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Post by pcns on Jun 10, 2022 8:41:14 GMT -7
Hi all, Just posting some more follow up on this amp since taking ownership of serial #1 earlier this year. My 2 sons (Michael now 24 and Joshua now 20) have been jamming together a bit lately. Joshua can play the drums so his older brother has him playing on some original music they have been working on. Michael call the CAZ my "metal amp" and it certainly does that very well but as other have pointed out, this is amp is also very versatile and will cover a lot of ground if you spend time with it. The CAZ has 3 controls that will allow you shape the gain, not just in how much gain you get but also the flavor (growl, crunch, distortion, fuzzy and so on) you hear. I wanted to comment quickly on the Sensitivity knob in this post as I believe this knob is the foundation of what this amp with sound like in the end and may get overlooked as the knobs that read "Gain" and "Aggression" are more tempting to dial in first! Of course, the "Level" control is available too! The sensitivity knob allows you control how much input volume you have in your amp. Its like have having a high/low input jack in the form of a knob or think about the Remedy/Antidote amps having a high/low knobs. On the Caz this is one knob. Starting at or near zero, the tone is very warm and fat. Thick also comes to mind. Notes have a rounder tone and can sound very pretty. As you open up the knob you get a brighter tone with more sizzle. Pick dynamics go up so as you dig in with a guitar pick you will get more edge and break up. Full on you get a nice sassy crunchier tone with some fuzzy characteristics. This knob can really change everything else you hear in the amp, if you are struggling to dial a tone you want to hear, start here. Todd
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Post by doctorice on Jun 10, 2022 9:03:28 GMT -7
I was describing this amp to our buddy Pete (aka shouldb) -- more to come on that meeting -- and said my experience was that the sensitivity and front-end gain knobs allowed one to dial in the range and character of "clean to mean" one could get from using the guitar's volume controls. Seems to be consistent with what you're hearing, Todd.
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Post by pcns on Jun 10, 2022 9:14:09 GMT -7
I was describing this amp to our buddy Pete (aka shouldb) -- more to come on that meeting -- and said my experience was that the sensitivity and front-end gain knobs allowed one to dial in the range and character of "clean to mean" one could get from using the guitar's volume controls. Seems to be consistent with what you're hearing, Todd. clean to mean, I like the way put that Mike. I think we talking the same thing for sure
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Post by pcns on Jun 10, 2022 9:34:00 GMT -7
one of my summer projects is to get my basement studio up and running again. I'll see if I can do some vids to demo some of this stuff. I'm not the player like Adam is but I should be able to turn some knobs and strum and show what I am thinking! All else fails, I'll get one of my boys to play
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Post by premiumplus (Dave) on Jun 10, 2022 14:41:10 GMT -7
Agree, Todd...the Sensitivity controls the first gain stage of the amp, so it does very much set the foundation tone. If you dirty it up with that control, you can't clean it up later!
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Post by KeithA on Jun 10, 2022 14:47:42 GMT -7
I’m out of room for amps but I’ve been considering trading a bunch of closeted gear for a CAZ.
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Post by adam on Jun 10, 2022 15:22:05 GMT -7
one of my summer projects is to get my basement studio up and running again. I'll see if I can do some vids to demo some of this stuff. I'm not the player like Adam is but I should be able to turn some knobs and strum and show what I am thinking! All else fails, I'll get one of my boys to play I'd be curious to see this, and I wouldn't worry so much about the playing part. Regarding the sensitivity/gain/aggression, they all contribute to the tone overall timbre very differently. Maybe that's something that's worth showing if you do a video.
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Post by John on Jun 11, 2022 8:42:46 GMT -7
trading a bunch of closeted gear
We are tolerant and accepting of all types of musical gear.
