I recently acquired a Dr Z MAZ Senior built in 2009. It is astoundingly solid and sounds incredible. Some people struggle to describe how they sound. I would say they’re like a black face Deluxe on steroids with 20% ac15 chime sprinkled on top; but it is it’s own sound. That’s why people often struggle to describe the sound. I find it rich, round and full. Overdrive pedals sound beautiful through it. (I have the 1x12 combo) It is heavy at 54 pounds but it has inspired me to get in better shape! And the spring reverb sounds fantastic in mine. Lots of glass in that one, but I’ve always wanted a hand wired tube amp. Thanks Dr Z!!!

One of the last great, great amp builders.

Doc Z you give me happiness knowing that new amps are being built by hand the good way in modern times

Your heater wiring and lead-dress is impeccable, Mike!

Very reassuring to hear from the man who designed my amp,,,,serviceability. Thx once again Doc!

I played hand wired amps for 30 years, bandmasters super reverbs ,that’s how they were made,i played 3 or four nights every week. I had an accident damaged my neck and could hardly play at all, after 15 years of hard work im playing again, a bit unreliably but I feel whole again, i have tried so many amps there just don’t feel rightly have. Plugged into a few hand wired fenders and Marshall’s etc,no not quite There, my friend has a dr Z amp I tried it YES it felt and responded like my old bandmasters can’t afford one.but if you Can I don’t think you will be disappointed,listen to the old guy,

Amazing video and info. DR Z really knows his amps. Bless him for keeping the company USA.

I struggled through this video because I generally feel like PCBs are superior for most applications, but in defense of the turret board construction, I would also add that there's little to no risk of destroying the whole board by overcooking one joint. As you say, Z amps are meant to last multiple lifetimes, and if you have someone 50 years later trying to replace some caps, they're not going to be able to ruin the solder pads if there aren't any. Additionally, if a turret is broken, it's probably not all that difficult to just remove it and press another in. Good stuff.

People ask why I love dr z , I trust them that I'm getting a very well built great sounding amp. Not everyone can guarantee that but they "say it".

enjoyed it _ thanks for taking the time

Thanks for this video! I liked learning about the turret board.

Hey it's Dr Z! Yeah I never thought of that - turret tag construction means you can fit physically different parts in a lot easer My Mk 001 was TOTALLY hardwired - no tagboards! It was an old EL84 amp from the 50's which I ripped up to make something new - I replaced the 2 rectifier tubes with 2 more EL84's to make soemting like an AC30 (with stereo main amps - ok I'm weird LOL) That poor guy went west when I lost my home a few years back, but I've got a few new things coming, not least a rather nice Mic Pre+Compressor (one of the FEW things I saved from the old place was a bag of transformers - thanks to the wonderful ol lady who lived below me xxx) I could weep for the loss of some 100k of hardware, with v little legal redress (the Eviction was 100% illegal) but .. The best revenge is success, right?' I've been kinda agnostic about the Tagboard v PCB debate - I figure if you ARE gonna use PCB's the material DOES need to be top notch (and keep the heater wires twisted and OFF the board) I just LIKE turret board as it's.. COOL :) Oh, I promise not to plug any amps I make on your channel LOL - Greetings from London!

Good, solid explanation of the benefits of hand wired amps. I don’t own anything other than vintage, but have had plenty of opportunity to play modern examples. Most of the time, I’m underwhelmed. Just because it’s hand wired, doesn’t mean it’s going to magically sound great. PCB’s, Rats nest wiring, Ribbon cable and SMD technology is for ease of manufacturing and maximizing profits. The old way is time consuming and labor intensive, but the benefits are plenty as the Dr explains.

Superb attention to detail 👌

Good Ventilation at Dr.Z's !!!... that looks OSHA approved.

Donde estuviste toda mi vida Dr. Z

Such integrity , that's why Iam buying one

Very useful video, the important is, physics! more metal area and consistent point of union gives less resistance to the little audio signals, results in clarity and definition to the tone.

You get what you pay for and Z is worth every penny

I appreciate the dedication to your product, and it's clear Dr. Z amps are well respected within the guitar community. I also like your presentation style. It is a common misconception that PCB is by default worse than hand-wired construction. The truth is all of the technical benefits made in favor of hand wiring can also be made of PCBs. The key is either approach must use quality components and robust manufacturing procedures. Any remaining "benefit" is purely subjective and a function of the human condition. The lone benefit I see in having a hand-wired amp is the imperfect perfection... the fact no two amps will be exactly identical. There is pride in the work put into hand-wired amplifiers, something that is extremely important and helps maintain quality. PCBs are generally used to reduce cost, will carry inferior components, and lack attention to detail. These goals are counter to the boutique amp world and help propagate the belief there is a difference. A high quality PCB design with grade A components and assembly may arguably be the pinnacle of construction... better initial yield, better long-term reliability, easier to maintain, easier to debug and repair, and believe it or not... no more difficult to modify. These "benefits", of course, are only true IF the PCB is designed with these goals in mind. Two final items that are almost always overlooked in this discussion. First, low-volume production of hand-wired amplifier may be less expensive to build than high-quality PCB-based amplifiers because there is still significant assembly involved for the PCBs. Thus, for the same investment it may be possible to do hand-wiring with higher quality results. Second, it is possible to automate the wiring process to produce amplifiers if someone were so inclined. The end user would be hard-pressed to differentiate between hand and machine built, but it is rather impractical for low-volume production. (Disclaimber - I'm not suggesting I know of any companies building guitar amps using this technique).

