Hot or Not - Dr Z Z Wreck with Brad Paisley demo

Mark Wein

Mark Wein

Grand Poobah
Staff member
















zwreck.gif

Power Output 30 Watts
Output Tubes 4 -7189 (EL84) Cathode Biased
Preamp Tubes 3 -12AX7
Rectifier 5AR4
Controls Volume, Bass, Treble, Cut
Configurations Head w/matching 2x12 open back cab (Celestion Blue/Gold standard)
Colors Quantum Silver tolex with matching hardwood fronts; red, blonde, black
Dimensions
& Weight 		Head: 20 5/8” Wx9 ½” Dx9 1/8” H 32 lbs. Cab 27 ½” Wx10”Dx21 ½” H 52 lbs.
Other Head and cab covers with Z Wreck logo come standard



Starting in 2006 Brad Paisley contacted Dr Z about building another amp. After talking about the design and the desired outcome Z asked his friend Ken Fisher to lend a hand. Dr Z built up the prototype amp and sent it off to Ken. Ken did his thing to it and sent it back…including naming the amp the Z Wreck. After a few more tweaks the amp was sent off to Brad and it has become a mainstay in his rig since 2006. When Ken passed away at the end of ‘06 Dr Z put the amp on a shelf and walked away.

Over the past few years the Z Wreck was mentioned by Brad in various interviews and appeared on a few TV shows and of course quite a few album tracks. Dr Z got numerous requests to put the amp into production, but always declined. Fast forward to May 5th 2010 and the Nashville flood. Brad’s original Z Wreck was not harmed in the flood, but all of his road amps were destroyed. Dr Z quickly built 2 replacement Z Wrecks for Brad as the show must go on. This got him thinking…why should such a fine sounding amp be left only for one person to play? With encouragement from Brad to release the amp Dr Z went over the notes he and Ken had exchanged via fax. Dr Z took into account all of the layout and design tweaks he could incorporate and laid the amp out on a clean sheet of paper with an all new aluminum chassis and birch head cabinet. Click here to view the fax.

Every component on the Z Wreck was placed with the utmost attention to short wire lengths and increased separation between the front end and the output section. The heart of the amp is the output transformer designed by Ken for Dr Z in the early 2000s. Also on board is a newly designed power transformer which incorporates a multi tapped secondary that allows for 2 different plate voltage settings: Comfort and Speed. Speed yields a strong attack with increased clarity and dynamic headroom. Every note rings clear in the clean settings and they absolutely scream when the amp is pushed to its natural overdriven voice. The comfort setting drops the plate voltage down for more of a vintage feel. The softer response and overall sweetness of the comfort setting really make it difficult to put the guitar down.

The touch response of the Z Wreck is unequalled. Settings below 12:embarrassed:0 on the volume yield a rich clean sound with no signs of harshness. A 12 string Ric will be right at home for mid 60s Liverpool bliss. Once past 12:embarrassed:0 on the volume you can dial in excellent crunch all the way up to full blooming sustained drive sounds. Does the Z Wreck ROCK? YES!!! Does the Z Wreck TWANG? YES!!! The Z Wreck will deliver exactly what your hands and guitar give it. With the amp volume past noon you can roll your guitar volume back for articulate full bodied clean sounds and turn it up full for excellent drive. The Z Wreck truly is a plug and play amp.

You may be asking "why the matching 2x12 cab?" As stated earlier the Z Wreck was designed on a clean sheet of paper and the cab is no exception. The included 2x12 open back cab comes standard with a Celestion Blue and Celestion Gold wired in series at 16 ohms. This speaker combination in an open back 2x12 is the true voice of the Z Wreck.

