A PREAMP THAT NAILS CRANKED AMP TONE? SYNERGY DR. Z Z-WRECK

From Dr. Z and Synergy, the Z-Wreck module! www.synergyamp...
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[@DrZAmplification]

Incredible work, as usual, Pete. Love the parallel humbucker tones you pulled together in this!

[@PeteThorn]

Glad you like it! Great module, made me want to try the amplifier! I love all things Vox-style and Ken/Trainwreck related, so cool!

[@philipmarsh3522]

Super late to this party (I literally heard about Synergy yesterday) but also great work by Dr Z on this instrument. A real Z Wreck is pretty expensive for a lot of musicians and this makes them more achievable for a lot of working musicians, which is always a good thing in my book. Also shout out for building my JAZ 20/40 which has performed flawlessly for decades and is such an amazing instrument that I’ve never seriously considered a different amp since I reached a skill level to get the most out of it. You folks make great instruments!

[@shorerocks]

Let me just say... one of the best solos you've ever played, Pete.

[@PeteThorn]

Thanks!!!!😊

[@BoneheadGuitars]

I just discovered this channel a week or two ago and can't help but binge it.

[@PeteThorn]

Welcome!!! Enjoy!

[@Dan.the.Guitarman]

That's what happens when you find Pete's work

[@wesleyb_92]

Holy moly. That run at 30 seconds in is wild. Along with all the ones that came after that too hahaha. Pete, you are the very best of us. Much love

[@PeteThorn]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@guitagious9464]

Pete, I could listen to you play all day! You are the right player to review this amp and to show what it was meant to do. I've always loved that "clean to edge of break-up" tone. This amp makes strat-style guitars sound like what they were made to do... a perfect combination (and sweet playing!).

[@PeteThorn]

Thank u!

[@QuinnWeb]

My favorite contemporary rock player. There’s many lessons to be learned by listening to you!

[@PeteThorn]

Thanks!!

[@hollylewis5302]

I have met Brad several times through friends. Stand up guy! GREAT guitar player! I was in living in Nash in 2010 and was there for the flood and know about the storage that destroyed so many instruments. I think some people repurposed as many as they could. Brad really moved me when he tributed EVH at his show. xo

[@victorvaldenegro4001]

The sound you were getting at 4:23 had a very REM quality to it. Very nice! Great sounding module! Probably my next one.

[@dougappel5924]

This is the best I've heard this module sound. Nice work.

[@constitutionalized8810]

Man, your guitar tone and playing, even if I'm not even interested in the slightest in the product you are presenting I still know the video is going to be worth watching.

[@mixc8]

Pete you never fail to amaze brother!

[@jerryhorton5708]

Pete, I love your creativity, skill, and passion. Oh, and yet another stellar demo, by the way

[@PeteThorn]

Thanks!

[@davidfaustino4476]

Oh man they need to re-release the Plexi module now that they've developed this 0w Poweramp tech. Sounds great!

[@tonedover]

Yes - and with (gasp) LESS gain in it!!! Dave shouldnt have hot-rodded that module

[@PeteThorn]

I think there will be something new coming

[@Robstafarian]

@@PeteThorn The SYN-20IR has reserved parking in my credit file. :P

[@Polentaccio]

​@@tonedoveri didn't find the gain over the top, i found it à tad too bass heavy and with the gain up, it should have spit more and squished more. They should do another plexi module with this 0 poweramp that has a variac mode. Now that would do it. A dual channel leaning more on clean plexi and then the hot rod kick your face second channel

[@LuisM_Piozza]

Awesome tones and playing as always, Míster! 🙌🙌🙌🙌

[@bigdavedave9865]

Well I love all your playing and tones Pete, and I have to say the blue strat and playing was some of the best I have heard. Killer stuff!!! 👌🤘😎

[@johngraves2185]

That sounds great! I like how seems to fall apart a little, but it holds up nice! Very unique compression going on there. Nice tasty song at the top! Cheers!

[@MrSaleendriver]

Goodness Pete! It wouldn’t matter if it’s the worst amp made, it would still sound great when you’re playing through it! Fantastic playing & especially enjoy your EVH stuff!

[@PeteThorn]

Thanks!!

[@tonedover]

Purchased!! So stoked. Pete - mad respect to you my man!

[@victorbeebe8372]

Aloha Pete! Aloha Everyone!

[@ericvinson4628]

What a catalog of songs you’ve put together, Mr. Thorn! I just wish this one had your 60s strat in there somewhere. Z-Wreck sounded amazing of course!

[@PeteThorn]

I actually thought about playing the old Strat! I just really dig the blue Suhr as well!

[@berndkiltz]

You play some very tasty lines there in the intro! Awesome!

[@PeteThorn]

Thanks!

