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I've been corresponding with Mike Kirschmann of ZT Amplifiers, and he gave me permission to post this excerpt from an email he sent me last night, regarding a new ZT jazz amp to be released in the spring:
We do have something for jazz players coming up, though at a much higher price point. We're about to launch the ZT Custom Shop, low-quantity hand-built amps made by us right here in our lab using 95% American made components and featuring a lacquer finish. Our first model is the 1x12 Jazz Club, based on the discontinued ZT Club amp, but much refined with expanded features and tuned for jazz players. It will have a gorgeous midnight blue metallic gloss finish. We'll have these available sometime in the spring. Sign up for the Custom Shop newsletter here: www.ztcustomshop.com
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12-08-2016 03:53 PM
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I was always a bit surprised the original Club never caught on. I was part of a group review of those when they came out, sent it around to each other and stuff...I liked it quite a bit. But I suppose if you don't need the bass thump, the original lunchbox is plent loud and will do the trick in a very tiny package. That's a badass little amp.
However this one is, I wish the cats at ZT all the best. I've talked with their people on several occasions, good folks, good customer service.
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Always puzzled by tuned for jazz. Is that just marketing or is it a thing?
If the revered recording amp of the 50s early 60s was a tweed and the standard amp is a twin or deluxe what does tuned for jazz mean?
I guess we will find out.
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Anyone remember what the club retail price was?
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SS jazz amp means cleans, reverb and Baxandall tone stack to me. No need for a lead channel.
Originally Posted by gggomez
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Hi, Mike from ZT here. That just means that we'll adjust the voicing & tone controls based on input we get from jazz players who help with beta testing. Originally Posted by gggomez
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About $600. Originally Posted by greasy0015
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Street was a good bit lower, though, wasn't it?
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Hi Mike, really a big fan of the original ZT Lunchbox here! Are you planning to make a custom shop version of that either, maybe? Like with wooden cab or something? Regardless, ZT will always be my fav. SS amp, I used it on so many gigs and it always sounds great. Thanks! Originally Posted by mikezt
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Ditto, Anton.
Most useful piece of gear I've ever bought.
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Those hand-rubbed lacquer finishes are really important on amps.
I think that tells you they're going for the baby-boomer crowd.
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I can live with that. Originally Posted by agentsmith
Those hand-rubbed lacquer finishes are really important on amps. I think that tells you they're going for the baby-boomer crowd.
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Very cool. Good luck with your effort. I'll be interested for sure Originally Posted by mikezt
My take on jazz tone is sort of old Polytone meets tube sweetness with a touch of reverb = perfection. I like a soft treble as opposed to the typical fender sparkle. And a touch of distortion, sure.
I'm not too picky about colors -- midnight blue? sure
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I was very interested in the Club when it first came out, but wound up getting a PV Transtube amp instead, for more rock-type work.
I'm looking forward to the new Club.
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I just checked, street was actually $549 on the Club. Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Hi, thanks and really great to hear you like the Lunchbox amp! No plans to do a custom shop Lunchbox, mainly because the CS was originally conceived to offer products we couldn't supply via the large production factory we use for the standard line (minimum production quantity demands vs. our sales rates that don't balance - money stuff). The original Club fit this, as did our 1x12 bass amp that we had designed in 2010 but did not bring to market (yeah, that's another one coming down the pipeline). Originally Posted by Hep To The Jive
We could do a CS Lunchbox in any finish we want - solid wood, whatever, it's just a matter of determining our cost and the demand. If we had 30 or 40 people who would commit to a CS version of the Lunchbox at a certain price (don't know what that would be, but it would be at least twice the price of a regular Lunchbox) then we could to it.
A big part of the cost of the CS amps is the cabinet. These cabinets will be made in California by a high-end shop and will cost a lot. That's just a fact and we have to work with it, the option being we import cabinets from overseas on the cheap and cut costs - but we don't want to do that. We've long desired to manufacture in the U.S. and this is our first step toward that, we're exploring how to make it work.
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Thanks Jeff, that's quite a compliment! Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
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Eh, it's really just because ZT amps have a metallic look and we want to keep that identity. Our standard line of amps are vinyl covered wood. We could go with vinyl on the Custom Shop line and make them cheaper, but decided to achieve the look with a little more class by going with a painted finish. They're not going to be amps you want to toss loose in the back of your van. They will be beautiful and they will need more careful handling than other amps. They'll ship with a padded cover. Tolex is boring. Anyway, that's the thinking. Originally Posted by agentsmith
Those hand-rubbed lacquer finishes are really important on amps. I think that tells you they're going for the baby-boomer crowd.
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Looking forward to see what you have to offer, Mike K of ZTAmps.
Price it right. Make your boards milspec for road-worthiness.
Hope you couple it with a nice clean EV-style speaker with a switchable tweeter for double-duty as an acoustic amp.
PS Painted lacquer might not be such a good idea. Amps are expected to be kicked around so a tougher finish that looks good scuffed is more feasible. I like lacquered tweed.Last edited by Jabberwocky; 12-09-2016 at 03:10 AM.
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That's what we want - jazz players to tell us what they want! Thanks for the input. Originally Posted by Longways to Go
Very cool. Good luck with your effort. I'll be interested for sure
My take on jazz tone is sort of old Polytone meets tube sweetness with a touch of reverb = perfection. I like a soft treble as opposed to the typical fender sparkle. And a touch of distortion, sure.
I'm not too picky about colors -- midnight blue? sure
The standard color will be midnight blue, but we will occasionally do a short run of other colors. That's the advantage of this production model, we can do some fun stuff.
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Me? I want warm sweet 2nd-order harmonics rich with extended golden-hued treble. I am not into the Polytone sound. Make mine Tweed with a little hair to clean as a bell.
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Price will be determined by our costs, which we're still sorting out. Won't be cheap, won't be stupid expensive. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
We have a seriously high-power handling driver designed to our specs w/ a neo magnet to cut some weight. It will do whatever we want it to do. Boards will be rock solid.
Tweeter - not in this model. We'd need to make the amp a couple inches bigger all around to fit a tweeter, and we're still focused on small and light as possible. But this amp will sound very nice as an acoustic amp no matter.
We've considered more damage-resistant finishes, and as I wrote in an earlier post we will be doing special runs of alternate finishes, so I'm sure at some point we'd do something like that.
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We get the tone controls right, we will please most everyone. Originally Posted by Jabberwocky
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Mikezt, all of what you're saying is exciting. Can't wait to see what comes out!
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I bought the original ZT Club Amp when it was released. First I liked the tone and the power of this little amp. But then I missed the treble and clearness of the typical Fender sound. So I sold the Club and got me a Roland Cube 80XL.
I still would be interessted in good new custom ZT Club Amp with a better treble sound and a much better reverb.
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