Dr. Z releases the much-anticipated Z-28 Mk. II, a new take on his EF-86 design, and an amp to hold its own amongst the classics of the Z Amp lineup. More about the new Z-28 Mk. II at drzamps.com/product/z-28-mk-ii/
There isn't a more genuine, open and approachable designer/innovator/business owner in the amp industry than the Doc himself. ..and some folks wonder why Z owners are absolute fanatics!! Looking forward to hearing this beast in person.
Congrats Dr. Z! Always loved your tones. Glad you listened to your lawyer! Lol I know your not an actual doctor, but I’d still trust you to do my hernia operation!!🇨🇦❤️
Z amps are rock solid, my 2007 maz 18 still working great. I have only changed the tubes a few times. I own other brands but something so special about Dr Z amps a feeling of confidence. Great tone and quality can’t wait for my Z/28 I think it will be my new favorite
Dude!!!! I bought a Z-28 last year, and I can’t tell you how much I love that amp! It’s a RED head with Brown/Black matrix grill cloth. It’s an older one with only the 4 & 8 Ohm outputs. So many great tones, and it really does handle effects. Fuzz, Overdrive, modulation, Delay all sound great, straight in. It also sounds amazing by itself, or with just a Strymon Flint. EQ is very dynamic, and allows you to get many different shades of gain. Can split the difference between “Brownface” and “Blackface” perfectly, or give you an amazing, tight creamy “Brownface” crunch. I use it with an attenuator. Which is fine for in home play, but is a compromise playing in a band for the reasons you talked about. If I had the scratch, I would totally love to have this new one with the Post Phase Inverter Master.
Z takes aspects of the three top vintage amp companies and tastefully combines them in different ratios as well as adding his own ideas into the mix to great effect.But he doesn’t over complicate the designs either. It makes sense you like his amps! They’re great!
100% agree on the idea of making the cab matter. Cabs seem to be a standardized afterthought on smaller model amps nowadays. And you’re right about them all sounding boxy.
Hello Doctor, I hope all of you are doing well. Some day I would like to meet you and just talk about amps. I love the red tolux with the gray grill cloth, it looks so good. This new Z28 MK ll sounds like she would be wonderful all around amp for Rock , Country, Blues etc. Stay safe and well and keep Rocking. Signed; John Gregory ( Zepbass) bass player, from Munster Indiana.
I'm 66 and still using my Route 66. It's the amp I've owned the longest, at least a couple decades, and I've owned some great amps. I modified a couple Marshall's with 5881s and like the full sound. I always get compliments on my tone. This seems like another great amp.
I have a 99Route 66. Not using it much lately because of the small gigs I’m playing. Great amp sometimes I use it and run it through the maz 18 cab too lazy to drag out the zbest cab
Dr. Z , A number of years ago , I put a ppi mv in my customers Monza . I could not get a bad tone out of it . A humbucker S.G . and anywhere the controls were set , it sounded GREAT .
All at once, I feel a GAS attack coming on… Proud owner of a Maz 18 Mkii and have fallen in love with every Dr Z I’ve ever had the privilege to play. The Z-28 has got to be another Z winner
Ef86’s are special! They’re finicky and take some patience but they’re definitely my favorite preamp. Put a dampener on them (makes a big difference) and if you can go with a head instead of a combo with EF86s.
Dr. Z simply has the prescriptions I need for tone! Got a z wreck, that thing sounds so good and plays so well I got rid of the rest of my amps. Now I got a z28 on pre order with sweet water. I’ll be a z customer for life can not say enough good things about your amps doc! 🤘🏼
Hello Me? hahaha I had the same experience, I got the Z-Wreck with matching cab and It's now the only amp I own too. Also to ad to that I am so close to ordering a Z-28Mkii combo. I obviously need to stop copying you... 😅
Congratulations on the new Z-28 Mk II, Dr. Z! I've never owned an amp as satisfying as the Z-Lux I bought last December. It's a masterpiece, and I'm sure the Z-28 is as well. I used to have a Camaro Z-28, by the way!
Been looking into one of these. A friend of mine is a "Patient" of yours (Adrian), and he loves these amps. Plus, I have a couple Z28 Camaros (an 85 and a 94), so it just seems right. I'll be chatting with him more today about it. The Camaro in this video is my dream car, but that is a dream that will likely never come true, lol, so I'll take the amp!