[@nicholastotoro7721]

Keith Scott's Strat tones from that particular era ruled...saying what his amp was (and what Dr Z is trying to nail here) without saying what it was LOL!!!

[@rhettrock558]

Can't wait till you have enough time to do your own album. You sound awesome all of the time!¡!!!!

[@vondragonnoggin]

This is what the Kourbis tube preamps have in them. Also Kingsley makes the tube Hatchet pedal which is a tube phase inverter pedal meant to run after their tube preamps and can give full sounds. Synergy should do that with all their classic circuit preamps. I have a Kourbis Plexivibe pedal and it sounds just like using my Plexi with PPIMV. I also use an Axiom Effects PAE-1 Power Amp Emulator pedal on all my preamps not built with phase Inverter that can be driven. Sounds like full amps running the preamps with the PAE-1 after them. The Kourbis designed preamps are awesome though if you like Marshall or even Marshall/Fender on one of the pedals. Brilliant designs and feels like full amps. Until I see more builders adopt this phase inverter addition, I’ll keep using my PAE-1 pedals and new PAE-2 pedal as soon as I get it later this year. There is a waitlist.

[@iwannarockon2010]

Some serious magic going on 🤘

[@cooper5882]

I can't tell you how good the guitar tone sounds .

[@steveg219]

Another fantastic demo, thanks Pete

[@PeteThorn]

Many thanks!

[@staytuffharshmellowman]

Not many can rock the guitar like you brother 🎉 & yes So many unreplaceable amazing guitars were sadly damaged during floods in storage it's kinda sad, I remember a story from a musician that goes unnamed in which someone important soon after explains hurricane katrina & the Loss of irreplaceable guitar relics and the priceless guitar's lost in that wake aftermath.. collectors lost a lot of quality guitar's sadly, but some were refurbished.

[@PeteThorn]

Thank you so much and yes, I really feel for the musicians that lost so many of their instruments… It's heartbreaking for sure

[@WDeeGee1]

Wow, what a great track!!

[@PeteThorn]

Thank u!

[@mbreinin]

"Its Only Love" is the song you are looking for. It was a little more dirty though, and had some stereo delay or something going on to widen it. Either way, that is an amazing tone and I love playing that riff.

[@PeteThorn]

Some Bob Clearmountain magic for sure... do you think it's more dirty? I'm not sure, I remember it being pretty clean really!

[@mbreinin]

@@PeteThorn It sound enormous so maybe it sounds more gainy than it is?

[@MRxr400]

It's like the mids get boosted with treble down. sounds amazing

[@Robstafarian]

My first experiment would be running both the treble and the cut low to see whether those mids could be had with highs that way.

[@boddumblues]

Very Rory Gallagher like tones - 👍

[@briankehew579]

The Quilter Labs SuperBlock is the only thing I found that nails the sound of a full head at low volumes. I spent my life looking, and now I'm good!

[@925candyman]

Bought a CAE 3+ a long time ago, never looked back…

[@KLBriggs71]

Fantastic as always, Pete! Some people are calling this the best Synergy model yet. Would you agree?

[@PeteThorn]

One of, I would say

[@ultravirez]

This is the one!

[@hollylewis5302]

I only come over here for your hair! 😉 🎸🤘

[@tasteapiana]

Watching this, listening to you talk about Vox amps, amp breakup in general, etc, just made me realize how sad it is that Mike Campbell might someday leave this world without passing along what he knows of this very subject. Unless, of course, someone like yourself, who has a lot more of the words to use to convey such things, takes up the torch and picks Mike's brain. It would be really cool if you could spend, say, a solid week with him to get down every little tip and trick he collected over those around 50 years of playing (and even working) in that exact space. THAT is a coffee table book that I would buy, even if it came in north of $50. Think about it, two people we all trust but only one of them (the older one) knows the really gritty sht, the back alley sht, that random pawn shop in the backwoods of south Detroit sht, he just doesn't have all the words to connect said experience to the current generation's cerebellum. That will sell a publisher on it.

[@the-creech4790]

Nice!

[@MKRISING75]

What a bitch’n track Pete being Pete gotta love it🤟🏻Shit sounds phenomenal!

[@Robstafarian]

I wonder whether Synergy might reissue their Plexi module with the faux phase inverter.

[@nimblefred2932]

I'd like to see a shootout with the Morgan AC module

[@BigMikeGuitar]

Presumably, it would be equally applicable and beneficial to add tailored versions of this phase inverter power-amp simulation circuit to the other pre-amp modules, so that all the modules could feature and benefit from integrating their corresponding originally intended power-amp dynamics.

[@PeteThorn]

You need a tube to do it- so only some of them could/would work, anything kinda lower gain/plexi... I guess we will see what they do!

