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Post by gotmojo on Dec 28, 2020 13:36:17 GMT -7
Ordered one from Humbucker. How could I not? If the guilt gets too bad, I’ll blame my mentor, Doctorice.
jj
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Post by KeithA on Dec 28, 2020 13:43:51 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do.
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Post by doctorice on Dec 28, 2020 13:47:12 GMT -7
I swear I am not on Z's payroll, nor do I get special deals on amps. (I can always hope )
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Post by doctorice on Dec 28, 2020 13:48:45 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith
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Post by KeithA on Dec 28, 2020 14:02:53 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith Lol...I know. However, I need to see it in its high gain element a little bit more (by itself, no other guitars, bass, etc.). It's either this or the new Friedman Steve Stevens.
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Post by pcns on Dec 28, 2020 14:08:51 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith like another demo is really holding you back??
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Post by helmi on Dec 28, 2020 14:28:43 GMT -7
I swear I am not on Z's payroll, nor do I get special deals on amps. (I can always hope ) Why are they making such a nice guy like you out to be the scapegoat, Mike? lol
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Post by Russell B on Dec 28, 2020 14:45:41 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. Are you kidding? It kicks butt. Buy it already! lol
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Post by KeithA on Dec 28, 2020 15:01:05 GMT -7
That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith like another demo is really holding you back?? Lol, it actually is!
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Post by KeithA on Dec 28, 2020 15:03:40 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. Are you kidding? It kicks butt. Buy it already! lol No, I'm serious!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Dec 28, 2020 15:13:43 GMT -7
Keith, trust me. You need this amp. Tell you what...buy it and I'll send you one of these:
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Post by KeithA on Dec 28, 2020 15:14:38 GMT -7
Keith, trust me. You need this amp. Tell you what...buy it and I'll send you one of these: Lol, it has nothing to do with colour! The other amp is all black as well!
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Post by "Z" Steve on Dec 28, 2020 15:46:05 GMT -7
That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith Lol...I know. However, I need to see it in its high gain element a little bit more (by itself, no other guitars, bass, etc.). It's either this or the new Friedman Steve Stevens. Neither come in Red so that should make it easier!
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Post by adam on Dec 28, 2020 17:01:48 GMT -7
Lol...I almost ordered one today but I need to see another demo before I do. Here you go, you didn't say it had to be good or anything.
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Post by Russell B on Dec 28, 2020 17:03:34 GMT -7
Now he has no more excuses!
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Post by helmi on Dec 28, 2020 17:47:31 GMT -7
Jeez, now he’s got people making personal video’s for him!
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Post by KeithA on Dec 29, 2020 6:02:05 GMT -7
Congrats gotmojo!
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Post by Russell B on Dec 29, 2020 6:03:37 GMT -7
Ordered one from Humbucker. How could I not? If the guilt gets too bad, I’ll blame my mentor, Doctorice. jj Tell us what you think when you get it.
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Post by gotmojo on Dec 29, 2020 7:15:08 GMT -7
Abso-freaking-lutely. Have I ever not? 😄🤓 jj
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Post by notscottagain on Dec 29, 2020 7:42:49 GMT -7
That seems a pretty weak excuse, Keith Lol...I know. However, I need to see it in its high gain element a little bit more (by itself, no other guitars, bass, etc.). It's either this or the new Friedman Steve Stevens. If you are worried about how much gain the CAZ has, I am not sure how anyone could want more gain than it delivers. I typically don't go much past the gain levels Adam used and I am able to get those tones with vintage-spec pickups and the amp Gain at 9:00 with Sensitivity set to 3:00. If you are concerned about clarity with all of that gain, don't be. No matter how much you crank this amp, it never turns to mud and renders even the most complex chords clear and distinct. If you are after picking dynamics that most of the Friedmans do well, the CAZ is even better at it. Finally, if you are into that screaming upper-mid drive that Friedmans excel at, the CAZ can do that OR do the smooth, lyrical Carol-Ann OD OR a blend of the two. They are both great amps but IMO, the CAZ will do everything the Friedman will do and then some.
