Dr. Z AMA: "The History of the Carmen Ghia"
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- Опубліковано 24 вер 2024
- Dr. Z details the history of one of the first amps in the company line, and the early history of it's development. The Carmen Ghia is considered one of the earliest examples of the "lunchbox" style amplifiers, and helped usher in the boutique, low-watt revolution.
www.drzamps.com
As a dealer for many high-end amplifiers, I have to say, the Dr. Z Carmen Ghia is one of the best amps ever created. Seriously... In a world of "boutique flavor of the month" amplifiers, how many amps have been around for nearly 30 years that still consistently sell really well. The Carmen Ghia is still, to this day, one of the best selling Dr. Z amplifiers. I've been doing this for quite a while, and let me tell you, this is extremely rare. The Carmen Ghia will do down in guitar player history as one of the all time greats.
Thanks for the kind words Jake.
Just picked up a 2000 2x10 Carmen Ghia in mint condition. I’ll never get rid of it. It’s absolutely amazing. Had a 97 matchless brave stolen and it broke my heart. My heart is now healing. 🙏🏼
Dr Z is thee man!!!. And I still love the sound of the Ghia. The one that put the good Dr on the map.
Us doctor z amp users are such a tight community of great guys, I used to HATE el84 amps until I bought my maz 18 mkii, thanks to the gear page for putting me onto the amps, really enjoying the simplicity that I used to be very skeptical about.
My first z amp and first boutique amp was a Carmen ghia. I still have it, along with a few other zs. Great design. Thanks for the education on the history!
This Was the first Dr. Z amp I ever heard.. A guy was playing one through a tele into a 212 Z cabinet. It was a rehearsal and I was looking at my friend and he was looking at me and I asked him is that the greatest guitar tone you’ve ever heard in your life or am I just dreaming? He agreed And we both eventually had Z amps.
I suspect I'm one of very few Australian CG owners, given the dramas Mike went through to get it to me. Still very much appreciated, and the extra cloth and logos he sent allowed me to make an awesome 2 x 10" stack.
I live in Australia and have had mine since 2002
Happy New Year from London, England Doc. These vids are just great, makes me feel part of the "Z" community!! I'll be gigging my early Maz 18 NR head thru a Marshall 4x10 on New Years eve, I'll raise a glass to you and make sure the musos in the room know your name !!!
Terrific story Doc. Jimmy Smith and everything. The Ghia remains one of the greatest amps I've ever played through ever! Our Hammond A-100 at the studio has the Reverb Amp too!
Great story about a great amp. Thanks!
Thank you so much for the video Doc! It was fantastic, I learned so much, I am still loving my CG!!! Peace.
Man, that was an interesting story, as always. You are the coolest guy on the planet. I have several Dr Z amps, but was never interested in the Carmen Ghia. I wouldn't even listen to one of Dave Baker's demos. The reason is probably Freudian and from my teenage days in the 70's working at an Exxon station in Texas - a nice old lady had this beautiful Carmen Ghia convertible, but it was a lemon and we were always repairing something on it. I loved the lady, but hated to see her pulling into the station with that car. Anyway, I recently bought Pack 1&2 of the DR Z Kemper profiles, and the Carmen Ghia is my absolute favorite. I will be purchasing a real one in the very near future.
I built one from an ao35. I use a 50 watt blue dog speaker and it may be the best rig I’ve ever played through. I love the simplistic versatility. It turns the controls on your guitar into the amp’s controls basically. Great head room until it starts getting dirty. Love it! Crazy phase inverter.
Awesome to see the doc here getting his start from a Hammond chassis. Those transformers in the AO-44 chassis are truly magical. My main amp is an EL84 circuit similar to the Cornford Hurricane based around that iron. And for me it's perfect.
Great amp! My favorite Dr Z!
Love hearing you tell that story Doc! Great video, nice way to end 2017... all the best in the new year! Cheers!