DR.Z this is a really good idea. It was the ideal model to reissue as it's very unique and a lot of people are very interested in it. It'd a must hear amp to fully and utterly appreciate how tonally rich it is. * Your guitarist did not do the amp justice in video one bit.
Alright, just take my money. You had me when describing the cab - there's just no difference when comparing a wide vs small 1x12 cab - such a great, wide open and airy sound
All your amps are incredible and I'd love to try more but the big flaw in them is how good they are 😅 I've got a Z-Wreck in silver with matching cab and it's so good and versatile that its completely killed my GAS for amps, its unbelievable (insert every guitsr amp buzz words) Its now the only amp I own. Well I've kept my trusty 65 deluxe as well. It was my very first valve amp as a kid.
3 months on a the G.A.S Is unfortunately back. Desperate for a Stangray Head In Red, nice ring to it! 😅, a 2x10 Red Z Cab to go with and a Black Antidote Head to go with my ampless lonely Z-Best Cab. Wouldn't mind a combo too, this Red Z-28 is looking and sounding very tempting!
Congrats Z on the Z28 Mk 2! You’re cooking with gas now! From my experience with your design, I totally agree that the PPI master volume is far superior to attenuation. “like a fader on a board “ as you’ve said.
Would like to see some more adventurous designs say using octal preamp tubes?A Masco/Marshall mash up? Octal preamp w/EL84 (nice harmonic content w/fat octal tone) Looking for something different.
With correct implementation, the dual gang PPIMV without decoupling caps will work fine in a fixed bias amp having no issues from DC. A 6V6 / fixed bias version Z28 is very doable without a major re-design.
It works fine in reducing volume, but the low volume sound can have artifacts and oscillation, as is often the case with PPIMVs in fixed biased amps, as it interfaces with the bias voltage. It's more of a compromise in tone than we are willing to make, we know from experience.
@@DrZAmplification I currently have two fixed bias amps that have the same basic type PPIMV you use. I built the amps and have used three different, non de-coupled, dual gang pot PPIMV circuits. I have used these PPIMV circuits in countless amps over 15 years of building amps and none have problems with bias voltage nor oscillation unless there was an unexpected mistake made. It is easier to get good PPIMV results with a cathode biased amp however negative bias voltage can be used to advantage and there is one small mistake that can ruin the whole PPIMV outcome in a fixed bias amp. The PPIMV you use in the MKII Z28 is no different other than in this amp you have left the grid leak resistors on the board and their final value is altered by being in parallel to the pot elements. (I've noticed you have used at least three different iterations of the basic dual gang PPIMV in various amps over the years). I'm not busting your balls about this, just saying it can be done. I can build the fixed bias, 6v6, Z28 circuit and verify it, but I often use an identical bias circuit to the 6v6, Z28 so I know it works flawlessly even in high gain circuits that have up to two more gain stages than the Z28 or MAZ.
@@anondusery1271 I think you are misunderstanding. We know it can be done. We did it in a few prototypes with a couple of different iterations of the master. The tonal results at a lower volume setting are less desirable in a fixed biased configuration than when using a cathode biased configuration, to our ears. Whether your particular builds sound good to you with your particular ears is one matter. The point of this amp was not simply to slap a master volume in an old Z-28, but to make something that was more pleasing to our ears at this given time.
@Dr Z Amplification There is no misunderstanding. There is no oscillation, no artifacts nor difference in tonal impact when using the PPIMV with fixed or cathode bias. It works just as well in either case. (transparent and no oscillation nor artifacts) If it didn't work without issue, a mistake was made. I made that mistake years ago and found a solution while retaining the circuit I began with. There is no need to change the circuit, tubes, transformer or speaker to employ a PPIMV of this type. It seems you built a different amp as a solution to the PPIMV issue you were having. Although it's a good amp. It's not a Z28 if you get right down to facts. Just as the Route 66, Delta 88 and KT45 are not a Z28 even though they all share a nearly identical preamp and EQ. Now if we start talking about an amp with global NFB, then yes, the PPIMV affects NFB and therefore tone. The amps we are discussing do not have global NFB. Also, a capacitor decoupled PPIMV can be transparent if you calculate and account for the time constant of that part of the circuit, but there is no need since the non-decoupled PPIMV can work flawlessly. Again, I have no quarrel with Dr. Z
DR Z, you didn't explain much about why a fixed bias amplifier would have HALF the wattage compared to a variable cathode bias amplifier plus why the post phase inverter master volume has so much DC noise on the fixed bias amplifier compared to a variable cathode bias amplifier
This is super exciting. The red looks great too. Would you ever sell the head in red as a custom order? If anyone hasn't tried a Dr. Z amp I can promise you that the hype is real. I love my Z-Plus. My only complaint is that it's so perfect it makes me want spend all my money buying more Dr. Z Amps. 😀
@@DrZAmplification thanks for the reply! For anyone who doesn’t already interact with Dr. Z Amps, the customer service is excellent and super responsive to questions. This was a big part of why I decided to purchase a Dr. Z Amp compared to other boutique brands like ToneKing or Morgan.
