Dr. Z AMA: Head or Combo? (JETTA Head / Z Wreck Jr. News?)

[@joepeezy4sheezy]

Happy and prosperous and healthy 2020? Oh Doc. If you only knew...

[@greevar]

I was looking for this comment when I heard him say that. Hindsight can make comedy of the most banal things.

[@stephenatgraceland]

Just (impulsively) bought a Jetta head. Love the quality build! Hope 2024 will be your best year yet.

[@ozunadc10]

Man, you really come off as a knowledgeable, honest, straight shooter. Wish I could say that about more people!

[@Jakexx01]

Thank you for listening to your customers. As old school as this may sound... great products are made by great and caring human beings. 'Nuff said.

[@fergeraci]

The intro's wishes for 2020 were hilarious, in retrospective. The rest of the video absolutely brilliant! Thank you sir.

[@aguynamedben]

Thanks for doing these AMA... I love them and I’m learning so much!!!

[@DrZAmplification]

Ben Standefer that’s why we do them

[@barkeater9606]

I love my Jetta combo, thanks Dr Z!

[@gerrysimon8513]

Hi Doc; You left out my favorite reason why someone might prefer a head over a combo. Anyone who sits, (like me as a pedal steel player), and who hates standing and running back to the speaker line every time they want to change the reverb intensity or eq or volume, loves the ability to sit and do it all from the chair!! :) Thanks for a great amp; can't wait for gigs to return so I can milk those tubes!

[@jasonprice9823]

Being new to heads, I purchased a H&K 212 that has celestion vintage 30s. Being essentially industry standard i can buy any head and know its going to sound good through the cab. The Jetta is on my list.

[@michaelsclafani2228]

Yes!!!! Z Wreck Jr.!!!!!

[@roscoenyc]

Happy New Year to you too Dr Z!

[@JohnColucci88]

Great video. In depth while to the point.

[@gtr1952]

Great! Thank you!! I use head/cab, for a different tone, and venue shape/size. Mojotone built my cabs, the 2- 1X12 are solid pine and the 1X12 is poplar ply. Alnico Blue, vintage 30, and alnico cream back respectively. It's 4/22 now, and I will have a Z Wreck JR as soon as they are available again!! I have 9 amps now, most are going away!! I found all I need in the Jr.!!! Thanks much!! --gary

[@DrZAmplification]

We are shipping them out as soon as they are built, hope you love it!

[@nickpatsios407]

Another advantage of using a head over a combo is less chance of power amp tube rattle, especially in the compact. Combos, I have a Magnatone combo and Dr. Z combo in Magnatone suffers from tube rattle , but when I play it through a different cabinet, no tube rattle. but too expensive EL 84 tubes they sounded like a salt pepper shaker right out of the box tube, sound fine other than the rattle it wouldn’t matter much if it was in a head

[@tmitz73]

Happy New Year Dr. Z..... you make the best amps in the world!!

[@real_fjcalabrese]

I'm saving up for a Jetta!

[@patmillen9162]

I just bought a new Jetta combo! I returned my Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue because the tube rattle was so bad I couldn't overlook it (and I was not about to spend the money or wait forever on new tubes and repair work for an amp straight out of the box). I really hope that's not an issue with the jetta.

[@patmillen9162]

Update - got the amp today and have had a few hours with it so far and it is incredible! Wow. Its simplistic but diverse. It takes pedals better than any other amp I've ever played out of. No tube rattle. Pretty damn light. Strongly recommend for the guy who gigs and wants top of the line pro gear but doesn't want to absolutely break the bank.

[@DrZAmplification]

@@patmillen9162 Hi Pat, great to hear you are happy with your amplifier. While any combo amplifier provides an environment that is basically a torture chamber for tubes, we take every method possible to screen for bad tubes, and trust us, we throw out a lot. Please take time to register your amp, as we warranty the tubes for 90 days, and the amp for 3 years from purchase date.