Love these amps. They don't even need both knobs - just one labeled 'MORE'. Just like Trainwrecks, it's in the listening to your ears and the ears of players you admire to zero in on that sweet spot and lock it. It takes a delicate balance of pride and humility to keep caressing the design. If perfection is defined by no room for improvement (at least in this genre), this amp qualifies.
GREAT video, Doc! Lots of great history there! Love the CG! One of the best amps EVER! MaddogfromZ-Talk
Awaiting the shipment of a Dr. Z Maz 18 Mkii 1x12 combo. Gonna sound killer! Thanks Doc
Great vid! Love the Amp & Jimmy Smith (Mr. B3).
The A035 is the standard equipment reverb amp from the A100 series Hammond organ (and others perhaps). The bulbs limit the signal to the reverb tank (signal enters the bulbs from the output of the main poweramp, then feeds the tank - none of the active circuits in the AO35 are involved in driving the tank). The signal from the tank returns to the input of the AO35, which drives an additional speaker that's just reverb.
It would be cool if you had some reprints of that ad made and sold them.
I knew the Ghia was a descendant of the AO-35, but hearing about Hammond guys ripping out the amps to just let them sit around and do nothing is honestly a little upsetting... if a Leslie speaker is wired as the directions tell you to, the reverb doesn't work if your speaker selector switch is set to Leslie only. That'd make the reverb amp nothing but dead weight unless your Hammond technician realizes you can intercept the speaker wire AFTER it splits off to the reverb amp so you can get reverb from a static speaker while your dry signal gets spun around in the Leslie.
At least the amps you saw wound up getting a new useful life, and I hope their current owners appreciate what they've got!
I bought a Carmen Guia second hand but the cabinet has the Z missing how can I get one?
Dr. Z could also have a pretty lucrative career as a voice over artist
i don't really like the Untreated Transients of Si-rectifiers ... just gotta pay a little more, for an amp with a valve supply, it's Worth It by my ears... but i have played through, what i consider "way over-crushed transients" (5Y3), but GZ34 / 5AR4 are a touch much snap for my tastes, but certainly much better than Si...
i would definitely go 5AR4 between the 3, ( but would go SI before 5Y3 )
so i would rather any of the Dr.Z valve recto amps, and would totally save extra for a jump.
but yeah, some people would lose their minds if they couldn't get a 5Y3, for some people, that's the bomb, and of course the GZ34 is cult....but i sort of like my sag somewhere in-between, because i don't want to smash my tone with a compressor to get my transients to lay down a bit more....
so on my circuit i went Stiffer that typical Supply / 5U4GB.. because that feels best to me personally.
So I have a working Porta-B that I got for free. Do I gut it for the amplification and if so how do I give the rest away to an organ guy and still look him in the eye?
Does the Porta-B have an AO-35 reverb amp in it? Well, if it does, and you didn't pull it out yet, I would sell the organ to a guy who wants a Hammond Organ, than purchase an AO- 35 on eBay that has already been pulled out. Those organs are instruments in their own right, and are amazingly complex (and becoming extinct). I did exactly what I told you to do, ended up with an ao-35 and an ao-39 and still had money left over! Just an idea.
I remember being at Charlie's house. I started out playing in the early 70's with Darwin Dorsey, and he would get stuff for all of his B3's and A100's from Charlie. I have a CG and along with my 1972SFTR, I'll not part with them.
Awesome memories!
Dr Z Amplification Btw, Darwin has a house full of B3's, and other Hammond parts, plus Leslies and whatever else you could imagine. If you need anything Hammond related, I can get in touch with him. He's on the westside. Merry Christmas Mike
Hi, I'd like to ask a question about trhe difference between the Kamen Ghia and the Maz 18. I've had a Maz18NR (head with 2x12cab) for many years and recently a Ghia 2x10 combo has just come on the local market. I've thought to go and try it but when I looked at the specs, tube wise, these amps are identical.That being the case are there any other differences between these amps that would give a difference in tone making it worthwhile trying and maybe buying? Thanks
They have completely different power and preamp circuits. The tone stack and gain staging are much different. The Ghia would be considered warmer and thicker sounding than a MAZ which is more direct and snappier. Also, with a 2x10 speaker pairing, you'll find even more tonal differences. Remember, power tubes themselves don't just make the amp, an amp is much more than the sum of it's parts.
