Suhr meets Dr Z...

[JohnM]

Well, I had an apples to oranges comparison this weekend...played around with a Dr Z Stangray after hearing some good things about it.
I had my Suhr OD50 sitting at home right next to it, hooked up ready to go, so I used it as a comparison. Not the same amp at all...but interesting. The Z is a EL84 30watt vox-ish kinda thing...this one had the celestion gold 12" spkr. I ran the Suhr through a single eminence red/white/blue 12". Just comparing the cleans.

clips:

Suhr
Suhr OD50

DrZ
DR Z Stangray

The Z is a cool amp Maybe a bit outclassed by the Suhr.

On a related note, my 65 Dlx Rev was already at the gig so I had to do an "on the job" comparison . The Z isn't as mid-punchy as the Dlx when cranked. The Z had tons of bottom-end and the cut knob added tons of bite (too much for my tele!) but the Fender was whipping up on it in the mids. The Z got a bit loose & muddy when distorted...vs. my dlx which stays pretty tight (it's not totally stock...)
I can't really say what the Z sounds like...sorta like a AC30/DC30/something all it's own?. Can get VERY bright though...gotta watch the cut knob.

 

[BobbyRay]

Both sounded fantastic! Different, but great!

Very tasting picking brother!:AOK

 

[Jason_86_951]

I liked the Suhr quite a bit more, but the DrZ sounded good as well.

Your playing smoked in both clips!

 

[Teleplayer]

John - nice chops.

I think that's the way a Z is supposed to sound. I am not a fan of Z's amps, but you made both pieces sound good.

 

[JohnM]

Yeah - definitely different but that's all I had to compare. The Z held up pretty good on the gig but I'm such a Fender head

 

[archtopjazz]

Both amps sounded good.
Playing sounded great.

 

[3 Mile Stone]

Those were Telefantastic dizzying licks there cowboy!

Oh and the Suhr was cooking I agree.

 

[ecbluesman54]

Great playing thanks for the post!

 

[bosstone]

Now try hooking up the Suhr amp to the Z cam and vis versa and seeing the difference. That would be a good way to know what amp/speaker is responsible for what sound.

 

[radcliff]

Nice pickin!

The Z sounded thinner, might need to be cranked up to really shine.

 

[Madison]

Great clips, John! The Stang Ray produces the least amount of mids in the Z line. Lots of bottom and chimey highs, but you'll find more mids in the Maz's, Rt 66, etc. The Mazerati has a good amount of mid character going on too.

 

[The Last Rebel]

I liked the Z more. They're both nice amps, but the Suhr was almost too tight, and I liked the thinness that came from the Z.

 

[mlynn02]

great playing!!!! holy crap, that was awesome....

i liked the suhr better. i have an od50 classic+ and a dr z maz jr. i find the dr z cleans to be as good as the suhr, but certainly of a different flavor. i find the maz is more like a fender than the stangray in your clip.

 

[BobbyRay]

Now try hooking up the Suhr amp to the Z cam and vis versa and seeing the difference. That would be a good way to know what amp/speaker is responsible for what sound.

Definitely try the cab swap to hear the difference of the speakers. In my experience those two speakers are very, very different beasts, and both impart quite a bit of thier own voice to things.

 

[JohnM]

Now try hooking up the Suhr amp to the Z cam and vis versa and seeing the difference. That would be a good way to know what amp/speaker is responsible for what sound.

Did that...didn't record it though...I will say the Z sounded better through the eminence though!

I liked the Z more. They're both nice amps, but the Suhr was almost too tight, and I liked the thinness that came from the Z.

At low level, I agree...liked the Z's defined top...but at gigging volume it just didn't keep up. Ended up sounding too brittle. All Lows and highs...no mids as Madison mentioned.

I have used a Z maz38 SR and it definitely has more mids, although it still has a similar top end.Most of the Z stuff does.

At 'bedroom' level, that Stangray had a very nice feel to it, nice and forgiving clean sound. Spongy and bouncey...Nice harmonics.
I just punish the hell out of amps on gigs, so that's where the el84 amps always die for me. Fenders seem to take that punishment well.
I could see the combo of the dlx and stang being a good pair.

 

[JohnM]

Oh and for the super-curious, the settings on the Suhr were:
Gain - 3
Bass - 2
Middle - 3
Treble - 3
Vol - 2

And the Stangray:
Volume - 2
tone - 12 o'clock (5?)
cut - almost all the way off...maybe almost 1

 

[justonwo]

Um . . . I have one comment. You're really friggin good on guitar. Oh, and I liked the Suhr much more.

 

[ruger9]

Great clips, John! The Stang Ray produces the least amount of mids in the Z line. Lots of bottom and chimey highs, but you'll find more mids in the Maz's, Rt 66, etc. The Mazerati has a good amount of mid character going on too.

I've got an RxJR, and I can't imagine an amp with less mids (that still sounded good.) The clips I've heard of the Stangray all sound thicker & rounder (more mids?) than the Rx Family to me.

 

[John55]

Absolutely great playing and tone to go with it! The Suhr is miles ahead of the Stangray, IMO. The notes sound so smooth, almost silky and have a lot of body around them. Your clip pretty much decided the issue for me about whether to get a Classic+, I gotta have some of that!

 

[Fingers]

That's some beautiful pickin' there.
And one more vote for the Suhr.