[@soundofbluesthing]

This is my favorite channel on youtube! 😎

[@alexwoolridge94aw]

Thank you Dr Z. This will probably be my next amp

[@dgbaker33]

Awesome info Z! Thanks and subscribed

[@_RLP]

Thanks, Z. Love your stuff.

[@mmatthewias280]

With devices like UA OX box and others I think you’re going to see a lot of players steer more towards heads rather than combos in future. REALLY wanting a Z Wreck Jr!!

[@jdl2180]

The master volume works better than and attenuator

[@mlwilliam213]

Perfect timing. My birthday is in Feb and I like to buy myself something awesome on my birthday. This decision just became easy.

[@andriebayuajie6503]

Nice information. Thanks

[@martinsmall3284]

Always great videos! I learn so much

[@jairyess1074]

Happy new year Doc! ❤️

[@aussie_philosopher8079]

It would be nice for all of us to share Dr z's videos with your friends, we love that Dr z is so knowledgeable and has the kindness to share it with us and takes the time to answer questions. Would be nice to get far more followers to support the channel.

[@michaelsclafani2228]

Any Demo of the new Z Wreck Jr yet???? Preferably with some Paisley like tones lol

[@gregmican]

Have Brad do the demo like he did on the Zwreck!

[@DrZAmplification]

Subscribe and you’ll be the first to know

[@michaelsclafani2228]

@@DrZAmplification Subscribed!

[@parkervarin]

"a healthy new year" yeah that's gona excellently

[@ajlsrv5490]

Another consideration. In my experience a Maz 18 head through the Z 1x12 cab sounds much bigger than the 1x12 combo.

[@thebenderbunker]

Z Wreck Jr. looks nice! What about the Z-28 MKII? Wasn't it supposed to be out by now?

[@DrZAmplification]

If you look closely in this video you’ll see the prototype. Just had other things that got moved to the front burner this year...

[@michaelmione]

I enjoyed watching this as it goes a bit deeper in the comparison between the two. One comment I don't believe I heard or read before was the negative on combos with the tubes co-resident within the same speaker cabinet (pressure, vibration). I'm curious to know how significant of an issue this could be in terms of the estimated lifespan of the tubes? I'm in the market for an amp and am considering both options however this data point makes me curious to know how much of an impact it really is. Thanks again for posting the content!

[@DrZAmplification]

It is a very significant impact and will cause tubes to become microphonic MUCH faster than a head. There's no comparison really. You sacrifice convenience for tube life with a head.

[@deanallen927]

About the Jetta - what can you tell us about the 7591tube and the type of circuit this power section is and why? I'm totally in love with my prescription ES but I also find the Jetta very intriguing. Curious why no impedance switching.

[@DrZAmplification]

Less output taps on the output transformer means a less expensive transformer to make, which means a lower end price to the customer. 7591 was used in stereo hi-fi's and some Ampeg amps in the 1970s.

[@deanallen927]

@@DrZAmplification Hi thanks for answering. I was curious about the 7591 voice and behaviours, but "hi-fi" and Ampeg suggest to me it would be very uncolored and in the Jetta the preamp decides the tone and overdrive more than a 6l6 or el34? Just guessing. Thanks.

[@DrZAmplification]

@@deanallen927 Yes, to a degree. This amp is a relatively neutral platform. Most of the overdrive you will hear is from the phase inverter and power tubes. It is relatively low overdrive, on the Hiwatt side of overdrive.The guitar and speaker choice will be the biggest deciding tonal factors in an amp like this.

[@timbrackeen3508]

What happened to the DB4 doc ?

[@billn2421]

Hi Dr. Z. I can't decide which one to choose, so just need your opinion on which one do you prefer, Jetta or Z wreck jr? And why? So I can make a decision between the two.

[@DrZAmplification]

Two very different amps. Do you want a dirtier sound or a cleaner sound? Do you play with a lot of pedals or prefer to sound of straight from guitar to amp?

[@billn2421]

@@DrZAmplification I'm not a big pedal board guy, only use one overdrive. I like to keep it minimal, light travel. So I prefer straight from guitar to amp. I play mostly clean sound but sometimes need more gain.

