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Post by rickyp on Apr 21, 2020 4:05:34 GMT -7
Picked up a Z-Lux a few months back because I needed more wattage clean headroom for gigging (which all have been cancelled until things go back to normal). Anyway...prior to the Lux, I’ve been playing my Z-Plus, and all my dirt/overdrive/boost pedals were dialed in for that amp (OCD, JHS Bonsai, Ibanez TS-9, and Xotic EP Booster). With the Lux, it seems like the TS-9 is the only thing I can get dialed in for light gain, and the OCD for heavy gain. My band plays a variety of music, and I usually stack overdrives when certain songs require it...The bonsai just doesn’t sound right, nor does a couple other drive pedals that I’ve got. Considering another TS-9 to stack with my current one, which sounds redundant, I know. Among other things, the JHS is supposed to reproduce ALL the tube screamer iterations, it this one doesn’t quite do it exactly the way I want it to. Recommendations?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 5:06:05 GMT -7
The Lux takes pedals like a champ, in my experience--there have only been one or two that I've tried that it didn't like, and I've run it with a LOT of dirt pedals. I could make specific pedal recommendations, but it sounds like what you want are pedals that stack well--and that, to me, seems like it might change from one set of ears to another. Maybe the best place to start would be with a dual overdrive--something a bit like a King of Tone, but without the King of Tone's ridiculous waiting list. Two of my favorites are the Jetter Monster, which is basically two of the same really great medium gain overdrives in one pedal, and the Wampler Paisley Deluxe, which is a tweaked Wampler Paisley drive and a tweaked Velvet Fuzz/distortion in one box, with a bunch of routing options. Both sound great with the Z-Lux, and either would fit on your board with a bit of rearranging, assuming you ditched the Bonsai. I'm curious about that, though--what don't you like about the way the Bonsai sounds with the Lux? Too bright? Looks like you've rolled off the tone a good bit.
All that said, I've got a Fulltone Plimsoul for sale in BST that sounds great with the Lux, too--it's a cool pedal that allows the user to blend both soft and hard-clipping circuits, so maybe that's the in-between thing that would work for you.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 21, 2020 5:14:48 GMT -7
The bonsai is definetly too bright. Especially at gigging volumes. I’ve never tried the paisley deluxe, but I do have an original paisley drive pedal. Also have a Wampler clarksdale. In addition to that, I have a JHS Sweet Tea V3 and a JHS Angry Charlie V1. I’ve bought and sold tons of dirt pedals, my biggest regret was letting go of the xotic bb preamp. That really stacked well. I’m going to swap the bonsai out for the clarksdale, and see how that does, then maybe I’ll swap that out for the paisley drive. Kinda do some trial and error with some pedals I’ve pulled off the board in the past year or so that haven’t gone in front of my Z-Lux yet.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 5:53:26 GMT -7
How are you running your Lux? I generally run it with v and MV anywhere from 10-2:00, depending on the room, mids and treble at about 11:00, and the bass at noon.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 21, 2020 6:06:56 GMT -7
How are you running your Lux? I generally run it with v and MV anywhere from 10-2:00, depending on the room, mids and treble at about 11:00, and the bass at noon. Well, I bought it back in February, haven’t gigged with it yet. We were supppsed to play out the latter half of March-summer is when we get most of our gigs. But the Corona put it all on hold. I usually practice at home at above bedroom volume (20watt) master at 9, volume at 10-11. My Z-Plus, I would dime the master and work the volume as needed. Plan for the Lux is playing it at 40watt when rehearsing/on stage. I need to keep the amp mostly clean, because of the variety of music we play. We’ll be playing some ray charles and Etta James, then kick it up to Allman Brothers and Gary Moore. All depends on the venue/event we are playing. So I have to rely on my pedals for dirt. When you’re playing “Hey Baby” by Bruce Chanel, you got to have a clean tone!
