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Features: 10
I bought this amp new in Ottowa and had Dr. Z build it for me. It's
only got two knobs; the tone know being the only control over all
your eq. It's amazingly versitile; the tone knob actually works
somewhat like a filter; meaning that turning it left cuts your bass
and mids, and turning it clockwise does the opposite. You can get
an amazing array of tonal possibilities out of this one little knob.
It doesn't get in the way of your sound like cheaper treb/bass knobs
on other amps.
Sound Quality: 10
I play a couple of strats through a bunch of old and analog pedals,
but i prefer to go directly into the mazerati, perhaps with a clean
boost. The amp is not noisy at all, and uses 4 EL84 output tubes
leaving you with about 32 watts of output. The EL84's give you that
fuzzy, tight sound associated with boutique amps. The mazerati has
a tube rectifier, and when it's cranked you get a bit of what sounds
like compression (or you might aquaint to "swell") when
it's really cranked. Kind of a subtle dip on the attack - very cool.
Harmonically it's the most amazing amp I've ever played. Before
buying it, I checked out everything: Carr, Alessandro, Bad Cat,
Bogner, the lot. The Dr.'s amps really shimmer like no others, and
not just in the upper frequencies. The bass is very tight and not
overpowering. A beautiful, well balanced amp. I play mine through
a Dr. Z 4x10 cab (the new, redesigned 10s) and there's no other
way to go.
Reliability: N/A
I haven't had the amp long enough to say, but it seems very very
sturdy. Besides, if anything goes wrong, the Dr. will fix it, no
questions.
Customer Support: 10
The best. Period. The man answers his own phone and e-mail. He'll
fix it as long as he's alive.
Overall Rating: 10
If you're going to spend the money, check them all out and don't
miss this one. Single channel, two knob 32watt amps aren't for everyone.
It's a real player's amp. You can actually use your volume and tone
knobs on your guitar to dial up a great sound. Usually other amps
sound thin and whiney when you turn down those pots, but this one
loves it. Nice clean boost pedals are amazing on this one to push
those pre-amp tubes. This amp is very, very loud and has a lot more
headroom than the Carmen Ghia.
I give it a 10 for value because even though the price is very steep,
anything in this category is expensive. As far as prices go, Dr.
Z keeps them a lot lower than the other guys, so check him out.
Features: 10
Okay, I've had this amp for about six months now- and there need to
be more reviews for it. Single channel amp with two nobs- volume and
tone. This might seem too minimal to some, but the circuit for this
amp was designed to provide a powerful, raw tone. It succeeds. Dr.
Z told me that he has never been able to capture this rawness, due
to the simplicity of the amp, in any of his other circuit designs.
I give it a ten b/c it succeeds in doing exactly what is was designed
to do. Besides which, too many nobs confuse me.
Sound Quality: 10
Play a '57 Strat Custom shop RI with a huge neck and jumbo frets
w/ the stock hand-wound fifties style pu's to play blues and rock'n'roll.
The clean sounds go up to about four on the amp and after that doesn't
get much louder, simply saturates more. With my strat, notes don't
spank like they do on a BF Fender, but rather penetrate w/o losing
body or sounding piercing- different, but everything a clean tone
should be. When the amp cranks, it breaks up nicely- not huge amounts
of gain, but enough to fatten up the tone while retaining clarity
and complexity, in a really raw sort of way. The single tone nob
actually allows for several different tones, and the higher the
amp's volume the greater the distinction between them. I was surprised
and pleased by the variety considering the simplicity. When a quality
stomp box is used to push the amp, the spongy-juicy quality of the
EL-84's really shines through to produce huge tone with an unbelievable
amount of dynamics. I recently listened to a high volume recording
I did with a Matchless Hotbox and tubescreamer in tandem and it
sounded like I was using a wah pedal in some parts b/c the tone
was so fluid and dynamic.
Reliability: 10
No problems yet, but Z amps come with a lifetime warranty.
