Dr. Z EZG-50 Update

[tsp17]

This amp was good but almost unmanageable on delivery.  Sounded really kind of amazing, but noisy and so LOUD.  Very Aggressive tone, even with the 'Pre" less than 11:00.  Cool, but I need it to be more palatable at small/medium club level.   I can hear why Dr. Z advertised it as having the SRV Mocambo sound.  Jeez this thing is an animal.  Couldn't quite settle it down at manageable volume.  It was not original tubes.  Loaded with what looked like a combination of JJ power tubes and a mix of JJ, GrooveTube and NOS preamp tubes. 

did some experimental tube swapping ....

Tried TAD 7025 in V1 and V3 in an attempt to quiet the noise and settle things a bit.  Nope.

Tried Mesa Boogie 6L6GC and rectifier tubes I had hanging around from another amp...Better ...

Tung-Sol 12ax7 reissue in V1 and V3- YES!!!!! Much quieter, warmer and just really plain soulful.   Classic 6L6 bold and clear, lots of guts even super clean, still reflecting the character of this amp.  I like it a lot.  I'm going to try some other power tubes,  and see where the tone journey takes it.  

 

[kennyv4]

I'm glad you figured it out.

[tsp17]

Ugh! Had it dialed in perfect for a day then i moved the amp to try it with a different cabinet (the one i gig with) and the reverb cut out.  Tried changing the reverb tube, no luck.  Maybe a loose connection.  Into the shop it will go.  Bummer.  

 

[bolero]

Did you check the reverb cables? Reseat etc? Weird!

[Jaguarguy]

23 hours ago, tsp17 said:

Ugh! Had it dialed in perfect for a day then i moved the amp to try it with a different cabinet (the one i gig with) and the reverb cut out.  Tried changing the reverb tube, no luck.  Maybe a loose connection.  Into the shop it will go.  Bummer.  

 

You might try calling Don at Dr. Z.  He's pretty good at diagnosing problems over the phone.  Here's the info (I think this is a direct line to Don in repairs.

Dr. Z Repair Dept. :

(216) 475-1962 

repairs@drzamps.com

 

 

Edited October 28 by Jaguarguy

[smokedtires]

Good luck, sounds like you're heading in the right direction.

[tsp17]

On 10/27/2024 at 7:46 PM, bolero said:

Did you check the reverb cables? Reseat etc? Weird!

Yeah- I can’t figure it out.  I will give my amp tech jeff Snider (Snider Amps) a shot at it.  He often recommends other little tweaks to improve an amp and is very reasonable.  Good guy.  He modded my old Vintage Sound 20 and it was awesome.  I might have him do some version of the Dr. Z mod on this one.  Dr. Z recommended sending it to them to do (rightly so) but the shipping cost alone makes it not so feasible. Would almost double the cost of the mod round trip.