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Post by ksquared on Apr 21, 2020 13:31:51 GMT -7
I think part of the issue may be that the pedals are intended to push an amp that is already running at the sweet spot where it's about to break up, and your settings aren't there yet. Try the amp with the master closer to noon, and see if you can get tones you want. I know that may be too loud for home practice, but at least you'll learn whether it will work at a gig.
For lower volume, I've sometimes gotten decent results by leaving the amp a little too loud, then compensating by rolling my guitar volume way back. Then on OD pedals, I turn the gain higher than I normally would have it (with guitar volume up higher) and get close to the same spot.
Also, FWIW I have an OCD and a Z-Lux. I find that the low peak mode on the OCD works better with the Z-Lux.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2020 13:59:06 GMT -7
^^^ I was thinking the same thing. The amp will feel less bright and (obviously) a good bit beefier as you open it up.
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Post by zpilot on Apr 21, 2020 18:41:51 GMT -7
Clarksdale for TS tones. Tim or Timmy for mild dirt. Exotic RC Booster will do wonderful things either at the beginning or end of a signal chain.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 21, 2020 18:57:59 GMT -7
The paisley drive with the TS9 is sounding really good tonight. Going to work with a bit and see how it goes. It’ll be a couple weeks until we rehearse again, so I’ve got time to fiddle with it. Will try my clarksdale also.
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Post by Faze on Apr 21, 2020 19:01:04 GMT -7
Kingtone Duellist would probably sound great through it or just the Kingtone Sololist which is half of the duellist.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 22, 2020 7:50:50 GMT -7
I think part of the issue may be that the pedals are intended to push an amp that is already running at the sweet spot where it's about to break up, and your settings aren't there yet. Try the amp with the master closer to noon, and see if you can get tones you want. I know that may be too loud for home practice, but at least you'll learn whether it will work at a gig. For lower volume, I've sometimes gotten decent results by leaving the amp a little too loud, then compensating by rolling my guitar volume way back. Then on OD pedals, I turn the gain higher than I normally would have it (with guitar volume up higher) and get close to the same spot. Also, FWIW I have an OCD and a Z-Lux. I find that the low peak mode on the OCD works better with the Z-Lux. I agree...I always usually use pedals to push an amp. I got the Lux because I’ve got a rhythm guitar player that thinks he’s a horn section and plays so loud, and my Z-Plus can’t keep up...I was pushing it hard and needed more volume/clean headroom. It’s a learning curve, to be sure. I’ll take some time to try some pedals with the amp closer to gigging volumes and see how it does.
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Post by trojanhov on Apr 23, 2020 22:36:06 GMT -7
My current board with the LUX. Boss TU-3 -> Mad Professor Forest Green Compressor Handwired -> Browne Amplification Protein (Blues Breaker/Nobels ODR-1) -> RYRA Klone -> ThorpyFx Fallout Cloud V2 -> Jam Pedals Ripply Fall -> Strymon El Capistan -> Diamond MLjr -> Strymon Flint -> Ditto My compression and dirt section work extremely well with my z-lux. Hard to choose my favorite in the bunch. Love how all of them sound for different reasons. It also works unbelievably well with my Winfield Cyclone which is a vox ac15 style amp with an EF-86 front end. I’ve also tried and loved the Timmy, Snouse BB2, and Jam Pedals Rattler as well. I summon [mention]goodez [/mention] to give his input as well.
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Post by Stephen on Apr 25, 2020 8:59:14 GMT -7
The best rock tone I ever got from the Z-Lux was from using a Boss JB-2. The master on the amp was was at 3:00 and the volume was at 9:00. I kept the JB-2 on the blue (Blues Driver) side all night and hit it with the red (Angry Charlie) side for dirt. The gain and volume on the pedal were both around 12:00. I have also used a Z-Drive with similar results.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 26, 2020 17:01:11 GMT -7
She’s singin’ now. Spent a little time swapping pedals on and off the board. Came back to the JHS Sweet Tea. This is a pedal that’s been on and off my board for several years, but rarely do I use it during a gig. After some fiddling in the 40w mode the right side of the Sweet Tea for medium crunch with the TS-9 in front of it to push it a little harder for solo stuff seems to be the right combo. That, and dialing up the volume seem to do the trick. The Master will see an increase when I play out. Still working on the best way to utilize the OCD.
