42 posts
Sold my fiftyone fitty three. Nice amp, no complaints, but I had a surprise offer for it that got the wheels turning, lol. It was no big deal to me either way, I could've lived with or without it, did feel I could do better though if I looked around a bit. Scary how quickly I settled, but within three days of the offer, I found two killer used amps for close to the same money I'd get for the evh. Both are mint. I made the move. Figured this week is my B'day anyway, what the fuck. I did have to drop $300 more outta pocket but I still think it was worth it.
The Dr.z Carmen Ghia is super straight forward, 18 watts, clean to to bluesy tones and sounds damn nice through every speaker/cab I've tried it through. No effects loop but a couple pedals up front cures that. Sounds awesome through my old Fender 2x12 (and not as loud as I was thinking it would be)! I refuse to wear t-shirts two sizes too small, oversized belt buckles and a cowboy hat when playing it.
The Marshall is actually a 100w Chupacabra. Bought it from the original owner who I guess changed the Ceriatone nameplate to Marshall. Really cool thing about this amp, it's been modded by a friend of his, Mark Cameron, who's amps and mods I've always thought sound redic, they're more of a low-mid flavor (unlike the upper mids of the Quick Rod) yet they still cut through in a mix, really easy on the ears, just awesome sounding stuff. The seller is a producer in LA (I googled him, lol). He has a studio with over twenty high gain heads alone, including 2 Cameron CCV's, 5 Cameron modded Marshalls, etc, so I guess it was no loss for him to part with some amps for extra $. He had Cameron take the stock Chupa (which they IMO, already sound great stock, hell, they should, they're based on the Jose modded Plexi scheme floating around the web and are built with high quality components) and make it even more "chewier and warmer while also adding the standard Cameron flavor." So many tweakable things on this amp my head is spinning. Has a 3-way "Era" toggle taking it from 60's Plexi to 80's metal to modern high gain. And I love the external bias points, no need for 'ole shaky hands' to go jittering around in there now. This amps master volume is a treat too, heavy, saturated, open sound at normal volumes! Soooo much easier to play lead stuff vs the dry/tight Quick Rod (which needs a pedal to add that liquidy feel). The ChewpaCameron (;)) has better touch sensitivity as well.
ok, Sir Clipsalot. I need to hear that Dr. Z! :)
You don't seem to be as excited as many about the tone. Many say this amp is a holy grail of some types of tone. This amp has been on my "list" for a good while now. Almost bought one a couple times but I've never played one or heard one in person.
You don't have an alnico speaker to play it through, do you?
And, congrats on two nice scores!
p.s. Most of the comments about it being a holy grail of clean/bluesy tone, are people using it with a Blue, Gold, Red Fang or other Alnico.
Thanks, Jon, Howie.
Oh, I'm excited, lol! I've never had a dedicated rig just for cleans/blues! The guitar is outta place, hehe, but the 5-way switch allows for many different tones, including straty stuff (and this Nez is actually alder+maple top, so it is snappy). 8-)
Yep, clips definitely coming, hopefully this eve. The Z is sweet to be sure, just that it landed the same day the Plexi did and I'm overly excited about that one, been spending most of my playing time with it. Last night I did fire up the Z through a 4x12 loaded with Greenbacks and G12H30's and it was a little dark but not bad, had the tone knob at noon. Today I'll play with the tone knob and try to make a clip. I'm done with speaker buying! I mostly play higher gain stuff and have many of the right speakers for
that duty, lol. The Carmen Ghia is luckily an amp that sounds nice through damn near any speaker though (so I've been reading), so unless the 'ideal' speaker comes along, that's it! The BB in front is a nice match as well I'm learning.
This Dr. Z is a 2007 model - I paid $500 for it, so not bad at all considering it's in new condition. Wish it woulda been the salt-n-pepper version I've seen pix of though, would match the old cab better :). I love that it's cathode based (EL84), no biasing needed!
Thanks Lwb! I WISH I had some of your ability to capture bluesy, lightly overdriven sounds!! What's your secret (pickup choice, single, hum, neck, etc?). I'm having a hard time nailing it. I'll give myself a lot of slack however because it's definitely something I've just never spent time with. Maybe you're right Howie, the speaker may come into play more than I thought. I'll keep tweaking for now until I get a worthy sample of this head. Maybe I just need a few more day to get familiar with it.
