Amp Comparison ~ inspired by D/FW XJ'er: Guess the amps! :)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Draelyc
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Draelyc

Draelyc

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Some of you know that recently my Quest For Tone led me to try out a Dr. Z Maz 18, and that I've been having a tough time "gelling" with it, despite what a truly lovely amp it is. Fellow forumite D/FW XJ'er suggested that, rather than fighting to get the amp to work with the type of setup I'm used to (namely, running a dirty amp & rolling back my guitar's volume for cleans), it might be better to run the Maz cleanish (i.e., edge of breakup) and use a pedal or pedals for my dirt needs ~ a type of setup I have NO experience with. Well, that got me thinking ~ how much better are the Dr. Z cleans than the clean channel of my main amp, which is my Speed Twin.

So I decided to lay down a quick & ugly comparison. To keep things even, I ran both amps into the same cab (Crate Blue Voodoo 1x12 ported/closed back w/ a V30), using the same mic & mic position. I didn't even tweak the mic position ~ just threw it in front of the cab & hit record.

See if y'all can tell which amp is which!

Amp "A" Clean

Amp "B" Clean

And then, just for fun, I decided to compare the amps' dirty tones. So I dimed the Maz's preamp volume & switched to the Speed Twin's od channel. Same cab & mic setup.

Same crappy, clam-filled playing, too! :doh:

Amp "A" Dirty

Amp "B" Dirty

EDIT: New Clip Added!


Amp "B" Dirty (avg. vol.) thru GREENBACKS

All clips were recorded at a volume just a bit too loud to talk over, but not quite up to rehearsal/jamming volume.

Thoughts? Opinions? Random comments? :D

Chris
 
I dug amp A more for clean and dirty - I've not played either amp so I have no idea which is which. I'd take amp A and hit it with a boost for higher gain - kick off the pedal and roll back the volume for clean. If I was to make a guess, I'd say amp A is the Dr Z.
 
I couldn't tell a huge difference in the cleans. I thought the cleans were slightly better on Amp A. Like they had more bounce.

Amp B was more saturated on the dirty and I'm gonna guess that was the speed twin. All in all, at that level of volume the speed twin probably sounds better than the Z since you need a good push to get the Z sounding good.
 
Interesting, fellas ~ thanks for the responses!

Three more quick pairs of clips before I resolve the mystery. ;) Since volume is a big factor here, I did a clip of each amp at 1) average volume, 2) LOUD volume (shaking the room a bit, actually), and "barely on" volume ~ I started with the master off & only turned it until sound came out

In each clip, there's the amps are boosted with my Banzai Fireball, which I discovered after I finished was set for high compression. Dammit, I meant to turn the pedal's compression off, but it's too late to redo 'em... In the first pair, you hear the amp by itself first, then boosted. The second & third pair are boosted from the start.

Anyway, here they is:

Amp A ~ average volume

Amp B ~ average volume

Amp A ~ LOUD

Amp B ~ LOUD

Amp A ~ lowest possible volume

Amp B ~ lowest possible volume

Oh, btw, the playing is even more crap-tacular, as I moved a bunch of heavy crap to the attic this afternoon, and my tendonitis was starting to act up. :aww:
 
Amp B sounds about the same low or medium, but opened up nicely cranked. Amp A sounds more open all the time and is less compressed. If you hit amp A harder with the boost or add some drive from the boost it would probably sound really good. Honestly the only clip of Amp B I've liked is the one where it's cranked. But the lower volume clips could possibly be fixed with mic placement.

I still think A is the Dr. Z and B is the other amp.
 
I think they both sounded pretty good but if I had to choose it would be amp A. a bit more open and dimensional.
 
Thanks for the replies, y'all. Interesting that A seems to be edging out B all around... I liked A a bit better for cleans, myself, but I'd have thought B would fare better for the dirty tones... Hmmmm...
 
Amp A just sounds better, I'm gonna say this the Dr Z.
The clean tones on Amp B are thinner and the the dirty tones are much darker.

Amp A wins IMO.
 
nighttrain69":qflfbxf7 said:
styx ,great song , both sound good :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

They put on one helluva show last Wednesday night! :yes: Tommy & JY looked and sounded fantastic ... and we got a great surprise when Chuck came out & played on a couple of songs! :D
 
Too hard to call. Some clips I preferred A, others B. I'd say that A had a slight edge.
 