Other standard features include a matching set of covers from Studio Slips with the Z Wreck logo embroidered in the lower corner. Dr Z has acquired a massive amount of NOS Russian 6P14P-EV 7189 (EL84) tubes to use in the Z Wreck. These output tubes were chosen because of their superior sonic qualities and excellent life span. A speaker cable and AC cord are also included with the Z Wreck.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Those Z amps sound incredible. I'm always torn on them, as they seem to sound fantastic, but they lack a lot of features I would like. Fx loops, reverb, channel switching, better tone stack controls, and so on. I guess their philosophy is make it sound good enough and you don't need any of that crap...and that crap can get in the way of sounding good. Whatever they are doing, it seems to work. The Z wreck sounds great, but it is a shit load of money for an amp like that.
 
Tiltsta said:
Those Z amps sound incredible. I'm always torn on them, as they seem to sound fantastic, but they lack a lot of features I would like. Fx loops, reverb, channel switching, better tone stack controls, and so on. I guess their philosophy is make it sound good enough and you don't need any of that crap...and that crap can get in the way of sounding good. Whatever they are doing, it seems to work. The Z wreck sounds great, but it is a shit load of money for an amp like that.
Click to expand...

for a while I thought I wanted one but I could never get a sound Liked from one in a store but I think that has more to do with them being so Class A and that not being my tastes back then. I'm still not too into it but I think I'd get along with one much better now. I love when he cranks the Z Verb in the video.
 
I really liked their take on the blackface fender and their tweed inspired models. I prefer those sounds over the hot rod class A thing. They have nice clips of both on their page.

Here is the blackface model, with two guys trading licks on a strat and a tele. To my ears it sounds really fantastic. If you have a little time, watch the whole thing, as they run the amp through a lot of different tones...some classic blackface, and some that are clearly hot rodded type sounds you can't really get from the real thing.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Tiltsta said:
I really liked their take on the blackface fender and their tweed inspired models. I prefer those sounds over the hot rod class A thing. They have nice clips of both on their page.

Here is the blackface model, with two guys trading licks on a strat and a tele. To my ears it sounds really fantastic. If you have a little time, watch the whole thing, as they run the amp through a lot of different tones...some classic blackface, and some that are clearly hot rodded type sounds you can't really get from the real thing.

Click to expand...


Wow...there are some nice sounds there. DAMN YOU TILTSTA!!!!


:embarrassed:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
That is one of their official sound clips, and they claim to have no external processing on their stuff, so what you hear is the amp and no studio massaging or stomp boxes. Every sound is just turning the amp knobs. One could argue some sonic effects from mic placement/cab choice and such, but I think these are supposed to be a fair sampling of the amp. Late in the clip they show the gain and reverb levels by simply sweeping the knobs and playing the same licks. Both seem to have a lot of adjustment range. I'd love to get one of these someday.
 
Tiltsta said:
That is one of their official sound clips, and they claim to have no external processing on their stuff, so what you hear is the amp and no studio massaging or stomp boxes. Every sound is just turning the amp knobs. One could argue some sonic effects from mic placement/cab choice and such, but I think these are supposed to be a fair sampling of the amp. Late in the clip they show the gain and reverb levels by simply sweeping the knobs and playing the same licks. Both seem to have a lot of adjustment range. I'd love to get one of these someday.
Click to expand...

There will be a small amount of coloration from that stuff, but no more than you moving the amp from room to room in your house ot from venue to venue. Any amp is going to sound different a bit in different settings so you have to take that into consideration when listening to a clip like this but I think what I'm hearing is really nice.
 
lol.


I wouldn't mind one myself. All of this gigging with 4 decade old amps is really making me want something new. And reliable.
 
He could make anything sound good. But they sound killer IRL, too.

Also, that EZG 50 is amazing. I could use one of those, for sure.
 
The amp sounds awesome. As much as I'd like one, I think I could use a bit of his talent even more. Holy shit.
 
The amp sounds great but I believe most if not all of it is Paisley who is a great player.

However me likey, me want one. Looks like a potential future build. After all I did want a Trainwreck back in the late 90's when I first heard of them.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top