|
Post by steiner on Dec 4, 2020 13:33:25 GMT -7
Adam, you're discovering what I did back in about 2014. I had been a Fender/Marshall guy for 50 years until I bought my first Z amp. I loved it so much that it wasn't three weeks before I bought another. And it snowballed, I've now got 12 Z amps and love every one of 'em for their individuality and usefulness. I still have a few other brand name amps but I never play them anymore. I've got a fantastic 1967 Blackface Deluxe Reverb that I pull out of the closet every year or so. I play it for 15 minutes and it goes right back in the closet, because it just can't beat my Z amps.
I'm just not sure why it took me so long to figure it out. Speaking of amps not being played, does anyone know if there is any truth to running an amp every 6 months or so to keep the capacitors from drying out? Probably wrong internet data being repeated over and over and somehow it becomes truth. I've been going through amps, replacing tubes, etc... The only amp I had a problem with was a Bad Cat that had bad caps that were not bad last time I played it. I went through the same thoughts and purchased a variac and planned to bring up a half-dozen slowly at a crack. A friend that builds amps laughed at me and said anything built since the 80s should be good to go. Son of a gun, he was right!
|
|
|
Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Dec 4, 2020 14:11:42 GMT -7
I think I’m down to just having to adjust the overdrive knob for particular songs. More drive or less drive. Both sound great. You mean Gain or Sensitivity? I'm down to pretty much dialing back Sensitivity for different tones, balancing it with Gain adjustment. I find I like the Aggression down around 10:30-11:00 or so.
|
|
|
Post by Russell B on Dec 4, 2020 16:25:09 GMT -7
I think I’m down to just having to adjust the overdrive knob for particular songs. More drive or less drive. Both sound great. You mean Gain or Sensitivity? I'm down to pretty much dialing back Sensitivity for different tones, balancing it with Gain adjustment. I find I like the Aggression down around 10:30-11:00 or so. Gain. I still need to turn knobs.
|
|
|
Post by adam on Dec 4, 2020 19:17:20 GMT -7
I think I’m down to just having to adjust the overdrive knob for particular songs. More drive or less drive. Both sound great. You mean Gain or Sensitivity? I'm down to pretty much dialing back Sensitivity for different tones, balancing it with Gain adjustment. I find I like the Aggression down around 10:30-11:00 or so. This amp is like a Ferrari. The sensitivity, gain, and aggression controls all have tone and feel responses that are radically different from one another and radically affect how the amp sounds. Different from the usual gain and master. And maybe to the point, it doesn't really matter where you set it, it sounds good, it's just kind of highly tunable. I'd also say that for anyone wondering about this amp, if you are looking for a higher gain amp, I think it would be hard to beat. If that's not your thing, cool, there are lots of other ways to go. Currently I'm fooling around with King's X tones and it feels like they are all right there if you can play the instrument correctly, but he is so precise with his right hand that it's really hard to do. If you hit certain things right, it's dead on, but if you mute with say 20% pressure and 50% percent velocity and it needed to be 30% mute and 60% velocity, it's all the difference in the world to the end result. So high gain and very articulate at the same time is where this amp really shines, and I think that's the point of the amp. That's just my opinion though, and I'm sure someone else will come along with a low gain setting that kills and you'll think it was designed for that. Hope I can share in a video what I'm trying to verbalize before too long.
|
|
|
Post by frankie on Dec 4, 2020 20:28:29 GMT -7
Here’s my favorite setting if anyone wants to try it. This is what I use to get my baseline when we test the amps. It’s where I feel the amp responds to my style of playing and I’m very familiar with the feel and sound when we move from amp to amp to check consistency. It’s the setting I recorded my Les Paul teaser clip from a few months back.
Level: to taste, but as loud as you can get it. Stays tight at 10-1:00 and starts to compress as you get the volume up. Presence: Noon Aggression: 3:00 Bass: 11:00 Middle: 1:30 Treble: 1:00 Gain: 2:30 Sensitivity: 11:30
This will be a lot of gain, so you have to have a good muting technique to control it, but I love it. Like riding a wild pony. Bonus if you use humbuckers and down tune to Eflat or Drop C#.
Treble a bass might need adjustment to taste as the CB/V30 Zbest swings to the warmer and fatter side. Hence the bass cut and pushing the aggression, treble, and mids up for clarity.
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 6, 2020 15:35:00 GMT -7
Mines due tomorrow? I bought the set not sure what ohm to plug it into? Someone have a clue? AWW Stuff they changed the delivery date to Monday? Waiting sucks!!! Well guess what showed up today? Yay! Weird though there is no stamp into the metal that denotes the serial number and no warrantee from the Doc either?
|
|
|
Post by DRZ on Dec 6, 2020 15:39:44 GMT -7
AWW Stuff they changed the delivery date to Monday? Waiting sucks!!! Well guess what showed up today? Yay! Weird though there is no stamp into the metal that denotes the serial number and no warrantee from the Doc either? What store did you buy that CAZ from ? Delivered on a Sunday ? Z
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 6, 2020 15:40:39 GMT -7
Well guess what showed up today? Yay! Weird though there is no stamp into the metal that denotes the serial number and no warrantee from the Doc either? What store did you buy that CAZ from ? Delivered on a Sunday ? Z Sweetwater and their ads were inside the box that the head was in!
|
|
|
Post by KeithA on Dec 6, 2020 16:32:35 GMT -7
What store did you buy that CAZ from ? Delivered on a Sunday ? Z Sweetwater and their ads were inside the box that the head was in! That’s bizarre on the serial number. Do you have a picture of that?
|
|
|
Post by Russell B on Dec 6, 2020 16:34:40 GMT -7
AWW Stuff they changed the delivery date to Monday? Waiting sucks!!! Well guess what showed up today? Yay! Weird though there is no stamp into the metal that denotes the serial number and no warrantee from the Doc either? No serial number??