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Post by Mark (Basement Enthusiast) on Dec 29, 2020 8:01:20 GMT -7
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Post by adam on Dec 29, 2020 8:47:04 GMT -7
If you are worried about how much gain the CAZ has, I am not sure how anyone could want more gain than it delivers. I typically don't go much past the gain levels Adam used and I am able to get those tones with vintage-spec pickups and the amp Gain at 9:00 with Sensitivity set to 3:00. For reference, or fwiw, resistance on the bridge pickup of the guitars used in my videos measures as follows: SG - 7.46 (stock custombucker) LP Standard - 8.2 (Throbak sle-101 plus) LP Custom - 13.96 (stock 498t) 335 - 16.9 (stock MHS). That's a bit of shock to me because that guitar sounds great clean. Go figure.
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Post by notscottagain on Dec 29, 2020 10:02:19 GMT -7
If you are worried about how much gain the CAZ has, I am not sure how anyone could want more gain than it delivers. I typically don't go much past the gain levels Adam used and I am able to get those tones with vintage-spec pickups and the amp Gain at 9:00 with Sensitivity set to 3:00. For reference, or fwiw, resistance on the bridge pickup of the guitars used in my videos measures as follows: SG - 7.46 (stock custombucker) LP Standard - 8.2 (Throbak sle-101 plus) LP Custom - 13.96 (stock 498t) 335 - 16.9 (stock MHS). That's a bit of shock to me because that guitar sounds great clean. Go figure. All of my buckers are about in the same range. The hottest ones I use are Duncan Customs at about 14K. To my ears, getting more gain from the amp than hot pickups just sounds more dynamic and clearer. Great job on the demos BTW!
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Post by adam on Dec 29, 2020 16:13:33 GMT -7
It's either this or the new Friedman Steve Stevens. My honest 2-cents is go with your gut feeling. Your money, your gamble, you ears, etc. It might be the perfect amp for you, and only you would know that. If I was you trying to figure it out, this is what I hear or think... The SS definitely has some modded Marshall DNA at it's heart. It's probably a slight mod tonally from the BE or HBE. You could probably get almost nuts on that distorted sound with a Synergy HBE and an SYN1 for $900 and add your own Marshall style power amp. It doesn't sound at all like the CAZ to me. It's really compressed and squishy. Probably a really "easy to play" amp because of that compression. Downside of that is like "I want to hit you, but arm only goes about 90 degrees at the elbow". Bad analogy, but you know what I mean. Stevens is a great player with great tone in his hands. However, there's quite a bit of stereo delay and mod in his demo which makes it sound way larger than it really is. There's also maybe $5k of mic preamps and $1300 of mics. He says "no eq"... well, just moving a mic is eq, the preamp is eq, the multiple mics are tweaked to make an eq curve, etc. And without a doubt there is hi pass eq going on in that signal chain. There's no compression because the amp is already compressed to hell. Take his comment with a big grain of salt. Most of the stuff I did was dry as a bone so you could hear the amp alone, but I get the reference with the drums and bass and whatnot. I wanted people to hear the amp, not the larger than life version of the amp. Stevens played Splawns for a while and I still have one. Those have a great Marshall type tone, but are extremely "fast" and unforgiving. Kind of surprised he went a softer route to be honest. Contrast that with the JEL (Jake e. Lee) model of which his main pet peeve seemed to be the amp was too slow and they sped that up for him. I think that amp sounds great BTW, but it's also $4,400 or something. So guessing the SS and JEL started life as the BE-100 or Smallbox and were tweaked a little from there. That Twin Sister thing has a sound too, but it's in that same kind of Friedman camp. Not that's it's bad in any way, it's just kind of a compressed, good tone. I have a couple Friedman type things and I think they share something in their DNA, not unlike how Z is to Z. The Friedman things are the synergy BE/BB module and a hand wired egnator sw45 which is basically his smallbox. The BE thing sounds "good", but not so good that I turn it on when I want to play. The sw45 is kind of a good tweaked 800 and can't find anything bad to say about that one. Bottom line - all these things are going to sound "good" for sure, but it's up to you. For more money you get an added clean channel that seems totally useable in the Friedman stuff, but sort of in that "sounds good, but uninspiring" category. Personally I think the JEL is a winner, but I wouldn't trade the caz for it even though the JEL is pushing twice the price. But that's just one persons opinion with "some" idea of the products in question. Good luck!