[@DrZAmplification]

@@billn2421 If you are sitting in the clean range more often, you would probably prefer the Jetta, then use your overdrive to push it into gain. The Z Wreck Jr., while you can get a good clean, it's usually from rolling back the volume of your guitar with the volume knob. It rewards that sort of playing. the ZW Jr. has it's distinctive sound, slightly broken up to explosive distortion, whereas a Jetta is more of a blank slate clean with a lot of detail, into lower, chunkier low gain overdrive.

[@billn2421]

@@DrZAmplification Thank you for the recommendation. In my ears I like the dirty sounds of ZW jr but I will go with the Jetta for more clean sounds.

[@colaboytje]

For stability, I prefer head format. For portability, I prefer combo format.

[@CooperKerby]

So, I love the sound of the Z Wreck and I'm super stoked about the Jr, but I'm afraid that it just doesn't have the same guts and sonic presence as the 30w model... I guess the general question I'm asking is can you get the same girth, feel, and punch that comes from a quartet of EL84s with just 2 EL84s? (Does that make sense?)

[@DrZAmplification]

No. You can't. A 15 watt amp is a 15 watt amp, and a 30 watt amp is a 30. Just like a 50 watt amp doesn't feel like a 100 watt amp. There's no cheating physics.

[@CooperKerby]

@@DrZAmplification Fair enough! Thank you for your reply...

[@triniccard8655]

are 6n14n good tubes to use in maz 38 senior?

[@DrZAmplification]

They are fine tubes to use in the Senior if you prefer a darker sound.

[@Schlumbucketreturns]

I thought he said, "The Z-Wrecktion," lol. I had to rewind for clarification.

[@GuillermoSmyser]

The idea of a master volume lower power version combo is giving ME a zwrecktion lol !

[@csmith29581]

What do you think makes a bigger difference in the overall tone of an amp. Speakers or Power tubes? I have an amp head that I would like to smooth out the high end. Currently running a 4x12 cab with greenbacks. Tungsol el34 tubes. The bias adjustment claims to allow any tube that will fit the socket. Suggestions?

[@DrZAmplification]

The speaker is 50% of the equation. Start there. A Creamback 65s would help smooth out the higj end. Power tubes are maybe 15-20% of the overall picture. Also try swapping your first preamp tube for different brands of 12ax7.

[@ebeep]

Is the Z-Wreck Jr. 5Y3 or 5AR4 rectified? I've heard you say 5Y3 but have seen 5AR4 in Humbucker Music's specs. I'm going to assume 5Y3. Thanks!

[@DrZAmplification]

5Y3 for sure.

[@gabet3754]

I like you Doc. I like your demeanor and I want to one day buy an amp from you. What head do you recommend? I like playing my rock/punk music. I like nice cleans and dirty distortion/overdrive.

[@DrZAmplification]

a te I think you would really enjoy the NOVA head for classic punk rock

[@theronslee214006]

I really wish i could afford one of these

[@davidbakerscuba]

Damn, Z Wreck Jr was $1899 2 years ago. They are now $2,399 at Sweetwater. Up $500 in 2 years. That’s crazy!

[@DrZAmplification]

Unfortunately the cost of steel (speakers and transformers), and aluminum (chassis) has tripled in the meantime. Wood (cabinets) has quadrupled. Those are most expensive components of the amp, and unfortunately the price has to reflect that.

[@clemclemson9259]

would never pay that for a Z amp

[@jdl2180]

@@clemclemson9259 it's actually a good price for a handwired amp

[@rontrose]

I’ve tired combos, but I just prefer the punchlines of a closed back cab.

[@MrNocaster]

Went to check out the Z Wreck Jr on your website, Can i get a password Mike?

[@DrZAmplification]

Chris it’ll be out soon, patience is a virtue my friend

[@Dastardly_X]

Who TF thumbs downs Dr. Z ⁉️

[@Muddybagclean]

Jesus Loves You

[@maxirvin]

Start of this video didnt age well

[@JohnnyGuitar1]

He doesn’t know the difference between EMS and EMI.