Customer Support: 10
I have spoken to Dr. Z a few times and he is willing to discuss
tone and amps and whatever else about guitar at great lenghth and
w/o any pretension whatsoever. Genuine guy who hand makes amps for
the most reasonable prices around, and I was greatly impressed that
he would speak to me, a scrounging college student, for an hour
on the phone when I called merely b/c I was interested in finding
out what he was all about. Simply can't say enough good things about
him.
Overall Rating: 10
Have played about every kind of amp out there, except for the super
high-end stuff, and have owned Matchless, BF Fender, Marshall, but
this is a step above all of them for what I need. This is not a
gentle amp, it has an animal edge to the tonal quality and is perfectly
suited for playing lead guitar. Not the most versatle amp out there,
but then again, if that's what you're looking for then you're in
the wrong place. This amp does a few things extremely well, and
if was stolen I would buy it again in a second unless I decided
to get the Route 66 instead. Not cheap, but after playing a slew
of mid-range amps it became apparent to me that it was necassary
to spend the money to get the results I wanted. I have not had a
single regret since purchasing this amp six months ago.
Features: 5
This is a 32 watt head with a single input, single channel, single
volume knob, single tone knob, an 'on' switch and a standby switch.
I guess you'd have to give it a two in this category except that
it comes with tone out the wazoo!
Note - this is not a Maz-18 or a Maz-38 - the Mazerati is a totally
different amp.
Sound Quality: 10
This amp loves single-coil pickups. I mostly play a '56 Les Paul
Goldtop Reissue - 2 P90s - through it, but also a National Reso-lectric
- 1 P90 and a piezo - plus the occasional Tele or Gretsch. Never
tried a Strat because I mostly don't like them in general. I play
mostly rhythm in a roots/blues rock band.
The amp just has so much detail and richness in its sound. Compared
to normal amps, it's like looking at a 300 dpi image compared to
a 75 dpi image - the notes are the same, but there's so much more
information in the sound of the Dr. Z. Crank it and you get the
most beautiful tube distortion - not grunge or metal, just rich
and creamy without being wimpy, and at reasonable volumes, given
the relatively low power of the amp.
Speaker choice is important with this or any head - I play through
a Celestion Greenback reissue and a Vox Blue reissue, and there's
a ton of character in the sound from these speakers. I don't use
much in the way of effects - a Rat for when I need some serious
distortion, but not too often. The tone of this amp just doesn't
need a lot of noise added to make it sound right.
Regarding the single tone control - it's not like the passive tone
control on a guitar pickup that subtracts highs. It acts more like
the balance control on a stereo, but instead of left to right, it
goes from rich bass to rich treble. The whole range is good. I'm
notorious for getting lousy sounds from my amp when I have too many
knob choices, so when I showed up with this amp with its two knobs,
the other guitar player in my band was ecstatic. Basically, you
just can't go wrong, tone-wise, with any Dr. Z, and this one especially.
Reliability: 8
I blew up a filter cap at a gig, which Dr. Z (also known as Mike
Zaite) fixed under warrantee cheerfully and reasonably quickly.
I think it would be nuts not to have a backup, if you have the resources.
Customer Support: 10
Excellent. A lifetime warrantee, with repairs done cheerfully. The
Doctor also made a couple of mods to the amp that brought it up
to spec without my asking him to - a rear grille, tube covers, that
kind of thing. That's the neat thing about hand-made boutique amps
- the guy who makes them always wants to make them better.
When I was arranging the filter cap repair, I asked the Doctor what
he thought about the idea of my buying a KT45 to go with the Mazerati.
He seemed to think I should, so I did.
Overall Rating: 10
You can't get a boutique amp with as much great sound built in for
close to the money, as far as I can tell. I've been playing forever,
never really getting the sound I dreamed of before this amp. It's
simple and perfect for what it is. It's not a Marshall stack, but
it doesn't try to be. It just cranks out fantastic sounds when you
plug it in. I've got a Fender Blues Deluxe and a Peavey Classic
30, and they do fine for what they are, but this amp has so much
more character, there's really no comparison. I also have the Dr.
Z KT-45, which I love equally well. You can't beat any of the Doc's
amps.
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Mazerati
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