Anyway, here's the Chupacameron at medium gain settings. I have no fricken idea where these little cracklin, subtle clicks are coming from, pffft, so try to tune them out. They just started a couple weeks ago. It's not any of my amps, the mics are definitely not being clipped from volume either. Puzzling. The mic pre is not old. I dunno, maybe a mic cable is dying. :(
Medium Crunch / Download
Nice choices, good luck with both of them......
I often dig a neck single sound fer da bloooz. YMMV
Can't listen to the clip right now (on the iPad after bed time) but how that I've read more carefully, WOW on the second amp too!
And while blonde aint my fav, I want first dibs if you ever want to sell the Ghia
BINGEWOOD — Dec 15, 2011I often dig a neck single sound fer da bloooz. YMMV
+1
I tried a DR Z amp out on an amp quest a few years back and all I can say about it is Hi Fidelity That is how impressed I was with it. A little too bright for my taste (but it had 2-10's in it) but it sure sounded rich and clear. I should have tried some tube pedals through it and one of my EVM12L's.
also, an alnico speaker will smooth out those highs. They have less harsh highs than regular speakers.
Just a little update on the CG...getting more familiar with it, I think it's gonna end up being good with the Greenback/H30 blend I've been into lately. Where I'm running into a problem though is my pickups, they're all rather HOT output, every guitar I own in fact. Even when splitting a humbucker, it's still hot. The Z amps seem to sound best with lower output pups (and shine with single coils). A buddy is letting me borrow his Strat for the weekend which is loaded with DiMarzio Noiseless single coils, so lots of experimenting time for me. I will deliver a clip (for better or worse). Either way - it's a WIP, I mean I nabbed the amp, phase one (most important) checked off. In time I can find the right complimentary pieces for it (speaker/cab/guitar/pickups, etc).
Ship it up to me for testing and I PROMISE to do clips with my Red Fang alnico. :)
DreamTheaterRules — Dec 16, 2011Ship it up to me for testing and I PROMISE to do clips with my Red Fang alnico. :)
Now that would be worth the price of shipping.
desertbluesman — Dec 18, 2011[quote author=DreamTheaterRules link=1323793176/0#14 date=1324057049]Ship it up to me for testing and I PROMISE to do clips with my Red Fang alnico. :)
Now that would be worth the price of shipping.
LOL! Was thinking the same thing! I may be ordering a new speaker for it here right after the holiday break, won't be recording with it for a while, could easily let him use it for a while....and to hear the clips, well, that would be an interestiong experiment.
he didn't promise to POST the clips... ;)
Wasn't gonna post this because it sounds like ass...I definitely need a couple of proper pieces to go with the Dr. Z, namely a lower output pickup and a higher headroom speaker as all my stuff is geared toward breaking up sooner....you can hear towards the end of the clip, as soon as I switch to the full humbucker (bridge) position and roll the volume up full, it compresses and gets ckanky sounding. Oh well...I did say I'd post a clip, lol, can't say I didn't now. I don't care for the rhythm tone either, again, no fault of the amp but the other pieces.
Carmen Ghia Test / Download
This makes me feel better though, an updated crunch sample of the Plexi...
Crunch / Download
Derek check this out:
www.languageunion.net/Chewpacameron_Crunch_3.mp3
White is the equalizer curve of Chewpacameron_Crunch_2 clip (your original). Green is the corrected curve and its clip is above (Chewpacameron_Crunch_3).
Don't get me wrong. It is just the correction of the eq curve so I don't mean that you should equalize it this way.
The curve says so. :P
I really dig it. This way.
Thanks but WAY too much WOOF in that "corrected" clip (for my taste)!
edit: BTW, I shoulda mentioned in the clip post - if you listen closely, you'll hear that there are actually different amp settings for each riff within the clip. Since I JUST got this thing, I'm still getting familiar with it, so I'm basically making different clips for reference. What I did here was record a riff, stop, mess with the amp some, record another riff, etc (keeping notes on all settings). Then I can come back later with fresh ears and see where I'm at (what grabs me as 'good' or 'bad').
Hi Derek, thanks !
No secrets. Low output single coil pickups, low gain settings on the amp and a pair of OD pedals, that's all.