After a second pass through I'd pick A as the better of the two (for my ears). Except I preferred B for the "LOUD" clip. I don't have a guess on which one is which.
 
Cleans were very similar, but for the dirty tones I preferred A.

I guess the better question is which did you prefer Draelyc?
 
.homewrecker.":3cknl8zj said:
Cleans were very similar, but for the dirty tones I preferred A.

I guess the better question is which did you prefer Draelyc?
Click to expand...

Well, I s'pose that is what it eventually comes down to... :)

Okay, I gotta give it to you RT folks ~ you've got some pretty perspicacious ears. :D Just about everybody who took a guess figured out that Amp A was the Dr. Z and B was the Speed Twin. Kudos to y'all on that. :thumbsup:

As for which I prefer, that's actually tough (I keep going back & forth), hence this thread.

I was surprised at how close I was able to get the Speed Twin's clean channel to the Z's cleans, but I did thing the Z ultimately had a better clean tone ... More depth and richness; the ST's clean channel was a little stiff by comparison.

On the dirty side of town, I'm surprised that that the Speed Twin didn't fare better, though a couple folks did dig the LOUD ST clip. :rock:

Perhaps I'm just not used to such an uncompressed amp, but the Z, particularly when boosted, seemed to me to walk a fine line between "bright" and "raspy," *especially* at average and lower volumes. Cranking the Z seems to remove a lot of the rasp, but I guess side-by-side, the ST's overdrive sounded a bit muffled or muddy. At least, that was Mrs. Draelyc's comment. ;)

Of course, I normally run the Speed Twin through my Greenback-loaded 2x12, and I didn't change any of its settings when I ran it into the V30 1x12 for these clips, so perhaps that may explain some of the muddiness?

At any rate, thanks very much to all the folks who took time to listen and comment ~ MUCH appreciated! :thumbsup:

And I'd love to hear from everyone else, too, so if you get a chance, take a listen & lemme know whatchoo tink, 'k?

Thanks!

Chris
 
brother chris, i always ran my maz jr's just on the edge of breaking up and i mean on the edge... one pete townshend windmill and it would be crunch...
 
dicky sofa":1yypj7ww said:
brother chris, i always ran my maz jr's just on the edge of breaking up and i mean on the edge... one pete townshend windmill and it would be crunch...
Click to expand...

SHAZAM!!!!!!

Forum legend posting :thumbsup:
 
Draelyc":2z6gsdje said:
Well, I s'pose that is what it eventually comes down to... :)

Okay, I gotta give it to you RT folks ~ you've got some pretty perspicacious ears. :D Just about everybody who took a guess figured out that Amp A was the Dr. Z and B was the Speed Twin. Kudos to y'all on that. :thumbsup:

As for which I prefer, that's actually tough (I keep going back & forth), hence this thread.

I was surprised at how close I was able to get the Speed Twin's clean channel to the Z's cleans, but I did thing the Z ultimately had a better clean tone ... More depth and richness; the ST's clean channel was a little stiff by comparison.

On the dirty side of town, I'm surprised that that the Speed Twin didn't fare better, though a couple folks did dig the LOUD ST clip. :rock:

Perhaps I'm just not used to such an uncompressed amp, but the Z, particularly when boosted, seemed to me to walk a fine line between "bright" and "raspy," *especially* at average and lower volumes. Cranking the Z seems to remove a lot of the rasp, but I guess side-by-side, the ST's overdrive sounded a bit muffled or muddy. At least, that was Mrs. Draelyc's comment. ;)

Of course, I normally run the Speed Twin through my Greenback-loaded 2x12, and I didn't change any of its settings when I ran it into the V30 1x12 for these clips, so perhaps that may explain some of the muddiness?

At any rate, thanks very much to all the folks who took time to listen and comment ~ MUCH appreciated! :thumbsup:

And I'd love to hear from everyone else, too, so if you get a chance, take a listen & lemme know whatchoo tink, 'k?

Thanks!

Chris
Click to expand...

Bright and raspy are two things that I would look for in a amp like that, that to me means that they'll cut through the mix like a hot knife through butter. It's always easier to darken a tone rather than brighten it up IMO.
 
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