Sounds very interesting. Any chance of a dealer picking up Dr Z amps here in Australia? Would love a Maz 18. Pedal Empire in Brisbane would be a very cool or Deluxe Guitars in Melbourne.
I'm interested in a Dr z amp..I'm a huge Led zep fan and am after I guess something in the vein of a classic rock mid 70's amp. What would be the most recommended model?
I really love Dr Z amps for what they are, which is a really super well made old school hand wired amp. I am not crazy about Dr. Z's technical support. My client is NOT going to ship his second hand Dr Z amp back to Dr Z. I am just going to make it work again on my own. One Dr. Z had a phase inverter modification and another had an inverted cascode mod. They are very easy to modify. If I knew exactly how, I'd change them back to 100% stock but I don't really need to know how to. They are so easy to work on anyway. I have seen two with the cascode in them, and one used a 12AX7. Cascoded 12AX7s are finicky & fiddly. I think it got changed to a 12AU7. The other went back to the EF86. Which wizard is out there modifying these? Who knows.
So we offer to revert your client's amps that were butchered by someone else that we have no idea as to what they may have or have not properly done, that was bought on the used market mind you, and that's somehow not acceptable? Good luck to you, you seem to have a good handle on it, so I don't know what the problem is.
Why did Paisley get serial number 1? Does he get serial number 1 of all your amps? Or does he use a Z28? I've only ever seen the Z-Wreck, DB4 and Stang Ray in his studio and live set ups.
No he doesn't. It probably went out to him because he was curious to try/have one in his stable. Serial no. 1 for the NOVA went to Jake Kershaw for example because he expressed interest. Brad played MAZ 18 and the Prescription early on. He's most noted for the Z-Wreck, Stang Ray, and DB4 because he had a lot of input on those amps. He currently uses a Z-80 as well, which is unreleased as of now and was built at his requested
@@DrZAmplification Really interesting insight, thank you. I've always been a huge Paisley fan. Do you have any info on other amps from your line he actually uses a lot?
@@daviddorrian5349 that's about the extent of them. He's not particularly fickle and sticks with what he likes ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZQtFvNxDzwQ.html
new fave over the jetta ...i gotta drool on the entry amps, because i can't even afford a camen ghia. i finally got a tube head once, back in the 80s, but no cab before i got in a pinch and had to sell it....life's been bad to me so far. i did my first original album through a used tom sholz rockman half rack and boss 21 band.....you just have to call it "punk" and it's ok. grand son of immigrants, who helped build milwaukee, then helped feed milwaukee .... and what a mistake ??? shouldn't have been, but you know what happened there. we moved to the farm in 75', worked the farm for ten years, then i was out washing dishes and had my motorcycle tech degree by 88' , but i had toured the H-D plant in 87', ( where my grampa had worked for over 40 years from IOEs to late Pans ) and milwaukee was already crawling with stinkies ... like wtf? now what am i supposed to do with my life? ... i ended up doing some remote concept work for H-D, ( still hoping that pays off ), but i am seriously suffering here.. Just 12 Years Later, then, if i even feel like just my personal space is being invaded, that means i am racist ??? remember milwaukee being called, "the most racist city in america" ? wonder why, the stinkies took the place that fast !!! of course now it is way worse, to where they both crash the labor market, and are an unbearably heavy weight on the prosperity; and everyone financially takes it out on me, because they know i am good for it.. so now everyone gets my life story because i am 57 and childless, at the end of both my grandfather's paternal lines, 3/4-2nd gen, 1/4-3rd gen european american genocide victim, with limited freedom of speech in america ??? what am i supposed to do ???
Are all the Dr Z amps, point to point. I thought most of the bigger amp companies were using PCB’s. That would be great if there were using fixable point to point rather than pcb’s.
@@DrZAmplification I know you sell via your dealer network which is fine. Do you ever take calls direct from customers. I wanted to send a picture and get some advice.