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Post by helmi on Dec 29, 2020 16:16:58 GMT -7
If you are worried about how much gain the CAZ has, I am not sure how anyone could want more gain than it delivers. I typically don't go much past the gain levels Adam used and I am able to get those tones with vintage-spec pickups and the amp Gain at 9:00 with Sensitivity set to 3:00. For reference, or fwiw, resistance on the bridge pickup of the guitars used in my videos measures as follows: 335 - 16.9 (stock MHS). That's a bit of shock to me because that guitar sounds great clean. Go figure. That is a bit of a shock. usually LOW output pickups work much better in hollow and semi-hollow bodies.
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Post by adam on Dec 29, 2020 19:44:41 GMT -7
That is a bit of a shock. usually LOW output pickups work much better in hollow and semi-hollow bodies. Shock to me too, but it sounds good to me so I'm not messing with it.
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Post by doctorice on Dec 30, 2020 7:38:47 GMT -7
Looping back to the OP: what's the ETA for your CAZ, jj?
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Post by gotmojo on Dec 30, 2020 18:59:07 GMT -7
Got it today, but ..... had grandkids all day so barely could plug it in. Ommmmm. Becoming more patient in my old age. Real assessment will have to wait. Hope the little woman might go out for errands tomorrow so’s I can crank it a bit.
1st impressions at very low volumes: This amp has a lot of gain. 😳 Also, a lot of mids, even with the mid control off! More mids than I’ve ever used! And I realize now, I am not a metal kinda guy and although I love sweet distortion, this may be more gain than I bargained for, so may end up as kind of a specialty amp for me, for crazy solo’s in the studio situation. But really, I need some more time with this animal to give it any kind of a fair review. Get back to ya .....
jj
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Post by doctorice on Dec 31, 2020 9:10:43 GMT -7
jj, with my Nash T with Lollar humbuckers, I have sensitivity and gain at 10:30 (o'clock; maybe a little less), bass full on, mid full on, treble around 1 (pm), aggression at 10 (o'clock) and Level under 10:30, sometimes as low as 9. Some, maybe a lot, of this reflects matching that guitar to that amp to get sounds I like and want using just the guitar's single volume and tone controls and the pickup selector. Guitar straight in, CAZ running into a Creamback M65, the one Z is using in the CAZ-matched Z Best, closed back.
To keep the sound on the clean side, guitar volume is under 70% of max, sometimes a lot under and using tone knob to compensate as there is no treble bleed on the guitar (which is fine with me).
Have at it, sir!
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Post by gotmojo on Dec 31, 2020 9:56:44 GMT -7
OK, OK, OK! Just had at it and rocked her with a Tele and with hearing protection (100-110dB), and then after a bit more experience getting to know her, took the earplugs out and turned down the level to 85 dB max (mama is out, goes without saying) and ............ this thing freaking rocks! Begs continuous soloing. Is a different beast than all my other Z’s, and calls for me to alter my playing/picking style a bit, but this mother sings! And begs you to make it sing! And then entices you to take yet one more verse of singing soloing. Creamy, baby. Tons of touch!
So far I like mids OFF, presence @ noon, bass maxed, treble 2:00, aggression 10:30, gain @ 3:00 and sensitivity at 1:00. But that’s just where I landed this time, as this thing has a lotta dials and a lotta settings to tweak what with aggression/gain/sensitivity!!! A lotta sounds in here methinks, and gonna be a fun recording amp for sure! Played it through my older 2-12” Z Best (not a cream back one), and also (my preferred) a 1-12” Gold Celestion Z cab. Really quite a new color in my palette.
Ahhhhhhhhh (mellow relaxed contentment).
jj
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