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Post by motron on Jun 12, 2022 17:30:37 GMT -7
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had a CAZ-45 for about 3 weeks. The amp is great and does exactly what I want, but the "Sensitivity" knob may be the only thing that bothers me about the amp. If I turn it above 9:00, I starting getting a lot of noise. Is this normal? This is with hum bucker equipped guitars.
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Post by pcns on Jun 12, 2022 21:26:24 GMT -7
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had a CAZ-45 for about 3 weeks. The amp is great and does exactly what I want, but the "Sensitivity" knob may be the only thing that bothers me about the amp. If I turn it above 9:00, I starting getting a lot of noise. Is this normal? This is with hum bucker equipped guitars. like a hiss, crackle or hum?
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Post by DRZ on Jun 13, 2022 1:38:48 GMT -7
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had a CAZ-45 for about 3 weeks. The amp is great and does exactly what I want, but the "Sensitivity" knob may be the only thing that bothers me about the amp. If I turn it above 9:00, I starting getting a lot of noise. Is this normal? This is with hum bucker equipped guitars. Well, first Morton let me welcome you to the Z talk Forum. Since I currently build and QA each CAZ personally , what your stating seems a bit unusual. Generally the Sensitivity control doesn't add appreciable " White Noise " till set over 1:00, it is a cascaded gain stage which is very much like an Overdrive pedal inside the amp. Also where the Gain & Aggression knobs are set will determine overall background noise if set too high along with the input Sensitivity control . I have a feeling by your post that you have a Humbucker loaded guitar with pretty high gain pick-ups , just my thought . If so, not much Sensitivity increase is needed, coupled with increased Gain & Aggression knob settings. An audio sample of " a lot of noise " would be helpful in diagnosing the issue you're having. You may try to swap V1 and V2. In any high gain amp the V1 tube is the most important tube for background noise generation, see if maybe your V1 is a touch too Sensitive . DR.Z
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Post by adam on Jun 13, 2022 4:16:47 GMT -7
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had a CAZ-45 for about 3 weeks. The amp is great and does exactly what I want, but the "Sensitivity" knob may be the only thing that bothers me about the amp. If I turn it above 9:00, I starting getting a lot of noise. Is this normal? This is with hum bucker equipped guitars. I'd say not normal at all. I usually run mine around noon to 1pm and the amp is basically dead silent to the point where you can't tell if the speaker is plugged in or not. Guessing a tube isn't very happy. Welcome, and good luck!
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Post by helmi on Jun 13, 2022 4:37:08 GMT -7
I’m out of room for amps but I’ve been considering trading a bunch of closeted gear for a CAZ. Are you going to sell your soul and beg for a special “red” one? I can send you a can of spray paint!
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Post by motron on Jun 13, 2022 6:56:31 GMT -7
Thanks for starting this thread. I've had a CAZ-45 for about 3 weeks. The amp is great and does exactly what I want, but the "Sensitivity" knob may be the only thing that bothers me about the amp. If I turn it above 9:00, I starting getting a lot of noise. Is this normal? This is with hum bucker equipped guitars. Well, first Morton let me welcome you to the Z talk Forum. Since I currently build and QA each CAZ personally , what your stating seems a bit unusual. Generally the Sensitivity control doesn't add appreciable " White Noise " till set over 1:00, it is a cascaded gain stage which is very much like an Overdrive pedal inside the amp. Also where the Gain & Aggression knobs are set will determine overall background noise if set too high along with the input Sensitivity control . I have a feeling by your post that you have a Humbucker loaded guitar with pretty high gain pick-ups , just my thought . If so, not much Sensitivity increase is needed, coupled with increased Gain & Aggression knob settings. An audio sample of " a lot of noise " would be helpful in diagnosing the issue you're having. You may try to swap V1 and V2. In any high gain amp the V1 tube is the most important tube for background noise generation, see if maybe your V1 is a touch too Sensitive . DR.Z Thanks for replying and thanks to the others as well. I switched out V1 for a NOS RFT that I had and it quieted things down quite a bit. Now it is working as you described with no appreciable white noise until about 1:00. That was a really tight tube so I have the obligatory banged knuckles, but no fear of any rattles. Thanks for building a great amp. My first Dr. Z and I'm off to a good start.
