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Post by zdogma on Oct 11, 2022 15:32:01 GMT -7
I’ve been pretty quiet on the forum for the last couple of years, but I’ve owned a bunch of Z amps over the years and I remain a big fan of Dr Z’s amps. I also have a Maz 18 combo.
In mid sept I picked up a Z 28 MKii head-the Route 66 and original Z28 were among my all time favorite tube amps (and I love EF86 amps, my other amp is a Matchless C30), so I thought it would be a pretty safe bet that I would like the new Z28.
I’ve been using the head through a 112 emi cab with a Celestion cream back.
First impressions.
Guitar/cord/amp is excellent. Clean to crunch, it all sounds good. Surprisingly good Marshall sound at higher volumes and gain settings. A bit better overall when set very loud, as you might expect. It is quite similar to the original Z28.
A couple of observations-I was happy to find that turning up the tone controls increases the gain a LOT, much like the original Route 66 and Z 28. The master works very well, but as usual the amp sounds particularly good with the master all the way up (so essentially NMV). The harmonics and 3D quality of the amp are particularly noticeable when the master is turned up. It can be a bit dark with the master turned down past 10 o clock. Single coils and hum buckers sound equally good.
It takes pedals very well, as advertised. OD and fuzz pedals are pretty much guaranteed to sound great, I’m using a Jan Ray, Cornish G2 and a Tamura Maxon OD 808 and they all work really well. Fuzz pedals (AM sunface, PTD minibone) are equally good-the eq is very forgiving and they don’t compress too much. Delay pedals, mod pedals and tape echos also work really well as long as the gain is below noon.
Well done Dr. Z, I think this one is a keeper
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Post by adam on Oct 11, 2022 16:07:06 GMT -7
I was lucky to get to try one of the prototypes and I think maybe the first and mostly lasting impression was something 3d about that sound, and that was without the cool cabinet. The other thing that really hit me was running a tube screamer pretty much wide open on gain and volume and it sounded like the coolest fuzz pedal you ever heard, and the tube screamer has never sounded like that in another amp. Has to have something to do with the ef86, and it was special. Give it a shot with your Maxon and see what you think.
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