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Post by golfnut on May 6, 2020 17:56:13 GMT -7
Its been a few years since I've owned a Dr Z amp and I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on Z wreck Jr. I've slimmed down my electric gear to just one guitar (Fender custom shop 52 Tele) and one amp (Tone King Sky King) I'm thinking the Z Wreck Jr might be a good compliment along side my Sky King. The whole reason I thought of picking up another amp is that I'm going to be buying the Neo mini vent 2 and wanted a second amp to use in stereo. So I figured if I'm going to buy another amp, get something different than what I have to add to the tonal pallet. Can someone tell me about the clean headroom? I'm mostly a home player as I don't gig like I used to but when this world gets back on track I'll likely do a few gigs a year. I have a couple booked in June if our economy (Ontario Canada) is back up by then. And I'm just wondering how loud the Z Wreck Jr is before its saturated. I'd like to play it on the edge of break up and get additional dirt from pedals if I take it out alone. I'll not likely ever take both amps to a gig. Playing in stereo with a rotary pedal is just for home.
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Post by LT on May 7, 2020 8:12:49 GMT -7
Welcome to the forum! Lots of great folks are on here.
I don't own a Wreck Jr, but I do own a 15w Cure and I can attest it's PLENTY loud for home (and gigs) and has a lot of clean headroom. I'm one that buys into the notion that a big part of clean headroom has to do with the speaker. I owned a Wreck in the past and it had lots of clean headroom when I used it with a EV12L.
Let us know what you decide!
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Post by jhen86 (jordan) on May 7, 2020 10:27:12 GMT -7
Welcome!
Love the idea of blending British and American tones. My two cents. Mind you've I've never played the Sky King. And I've only played the ZWJR once...but not where I could A/B with my own 15 watt Z amps. Really hard to say if it will give you the clean headroom you are wanting and be able to keep up wth your 35 watt tone king. I'd honestly say it likely would not. The ZWJR stays mostly clean up to about 11 o clock on the volume dial. With the Master at full, it's pretty loud. But again, hard to say if that would be enough for you. It's gets pretty hairy pretty quick after noon on the volume dial.
What the ZWJR could give you is amazing pushed cleans and crunch (and some of the best tones you'll hear) at any volume, loud or soft. But clean headroom might be it's one limitation based on your circumstances. That is, unless you are intentionally dialing back the Tone King. Also, the ZWJR is probably not the first choice as a pedal platform. Not that it can't take pedals, but is so good on it's own, you may not want them.
If headroom is a need the easiest solution would be to get a used big Z Wreck or Stangray. Similar price point. More wattage. A Maz 38 might also fit that bill as well, or better. 30+ watts, British flavor, MASTER volume control.
If you want to stay in the 15-18 watt form factor, a Carmen Ghia with an alnico blue or G12H30 may give you a bit more headroom than the ZWJR.
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Post by Deleted on May 7, 2020 10:36:54 GMT -7
The ZW Jr probably isn't an amp you'd buy for clean headroom, though it's got stellar semi-cleans and is LOUD for a 15-watt amp. I've been playing around with a clean/dirty setup with my Lux as the clean amp, basically straight in to both with just a touch of reverb and delay and a clean boost for solos, and it's stellar.
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Post by golfnut on May 7, 2020 20:04:10 GMT -7
My tone king sky king is 35 watts but and has dual Ironman attenuators (one for each channel). At home I have the attenuators clicked down to probably a bit less than half power. So probably running it at about 12-14 watts. Then I run the clean channel about 3 1/2 which gets me a tiny bit of 6L6 grit if I dig in. I imagine if I run it with the Zwreck Jr I'd have to have it dialed back a little bit more as 2 amps are going to push more air. I'm more concerned about clean headroom at home as neither amp has an effects loop and I have to run my delay and mini vent 2 out front. I'd probably take the Z wreck Jr to really small gigs. I don't mind edge of break up as that won't affect my delay too much (Diamond memory lane 2) I missed out on a used z wreck jr 1X12 combo on the Canada guitar forum. The buyer was asking $1,400 US for it.
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Post by Abandoned on May 8, 2020 5:26:25 GMT -7
I can add a few notes here to help.
I, like you, haven’t had a Z for a few years as I found my first love to be fender tweed type tones and 6V6’s. I have owned a Maz 38 Sr. and a M12 before. I recently got a new Dr. Z (Z Wreck Jr.) for a change of pace.
IMO & IME it’s plenty loud. I was surprised how loud it was when I first plugged into it. It can be loud and pretty clean. If you want perfectly clean and loud you’ll have to work dynamics & volume knob. If you want loud and cleanish / edge of breakup ... I’m gonna say it will be loud enough for sure. Again - I was surprised how loud it was. The Z Wreck Jr. has great tones and I think it could be a good compliment to your Tone King.
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Post by T-R☼CK ♫ on May 8, 2020 6:26:35 GMT -7
If 15 Z watts aren't loud enough for you, your drummer's too loud.
FWIW: The Wreck Jr. has a Master volume.
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Post by jhen86 (jordan) on May 8, 2020 8:12:13 GMT -7
If you are running your Sky King at half power, I think Wreck Jr will be able to keep up at home. My 15 watt Z's keep up with a Princeton just fine in terms of clean headroom. I think thats probably a close comparison. (Start with Jr's Master at max and volume at around 10-11 o clock.) If that's not enough for you, you could look at a Blue or other more efficient speaker. Stock speaker is 98db. Blue is 100db. Might be JUST that little extra that makes it work. And the way I see if, the Master on the Jr is mostly of value when you want to go QUIETER. Not really your situation here. But if you are gigging out and need to knock some DB's off, it will be perfect for that. Either way, I don't think anyone would regret buying a Z Wreck Jr
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Post by Russell B on May 8, 2020 11:00:43 GMT -7
The Z Wreck Jr is LOUD. It will be the loudest 15 watts you've ever heard. You should be able to get that Brad Paisley cleanish sound out of it. And, I will just about promise you that you will not be able to get the Master all the way up. It will be too loud if you do!
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Post by sharkboy on May 8, 2020 19:51:14 GMT -7
What you describe is somewhat similar to Mark Knopfler’s setup, though he used a Komet on the Z side (prior to switching to a Kemper.) I do something similar with a tweedy or black facey amp and full ZWreck, which means my Komet doesn’t get a lot of use.
I love the way the full ZWreck sounds, but I sure don’t need all of those watts.
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