Dr. Z Maz 18 / Victoria 20112?

[BCoryH]

I need some guidance. I am considering the Dr. Z Maz 18 and the Victoria 20112 to pair with my new (yeehaa!!) Hollow T Classic (Alder Top and Back) -- my first Anderson! I play mostly blues, classic rock, and country, but I like to occasionally have fun with jazz and some heavier stuff.

I play in a small bedroom, so these smaller amps are appealing.

Has anybody had experience with either? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Cory H.
Houston

[sonsop]

Cory,

Both amps are great but really loud for a small bedroom. The Victoria sounds killer but to really appreciate the "Tweedness" you'll need to crank it and push the speaker. The Dr. Z has a master volume, so you'll be able to tame the volume a lot more. However, it'll beg to be opened up and cranked. If the Dr. Z has reverb you'll really dig that effect, especially playing softly. The Vicky has a pine cabinet that's naturally resonant but, again, you need to push some air {hint: play loud} to appreciate it.

Honestly, I'd check out a 1x12 20watt 6V6 Fargen Blackbird. It's the same price point as the DR. Z and is the best sounding Deluxe Reverb you've ever heard. It has plenty of midrange on tap to help bring out the glory of that bridge pickup on your new Andy. The Fargen sound great at bedroom volume but will also tear it up without pinning your ears back. I highly encourage you to look into one.

Best,
Joe

[Stan Malinowski]

I have owned a Dr Z MAZ 18 JR and would have to agree, it is WAY too loud for a bedroom environment! I even purchased a Dr Z Airbrake to try to tame it down but unfortunately it sucked away a good part of the tone.

I am also constrained to playing in a small area (my home music room is about (12' x 12') and have been happy with my Carr Mercury. I run it in the 1/2 watt mode which can still get pretty load. I have a Barber LTD OD pedal to give me the boost when I need it. The Mercury has one lower power setting, 1/10 watt, but I have not found it very useful.

[guitarzan]

Hi Cory,
I'm in SoCal now but am a Houston native so if you head over to Texas Music Emporium (I think it's 45 and Ritchie rd on the northside just before you get to FM1960), they'l probably be most willing to special order all of these suggested amps. Heck, they may even have a number of the boutique amps already in stock. I think that's their bread and butter with the big GC right up 45 from them.

Anyway, depending on your budget and sonic target, I'd also like to suggest the Tone King Meteor. They're expensive compared to the Dr. Z line, but comparable to the Carr amps. I've found it to be my particular Holy Grail of tone- but everything's subjective in tone. Great reverb, a cabinet that feels like a big acoustic guitar with a speaker in it, two channels so you can get a Del Reverb and a Tweed feel. It'll have to be pushed, but alot of my gigs are done at very small club/ sanctuary levles and I've never been unhappy.

Good luck, Cory, and congrats on the new Andy.

Also, I should be back in Houston in a couple of weeks, pray for some good weather!!!

[guitarzan]

You know, now that I think about it- just take your guitar and go play a bunch of amps. Everybody on here is going to mention which amps they think sound great- but like I said, it's all relative. I have thousahnds of dollars in amplifiers and one of my favorites is a little Peavey Classic 20 1x10. I've done a bunch of worship leader gigs with just that and a strat. Also, I'm incredibly happy with a Trace Elliot Velocette, which is the seed of the Gibson Goldtone amps (Gibson bought Trace Elliot and its intellectual property). Anyway, these two amps TOGETHER would cost 500 bucks and running them out of a line6 modelling pedal or Visual Sound H2O pedal (or anything with stereo outputs) and running them simultaneously sounds good enough to gig with because they respond differently to playing. And that's for 500 bucks. It's just a matter of taking your guitar with you to whatever stores you can find that sell decent gear and play it through as many amps as you need to until you find your tone.

Just don't make the mistake of thinking that you've GOT to spend 2k to get a playable tone. You certainly raise your chances of finding good tone at that price point, but not everyone has that kind of dough to spend and there's a difference between a generic "good" tone and the tone that personally inspires a player.

[tunacaster]

I would check out a Carr Rambler or the Mercury. I recently got the Rambler and have been very impressed with the amp. It can get loud in either setting (14 watts or 28 watts), but I put a TS808 reissue in front of it and it does not change the tone to my ears. The amp has alot of bottom and the reverb is so lush and has alot of depth. The tremolo is absolutely awesome, don't here the tick that I have heard in Deluxe Reverb reissues. The best thing about the amp to me is the mid control with the pentode/triode switch. Dime the mid and with it in triode mode, I hear a tweed tones. Cut the mid in Pentode mode and I hear Blackface tones. Add the mids to taste in the pentode mode and it thickens that sweet blackface tone. Pete Anderson said that God lives in the mid-range! Very lightweight amp, (pine cabinet). With pedals the amp is still loud, but usable at home, which is where I play most of the time.

Since I play mostly at home , the Mercury is another amp that interests me as well. I like the built in attenuator, and from the clips that I heard on www.steelbender.com, it also has a real nice clean sound and also comes with an attitude. It does not have a mid control, but a cut control. It also has a 3 position boost mode, that cuts out the tone stack so you have no eq adjustment in 2 of the positions, but you can use the cut switch to trim the highs. I really like the looks of that amp.

I also have a MAZ 18 and it is a loud amp and the 2x10 model is definitely in your face in a bedroom enviroment. Really nice amp and I love mine, but if I had to get rid of one or the other (Carr or the Z ), the Z would go. Good luck with your amp search.

