Review Demo - Dr.Z Z-Lux

[@CheFrancoisPhoto]

John always brings a smile to my day!!! Such a happy guy, great player and excellent demonstrator. Love your guitars dude!!!!

[@JensLarsen]

Great sounding intro John!

[@bengalvin9932]

7:55 best overdrive pedal i have ever heard!

[@fonzybrookestone727]

John is the man, and always plays some nice stuff. Does anyone else think he's as baked doing these videos as me? Haha. Maybe he's just "tired"? Dr Z kills me with those prices, though! Damn, they hurt!

[@reggiehobbs8800]

LOOKS TOTALLY BAKED. THAT'S WHY HE SOUNDS GREAT.

[@nigeldaddyo]

get pricing on some Carr, Two Rock, Swart, etc and you'll see that in the boutique realm that Z amps are actually quite a bargain.

[@HansAaraas]

Great playing John. Amp sounds amazing.

[@Teleman76]

Love my Z Wreck!! This will be purchased this year.

[@seanantley1965]

Sounds really good John!!! Great idea with the boost pedal too. Damn I love that 66 Strat!!! Can't go wrong that for sure. I saw a pretty well known band last week and the lead player was using a Dr.Z combo instead of his usual Marshall DSL100. He sounded fantastic and was threatening to go that route from now on. Great amps!

[@chuckcostello5167]

I own a 50 watt Plexi reissue that just sits in my studio. I toured with it for years and I love it but there are just so many other better-sounding (and lighter) options available that it never leaves home now. This Z is on top of a short list of possible boutique amp purchases I'm looking at.

[@dergitarristde]

I really hope the Doc does a no tremolo version with the small studio cab some day. Fantastic sounding amp.

[@JN-North.Guitars]

I have had several Fender Deluxe 65 RI & 68 Deluxe Custom (the latter is great but very noisy!) I sold the 68 custom to buy the Z Lux and man alive am l I happy I did! The Z Lux is phenomenal! It loves Tele’s and the boost channel loves my old 355! It’s light too! Great build quality and over the last two years proved very reliable. I can see why Mr Joe Walsh said it’s the best amp he has ever owned. I 100% agree! Brilliant!!!

[@ronnieo.6647]

The Earl of Scunthorpe Spencer I noticed here that even when John was playing the 335 and he’d stop to turn knobs, there was a lot of buzz coming from the amp. Is yours noisy like that? Do you have the head or combo?

[@JN-North.Guitars]

RonnIE O. Hi Sorry for the slow reply. I have the combo and it is very quite. No noise. My only point of taste is it could do with a tad more bass. This amp is a tele or 335 amp it doesn’t seem to like my strat. 🤔

[@trushack]

Also some great licks to steal in these...and the amp sounds great!

[@windowsoflife]

Just loop that intro on infinite repeat! Great playin’!

[@IamtheActionman]

Good work John and PG

[@MiniForklift]

Funny how it's being compared to a Fender, I would have had a guess at there being a little Dumble inspiration in there somewhere on a number of fronts ~ aesthetically, sound wise and even the font Dr.Z uses. No?

[@arielista]

I'm a strat guy, but that 335 sounds huge on that amp. Great review

[@kickit301]

Ok, so I’m looking for this exact amp (you know what I mean ;) but without all the verbs and trems and boosts and coffee makers! Anyone have any suggestions? I love my Fender, but pcb design just keeps breaking down on me 👎

[@reggiehobbs8800]

THIS IS THE PERFECT STRAT TONE. SUPERB MUSICIANSHIP.

[@wesleycwagner]

But does it djent? ... Or run linux?

[@konnektlive]

Sounds great, but I wonder why some people call it a Fender Deluxe killer? It sounds very different in almost all settings than any Blackface amp I have ever used. Blackface amps sound way more smooth, more dynamic, a bit looser and warmer. This sound very stiff to my ears in clean department, more like VOX AC30 EL84 sound than anything else. Btw, is this amp as noisy as I hear it in this video? Even at relatively lower volume the noise is clearly audible which I don't think would make it an ideal amp for recording. Also, am I correct that the reverb never reached that drippy, splashy classic Fender reverb? Even a Mexican made Hot Rod Deluxe has a more drippy reverb than this. All around seems like a great amp but I don't think it can replace the classic Blackface tone at all.

[@HardcoreSexTexMex]

I wanted to hear some slide action on that 335

[@johnnycab8986]

whats is that weird reverb swell that happens everytime after he stops playing?

