't own any HB guitars, so I'm ignorant on that one! As for running a Strat straight into the Maz 18, well, I guess it depends on what you're looking for. Do you want round, dark jazz tones or spanky country or Fender-like cleans or a little grit or are you gonna' crank the thing for some output distortion and roll back your knob for crunch and cleans? Are you gonna' use any clean boost to help achieve the latter? What speaker(s)/cab are you using? That can completely change everything. For example, I tried running my Maz 18 into my HC30R combo cab, loaded with a Tone Tubby Alnico Hempcone H1E. It initially sounded like ****!!! :>) So, I had to change damn near every knob on the amp and pedals to compensate. But, in the end, the G12H-30s in the Jenkins sounded best. Dave
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Post by pedalcr8z on Mar 8, 2006 10:59:09 GMT -7
Thanks Dave, glad I'm not deaf.......your practice settings for clean Strat pretty much emulate what I like to hear also.....nice fat clean.....my cut with the EJ Strat is 10 and noon with a PRS h/b so we are pretty much on the same page. The master volume knob / cut knob is new territory for me so I'm still experimenting with it..........thanks!
Victor
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Post by mazmaster on Mar 8, 2006 14:00:00 GMT -7
Thanks Dave, glad I'm not deaf.......your practice settings for clean Strat pretty much emulate what I like to hear also.....nice fat clean.....my cut with the EJ Strat is 10 and noon with a PRS h/b so we are pretty much on the same page. The master volume knob / cut knob is new territory for me so I'm still experimenting with it..........thanks! Victor Cool. Glad I could help. Also, as I'm sure you've heard, sheer volume makes a difference too. The settings I mentioned above are all targeted at getting the best tones possible at gig levels...after the amp has warmed up a bit.
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