The best would be to try it first, you'll hear the differences immediately!
Dr Z Amplification thank you. I will :-)
where did the name come from ? VW fan?
that and the first grandson's name is Carmen
that and the first grandson's name is Carmen
oh cool! @@DrZAmplification
#25 (comment) knew your accent was familiar, Cleveland, Ohio.
How come you charge 1500 bucks for an amp with two knobs and no effects loop Doc?
André Baeta Because the parts used to make this original design that has been a part of the line since the early 90s continue to rise in cost and the amount of knobs has nothing to do with the quality of transformers, chassis, capacitors, and years of legacy and experience that go into setting that price point, André. 30 years in, and we are still under or at the same cost point as younger boutique brands that are made entirely in the US (and even some that are not).
If you would like a more fitting “cost to knob” ratio, try our CURE model. It has 7 knobs (8 knobs if you include the one on the boost), a variable boost footswitch, and an effects loop. All for that same price point you mentioned. Thats $200 a knob, as opposed to 800 a knob, so it may fit your requirements.
I wont doubt the quality of the amp, and the years and legacy the brand has in the boutique bussiness but even so, with the limites the amp has, not even having a basic eq, and the price range you put on this particular series to me is outrages. In that price I will stick to friendman amps. but it is a shame because there isnt realy a boutique bedroom level oriented amp in the market such as yours. If the price dropped to a standart boutique level price like 800 bucks to me would make a litlle more sense, putting into consideration what this amp can offer, and being fully aware of the premium components you must have used. Just my opinion. Good luck in your endeavours sir.
André, as I understand your needs, it sounds like Friedman's amps fit your needs which is great, because Mr. Friedman does what he does very well. But I think you have a misconception about this particular amp, as the 3000+ customers who have bought the Carmen Ghia would disagree that a single tone knob is a limitation. Please understand, in terms of cost, this is a matter of $5 dollar worth of parts to include a full TMB EQ control. The Ghia was developed for the express purpose of simplicity of use and purity of tone. Ask any engineer, including more components and circuitry like fx loops, additional gain stages, tone stacks, etc. is a trade off and a balancing act in terms of the end sonic result. The Ghia is aimed at players who do not need multi-channel affairs with multiple EQ settings, and choose to play with their ears not their eyes, and adjust their tonal needs by the playing and guitar controls. It came out during a time when amplifiers were getting increasingly more involved and complex (the 90s), and some of those players saw this as a detriment to the tone they were seeking. Also, the Ghia is not a bedroom amp, despite it's small footprint. It does not have a master volume. It is a loud 18 watts, and would not be suitable for a bedroom player. Again, that's not what it's aimed at. Also, we have a few amps in our line(as I mentioned), that have the features you mentioned. This is not one of them, and it isn't a limitation to the folks who want this particular sound. I do not know what this "standard boutique price" is that you mention, I'm not aware of any manufacturers that do not outsource their labor and components that offer amplifiers at this price. Feel free to educate me otherwise, but to build an amplifier, hand-wired, non-PCB, in the U.S. at $800 is an economic impossibility if we want to pay our employees a fair wage, with health care and benefits. Some of them have been with us for 10+ years. 20 years ago this was a possibility, as that's about what a Ghia cost back then. But that was in the 90s, and we had 1 single employee, Dr. Z himself. Thanks for showing interest in our line.
@@AndreBaeta1 interesting comment. I just googled Friedman amps and can't find anything in a head or combo that is cheaper than a Carmen Ghia. Dr. Z offers some of the lowest priced boutique amplifiers on the market. Also, the Ghia is not what i'd call a bedroom level amp. It is scary just how big and loud it can sound. ah, well. Hope you're rocking whatever you're playing through.
Because its one of the best amps out there....simple and complex....