[@ChrisManuel]

+Johnny Cab They turn down his voice mic when he's playing and then turn it up when he speaks. As the voice mic gain goes up the reverb tail gets picked up by that mic and seems to swell.

[@johnbohlinger]

+Chris Manuel Yup... That's it. I need to wait to speak, but I"m too impatient.

[@johnnycab8986]

someone should make a pedal that do that WOOMMMMMM

[@DSilvergun]

Two things. 1. I like John's demos on Premier Guitar however he needs to leave the hair dye alone. Gray is cool man! 2. I realize this amp is handwired but is it really better than a Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue or 68 Custom Deluxe Reverb? I find four 6V6 amps are overkill.

[@ryanbender2462]

This a true hand wired Dr Z amp and blows fender away!! Listen to the sounds!! No comparison!!!!

[@bengalvin9932]

this is my kind of amp!

[@davidkieltyka9]

Nice. (Shame about all the blinkered opinions on display, though. I have some amps that I crank for breakup, others that I run OD/distoro pedals through. *Both* approaches work great.) I think John's 335 & mine are siblings. Same time period, same finish, stoptails in the midst of the trapeze era… :)

[@davidkieltyka9]

Err, that's "distorto" of course. ;)

[@scottmatheson2390]

I'm a Deluxe guy from way back and this amp is calling me..

[@lalo030687]

perfect!!!!!

[@jamesmalamute7874]

Is this Paul Riario after the Pandemic?

[@stringking24]

Very Nice Dude!!

[@NoyzyBoyZ3]

It needs a Vintage 30!

[@budgetguitarist]

+NoyzyBoyZ3 Vintage 30 is the best speaker ever. But you'd blow it up with that amp, if you turned the amp up high enough.

[@NoyzyBoyZ3]

+budgetguitarist.com I must have missed the wattage on that,I thought it was 38 watts.The V30 is 60 watts.

[@NoyzyBoyZ3]

Nice LP you got there!

[@sosmooth7]

John,nobody cares how you're recording the amp! We only care if it sounds good on this channel. BTW,you use the same recording gear each time you do demo.

[@budgetguitarist]

+Phil Spigner I care. But I wouldn't mind if the info in the recording chain was in the video description instead.

[@Jay-sy5yf]

Not enough gain.

[@AmalKrabel-o3p]

Brekke Station

[@harryemmott8597]

Look, I'm sorry to be that guy, but surely you could just buy a fender deluxe for half the price...

[@clayy000]

The 65 reissues sound horrible when you turn them up though, not sure about the 68 reissues, but I'm sure this sounds 10x better in person

[@scottmatheson2390]

+Clayton Murray what kind of speaker do they put in the reissues?

[@harryemmott8597]

Scott Matheson a jensen or an eminence, one of those two

[@scottmatheson2390]

Harry Emmott Thanks.I ask because I know from personal experience through the years that Fenders bean counters can sometimes try to cut costs by going with cheaper speakers that sound fine when you're testing the amp at lower volumes and then suck when the amp is cranked up.I bought a Rivera era Deluxe Reverb II back in '83 and it had one of those underwhelming special design speakers in it that again sounded cool at living room volumes but sounded horrible when the amp was cranked up a bit.I swapped it out for an EV which sounded waaaay better but a little sterile clean and ultimately went with (if memory serves)a 70 or 80 watt Celestion which really worked great with it.Anyway my point after all that (concerning the reissue)is speakers can make a dramatic difference for the better or worse depending on what they are and if they are the right match for that amp etc.I know that a Jensen or Eminence is usually a pretty safe choice for a Fender but if Mr. Murray here doesn't like the sound he could always try a more efficient design,although the larger magnets make the amp a lot heavier if that's also a concern.Anyway that kind a got away from me there a bit-sorry for blabbing on!

[@harryemmott8597]

Scott Matheson Thanks for the information man. I find that the best speakers (in my opinion) are celestion alnico speakers, bluebacks, creambacks and my personal favorite, goldbacks. I have an old deluxe reverb (still a reissue) and I have a goldback in mine and yeah, the heart of the amp certainly does matter...

[@nothingclever99]

mmm.. custard pie.

[@aliveandfilming2]

I guess u listen to a whole lotta.... country :-)

[@otmanmzi4683]

*Who see that* I'mais french and this is a big shiiit😂😂