Dr. Z Stangray

[leadpicker16]

Ok, so I've been back an fourth on which Dr. Z I want to buy and seems like I keep coming back to the Stangray. There's just something about it that keeps me intrigued. I had planned on buying the Z-Wreck but after the holidays, my budget is a bit tighter than planned. So then I had planned on going with the "easy", "foolproof" decision of a Maz 38 NR. But I also don't want to buy the same amp everybody has. Also my band has another lead player who uses a Maz 38 2x12 combo. (Formerly belonged to Vince Gill and was auctioned after the Nashville flood). We pride ourselves on having separate styles and tone. I belive that the Stangray is more of "my tone" than any of the rest. I'm the chicken picker of the group and I play a lot of clean and at the edge of breakup on my Tele but also we cover a lot of rockin' Aldean stuff too. I know the Stangray is primarily a clean amp. I've done endless research on it....for years. I use a Paisley Drive for my low to medium gain and a OCD for the higher gain. My question is....will I get a bad overdriven sound out of it? I know there are more pedal friendly models that Dr. Z makes, but it must be able to handle them as well as an old AC30, right? That's been my dilemma. I know that this is the tone I want, but I read so many reviews that the overdrive is not great. Any users/owners have any feedback?

 

[Mark N]

Your best bet is to head on over to the Z Talk forum...you'll get lots of great answers and feedback on the Ray! I have a Maz Jr and love it!

 

[leadpicker16]

I'm on there as well. Much appreciated.

 

[studio1087]

30 watts with volume - tone - cut.

I have a Carmen Ghia - 18 watts with volume - cut.

My only comment is that the Stang Ray will need to be very loud to be on the edge of break up. It will do what you want but it's going to be crazy loud.

I started with a Prescription which is 45 watts and it was heavenly when I turned it half way up and got to the edge of breaking up but it hurt. It was so loud that I was ringing my head and it hurt. I flipped it on Reverb and bought the Carmen Ghia and a Mini Z combo.

Have you played a Carmen Ghia or a good old Maz 18? Either would work for articulate Chicken Picken. The Stang Ray would be great but it's going to stay icy clean into very loud volumes.

Hard to go wrong with Dr. Z.

 

[justin.ramsey]

I played a stangray a few weeks ago used at GC. Loved it great clean to grit with volume knob kind of amp.

 

[leadpicker16]

I am of course planning to add an attenuator.

 

[leadpicker16]

And as a reference, I've been gigging with a 1982 MusicMan 210. It's a 75-watt 6l6 amp with a solid state preamp. I depend solely on my Paisley Drive and Fulltone OCD for my overdrive. This thing doesn't break up on it's own and if it does....well it pretty damn ugly sounding. I'm certain the Ray will hold it's own better than my current rig.

 

[Mark N]

The Ray is certainly a lot of amp! I think you'd enjoy it. I have read that they are a tad fussy with some OD pedals but I have no first hand experience.

 

[trim450]

I just got my 2nd ray , selling the first one was a huge mistake and I've missed it ever since . sounds like the perfect amp for what your looking for and those pedals work great with the ray.

 

[leadpicker16]

There was one demo that showed how the Ray can rock with a Keeley modded tube screamer and a plexiglass tube. Surprised there's not more overdriven demos. I think I've watched every one in existence. Lol