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Features: 8
Thick Aluminum Chassis, Custom Transformers, Hand Wired Turret Board
Construction, Custom Designs. Full Set of Controls Vol, Treb, Mid,
Bas, Mas, Rev, Cut. Also has a line out, boost, and two inputs.
The amp is covered in Black tolex with Hiwatt Grill cloth. Looks
great. Amp came with a Celestion Classic 80. All tube with a duet
of EL84's delivering 18 watts of power. This amp is essentially
a Ghia that has reverb and a full set of controls in a 1-12 combo
format with reverb.
Sound Quality: 10
WOW! Z told me that his test pilot gave the amp a "10" for fun factor,
I couldn't agree more. This is the Best 18 watts you could ever
plug into. Tone is hard to describe and the amp sounds like nothing
else. At a low to medium distortion setting The Jr has excellent
note definition and is alive with harmonic color. The sustain is
superb and the amp cleans up perfectly when the guitar volume is
rolled back. The bass is huge and has great definition. The Jr has
some Deluxe Reverb characteristics in its EQ, but the Jr is more
robust and singing and very much more harmonic. The Celestion Classic
80 is loud and gives the amp plenty of power. The amp-speaker match-up
is perfect. I have never plugged a pedal into the Jr so I cant comment
on pedal compatibility. I can say this though.....There is not a
lack of variety in this amp. The player can get a ton of different
tones just by manipulating the guitar, reverb, and cut controls.
For instance, Select your strats bridge pick-up....turn the reverb
off crank the amp and add more cut and you will have some righteous
woman tone! Turn down the Mids and crank the verb for some Magic
Sam. The Jr is one Fun Amp that you won't get tired of.
The Jr also has Z's own Z-Verb which is a fabulous spring reverb.
I love internal reverbs and reverb as an effect. Its the only effect
I use. Outboard reverbs Squash when you get the amp cookin'....not
true with Z-Verb. Z-verb is huge and warm. Not much twang. It is
very natural and works incredibly with higher volume settings. It
is the best reverb. I love to crank it just for the overwhelming
effect on some tunes.
Reliability: 10
The amp is built for the road. I had a Pre-Amp tube fail but that
was after my little boy knocked it over with a chord sticking out
the input jack....Chord servived too!
Customer Support: 10
Z is very giving of his time and is the best amp manufacturer you
will ever talk too
Overall Rating: 10
I asked Dr. Z to make me an amp that was a full featured Z-amp in
a combo format that had an output similar to a Deluxe Reverb. The
Jr nails it. It is a perfect small club amp that offers incredible
tone and makes the Electric guitar more rewarding than ever. I would
by this amp again if mine gets stolen. It is the first amp I grab
for gigs and if I need more I use a second amp set clean or mike
the Jr. .. As an additional note I must admit that I am an amp Junky.
Here are some other low watt amps that I have previously owned ....Matchless
Lightning, Toneking Imperial, Hoffman 2-10 combo, Tweed Deluxe,
and have compared the Z to Deluxe Reverbs and Princeton Reverbs.
For the Music I play which is Blues / Blues-Rock I would choose
the Maz Jr. in a heartbeat.
Features: 10
I just got my Dr. Z MAZ-18 and I had it custom order directly from
the Dr. It has a black walnut face and an oxblood grill cloth covered
in black tolex. More on that later! As for features I give it a
10, not so much because its chock full of fancy things like digital
effects or stereo wiring, but rather because this amp has the widest
range on tones I've ever come across. It does have an outstanding
reverb built it. Its very natural and tight, not too loose yet still
springy. Its very Fenderish I think. Without touching the amp, playing
my Tom Anderson Cobra, I was able to go from a spanky Link Wray
shread to a fat and mello jazz tone. All simply by setting the guitars
pickup and tone and volume knobs. I can go from Dick Dale to SRV
to Danny Gatton to Joe Pass all without really touching the amp.
It is unreal!
Sound Quality: 10
I play blues/surf/rockabilly/country and whatever else in between.
This amp sounds better than any amp I ever bought to cover just
one of these styles. For example, I was big into country for a spell,
and bought a 4-10 Fender Bassman. The Z blows it away on its own
turf. I had a Roland JC-120 for jazz stuff, the Z crushes it. I
has a Matchless DC-30 (which is an incredible amp too) and the Z
still sounds better. The Z is cool because it does the Voxy Matchless
thing, but it also does other tones really well too. For fat overdrive
tones, man, hold on to your hat cause this thing rips. There simply
is no way to make this amp sound less than stellar!
Reliability: 10
It is new but it is build like a house. Solid cabinet and superior
craftsmanship throughout. I will never worry about it and I gig
10 times a month. I won't bring a backup amp, like I did with my
other amps (all except the Matchless).
Customer Support: 10
What can I say. The Dr. is a saint. This guy will spend hours on
the phone with you if you like and he actually returns calls too.
He knows and loves his amps and he is way cool about explaning things
to non-electronics guys like me. He knows tone and he can help you
define your. This is a first rate guy and I can not say enought
about him. I think he is getting busy these days, so you may have
to wait for your amp. Its worth the wait!