Additionally the added harmonic content and note separation.. plus the ability to use at lower voltage eg 110 with the brown box

Thanks for sharing an insightful video. I’ve only heard good things about Dr. Z amps from guitarists, and they sound amazing too! At 2:35 ‘The amps that I build... they’re heirloom products...they will last generations’, this line really stuck with me, it shows great confidence in your product quality but also a good philosophy that all companies should adopt. I‘ll be strongly considering a Dr Z for my next amp. :)

My next amp for sure nothing is built like they are!

You forget to mention that it looks great compared to those messy pcb boards in Fenders and such amps. It's really art. The real definition of art.

Nice use of F&T caps. solid parts quality...

Open up my brand new dr z Maz 18 reverb and it's absolutely amazingly well made

Masters

Jacks, potentiometers, switches, and other things that move WILL come loose if mounted on a circuit board. Furthermore it's generally poor practice to PC mount tube sockets, especially power tubes if one is interested in reliability. PC boards are cheap, easy, and bean counters love 'em. Especially if the amp fails prematurely and the starving musician "has to buy another one."

“Heirloom Product”. Yup. You don’t see that much anymore these days. I recently hardwired a small amp, and, it ain’t easy.

He says something that sounds "key" to me "run out of components". Any company, big or small, could run across that issue. What happens when it's line production?

I knew that damn press I saw a couple of weeks ago at a resale shop was good for something besides pressing buttons, dammit, I should have snagged it, thinking of pressing in frets with it. Great video, neat construction, good ole fashion American Made, don't see it much anymore. Bye, going to the resale shop & hope that press hasn't been sold. lol

Plus "hand wired" and "point to point " are two different things to many manufacturers as well.

Could someone clarify "NASA-grade soldering techniques" for me? Like, what makes the technique better? Or is it component quality?

Can you tell us what wire you use: AWG and brands. I need to do some point to point hand wiring repair on a PCB.

Not ONLY in guitar amplifiers ...........every build by different persons and or with hand wiring or circuit board .............and this is built with the same components will sound DIFFERENT ..........

I'm running a pair of inexpensive but hand wired VHT heads and as a bit of a tech myself there is no question of quality, longevity or ability to swap parts for fun or function. You can't get inside a solid state Marshall and do whatever you want. Handwired is the professional way to do anything related to vacuum tubes.

Ken Fischer used to laugh at the idea of hand-wired amplifiers... but still used "shit tubes & transformers" lol.

Dr Z, why hasn’t anyone designed a circuit that would shoot the cap voltage to ground before working on an amp. Instead of the stick with the resistor on one end and the other to the chassis, why not have a circuit with a switch that would do the same? It seems much safer. Thanks.

Me too ! No pcb for me.

👏👏👏👏💙💛💚💜❤👍✊

Why does my pcb Marshall (although it sounds good) sound thinner than all my handwired amps.

yes Hand wiring has it advantages, but delivering the Voltage is not the problem the Amperes are the problem, and I spotted a rather big flaw in your wiring , soldering resistors across the tube contacts, they will get baked overtime I agree it is service friendly, but a proper designed pcb board on some stages is far better, mean the use of both technics.

True point to point hand wiring has no printed circuits, this amp is a hybrid of the both , the connections to the power tubes is why hand wiring is desired this is because of reliability, pc joints crack and outs are swapped a lot

You talk about where you source your PC Cards ,the ones you don’t youse?

My parents was so angry when they found that I’m doing a hand wiring

"the highest grade components that are available" and the tooth fairy exists too. I won't say that the components aren't very decent, but highest grade components would make the amp 10 times or more expensive.

It's tradition. To use pcbs and wave soldering is too modern for some people..

Anyone else get anxious when he started patting the high voltage caps?

Hard to handwire multi channel amps without them costing 5000+ USD

PCB mounted tube sockets....... Marshall jcm 200 triple superlead anyone??

Standards are good, but only in the hands of competent people. Boutique guitar amplifier manufacturers make their name for their Mona Lisa paintings under the chassis. Otherwise, buy the original Fender, Marshall, or Vox that most amps are based off of. Thank you very much for posting this video.

"NASA-grade soldering techniques." Haha.

I got a nice organ. Nothings quite like when actual hands touch your organ

I’m sorry-I hate to be blunt but this video gives me a hard-on. Keep I mind this is before I even received my first DR Z amp. Can’t wait to receive mine in the mail.

Had a dr Z Mazerati 38..was sooooo lifeless.

Lol nasa grade soldering techniques

Hahaha, "NASA grade soldering techniques" Hilarious.

"NASA grade soldering techniques?" I call BS on that one. First of all, if such a thing even exists, it would never include touching melting the solder with the tip of the iron (except for tinning the tip). That is how you get a "cold solder joint," which is to say that the solder does not mix with the metal of the lead or the terminal resulting in a poor electrical connection. For a proper solder joint, the tip of the iron heats the lead and terminal and solder is applied from the other side such that the heated lead and/or terminal is hot enough to melt the solder. This assures a good electrical connection by allowing the metals of the solder, the lead, and the terminal to mix. Since this guy lies about his assembly technicians using "NASA grade soldering techniques," I can only wonder what else he is lying about. For example, he also claims that his "amps are built to last for generations." Since electrolytic capacitors will breakdown over time, he must be talking about really, really short generations.

You had me until you said “nasa soldering”.

Thats nice but who cares?

I wish he would elaborate on nasa grade soldering techniques 😶

I just built a 5E3. I’ve owned just about every good amp there ever was. Fenders , Old Marshalls , Boogies . There’s no comparison between a hand wired amp and something with a wafer thin collection of vibe. And that’s what a modern pcb is. Old pcbs were more substantial. New ones are shit.