Dr. Z Visit

[BoogieMKIIA]

In Cleveland this week. I emailed Dr. Z support asking if I could visit and they said sure! 

Frank in Customer Service gave a tour, answered tons of questions and let me test drive a number of amps. My favorites were the Z Wreck, Z Wreck Jr and Z Lux. So nice and accommodating. The shop is not large but loaded with cool stuff for an enginerd like me. Here are some shots.

Dr. Z at his bench, Frank, etc.

[BoogieMKIIA]

More pics -

[BoogieMKIIA]

[BoogieMKIIA]

[BoogieMKIIA]

[velorush]

Wow! Amazing!

Odd though, I didn't see @bubs_42 in any of the photos.

[hamerhead]

Oh but he's there alright - in the heads of all those poor employees.

[Jakeboy]

Our @bubs_42 def has the doc’s attention. Brothers in tone.

[BoogieMKIIA]

Had I known @bubs_42 knew him well I could have mentioned him. Or maybe not? 

[bubs_42]

Everyone knows Bubs, it’s a curse. Doc and Franky are great, we’ve met a couple of times at the last few Z Fest.  Bubs= Mr. Z28

Edited February 11 by bubs_42

[ArnieZ]

Mike Zaite is a very nice, acommodating guy. I went to med school in Cleveland. Use to tease him that I was actually the real Dr Z☺️. on a trip back to Cleveland for a conference, that seem to take place at thr RnR Hall of Fame, I called him and asked if I could have a visit. He was very pleasant and showed me around. He had recently lost his head guy to illness and was trying to get reorganized. Those were the days of my Z28 head and 4x10 cabinet. Probably the best amp I ever owned including my 66 Pro Reverb. Glad you enjoyed the visit!

arniez

[Disturber]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!! 

[BruceM]

Wow, thank you!  So much Z goodness.

But, looks like he needs to turn the heat up in there.  It's winter!

[BoogieMKIIA]

It has warmed a little since I got here on Sunday, was in the single digits/teens. The snow is starting to go away.

[draelyc]

Cool write up and great pics!  I had a Maz 18 head some years back — phenomenal amp.  Would be way cool to see the shop like that.

[bubs_42]

Folks should really look into a Dr Z Amp. The quality of the amps are second to none, and Doc is still trying to make boutique for the working musician. Doc has finally started using Master Volumes on a lot of his amps, and doing it his way. Most of all the amps are cathode biased for easy use and maintenance for customer ease. When he brought back the Z28, to add the MV he needed to go to cathode bias to make it work as well as possible. So he up the wattage and went from 6v6’s to 5881’s to beef up the low end and fullness of the amp to make up the difference in the Fixed Biased MK1 Amps.

Being a huge fan of that amp and owning 3 of them, he sold me a prototype before the release so I could play it and give feedback. He nailed it, it sounded just like my MK1 only I could turn it down to a whisper volume or wide open.

I also purchased an SRZ-65 from a Music Go Round which happened to be owned by Joe Walsh. It was used on the first leg of the Hell Freezes over tour, and the RNR Hall of Fame Eagles induction ceremony. It had been poorly serviced over the years, beat up in shipping, and a prominent member of the Z Forum had purchased it and returned it because DRZ said it would cost too much to fix. I finally purchased it, and it arrived non working. I took it to my local shop and asked them to only do what needs to be done to make it work. Then a year later I sent it to DRZ to have it serviced. Once in their hands, I got an email stating that Doc himself was going to take on the project. Doc took the amp completely apart, piece by piece, repaired the chassis and built the amp back up. Yes he charged me, but for me it was about preserving history. 

 I have new Z’s and old Z’s and the quality in the cabinets to the wiring has gotten so much better over the years. His team, is small and invested in what they do, and they care about the products and you. Much like a small builder would and should. 

I’m a lifer, because the amps and the people who make them are second to none. 

 

Edited February 14 by bubs_42
Just sloppy, evens sloppy for me.

[BubbaVO]

How cool is that!!!  I love the HFC. 

[Disturber]

4 hours ago, bubs_42 said:

 

I’m a lifer, because the amps and the people who make them are second to none. 

 

 

This for sale over here in Scandinavia. About 10 minutes from where I live. Seller asks 3000$. 

It seems to be a collaboration with Brad Paisley? Good amp? What about the price?

