Post by dburns255 on Nov 30, 2020 5:19:13 GMT -7
Carmen Ghia user since 2016. It's been my #1 amp since I bought it and ever since then I knew I wanted to add a Z combo. Didn't expect it to take this long but that's life. Anyway, by the time finally came recently where I could afford it, I had a hard time deciding what I wanted. I was between a Z Wreck Jr, Cure, as well as a Fender '57 Deluxe (or some type of 5e3) and a Boogie Fillmore 25.
The Z Wreck Jr was in the lead most of the way, and after tons of research I was almost there, until I happened upon some clips of The Nova. Not sure how it flew under my radar this whole time but it did. Little more wattage than I thought I need/want, so that's probably why I skipped over it since I was caught up in the 15-18 watt range. But man, it seems to be just what I want sound and feature-wise and the demos were pretty much the sound I hear in my head when thinking about the tone I want. That Lance Keltner video really put me over the edge. Scoured all the reviews I could find here and everywhere over the weekend and got to the point to where I knew it was the one I had to try. Basically it seems like it's a combination of all the best things in all the amps I mentioned above in a single package. A 1x12 combo that is extremely dynamic and touch sensitive, nice tweed-ish cleans, and an overdrive channel that is killer as well as a very effective master volume. An effects loop doesn't matter much to me but it's a nice bonus to have.
Only slight concern is that if I can't open it up to it's full potential in the bars and small rooms we play. Even though I play in a 5-piece band I'm always mic'd up on stage. The Ghia works almost perfect as far as having the right amount of headroom/breakup for what I do. No plans on getting rid of it, I just really wanted to add a combo with a little more gain on tap. I'm feeling like The Nova is going to be just right and that having the master volume will take care any of those concerns about it being too much amp. Worse comes to worse I exchange it for a Wreck Jr...don't feel like that is going to happen though. Should be here in a few days, really looking forward to it, can't wait actually..will post again when it gets here and I spend some time with it.
The Z Wreck Jr was in the lead most of the way, and after tons of research I was almost there, until I happened upon some clips of The Nova. Not sure how it flew under my radar this whole time but it did. Little more wattage than I thought I need/want, so that's probably why I skipped over it since I was caught up in the 15-18 watt range. But man, it seems to be just what I want sound and feature-wise and the demos were pretty much the sound I hear in my head when thinking about the tone I want. That Lance Keltner video really put me over the edge. Scoured all the reviews I could find here and everywhere over the weekend and got to the point to where I knew it was the one I had to try. Basically it seems like it's a combination of all the best things in all the amps I mentioned above in a single package. A 1x12 combo that is extremely dynamic and touch sensitive, nice tweed-ish cleans, and an overdrive channel that is killer as well as a very effective master volume. An effects loop doesn't matter much to me but it's a nice bonus to have.
Only slight concern is that if I can't open it up to it's full potential in the bars and small rooms we play. Even though I play in a 5-piece band I'm always mic'd up on stage. The Ghia works almost perfect as far as having the right amount of headroom/breakup for what I do. No plans on getting rid of it, I just really wanted to add a combo with a little more gain on tap. I'm feeling like The Nova is going to be just right and that having the master volume will take care any of those concerns about it being too much amp. Worse comes to worse I exchange it for a Wreck Jr...don't feel like that is going to happen though. Should be here in a few days, really looking forward to it, can't wait actually..will post again when it gets here and I spend some time with it.