[pluto]

Sorry, I'm a little late on this thread, but as Stan and sonsop said, the Maz 18 ain't no bedroom amp. Far from it actually. It has IMO one of the most useless master volumes I've ever heard. Going back to your original questions, I've said this before and I'll say it again- A small amp does not mean big sound in the little bedroom. Small amps sound small. Big amps will always sound big no matter if you're playing in a little 4x4 room like my bedroom or a 100,000 seat stadium. Get a big amp that has a very useful master volume and it will sound a zillion times better than a little amp in a bedroom setting. You'll look stupid silly with a 100 watter over a 4x12 cab like I do, but at least you'll sound good.

[dannopelli]

Sorry, I'm a little late on this thread, but as Stan and sonsop said, the Maz 18 ain't no bedroom amp. Far from it actually. It has IMO one of the most useless master volumes I've ever heard. Going back to your original questions, I've said this before and I'll say it again- A small amp does not mean big sound in the little bedroom. Small amps sound small. Big amps will always sound big no matter if you're playing in a little 4x4 room like my bedroom or a 100,000 seat stadium. Get a big amp that has a very useful master volume and it will sound a zillion times better than a little amp in a bedroom setting. You'll look stupid silly with a 100 watter over a 4x12 cab like I do, but at least you'll sound good.

Why do you say it has a useless Master? I find it very useful. Totall different sound pushing the preamp tubes vs pushing the power tubes. But that is just my opinion. I am a pretty big DrZ fan.

I do agree it is loud. But it can sound fine at low volumes. Hell most amps sound thin at low volumes.

IMHO you want quiet practice get a POD.

[jastro]

How about a Dr. Z Mini Z or a Victoria 518?

I agree that 18-20 watts through a 12" speaker is too much for the bedroom, but 5 watts through a 8" speaker should be much more reasonable in terms of volume.

[pluto]

Why do you say it has a useless Master? I find it very useful. Totall different sound pushing the preamp tubes vs pushing the power tubes. But that is just my opinion. I am a pretty big DrZ fan.

I do agree it is loud. But it can sound fine at low volumes. Hell most amps sound thin at low volumes.

IMHO you want quiet practice get a POD.

IMO, an extremely useful master volume requires two things:
1) A smooth volume taper. That's why IMO, the boogie Mark series amps did not have a good master volume. The Maz 18 has the same problem as well. There's too much of a volume jump between 2 and 2.1 on the master volume.
2) Great tone no matter where the master is set (not overly buzzy). Amps that have that type of master volume are typically either very preamp based anyway (i.e., all of the Bogner line except the Metropolis, VHT, the JCM2000 series Marshalls), or have a PPIV master (Bray modded Marshalls, Aiken, the simple RICH mod done on any 4 or 2 input Marshall), or have some type of device whether it be built in attenuation like a few Aiken amps, Carr Mercury (which I have not heard so I'm going by its internet reputation), power scaling, SAG control, etc. which gives power amp type distortion at less than loud volumes. The Maz 18 does not IMO fit this bill. The master volume has to be pushed higher than what I would consider to be true bedroom volumes to sound good as the preamp gain alone is too way to thin and brittle sounding.
Totally agreed about the POD-if you want to play at 2:00 in the morning, get a headphone amp.

EDIT-oh by the way, my opinion is only related to tube amps. Digital amps like Line 6 or SS amps like the Tech 21 Trademark series amp line obviously sound great at low volumes.

[dannopelli]

[QUOTE=pluto]... The Maz 18 does not IMO fit this bill. The master volume has to be pushed higher than what I would consider to be true bedroom volumes to sound good as the preamp gain alone is too way to thin and brittle sounding....
Totally agreed about the POD-if you want to play at 2:00 in the morning, get a headphone amp...[QUOTE]

:) OK. Well that is a different qualifier. Like most tube amps they need some current through the power tubes, some decent amount of volume that preclude then from sounding good at extremely low volume. But they are not designed for that. Like driving an M3 in the slow lane.

I guess my disagreement is with the statement that the Master is useless on a Maz 18. If you qualify it that it does not provide good tone at extremely low volume I totally agree. Same is ture of most amps over 20 watts, (the Maz 18 really is about 22wats). But utilized for the volume range it was designed for it provides a wealth of tone shaping.

Just MHO!! :)

[Wbb]

Great combination, Maz Jr & Hollow T Classic! I've gigged regularly with this rig for several years, and recently added a Maz Sr /ZBest.

I couldn't agree more with above statements, the Jr is no bedroom amp...it's LOUD. But there are plenty of Z's out there that never leave the house, sometimes it's more about owning quality than about how much volume can be had. If you decide to go Z, buy a Rt 66 comp/OD, it's all you need to help you dial in and control volume for country, blues, rock, just about anything really.

Another option in the inexpensive category, but great sounding amp with the Hollow T, is a Fender Blues Jr with a Greenback.

[Classic T]

All amps mentioned are very good choices. Another fine amp for your Hollow T is the Aiken Invader MKII 18-watt. The preamp voicing options, tone-shaping circuits, and reverb are first rate. The built-in attentuator is very good and one of the best sounding ones I have heard. I use both Hollow and Solid T Classics with mine and the tones are great. I have the 112 Combo with the Aiken A12L Speaker. I have a lot of amps and guitars here, but I always seem to migrate towards the Aiken and a Tobacco Burst Anderson T Classic. :D

[guitarzan]

If you decide to go Z, buy a Rt 66 comp/OD, it's all you need to help you dial in and control volume for country, blues, rock, just about anything really.


If you decide to get that Route 66 pedal, lemme know. I'm the West Coast rep for them and can help you with the deal.

-corey