[bubs_42]

46 minutes ago, Disturber said:

This for sale over here in Scandinavia. About 10 minutes from where I live. Seller asks 3000$. 

It seems to be a collaboration with Brad Paisley? Good amp? What about the price?

Doc’s collaboration with Ken Fisher for Brad Paisley. Super Amp, Loud Amp, 2025/26 introduced the Master Volume Mod. It’s meant to be turned up. Very popular amp. 3k American for a set would be a find. 

[bubs_42]

Speaking of Quantum Silver

 

[mrjamiam]

1 hour ago, bubs_42 said:

Doc’s collaboration with Ken Fisher for Brad Paisley. Super Amp, Loud Amp, 2025/26 introduced the Master Volume Mod. It’s meant to be turned up. Very popular amp. 3k American for a set would be a find. 

To emphasize Bubs' response, the collaboration of interest is more with Ken Fischer, known for his Trainwreck amps.  Ken is no longer alive, and all of his handbuilt amps are highly sought-after.  There are schematics floating around the internet of some of his circuits - at least that is what they are supposed to be.  Some manufacturers have built amps that are supposedly Ken's designs.  Anything with Ken's name reliably attached to it commands a price premium.  There is plenty to be found on the internet regarding Ken and his amps.

[BoogieMKIIA]

I played one in the shop with the Master volume, it's a tremendous amp. If you can't let it breathe a bit ( playing with a drummer loud), you will miss something. If you get dirt from pedals I think it would still be great, but you miss part of the magic when you turn up the gain. There is also a half power mod, you loose the speed/comfort switch.

From your part of the world it would be expensive to ship back and forth for factory mods. Still, a great price and very usable if completely stock. I think the list for the set is US$4299.00

[veatch]

There's all sorts of cool going on here. 

Not to make this about me, 'cause it ain't, but I've liked every Dr. Z I've tried. I'm considering replacing the Egnaters, really happy with the sound,  but MIC, so reliability is a bit "edgy".  I've done a few repairs already. Might be good to either get a serious Egnater, or move over to the doc. 

What would you recommend for dual channel classic rock amp. One channel set cleanish on the edge of breakup that I push harder with pedals and the other channel "Dire Straights"/ Pretenders clean. Solo boost highly preferred (don't like sending multiple cables in the FX loop... I know, I know...)

Don't wanna do a highjack. Can start a new thread...

Edited February 23 by veatch

[BoogieMKIIA]

27 minutes ago, veatch said:

There's all sorts of cool going on here. 

Not to make this about me, 'cause it ain't, but I've liked every Dr. Z I've tried. I'm considering replacing the Egnaters, really happy with the sound,  but MIC, so reliability is a bit "edgy".  I've done a few repairs already. Might be good to either get a serious Egnater, or move over to the doc. 

What would you recommend for dual channel classic rock amp. One channel set cleanish on the edge of breakup that I push harder with pedals and the other channel "Dire Straights"/ Pretenders clean. Solo boost highly preferred (don't like sending multiple cables in the FX loop... I know, I know...)

Don't wanna do a highjack. Can start a new thread...

I don’t have a Z so I couldn’t really say. There is a page on their web site that gets some info like what you stated and someone there will respond. http://drzamps.com/amp-recommendation-form/
 

Also, look at the different amp descriptions. Dr. Z doesn’t do dual channels, some models have a boost function. They say you can go from clean to dirty by the guitar volume knob. True from my time in their shop but can’t say that would work to have a cleanish tone for leads at the same volume as a dirty/drive tone with the guitar volume all the way up.

@bubs_42 would be a person to talk to about Z amps (Z28)

[bubs_42]

@veatch DR Z doesn’t really make any multi channel amps. The Nova is the only one that switches between two gain stages. Like stated above, I use my volume knob and pick attack along with a couple pedals to cover everything I need to do. 

@BruceM has had a Ghia and a Z28 in the 4321 Backline for over 20 years. The Maz 18 is a staple that has been in a lot of Texas and Nashville stages since the 90’s, the ZWreck Jr definitely rocks, and the Z28 straddles the gap between English and American Rock N Roll. 
 

the EMS gives you a lot of Marshall tweak ability in one amp. 
 

All the Z Amps are very vintage inspired. You will definitely hear more fidelity in a Z Amp. 
 

if it’s multi channel you need, I would suggest looking elsewhere.