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Post by goodez on Apr 27, 2020 18:16:39 GMT -7
My current board with the LUX. I summon [mention]goodez [/mention] to give his input as well. I cannot comment as my Z-Lux is being held without bail at the Z repair shop until further notice. She needed a little surgery 😎. I will say though I generally had my bass much lower than where the OP has his set. Although, I play hum buckers in one guitar and a Fralin Big Single on the neck in the other. What year is the amp? When were the power tubes replaced last?
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Post by trojanhov on Apr 28, 2020 19:05:16 GMT -7
Here’s a little jam with the nobels side of the protein and the z lux. Z lux is set clean
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Post by rickyp on Apr 29, 2020 6:48:55 GMT -7
My current board with the LUX. I summon [mention]goodez [/mention] to give his input as well. I cannot comment as my Z-Lux is being held without bail at the Z repair shop until further notice. She needed a little surgery 😎. I will say though I generally had my bass much lower than where the OP has his set. Although, I play hum buckers in one guitar and a Fralin Big Single on the neck in the other. What year is the amp? When were the power tubes replaced last? My main guitar is a Les Paul R8 and I’ll play my old strat with Lollar Blackface pickups, but not as much as my LP these days, especially on stage. The amp was bought new around 2015, used only at home, low hours. So while the tubes may be around 5 years old, the amp was used very little. I considered replacing the tubes (just because I love the smell of new tubes heating up, LOL), but I wanted to make sure I could dial in the right sound I need before put out the money for tubes. Amp functions normally, I’ve got no complaints out of it. I’m just trying to find the right pedal combination for this amp and dial it in for my needs.
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Post by rickyp on Apr 29, 2020 6:50:09 GMT -7
Here’s a little jam with the nobels side of the protein and the z lux. Z lux is set clean That does sound sweet. Quick search on reverb shows none for sale 😬
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Post by trojanhov on Apr 29, 2020 8:38:50 GMT -7
Here’s a little jam with the nobels side of the protein and the z lux. Z lux is set clean That does sound sweet. Quick search on reverb shows none for sale 😬 browneamps.com/Might be a three week wait for one, but when they come up used, they usually go for $280-320 or so.
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Post by goodez on Apr 29, 2020 9:48:48 GMT -7
Or you could get a KOT for $300 🎉🎉🎉
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Post by rickyp on May 2, 2020 19:04:03 GMT -7
Pretty excited about a recent score...bought a JHS Double Barrel and an Xotic RC booster from a guy on Gear Talk on Facebook. Great price, so it was worth trying out. Looking to see how they do with my Lux.
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Post by trojanhov on May 2, 2020 20:40:18 GMT -7
Pretty excited about a recent score...bought a JHS Double Barrel and an Xotic RC booster from a guy on Gear Talk on Facebook. Great price, so it was worth trying out. Looking to see how they do with my Lux. Recorded 3 sets for our church today. Ran the z lux clean and my protein and ryra gave me every shade of dirt and boost I could need. I have this rig really dialed in now and the z lux just blows my mind each time I fire it up. I have an iridium as a back up amp solution and at home playing, but there’s nothing like a z that is breathing. Cuz we were recording the set with no audience, I got to open her up a bit more. Just pure tonal bliss. Thanks doc!
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Post by trojanhov on May 2, 2020 20:44:04 GMT -7
Pretty excited about a recent score...bought a JHS Double Barrel and an Xotic RC booster from a guy on Gear Talk on Facebook. Great price, so it was worth trying out. Looking to see how they do with my Lux. The double barrel will likely slay with the lux. Blues breaker style pedals have worked well for me (snouse and blue side of protein). Screamer will work with the lux too. I’m just a sucker for the nobels side of the protein. It’s like a screamer with a bit more bass. Sounds thick and amp like
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