The most difficult part (IMHO) is to find low output single coil PU's with a well balanced sound.
The best sounding PU's I've tried out were a set of Barden (old model with a single blade). Wow !!! Nice highs but not brittle, good bass and low output.. Anyway a set of three costs more than a MIM Fender Strat.... not for my budget.. ;)
Ciao!
Marco
Thanks for the tips, lwb! I think I'm right with ya there, gonna go with the pickup option first (or just find a decent used guitar that already has some nice low output pups loaded up). After reading A BUNCH on the "Z-Talk" boards, I'm seeing many Ghia users loving worn in Heritage Greenback speakers....so I happen to have a couple of those, gonna hold off buying a new speaker until I do a lot more testing, lol. Maybe I just tried tracking my first clip way to loud. I've also read that the Classic Lead 80 is a great choice as well - if I do break down an pick up a single speaker for use with this head, that'd prolly be the one I go with as I used to have one and really like them, and they also happen to pair very good with G12H30's (anniversary) for gainy stuff.
The Cameron amp is just KILLING me, best amp I've ever plugged into, period. The Splawn after three years, may be on thin ice.
Derek,
From everything I've read, Greenbacks or their variants would be a typical second choice for Dr. Z users, after the Alnico speakers. But they do have to be well broken in because they are a bit zingy until they are and that's the last thing you want with the brighter Dr. Z amps. Once they mellow some, they are really nice.
I'd not bother trying to tame highs with a speaker - if it's not pretty close with a "normal" speaker and you have to go way out of your way to get something that's workable... meh, screw it. plenty of awesome amps that WILL sound good through the speakers you have.
I want to try out the dimarzio area pickups (58, etc) ... haven't yet, so can't recommend. but! I -can- recommend a cruiser in the neck for low power nice tone. I got the wrong one (neck model instead of bridge) for the timmons setup guitar but it sounds great. another SSS setup I want to try -> N=cruiser(bridge model)/M=cruiser(neck model)/B=chopper.
texas specials sound very good but are rather noisy. I wouldn't buy them for a new guitar but won't take them out of the one they're in, either. heh.
There are lots of great, cheap alternatives to the big name pickups. Bryan Gunsher at bg-pups.com for example, his prices are very competitive, his pickups are handwound, in the USA of all places, in northern California, in fact! And if you can stand the 6-8 week lead time I think these are the best pickups around in the sub-bareknuckle price category. They are way more complex than Duncans to me (though I do still love my Custom Custom).
As far as the Dr. Z goes, I wouldn't go out of my way to fit a guitar to the amp, before looking at whether the amp really fits you.
Thanks again for the input.
DTR, I hear you, and kinda agree, luckily for me, my Heritage Greenies (30 watters) now have well over 100 hours on them and sound really nice. They sounded good from day one though, at least for high gain tones. I'm trying to tune myself out now from new speaker thoughts the more I read about happy Z owners with the same speakers I have. :)
Sheep - same thing, agree about the speakers, they sould be 'close enough' from the get go, I even think the whole "break in" idea is a little over blown - they'll change some, sure, warm up, loosen, etc, but you're probably either gonna like the tone new or hate it, that won't change much, lol.
Thing about pickup testing, almost a bigger hassle than speaker swappingl!! Cheaper I guess. I wish I owned an SSS routed guitar, would make things easier. Of course I also see a ton of great clips out there with LP's (and I guess PAF type pups) through the same amp and they sound great as well. I just don't happen to have something in house right now that works well (too many Tone Zones, Super Distortions, JB's, Fred, EMG, etc).
I'm loving the amp, Charger, just trying to find a useful (practical) setup to incorporate it into recordings, didn't just buy it to be a jam room/practice amp...but for time being that's what it will be.
Might be a hasty thought at the moment, but if I can move my QR, I'd scout out a used LP and be done with it. :o
just another thought, one which I didn't mention earlier because I figured it wasn't news (ie, so obvious you might take it the wrong way and think that I'm calling you a moron... lol! (I'm not!)) but just in case... you can get low power pickup facsimile by just rolling down the volume on the guitar - rolled down high output humbucker sounds better than single sometimes to me. it's not "blues" but who cares? heh.
should add... I'm in something of a music funk atm and am generally surly about guitars/amps/pedals - I don't like much these days, sick of gear! so my input is coming from that perspective - a tone hunter refugee! need more music in my life and less "tone" or whatever, not sure how to describe it... trying to learn how to play keyboard instead (?!). hah.
