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Post by notscottagain on Dec 31, 2020 11:21:07 GMT -7
My Cream Alnicos finally arrived and I was able to load up my BB cab with 2 of them and dial in some settings. The first thing I discovered is that this amp is VERY sensitive to what you play it through. I tried it through another 2x12 loaded with Eminence Wizards and then the Cream-loaded BB and they required a total rethink about how to set up the amp controls. However, the amp has more than enough control to work with any cabinet.
Using a Les Paul with Duncan Skinnerburst pickups, this morning I had it set like this through the BB:
Level - 10:00 Presence - 10:00 Aggression - 1:30 Bass - 12:00 Mid - 1:30 Treble - 1:30 Gain - 10:00 Sensitivity - 2:00
This setting gives me a clean enough rhythm tone with guitar volumes down around 4 and Gary Moore lead tones when guitar volumes dimed. There is a bit of a fine balancing act between the Aggression, Gain and Sensitivity controls to really dial in the clean-to-scream guitar volume control thing but so far, it appears that lowering the Sensitivity and compensating with the Aggression seems to make that work better but I still have a lot of experimenting to do.
I am hoping the CAZ makes its gig debut tonight. The backline is being provided by others and although the organizer has no issues with me bringing the CAZ, logistics and stage real estate may not make it practical.
Regardless, this amp just impresses every time you plug in.
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Post by doctorice on Dec 31, 2020 13:05:41 GMT -7
Ahhhhhhhhh (mellow relaxed contentment). jj I guess I'm off the hook for the guilt trip
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Post by gotmojo on Dec 31, 2020 15:11:15 GMT -7
Yessir, no guilt. You were right, sir.
Had another run at it at even lower volume this afternoon - conversation level. Quite fun. Way fun. Messed with changing the three new (to me) controls - aggression, gain and sensitivity, and there is a lot of different characters in there! And some tone changes to boot. Less sensitivity and more aggression seems to bring on a pleasing midrange tone. I need quite a bit more time alone with this amp to ferret out some further details. Fun! The touch sensitivity is superb, clean to mean without even touching the guitar volume when the Tele is about half up! Dial more guitar volume and good gawd amighty!
Good Doctor, you have done it again. Kudos to you and Alan on another amazing engineering feat!
jj
now please, no more. too many amps around here already! really don’t need no more! (jk)
might be the new name of a future album: “really don’t need no mo”
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Post by adam on Jan 2, 2021 13:32:36 GMT -7
Yessir, no guilt. You were right, sir. Had another run at it at even lower volume this afternoon - conversation level. Quite fun. Way fun. Messed with changing the three new (to me) controls - aggression, gain and sensitivity, and there is a lot of different characters in there! And some tone changes to boot. Less sensitivity and more aggression seems to bring on a pleasing midrange tone. I need quite a bit more time alone with this amp to ferret out some further details. Fun! The touch sensitivity is superb, clean to mean without even touching the guitar volume when the Tele is about half up! Dial more guitar volume and good gawd amighty! Good Doctor, you have done it again. Kudos to you and Alan on another amazing engineering feat! Ditto everything you said, particularly the fun part and the engineering kudos. Those 3 "gain" controls really affect the tone and you can dial them up in a bunch of different ways, then kind of fine tune with the eq and presence and kind of wind up with a completely different amp sound and feel.
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Post by adam on Jan 2, 2021 13:42:46 GMT -7
My Cream Alnicos finally arrived... How do you like those? Been wondering myself. You could beat them in for a while with a looper pedal into a 4x12 face down on the ground maybe. There is something to that I think. Even my focal monitors said to basically blast them for 20 hours to break the speakers in. Recently saw something with Friedman saying he experimented with that 4x12 face down thing and the result being the speakers sounded significantly different than when new.
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Post by notscottagain on Jan 2, 2021 14:19:20 GMT -7
My Cream Alnicos finally arrived... How do you like those? Been wondering myself. You could beat them in for a while with a looper pedal into a 4x12 face down on the ground maybe. There is something to that I think. Even my focal monitors said to basically blast them for 20 hours to break the speakers in. Recently saw something with Friedman saying he experimented with that 4x12 face down thing and the result being the speakers sounded significantly different than when new. I played a gig with them NYE after only an hour or two of typical stage volume at home. Even though they are not broken in, they sound and feel very organic right out of the box. What I really like about them with the CAZ is that they are pretty neutral throughout the midrange. They don't have that honk of a G12H nor that spike of a V30, which is probably why some guys complain about the Creams being "dark" sounding. But this neutrality allows you to really hear the effects of the Aggression, Sensitivity and Gain controls on the CAZ and dial in whatever you want, from smooth Carol-Ann OD to grindy Marshall, midrange madness. The Creams are also fairly full on the bottom. I wouldn't recommend them for chugga-chugga, detuned, death metal but for fat blues rock through 80s metal, they work great. The top end is smooth and comes on in the upper range, 3KHz and above, so it is never harsh. Think of it like the Presence control. Overall, they are very detailed and dynamic until you start to really lay into them and then they have that fabulous alnico compression that just makes them feel like they are alive. I am sold on them!
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Jan 2, 2021 14:42:15 GMT -7
I've got a couple of Creamback 65s in the closet. I wonder how they'd work with the CAZ? I've been playing Doc's Z-12 and liking it a lot. Maybe a Creamback 65 and a Z-12 in a 2x12 would be a good match. I'm not a chug metal guy either, so it might be cool.
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Post by notscottagain on Jan 2, 2021 15:15:47 GMT -7
Here is a short clip from NYE with the CAZ through the Alnicos. Not the greatest fidelity but it will give you an idea:
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Post by adam on Jan 2, 2021 15:57:29 GMT -7
Overall, they are very detailed and dynamic until you start to really lay into them and then they have that fabulous alnico compression that just makes them feel like they are alive. I am sold on them! Thanks for the detailed response! Sounds like a winner.
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Post by adam on Jan 2, 2021 16:01:52 GMT -7
I've got a couple of Creamback 65s in the closet. I wonder how they'd work with the CAZ? I've been playing Doc's Z-12 and liking it a lot. Maybe a Creamback 65 and a Z-12 in a 2x12 would be a good match. I'm not a chug metal guy either, so it might be cool. I have a pair of the regular creambacks in a 4x12 with 2 greenbacks and like them a lot. That loverboy video was mostly 57 on creamback, and that little thing for Keith I think was all 57 on the creamback. For me, I really like it. I like that cab with the MAZ now too, and I didn't before. Worth a shot maybe.
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Post by KeithA on Jan 9, 2021 5:55:29 GMT -7
Now he has no more excuses! Lol, going to pass for now 😎
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