Dr. Z Monza

The New Gear: Maintenance, Repair, and Modification Forum.
----Hosted by Al Benoit

Dr. Z Monza

Postby Alain Benoit » Fri May 04, 2012 1:02 am

It's pretty.
It's got red tolex.
It's the 10" combo version.
This model does not have a PPIMV, that feature was released this year.
The driver is an eminence 10" alnico "Red Fang".
EL84 based output section.
20 watts.
One 12AX7 for a preamp stage, one 12AX7 for a PI.

On lighting it up, I found the volume control to be scratchy, odd for anew amp of this ilk.
Turning the volume up even a moderate amount resulted in a lot of hiss, again surprised at this outcome.

Stay tuned for test results, expectations are high.

A.

Image
www.fluidaudiogroup.com

"No one has time to do it right, but we all seem to have time to do it twice."
User avatar
Alain Benoit
Self Biased Resistor
 
Posts: 1321
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:21 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Dr. Z Monza

Postby macrae11 » Fri May 04, 2012 7:07 am

I should have gotten Matt to take that up to the session today.
User avatar
macrae11
Andrew MacRae
 
Posts: 2128
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:12 pm
Location: Oromocto

Re: Dr. Z Monza

Postby Alain Benoit » Thu May 10, 2012 3:51 pm

Well after having a few guitar players try it the results are in and they are not pleasing.

The controls work like this, the 'volume' is really a gain control while the 'drive' is just a little bit more gain in a different way.
The tone control is more bassy on the left and more trebly on the right.
It was really very difficult to get this amp to clean up nicely at any kind of usable volume, actually the 'volume' control didn't let hardy any sound through until it was nearly at 9:00.
In my opinion single 10" combos are not super useful except for maybe a harp amp. If a combo is to have a single driver it needs to be a 12" one and needs to be ferrite magnet based and have some capability of reproducing some low end preferably even a bump in that area. In this case it was a single ten AND an Alnico one at that, way too bright and way too shrill. The tone control needed to be planted weel left of center to get anything semi useful. Plugging the amp into a 412 combo almost redeemed it somewhat, almost.

In conclusion this amp needed a lot of tweeking to find anything close to usable, and that's with only three knobs in total, should not have been difficult but it was, at it's best it hinted of something potentially cool but fell well short of delivering.

Of course I bothered to open it up for an interior inspection. Construction was turret board style with reasonable quality components.
Still though at a $1500 price tag and a sound only a mother could love.......................................

Image

Image

Image
www.fluidaudiogroup.com

"No one has time to do it right, but we all seem to have time to do it twice."
User avatar
Alain Benoit
Self Biased Resistor
 
Posts: 1321
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:21 pm
Location: Canada

Re: Dr. Z Monza

Postby Mathieu Benoit » Thu May 10, 2012 4:03 pm

macrae11 wrote:I should have gotten Matt to take that up to the session today.



Think of all the time we'd have wasted. :-P
"Volume automation takes time. You don't got that kinda time. You could be getting naked with somebody somewhere." -Slipperman

Mathieu Benoit - Fluid Productions
www.fluidaudiogroup.com
www.facebook.com/FluidAudioGroup
User avatar
Mathieu Benoit
Drumwaiter
 
Posts: 4707
Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2007 7:55 pm
Location: Saint John, New Brunswick

Re: Dr. Z Monza

Postby macrae11 » Thu May 10, 2012 5:20 pm

Well there you go. Didn't notice that it was the single 10" version. Single 10"s work great for small one trick amps. Fender Champ and Pro Junior, Epiphone Valve Junior. Not usually as a workhorse amp.
User avatar
macrae11
Andrew MacRae
 
Posts: 2128
Joined: Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:12 pm
Location: Oromocto

Re: Dr. Z Monza

Postby Alain Benoit » Thu May 10, 2012 6:59 pm

That's one of the issues I have with how they are doing this, most of their models are available in different configurations.
Well that may not always work, for example would you want a Fender Twin with a single 10" driver?

I really believe that this amp should have been a single 12" combo but with a conventional ferrite magnet driver, may not have saved it but would not have made it any worse.

A.
www.fluidaudiogroup.com

"No one has time to do it right, but we all seem to have time to do it twice."
User avatar
Alain Benoit
Self Biased Resistor
 
Posts: 1321
Joined: Mon Jul 03, 2006 12:21 pm
Location: Canada


Return to Fluid Wireworks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests

cron