Oh yeah, the clip I did is with the volume (guitar) damn near OFF!! ;) Until of course the end, where it farts out.
Keyboards - figured you already have one and noodle around with it!? I do. FUN instrument! Wrist killer though if you don't stick with it. :D
I'd not bother trying to tame highs with a speaker - if it's not pretty close with a "normal" speaker and you have to go way out of your way to get something that's workable... meh, screw it. plenty of awesome amps that WILL sound good through the speakers you have.
Sheep, all due respect, I know what you mean, but I don't think it's that, so much, as the brighter nature of the Z's exposing the crispy top end of some speakers (and pedals!). For example, Dave Barber includes an internal trimmer that he calls a "fizz filter" on many of his pedals. I asked him directly what this was for... he said it was to tame the fizzy nature of many loudspeakers, and he named names. LOL He said "If you have X speaker, you'll probably want to turn the fizz filter on, and if it's XY speaker, turn it up all the way, but if you have XYZ speaker, you can turn it off."
If you ask the legions of Dr. Z fans, finding the right speakers are worth the trouble. I know what you're saying though.
yeah, I get what you're saying - I had a somewhat similar experience with the univalve. lots to love about it but just didn't play well with my other amps sharing one cab. probably could have found the right speaker/cab for it but... meh.
whatever floats the boat!
Would lowering the pups a bit on one of your current axes help?
I like the BB Pro in my Les Paul bridge best about double the recommended string clearance. Takes off some of the edge and clears it up a touch. It sounds good straight into the Tweaker set clean with the volume on about 8 and tone @ 6 or 7. Rolling up the volume adds some bite and sustain to single notes.
Sheep - When I feel the tone irritation funk I pull out the acoustic and capo and work on fingerpicking for a few days. Something about the purity of acoustic tone and concentration required helps reset.
Very nice. The last 30 seconds or so, I could get lost for days noodling with that tone.
I like it. Details please.
Kabala — Dec 23, 2011
Carmen Ghia Noodling / Download
Nice tone
Thanks Tobe, DTR, desertblues. :)
Details? Don't need no stinking details....not when they're this simple. Santa stopped by here on Christmas eve:
Seriously, the clip is simply the new American stock HSS Strat through the Carmen Ghia head (the subtle lead part is with the bb pedal on).
On Christmas eve I took the Ghia head with me to GC to check out some guitars through it. The Tele's were great (as expected) but not too versatile. The Strats all sounded great and had a wider range of tones, plus, I could use a Strat for heavier stuff as well if need be (through my other amps). This particular one looked better than it played as it was not set up very well (but it was heavily discounted ;D). That had me nervous to pull the trigger because my only lengthy experience with Strats is playing my dads, and it's not exactly set up like a greasy fast super Strat. The sales dude assured me Fenders can be set up that way and grabbed another nice one that I suppose he knew was a blazer (had that big, 70's headstock and was a couple hundred less, but was S/S/S...woulda been my second choice though ;)). It played like butter. Anyway, I bought this one (always loved the Sienna Burst look), got it home, set it up the way I like and sure enough, it plays like a dream across the board with no buzz. Whew! I've already ordered DiMarzio Area '58 and '61 pickups after sampling many clips, reading specs, etc. The stock Fender "Diamonback" humbucker sounds great, it can stay, it's nice and balanced, kinda reminds me of a lower output Super Distortion (it does have
some teeth).
Some more pr0n:
I got a strat for the "blues" once... I only play strats now. heh.
nice guitar! will be very interested in your opinion re: the area pickups.
lol...I know what you mean. After just a few days it's the only guitar I've been reaching for. They're sneaky.
I'll post clips when I get the new ones here and installed. The stock ones are "Tex Mex" of some sorts and not bad, but as you say, "heh." ;)
The way I see it, both of those pickups are very popular, especially in the neck, and I guess the '61 anywhere, so if I don't love the '58 in the neck, I could just swap them. They both match up with the stock humbucker.
yeah, I've read really good things.
as the matching goes, I don't really try to do that... about to try an X2N bridge soon - with a cruiser in the neck.... lol.