Dr Z Route 66...What's not to love?

[BobbyRay]

Honeymoon and all here, but dang it...This is a cool amp.

Volume, Terble, Bass. Who could ask for anything more?

This amp sounds to me like an idealized Marshall kinda thang. Big, bold, straight ahead tones. Get's a little chewy, adding some nice depth to "cleans", and then sucks down your favorite pedal. Tough stuff!

:AOK

[gearitis]

I loved mine!

Now, why did I sell that one.....?

[BobbyRay]

I loved mine!

Now, why did I sell that one.....?

I can say that about a few amps...:BEER

[rockguitardude]

I played that and a maz 38 at a shop a while ago. Dr. Z makes some wild amps. I want to try the Stang Ray pretty badly!

[carltonh]

What's not to love? - Getting good replacement tubes ain't cheap. That's all. Right size and weight. Didn't need reverb. Didn't try it with many speakers though.

[Stratand335]

Had mine almost two years...still love it. The only thing I don't like is that I miss it when I do gigs where backline is provided...

[Laroosco!]

Great amp, but you already know what I think. \\How's the honeymoon holding up?

[Fred McMurray]

My only issue: it's too powerful for the rooms I usually play. I couldn't bear to attenuate this puppy, so Maz 18 it is. ;)

[BIGGERSTAFF]

Great amp. I have its big brother the Delta 88, which is a tone monster.

[Willdance]

tone wise, the rt66 is as classy and fun as any amp. I'll throw my z28 in that realm also. BUT, ef86's are a pain in the ass. You really need good ones to make the amps shine and they aren't the most abundant or reliable NOS tubes ( mike k and doug have good ones). Any vibration kills 'em so forget even sitting your head on your cab. And the new production ef86's are still far from usable IMO. Other than that, the route 66 and z28 rule roost in my rock n roll universe.

[rockindog]

tone wise, the rt66 is as classy and fun as any amp. I'll throw my z28 in that realm also. BUT, ef86's are a pain in the ass. You really need good ones to make the amps shine and they aren't the most abundant or reliable NOS tubes ( mike k and doug have good ones). Any vibration kills 'em so forget even sitting your head on your cab. And the new production ef86's are still far from usable IMO. Other than that, the route 66 and z28 rule roost in my rock n roll universe.

Have you tried the silicon rubber tube dampers on the EF-86? Dr. Z installs these on all recent EF-86 amps he produces. They really help out with the NOS Mullards I'm using in my Route 66 and Stangray (head). But you still need to buy NOS EF-86s from a trusted source.

[hardys]

I've had a number of MAZ Jr./Sr., Carmen Ghia, Stingray, Prescription ES, 6545 & a Rt. 66 briefly on loan. Out of all of those amps, I liked the Rt. 66 the least. I could only get a good, usable sound when it was cranked and using humbuckers. It had good crunch sounds, but that's about it. Low volume cleans were harsh & peaky.

[Dave_C]

I owned two of them and sold two of them. It sucked with pedals unless it was cranked and on the verge of breakup, at which point, it sounded pretty good, but incredibly loud. So, I tried a bunch of attenuators and got totally frustrated finding one which didn't suck tone and which offered enough resolution in adjusting output level. On it's own, I could not get a decent lead tone out of it with Strats. It was fantastic though at cranked crunch rhythm tones.

[jimfog]

I owned two of them and sold two of them. It sucked with pedals unless it was cranked and on the verge of breakup, at which point, it sounded pretty good, but incredibly loud. So, I tried a bunch of attenuators and got totally frustrated finding one which didn't suck tone and which offered enough resolution in adjusting output level. On it's own, I could not get a decent lead tone out of it with Strats. It was fantastic though at cranked crunch rhythm tones.

Man....you must have had a couple bum amps. The 66 is FAR AND AWAY the best "pedal amp" I"ve ever played, at any volume. Everyone loves the cranked tone, but I thought the low volume tone, plus some gain boxes was brilliant.

My only beefs were........it could use a wee bit more highs, and while it was REAL loud, it ran out of clean headroom fast once you got it cooking a bit. There was a small window where it was breaking up, but not TOO blown-up.

Still......it's an amp everyone needs to spend some time with, I believe.

[sliberty]

I love my Z-28 (6V6's instead of KT66's). Great amp. Nothing not to love.

[drweller]

Route 66 was the first Z I had.
And, was the last to leave (Maz Sr 212, Maz Jr 212, 6545, Z28). Had 4 Z's at one point.

Toured the snot out of mine. Flawless. Great for the larger stages. Dang near the perfect amp.

Though, after a relocation, it went into retirement - too loud in the sweet spot for most of the venues in the area - and I used backline for all touring so it never left the house again.

Volume and finding good power tubes was the reason I sold it - sounded best with the GT KT66HPs and I just never found that sound again. KT66 is one of the best guitar power tubes but good ones are so hard to find - bummer the GT tooling was stolen from the Russian plant. Put a quick end to that one...

Will likely pick up another Z28. That is a KILLER amp!

[Madison]

Will likely pick up another Z28. That is a KILLER amp!

The Z28 is very similar to the 66 (of course you know that, Danno!), and has the same simple tone stack. A little less volume, but not by much. I had my 28 combo (emi RWB) surrounded by Fender Deluxes at a large jam yesterday and it ruled. RC and BB pedals, goosed with a Keeley comp...just a GREAT GREAT amp!

[zdogma]

Will likely pick up another Z28. That is a KILLER amp!

Me too. Perfect club amp, I regret selling it.

[Bluewail]

Well I hate to breakup the lovefest but I owned a Rt 66 and had brief exposure to a friend's. I sold it because it because for me it was a one trick pony and sometimes produced this weird ghost note. My friend's was really weird. The ghost note issue was very pronounced. The ghost note was not harmonically related and it sounded like you were playing in two different keys. Really ugly! No tube swapping, bias adjustment or speaker change got rid of it. Weirdest thing I ever heard from an amp. I remember reading about the problem on the Z forum when I first got mine. I could tell what folks were complaining about but for me it wasn't THAT bad. After hearing my buddy's, I know why folks were ranting about it. If you are contemplating buying one, do listen to it first.

[zdogma]

If you are contemplating buying one, do listen to it first.

Always a good idea.

Apparently he has beefed up the filtering a bit on the newer ones to alleviate that. If you open them up, the new ones have an extra sprague filter cap on the board in addition to the can caps. Mine is an older one, with just the can cap for filtering and it has a tiny bit of ghost noting abouve the 12th fret at higher volumes, but I've never changed out/incrased the filter caps because I like the "looser" feel compared to the new ones.