DON'T YOU THINK THE AMPLIFIER MANUFACTURERS CAN PUT MORE VOLUME CONTROLS ON ALL NEW AMP MODELS SOLD TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC THESE DAYS?   WHAT THE HECK . . . MAKE EVERY KNOB A MASTER VOLUME CONTROL FOR EVERY VOLUME CONTROL   FOR THE VOLUME CONTROLS THAT CONTROL THE VOLUMES   ON THE MASTER VOLUME CONTROL KNOBS            BUT AS YOU'LL SOON REALIZE            I'VE DECIDED TO GO WITH THOSE PRODUCTS THAT STILL BELIEVE IN SIMPLICITY AND TONE QUALITY . . .
 
Ever since the first guitar player started whining about being drowned in the mix, except for Freddy Green, the incredible chord-master guitarist with the Count Bassie Orchestra, it became the guitar players mission to allievate this situation. One of the single most positive steps made to remedy the volume issue during the pre-electric era, was the invention and production of the National Resophonic Guitar invented by John Dopyera. It was the most expensive guitar a player could buy at the time. But the resophonic guitar was destined to fulfill more important and far reaching roles in american music than being a temporary fix as the king of volume. In just a few years every bandleader in America was telling the guitar player to turn it down... yeah! Now we're cookin'!

Blues guitar players were the creative pioneers to exploit the beautiful sweet and buttery overdriven tones from a cranked under powered "class A" tube amp. Early band recordings of Howlin' Wolf come to mind, but there is a slew of post war blues recordings that shaped the indelible guitar sound that rock n' roll has coveted for nearly a half century. Without a doubt, this became the foundation tones from which all other classic amp tones were later to be judged by. These days, the quest for tone has become more critical than ever. Fortunately we live in a renassiance period of the best tube amps ever produced. Mike Zaite of Dr Z Amps out of Ohio is one of the best amp builders America has to offer.

I have been using the Dr Z 15 watt Carmen Ghia 112 combo tube amp since 1998. From small coffee house gigs to 3K seat venues to recording sessions, this amp has been a vital link in my tone chain. This 15 very loud watts powered by EL84 tubes that drives my Celestion Vintage 30 loudspeaker into blues tone heaven. One channel, one volume and one tone knob... simple, just like the old days, what more do you need? We'll cover that too...

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