[@aaronsinger]

According to Synergy.... Apparently the Dr Z Wreck "derives a significant portion of its signature tone from the power amp." Most guitar amps are not like this, and pretty much get their sound from the preamp section (which idea of course has been the basis of the Synergy system). Synergy felt compelled to add this to the Dr Z module to make it authentic. They called it a "major engineering obstacle." And they will be putting it on new modules, apparently, probably not all of them, but who knows.

[@zenlandzipline]

@@PeteThornI’ve had this pedal made by Simon Jarrett (Kingsley)called the Hatchet. It’s a phase inverter pedal. It has a tube. Signal chain goes: guitar>preamp>Hatchet>power amp. I run my guitar into a board and then out into a Rocktron Valvesonic Plexi. I turn the output volume on the preamp all the way up, and hit the Hatchet with a hot hot signal. It overdrives the phase inverter tube in the pedal. There is no “gain” knob on the pedal. There is a tone and volume knob. So, you use the volume knob on the Hatchet to turn down that super loud hit signal you are feeding it, and then I run into my effects and out to a VHT Classic power amp. It’s awesome. I run barely any preamp “gain”, so, a pretty clean signal, but it’s LOUD. I get that Marshal power amp breakup from the Hatchet being slammed real hard. SimonJarret is a great pedal builder. I couldn’t live without this Hatchet now.

[@BigMikeGuitar]

@@aaronsinger It stands to reason that anyone in the market for a power-amp attenuator, which is a lot of people addressing a lot of different use cases, including metal tones (i.e. all the metal pre-amps) where you want the power-amp up in the (way too loud) 3 to 5 range, would all be interested in and benefit from including the new phase inverter power-amp simulation circuit.

[@Robstafarian]

@@BigMikeGuitar Most of amp history can be expressed as a dichotomy between amps which get their distortion from running the entire amp hard (often phrased as distorting the power amp), the tone of which is partly defined by driving their typical speakers hard, and those which get their distortion from quite a lot of preamp gain. Amps in the latter group are easier to replicate as preamp modules, whereas amps in the former group require something similar to the faux-phase-inverter circuit used here. Bridging the gap is the Dumble Overdrive Special which can have a high-gain preamp and has a specialized phase-inverter circuit at the core of its sound (Every Dumble amp had a lot of work put into its respective phase-inverter circuit.).

[@johnleahy9671]

After Pete's video of the liverpool, if it says Wreck in the title...I listen

[@PeteThorn]

That Liverpool still haunts me

[@seangillen920]

Ace

[@brianhillary4151]

Hi Pete I spoke to you briefly after the CRS show in Leicester UK. You said you were hoping to record some more tracks later this year. Are you any further forward with that. We really need a Pete Thorn 3. Great preamp by the way.

[@PeteThorn]

I hope I can squeeze in some proper recording this year for sure.

[@Manley156]

I need to shave my gooch after watching this. Thanks peter

[@ajlsrv5490]

Got mine. Cut knobs don’t appear to be doing much, if anything. Certainly not anywhere near my actual Z amps. Wondering what others’ experiences are?

[@dirkschellmann7876]

What Hardware would I need to use the thing, it looks like it's not a pedal but more in "insert" type of device ,based on looking at the rear connections

[@thisperfectworld]

Check out Glen Kuykendall and his CD to hear what a Ken Fisher Trainwreck Express can do!

[@guitarandotherthings6090]

All the demos from multiple influencers for this pre-amp came out same day yesterday, do the demonstrators receive the product and get told not to release video until a certain date?

[@PeteThorn]

Yes, that's precisely what happens

[@snoopywalker1881]

Pete , can this be used into an OX box instead of real copycat cabs?

[@PeteThorn]

You could use into the Ox pedal...

[@ThaRealChuckD]

See what you can do when you practice every day? 😉

[@FM-wc8gu]

I thought it said a preamp that does a cracked amp sound.😅

[@6stringcodger450]

$400?

[@Robstafarian]

To date, all Synergy modules have had the same price.

[@shaharbar]

Have you ever collaborated with big hairy Michael Nielsen? I think you both have very complimentary styles.

[@PeteThorn]

We haven't, we should do something together sometime though, I do see him quite regularly, and he's a great guy

[@shaharbar]

@@PeteThorn that would be epic!

[@NormieWeimarican]

If only the head wasnt so much. I'd buy 400$ preamps all day errry day!

[@aviel-kiss5985]

SYN-20IR coming soon

[@bb-r7t]

why don't you just title the video with your conclusion instead of it being a question? to get people to click? i would still watch the video to hear it. why don't you just add the overused annoying "truth about" phrase too: "the TRUTH about a preamp that nails cranked amp tone?"

[@PeteThorn]

I like my title, thanks though

[@sethholmes4913]

Dude relax.

[@exactasa]

great channel! lovely work!