# Genz Benz Amps



## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

Your thoughts on Genz Benz amps?


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## james on bass (Feb 4, 2006)

Can't help you with the guitar amps other than I've heard they are nice.

The other bass forum I visit (HCBF) is crazy about the bass amps and the excellent CS Genz provides. Had a chance to play one a few months ago and loved it. I'm currently selling gear to finance a Genz.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

They started to sell them around here. So went to try 2 models saturday quickly. at first glance, it's a very generic amp, kinda like Crate, randall and the liles, meaning when you hear it, it as nothing very distinctive about it. All made in China right now. design wise the amps look ok..trying to emulate a bit the "boutique" look, but cheaper naturally. the combo i tried was the Black Pearl 30, nice, but would'nt put 1899$ for that amp personnaly.


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## SinCron (Mar 2, 2006)

Meh. Tried one of the El Diablo amps and didn't find it to be that much fun. Should have tried the clean channel though.


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## Archer (Aug 29, 2006)

I have used the El Diablo and the Black Pearl amps.....thought they sucked badly.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

i spent some quality time with the el diablo, and it couldnt do a thing my traynor YCV80 couldnt do - only it costs more.


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

These reviews are kind of what I have been seeing in other areas. They appear to be costly and really dont get the job done. The clean channel seems to be the one that some people say is pretty good.


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## nitehawk55 (Sep 19, 2007)

Funny , over on TGP they are just raving about these Black Pearl amps but I brought one home from a local dealer and it didn't impress me at all . Initially it looks impressive but I'm kind of fussy and the 1st thing I noticed was the chassis screws going through the cab were crooked and not sunk right . The were other signs of "cheapness" that I didn't care for , cab materials and some other components . Now they claim the PCB is military grade and it has other features that they claim makes it a good build but honestly this whole " Made in China" thing rubs me wrong . Sound wise it was OK but it didn't blow me away .

I'm not a cork sniffer but I believe too many goods are coming from over there at the cost of jobs in north Am . I'd rather spend a bit more and buy home grown . Speaking of that , another amp I tried about the same time was the Traynor YCS50 , Made in CANADA and a much better value :smilie_flagge17:


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

nitehawk55 said:


> I'm not a cork sniffer but I believe too many goods are coming from over there at the cost of jobs in north Am . I'd rather spend a bit more and buy home grown . Speaking of that , another amp I tried about the same time was the Traynor YCS50 , Made in CANADA and a much better value :smilie_flagge17:


Amen brotha.....what sadens me doh is Quality in Traynor seems to be realy going down, spoke to 2 techs in the last week, and both mentionned that Traynors are breaking down more often then a Lada (russian care) these days.


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## hollowbody (Jan 15, 2008)

al3d said:


> Amen brotha.....what sadens me doh is Quality in Traynor seems to be realy going down, spoke to 2 techs in the last week, and both mentionned that Traynors are breaking down more often then a Lada (russian care) these days.


I don't know about that. I had a YCV40 for a while and I never, ever gave me a problem. The ONLY thing that I could say about the amp in any kind of negative light is that there was one screw that was a little loose on the chassis that caused a buzzing noise when excited by certain frequencies which drove me nuts until I tracked it down. But really, that's not a huge issue at all. It's not even a small one.

I'm sure, like all electronics manufacturers, Traynor puts out a few lemons here and there, but I think overall the build quality is pretty decent.


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## al3d (Oct 3, 2007)

hollowbody said:


> I don't know about that. I had a YCV40 for a while and I never, ever gave me a problem. The ONLY thing that I could say about the amp in any kind of negative light is that there was one screw that was a little loose on the chassis that caused a buzzing noise when excited by certain frequencies which drove me nuts until I tracked it down. But really, that's not a huge issue at all. It's not even a small one.
> 
> I'm sure, like all electronics manufacturers, Traynor puts out a few lemons here and there, but I think overall the build quality is pretty decent.


I was told that they are now outsourcing a lot of stuff from china, to keep competitive, this might be a problem as well.


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## nitehawk55 (Sep 19, 2007)

al3d said:


> Amen brotha.....what sadens me doh is Quality in Traynor seems to be realy going down, spoke to 2 techs in the last week, and both mentionned that Traynors are breaking down more often then a Lada (russian care) these days.


Well hopefully that is a temporary issue . Maybe some parts that were not up to quality . 
No doubt they are getting parts from off shore , i'm sure even some boutique amps might have less than top grade parts . I'll bet Traynor is looking after the warranty on those amps though , from what I understand they are real good in the customer service dept .


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

the reverb on my old YCV80 died, that was damn unfortunate .

it also cut out or had the volume drop once or twice in the 2 or 3 years i had it. but still seems to work just fine..

my buddy who bought it knows a fair bit about electronics so if it acts up he can probably fix it himself


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

Just started mixing a record with mostly tracks done on a Genz Benz, some other tracks were done on my Cornford, Diezel and D Lite and while I may be partial to my amp collection, the Genz Benz, mic'd properly is delivering just fine. 

I don't know about amps breaking...the ones we sell don't break very often (other than the bank:smile but 12ax7's of late have been brutal....like 1 in 4 works properly.

I guess could jump on the "Genz Benz is corpos pretending to be boutique" bandwagon BUT Hamers are under the same corporate umbrella and ......well, in my book, the Hamer's rule (USA builds)......I don't think I'm alone

Andy


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## sysexguy (Mar 5, 2006)

btw, 9/10 reverb problems are a simple tiny wire between the spring and the reverb chassis breaking or having a cold solder, easy fix.....usually the rest is....the 12ax7 driving the pan.......easily fixed too. There's no 500v DC to worry about in there so go ahead and open it up and get it working

Andy


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## bluezombie (May 7, 2007)

I own a Genz Benz El Diablo 100 head

I've got to say the distortion is okay, it's a high gain amp, but it doesn't sound very high gain. It's a pretty generic sounding distortion, but for what i play, it gets the job done.

But the clean channel is what i really love about this amp, it feels incredibly warm and present. Everytime i turn it on, i'm surprised how great it sounds.


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