Overall Rating: 10
I have been playing professionally for 15 years. I have owned Fenders,
Marshall, Soldanos, Matchless, Ampeg, etc. I have played through
every amp you can name (except Vero and Dumble)and I can say, even
without the amazing value you get, the Dr. Z amps rule. Factor in
the fact that they sell for like 10% of a Dumble or a Trainwreck
and it is an unbeatable combination. I will come clean and say I
could have had any amp I wanted, price was not a issue. I wanted
this amp based soley on reputation at first. Once I played through
it, I was shocked to think that the reputation is well deserved.
I decided in like 5 seconds that I was getting a Dr. Z. I seriously
doubt I will ever get another amp that is as cool or as beautiful.
Dr. Z made this JR with a black walnut face, oxblood grill cloth,
cream knobs and covered in black tolex. Piped in gold. This amp
is a visual and engineering masterpiece. Even the good Dr said to
me, "this amp is a work of art". I love the fact that I dealt directly
with the guy who built the amp and I am so happy with it, I was
up half the night playing it.
Features: 10
1999 amp. 24 watt (says 18 on faceplate but Dr. Z says 24 watts
when you grill him over the phone)Combo amp w/ 2 X 10" Vintage 16
ohm Celestions wired for 8 ohm.
Controls: Vol, bass, middle, treble, reverb, master, Cut
Covers b/f Fender clean to Marshall crunch and Vox chime. Single
Channel, no switching, no effects loop or the such.
Here's what it does have - TONE! All the way across the board -
TONE! Controls are straight forward except the CUT. This is probably
the most important tone shaper on the amp. It can make any guitar/pickup
combo sound good. Bright guitar, dial the cut, dark guitar, dial
the cut, bright room / dark room ........
For this category I'll give it an 8. Only because it is not the
most versatile amp in the world. But if you want sound coloring,
use an effect or stomp box. Speaking of stom-boxes, the amps seems
to be ready willing and able to handle all the usual suspects...
Sound Quality: 10
Using it w/ PRS Swamp Ash and Fender Strat. I play rock, blues/rock,
funk & soul. This amp fits the bill PERFECTLY. It is relatively
quiet when cranked and the amp is alive at all volume levels. Unlike
an old Fender that has to be cranked past 5 or 6 to come alive,
this thing is vibrant, juicy and ready to scream at any volume level.
Keep the volume below 60% and turn up the master for clean, crank
the volume and adjust master accordignly for killer over-drive sounds.
Does crunch really well, does the Marshall thing but with fuller
bottom! Does the Vox thing (chimey, raucous) without getting too
shrill.
I can NOT say enough about this amp. Rarely does a product live
up to the hype... or the wait. This amp does and leaves you with
a big smile on your face as soon as you plug in and go through the
night's set list.
Can't say enough about it!
Reliability: 10
I'll give it an easy 10 here. Haven't had it long but it's built
like a tank and uses only the best parts and components. Dr. Z.
is a small company but I don't anticipate any problems here.
Customer Support: 10
Only had it for a week but I can tell you that Miek Zaite is a great
guy to work with, has only one thing in mind - build the best amp!
He will get it to you as fast as he can....and he's really busy!
Overall Rating: 10
I'm a tone hound. Gig regularly (average 8 gigs/mo.) I'm used to
good tone, b/f Fenders, Marshalls, custom shop Strats, PRSs.
THIS AMPS IS ABSOLUTELY THE BEST SOUNDING AND PERFORMING AMP I'VE
EVER PLAYED THROUGH IN 30 YEARS OF PLAYING!
I've compared to almost all the amps, boutique and otherwise. VHTs,
Bogners, Soldansos, Kendricks, Top Hats, Tone Kings, Victoria, Budda
etc, etc. I'm not knocking all these amps - they are all great amps,
The Dr. Z is better.
It's so responsive to player dynamics that you would swear it is
a living thinking entity - It's alive!! It can get good tone at
any volume level, it's compact, rugged... what more could you want?!
Features: 9
My MAZ 18-WATT is brand-new and built by Dr. Z himself sometime
in the month of April 1999. It is a single channel combo with 2
Vintage 10" Celestion speakers housed in a gorgeous "neo-vox" style
cabinet covered in heavy "burnished-cream" tolex with vintage oxblood
grill cloth and matching piping. The 7 controls are front mounted
with very high quality ivroid chicken-head knobs. The control panel
features two inputs (high and low gain), Volume, Treble, Middle,
Bass, Master Volume, Reverb, and Cut. A nice large red pilot light
and Power On and Standby switches complete the controls. The amp
features five tubes in the preamp section, two EL84 power tubes
and a rectifier tube. According to Dr. Z, the amp actually produces
about 24-watts of power. This is PLENTY of power for me as I primarly
play around the house, do a small bit of recording, and will also
be playing in church where volume level has to be carefully moderated.
I find the feature set to be perfect for the sytles of playing that
I use if for - R&B/Gospel, Country, and Pop.
