Dr Z amps - Carmen Ghia vs Maz Junior

[Robert]

I am really intersted in a Carmen Ghia or a Maz Junior - both EL84 amps and they sound awesome judging from sound clips I've picked up around the WWW. My question is, what are the differences really? Do they sound very different - are much difference in overall volume, etc? I'm thinking about going with a head.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

...let me have your Hellhound when you get one.

 

[Robert]

Oh, I gotta tell you guys! I went to Portland and ran a marathon a few weeks ago, and what did I see in a music store? A Carmen Ghia Head and a Maz 18 Junior combo! So I tried them both of course. Great amps! I love my Hellhound, but these babies are in a different league.

My preference is the Maz Junior. What an amp! Sparkly clean, bluesy breakup, saturated overdrive, it's all in there baby. It has such a response in the tone. It adjusts for how hard/soft you hit the strings. I guess this is the kind of amp some people call "unforgiving", in that you can't hide your mistakes. Well I don't mind showing off my mistakes with an amp like this. I fell in love, just like that. I have personally, NEVER played such a good amp for the kind of stuff I play. Highly recommended.

The Carmen Ghia is great too, but it wasn't very loud. Would make for a super recording amp. It also has no "extras" - just a tone and volume knob. It can get wide variety of tones, actually, but I missed the sweet reverb I found on the Maz JR. If I had to pick one or the other, the Maz JR wins.

 

[6STRINGS 9LIVES]

Robert what was the price of the maz jr , i played one not too long ago the guy wanted 1250cdn for it , 18 watt with a 12" i think , i thought it was ok but there are so many amps in that class for near the same money , i refuse to pay that kinda dough for boo-teek style amps that are all based on old point-to point designs, personally i prefer to buy vintage , heres a couple of things to think about ..when you buy a new amp the second you walk out the door you lose 30 points on your money if you sell it , it is not likely to appreciate in value in the short term, and its a new amp trying to capture what vox , fender , marshall had in spades in the 50's and 60's .. a vintage amp will get you the tone you seek and they are better than blue chip investments, if you buy one that has not been modded to death, if you dont like it after a few months you will at worst get all of your money back and maybe make a little , if you keep it long term it will bring you years of joy and will undoubtly out perform your rrsp..just my 2 cents ...6S9L

 

[Robert]

Hmm, 1300 or something for Maz JR. It was new. I wouldn't buy it new, used is the way for me. I'd love to have a vintage amp that works and sounds that good. They are not so easy to find though. I mean I wouldn't buy an expensive amp without trying it - old or new. A used Dr Z usually seem to have pretty good second hand value too.