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Post by adam on Jun 13, 2022 17:02:35 GMT -7
That was a really tight tube so I have the obligatory banged knuckles, but no fear of any rattles. Thanks for building a great amp. My first Dr. Z and I'm off to a good start. Which one is going to be next? 🤓 Kidding aside, the little stuff like the tube sockets being tight, they pay attention to those types of things and don't just source source the cheapest parts they can find, they spend money trying to figure out what the best possible part might be to do the job. Like maybe you've had an old fender or something where you are sort of afraid that the tube might fall out in transit. Z's are really built like a tank, and they take a ton of pride in building a bullet-proof product that pros can rely on, and they do. I'm saying that because Mike would never say that "out loud". As to the noise - maybe think along the lines of it's a high gain amp and whatever imperfection in noise is present somewhere along the way, it's going to be amplified a lot. Try unplugging the guitar cable from the amp. Does the noise change? Mine doesn't at all, and I have some amps where it makes a big difference. Next maybe think about the AC line feeding the amp. I have a voltage regulator in the studio which runs into some fairly expensive Furman things which are supposed to filter the crap out. Even with that, if my dishwasher is running, there's a ton of noise in the line (no idea why), and it comes through everything like pa monitors or studio monitors. So maybe try a different circuit for kicks. Maybe move the amp, like maybe it's picking up something whacky from some other device. Lastly, unplug the cables in the effect loop if you are using them. Maybe something there is inducing noise which could be a bad cable or who knows what. At that point, I think you are down to one or more tube problems, and that just is what is is. Bottom line, mine is really dead silent, so I think yours should be too, and maybe it' worth taking the time to figure out where that noise is coming from using some logical process of elimination.
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Post by motron on Jun 15, 2022 13:33:56 GMT -7
That was a really tight tube so I have the obligatory banged knuckles, but no fear of any rattles. Thanks for building a great amp. My first Dr. Z and I'm off to a good start. Which one is going to be next? 🤓 Kidding aside, the little stuff like the tube sockets being tight, they pay attention to those types of things and don't just source source the cheapest parts they can find, they spend money trying to figure out what the best possible part might be to do the job. Like maybe you've had an old fender or something where you are sort of afraid that the tube might fall out in transit. Z's are really built like a tank, and they take a ton of pride in building a bullet-proof product that pros can rely on, and they do. I'm saying that because Mike would never say that "out loud". As to the noise - maybe think along the lines of it's a high gain amp and whatever imperfection in noise is present somewhere along the way, it's going to be amplified a lot. Try unplugging the guitar cable from the amp. Does the noise change? Mine doesn't at all, and I have some amps where it makes a big difference. Next maybe think about the AC line feeding the amp. I have a voltage regulator in the studio which runs into some fairly expensive Furman things which are supposed to filter the crap out. Even with that, if my dishwasher is running, there's a ton of noise in the line (no idea why), and it comes through everything like pa monitors or studio monitors. So maybe try a different circuit for kicks. Maybe move the amp, like maybe it's picking up something whacky from some other device. Lastly, unplug the cables in the effect loop if you are using them. Maybe something there is inducing noise which could be a bad cable or who knows what. At that point, I think you are down to one or more tube problems, and that just is what is is. Bottom line, mine is really dead silent, so I think yours should be too, and maybe it' worth taking the time to figure out where that noise is coming from using some logical process of elimination. Thanks for the detailed response. Without a guitar plugged in, the amp is as silent as a mouse. My environment has a lot of RFI -- I had one amp that would clearly play a local radio broadcast -- so I am used to a bit of noise. After the tube change, the noise level is quite acceptable. I don't know how to filter interference coming through the air, so I have to live with some of it.
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