Sound Quality: 10
Dr. Z bills the MAZ 18 as the "Ultimate Strat Amp" - after four
days of playing it I certainly understand why! My Don Grosh Retro
Classic Strat (equipped with Dimarzio "Virtual Vintage" pickups)
sounds absolutely astonishing through this amp. I'll say up front
that I'm basically a "semi-pro" level guitarist. I've played for
on and off for 25 years and I'll never make a living at it. However,
I've owned a number of vintage, botique, and "modern classic" amps
including 3 Kendricks, Two Mesa's, and a 65' Black Face Super Reverb.
I've also played many Matchless and other high end amps. Working
with these amps along with several years of formal training in Jazz
and Classical Guitar have given me some pretty strong and hopefully
realistic opinions about Amp tone. The MAZ 18 is a definite keeper!
In my mind, when working with a Strat, it has three basic tones
- each of which can be futher refined via the CUT control (more
on CUT below. 1)"Vintage Tweed"
Volume Max, T,M,B Max, Master 9-11:00, Rev 10:00, CUT 10-12:00
2) "British Pop"
Volume Max, T,M,B 12:00, Master 9-10:00, Rev 10:00, CUT 10-12:00
3) "Black Face Scoop"
Volume 9:00, T,B Max, Mid Off, Master Max, Rev 12:00, CUT 10-11:00
Of course by varying the Tone and CUT controls these 3 generic sounds
can be further altered AND pickups/selection of course makes a big
difference.
The CUT control acts like no other Presence control your fingers
have every turned! It is the key to unlocking the practial versatility
in this Amp. Bascially when the CUT control is all the way counter-clockwise,
the overall response of the amp is very "bassey" moving around from
there things be ever more present and bright. At about 2:00 in positions
4-5 your Strat will sound like Tele on steroids.
It's noteworthy that this amp is basically very quiet - except for
the Reverb at high settings. Dr. Z indicates that this simple and
artifact of the amount of gain involved when the Reverb is at high
levels. The noise is kind of a "grounding hum" sound - not severly
obvious but kind of annoying. Fortunately the Amp has sooooo much
harmonic complexity that the Reverb is not needed to make the Amp
sound good (unlike so many other amps that cannot survive without
reverb).
In the "scooped" setting the Amp is very crystaline-clean up to
a point. Picking dynamics, pickup output, and input gain level affect
this tremendously. Of course like all great amps - even the clean
sound is rich in harmonics. If your looking for "Smooth Jazz on
a Glass Block Wall" you won't find it here. What you will find is
one of the most outrageous "skank" Strat rhythm sounds you will
ever hear. Simply invert the Volume and Master Settings and make
a few Tone Control Tweaks and you have that buttery Tweed Delux
sounds with sweet singing sustain and not a trace of harshness.
Roll off some Mid (on the Amp) and back off/vary your pick attack
and you roll through endless combinations of pop rhythms with rich
harmonics underneath crystal clean fundamental notes.
As far as radial disortion goes, I'm not sure - it's not my game.
The day the Amp arrived I was a bit frustrated with the (lack of)
clean tone. I called Dr. Z immediately. He is so patient and helpful.
He instructed to swap positions on two of the preamp tubes (2<->4)
and instructed me to replace preamp tube 1 with a lower output tube
(I happen to an NOS GE from my Kendrick days). The amp cleaned right
up.
I'm experimenting with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 and soon with a Fulltone
Soul Bender. I'm not big on lot's of gain and acutally the "Vintage
Tweed" sounds that I described above is so compressed with a fat
dripping sweetness (especically when played with the finger tips)
that I think the use of pedals will be minimal.
In an ideal world I'd get a Dr. Z MAZ 38 (38 Watts) and set it "scoooped"
and and A/B the 38 for rhythm and the MAZ 18 for the soloing/sustain
stuff.
Probably the coolest thing about the MAZ 18 is the amazing amount
of low-end response it has. Most the old Fenders I've played get
pretty "flatulant" in the low-end when you turn them up. My first
Kendrick was the 4210 model (80 watt 2-12s) - bascially a replica
of a 59 tweed twin. This amp has massive headroom and bottom end.
The MAZ 18 while not nearly as loud has much the same kind of low-end
"woof". It really makes playing rhythm guitar a blast! ... and it
weighs in at half what the 4212 weighs.
Reliability: 10
I'm giving it a 10 because of Dr. Z's reptutation and the amount
of assistance he has giving me on the phone already. The only quirk
I've seen in some acoustic feedback when the Reverb is maxed and
the amp is set for higher gain levels. Dr. Z have me the solution
to this problem on the phone. It's simply a matter of adjusting
the rear lower baffle board to allow some sound pressure to escape
Customer Support: 10
Dr. Z is simply amazing - nearly always available by phone. He seems
to treat the common man as well as the top pro! I might also add
the Stuart Carter at Fat Sound Guitar and Music in Cary, North Carolina
is awseome to work with as well. Fat Sound is the dealer I purchase
the MAZ 18 (and many other things as well) from.
Overall Rating: 10
What else can I say! If this one walked off - I'd get another. I
may get another (the 38-Watt) anyway!
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MAZ-18
Reviews