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 6, 2020 17:12:43 GMT -7
Sweetwater and their ads were inside the box that the head was in! That’s bizarre on the serial number. Do you have a picture of that? KeithA I took a pic with my iPhone but not sure how to post here anymore?
|
|
|
Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Dec 6, 2020 17:27:24 GMT -7
That’s bizarre on the serial number. Do you have a picture of that? KeithA I took a pic with my iPhone but not sure how to post here anymore? You need to upload photos to Imgur and then post a link to the photo.
|
|
|
Post by KeithA on Dec 6, 2020 17:28:16 GMT -7
That’s bizarre on the serial number. Do you have a picture of that? KeithA I took a pic with my iPhone but not sure how to post here anymore? You need to host it on a 3rd party site. If you send it to ampguy66@gmail.com I can post it for you.
|
|
|
Post by KeithA on Dec 6, 2020 18:30:47 GMT -7
Here we go. I'm sure there is an explanation for this.
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 6, 2020 18:35:04 GMT -7
Here we go. I'm sure there is an explanation for this. That's a shadow on the right, I was using a flashlight to highlight the metal part! There is also no date of MFG: to the right of this photo?
|
|
|
Post by KeithA on Dec 6, 2020 18:37:17 GMT -7
Here we go. I'm sure there is an explanation for this. That's a shadow on the right, I was using a flashlight to highlight the metal part! That's pretty neat. I'm sure even if it didn't get stamped, the amp has a serial # in the shop's books
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 6, 2020 18:55:11 GMT -7
That's a shadow on the right, I was using a flashlight to highlight the metal part! That's pretty neat. I'm sure even if it didn't get stamped, the amp has a serial # in the shop's books I've seen on some chassis where the Doc wrote on one end side with a felt pen? I'm wondering if it's worth it to pull the chassis out to check?
|
|
|
Post by DRZ on Dec 7, 2020 3:31:11 GMT -7
Leave the chassis in its cab. Not sure how this happened , never happened before in over 30 years, I will look into it this week when I'm back in the shop. The serial # is one of the last things done to the chassis prior to shipping. Don't worry it will not effect the operation of your CAZ. I will pay to have your amp sent back in and and have the S/N stamped on its chassis. Only wait till after the holiday season to ship it. I normally limit my shipments this time of year due to damage , and this year the number of packages shipped has greatly increased do to Covid.
Z
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Dec 7, 2020 5:16:16 GMT -7
Leave the chassis in its cab. Not sure how this happened , never happened before in over 30 years, I will look into it this week when I'm back in the shop. The serial # is one of the last things done to the chassis prior to shipping. Don't worry it will not effect the operation of your CAZ. I will pay to have your amp sent back in and and have the S/N stamped on its chassis. Only wait till after the holiday season to ship it. I normally limit my shipments this time of year due to damage , and this year the number of packages shipped has greatly increased do to Covid. Z Thanks Doc, no problem I'm enjoying the amp already!
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Jan 17, 2021 16:31:46 GMT -7
Doc had it shipped back to his shop and stamped it #5 and it's on it's way back to me! Should see it on Tuesday?
|
|
|
Post by rickyp on Jan 19, 2021 19:10:13 GMT -7
Doc had it shipped back to his shop and stamped it #5 and it's on it's way back to me! Should see it on Tuesday? Well, where is it?
|
|
|
Post by djcakadave on Jan 20, 2021 5:22:35 GMT -7
Doc had it shipped back to his shop and stamped it #5 and it's on it's way back to me! Should see it on Tuesday? Well, where is it? It's here,I got it yesterday! Wonderful sounding amp and it's everything everybody has said about it! Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on.....
|
|
|
Post by KeithA on Jan 20, 2021 7:49:02 GMT -7
It's here,I got it yesterday! Wonderful sounding amp and it's everything everybody has said about it! Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on..... That's too bad. I hope all works out well for you.
|
|
|
Post by rickyp on Jan 20, 2021 8:37:25 GMT -7
It's here,I got it yesterday! Wonderful sounding amp and it's everything everybody has said about it! Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on..... Sorry to hear that man. Hope things get better.
|
|
|
Post by doctorice on Jan 20, 2021 10:09:13 GMT -7
It's here,I got it yesterday! Wonderful sounding amp and it's everything everybody has said about it! Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on..... That's a drag, Dave. I hope things work out.
|
|
|
Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Jan 20, 2021 10:39:09 GMT -7
Bummer, Dave...hang in there brother.
|
|
|
Post by Russell B on Jan 20, 2021 10:51:44 GMT -7
It's here,I got it yesterday! Wonderful sounding amp and it's everything everybody has said about it! Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on..... So sorry to hear this. Prayers!
|
|
|
Post by helmi on Jan 20, 2021 14:47:59 GMT -7
Unfortunately I may, due some financial issues in my life at this time of my life have to move it on..... Sorry to hear. I understand this well. a surprise major illness this August put the kabosh on my amp purchase plans! hope things work out for you.
|
|
|
Post by runninwiththerevil (Matthew) on Jan 20, 2021 20:49:38 GMT -7
No! So sorry to hear.
|
|