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Topic: Curious…ZT Lunchbox Reverb Amplifier 125 Watts |
Jeffery Mercer
From:
Born in Portsmouth Oh. Dec. 10th 1954 Reside in City of Mentor, in Northeast Oh.
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Posted 31 Dec 2024 1:57 pm |
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Has anyone ever tried playing there Pedal Steel through one of the ZT- Lunchbox Amplifiers the one with Reverb? If you have could you, or rather would you,
Share your thoughts and, or your experience please, I’ve heard a lot of different stories that they are made for the stage and actually keep up with any drummer
and they take pedals really well… Also heard they get a fantastic clean sound,actually they weigh in at around 10 lbs and have a very special Spkr. Design that can handle 125-200 watts with no problem. (Looking forward to some reply’s and experience stories)
Thanks!
Jeff in Cleveland
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Jeffery S Mercer |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 31 Dec 2024 7:15 pm
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| Jeffrey, I have that amp and it's companion speaker cabinet that I purchased for archtop jazz guitar. It was rather underwhelming for that even when coupled to a 12 inch speaker cabinet. It does work well with a Telecaster and yes it can get loud. For pedal steel the built in speaker it too small and mid heavy which is the last thing you want. With a 12 inch cabinet and TT speaker it's better but the lack of tone controls is limiting. Then I used it as more of a power amp driving the signal from a Boss GT1 processor and the TT cabinet and got a respectable tone. However thats not what I want for my steel. It's a cool little portable amp and has plenty of power but not enough tone controls and that little speaker is a limitation. My ZT Lunchbox claims 200 watts. Oddly the extension speaker is only rated for 50 watts. I understand if it's connected in parallel with the internal speaker the watts are reduced to half but why a 50 watt extension speaker if the amp can produce 200 watts? Can say it gets a bit warm when running both speakers. |
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John Laidler
From:
New South Wales, Australia
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Posted 31 Dec 2024 10:54 pm
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I have one. Took it to rehearsal once, and found the lack of bottom unsatisfactory.
Haven't tried it with an larger extension speaker. That might help.
A local steel player, Graham Griffiths, has used one live with a jazzy combo (including double bass) and it sounded fine. Depends on context, I guess.
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ShoBud 6139, 1975; Excel Robostar, 2023 |
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Jeffery Mercer
From:
Born in Portsmouth Oh. Dec. 10th 1954 Reside in City of Mentor, in Northeast Oh.
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Posted 1 Jan 2025 9:58 pm Jazz Amp specifically made for Jazz Guitar Players
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Thanks for responding Fellas, my ZT Lunchbox Reverb is from the years 2010 it’s got the ZT label on the left side, and is rated at 120 watts not 200 watts
Also it has a Bass control knob, I will say this in defense of the ZT Lunchbox Reverb Amp, It really takes just about any pedal you throw at it, really well, also in the past when an amp whether it be tube amps or solid state amps, when having problems with an amps Mid, lows, highs, I’ve found that a really good quality Graphic Equalizer can straighten out in most cases any problems you may be having, and give you the sound you want, with the stipulation depending on what Speakers or Speaker your playing through…that really makes a difference, but I’ll stand by my graphic eq comment thanks again fellas for chiming in! I’d say that’s why a lot of fellas make there own extension cabinets…
Thanks!
Respectfully,
Jeffery
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Jeffery S Mercer |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2025 8:27 am
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| Jeffrey, is your amp the Lunchbox? Mine only has a single tone control, volume, gain and ambience. It has the 5 or 6 inch speaker. Same with the extension cabinet. I have plenty of eq pedals including graphic and parametric. I love the little amp but no amount of eq will give the low end I want for steel. The speaker can't handle it and using my 12 inch cabinet helps but I may as well use a proper steel amp. I get good results from the Boss Katana 100 after using the App to tweak the tones. |
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Steve Lipsey
From:
Portland, Oregon, USA
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Posted 2 Jan 2025 9:09 pm
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I use my ZT for lap steel, where it works quite well...the mid-heavy tone is just right. As folks say, it has no bottom end.
The power rating is "200 watts Peak Power", which is closer to 100 average power...and it doesn't mean 100 clean watts, it goes into distortion pretty easily, and solid-state distortion isn't pretty.
It is nice to set it up for a little bit of edge when played hard...the lap steel likes it for blues and rock set up that way, and it has a nice sound space that is out of the way of most other stuff..
But the best part is that with a portable Jackery power station that is the same size, they both fit nicely into a medium backpack, and will play all day...great for jams in the park...much better (and louder) than a typical battery powered amp that uses small rechargeables...
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https://www.lostsailorspdx.com
Williams S10s, Milkman Pedal Steel Mini & "The Amp"
Ben Bonham Resos, 1954 Oahu Diana, 1936 Oahu Parlor |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 4 Jan 2025 10:00 am
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| I agree with Steve. It's too cool and powerful compact amp to let go of. But it has it's place where it shines. |
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Jeffery Mercer
From:
Born in Portsmouth Oh. Dec. 10th 1954 Reside in City of Mentor, in Northeast Oh.
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Posted 5 Jan 2025 5:33 pm Mine is the REVERB
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| Larry Dering wrote: |
| Jeffrey, is your amp the Lunchbox? Mine only has a single tone control, volume, gain and ambience. It has the 5 or 6 inch speaker. Same with the extension cabinet. I have plenty of eq pedals including graphic and parametric. I love the little amp but no amount of eq will give the low end I want for steel. The speaker can't handle it and using my 12 inch cabinet helps but I may as well use a proper steel amp. I get good results from the Boss Katana 100 after using the App to tweak the tones. |
Larry mine is the REVERB AMP it has (5) controls from “L” to “R” Gain- Bass-Trebel-Volume-Reverb and mine is actually 120W RMS & includes a 50W Cab
I might add that this amp (the one I have called the Reverb) costs a bit more…by itself and “New” is $499.00 and if you add the Cab its $580-$650 for the combination.
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Jeffery S Mercer |
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Larry Dering
From:
Missouri, USA
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Posted 5 Jan 2025 8:04 pm
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| Yep that's a different model than mine. I'm sure mine was the early production and claims 200 watts. The reverb model was later and they refined some of it's features. I like my little rig but not for steel. However I can see it for lapsteel. I use it with a telecaster and it does fine. The archtop guitar wasn't a good match up like I hoped. |
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