A review of the ZT Lunchbox Amp from the trenches

[vjf1968]

Ok. So my band had gig this past Thursday in a nice cozy playing space. I brought the ZT Lunchbox as my main (and only) amp. This was actually a good thing becuase there was a steep set of stairs to get to the area where were to play. My wife and I managed to carry 2 guitars, pedal board, and my gig bag, which also contained the amp, in one go from the car to the front door.

Since we were basically putting on the show we supplied the PA and mics for the other band and the burlesque dancers so we had time to do a sound check. With electronic drums, bass, guitar (Hallmark 60's Custom) and vocals we are pretty easy band to mix. With the amp turned up to moderate volume everything sounded pretty good.

As we launched into our first song I notice the strength of the Lunchbox immediately. It does clean very well and with the gain level set to around 2:00-2:30 you get a little break up. I use delay so with this set up it was instant Hank Marvin.

As the set progressed I started to notice that some dirt boxes did sound too good with the amp. Either it was too much to the point of no definition, or lack of sustain. So I had to do knob twiddling throughout the set to make adjustments. I do not look at this as a bad thing since this my first gig with it so it is to be expected.

Our songs vary in style so one song might have a Curtis Mayfield groove, the next a Chris Isaak feel, and the next Blue Cheer. So you can imagine the dynamic changes in sound. But at the end of the night some musicians were very impressed with the amp and could not believe that something so little could sound so loud.

Now with the ZT Lunchbox as is, it is a pretty good amp for cleans and a little overdrive. If you are going to use heavy distortion than you may want to look into getting a 12" speaker cab to grab the lows.

It is a keeper as far as I'm concerned. It passed the acid test for me but I may be contacting Weber for a cab and speaker unless I can find one cheap.

Will I still use my DRRI? Yes but for certain sized rooms. The Lunchbox is a pretty good fit for those places where real estate is an issue and volume is a main concern. But before you buy make sure you try it out. If you play more classic rock verging on heavy metal than take a look at the Club 12 that is suppose to out. I may get one of those too.

[GattonFan]

I have an '80s Gallien Krueger 250ML - How would you say these compare? They seem to be affordable.
Dennis

[Sarah93003]

I've been drawn to this little amp as well for the simplicity of "grab and go". My Hot Rod Deluxe weighs almost 50 pounds so I'm reluctant to take it unless I really need that much power. My Vox AD15VT is only 22 pounds and much easier for me to tote around. It has it's plusses as well. The ZT Lunchbox at 9 1/2 pounds is awesome in it's tiny compact size. I've played through them three times now and once you get used to dialing in your sound it isn't a bad little amp at all. Before I buy one however I do want to look at the ZT Club which weighs 22 pounds and comes with a 12" speaker at 200W also. It also has a reverb and other goodies that make it attractive. I'd recommend anyone to take a look at these cool lightweight amps. They are definately LOUD!

[vjf1968]

I have an '80s Gallien Krueger 250ML - How would you say these compare? They seem to be affordable.
Dennis

I never heard a GK 250ML but I think the main difference between that and the ZT Lunchbox is that the ZT uses a DSP after the analog input and converts the signal to a 24bit PCM digital signal at 44.1 Khz sampling rate. Its here where the tone, ambiance are effected and then converted back to analog into the power amp. So ZT is using a different technology than what was available when the 250ML came out. Now the "200 watts" claim may be a misnomer. According to the manual the 200 watts is musical peak power but the RMS power is rated at 120 watts and the sustained average musical power is 180 watts. If that makes any sense.

All I know that it works and sounds great and loud for a small device.

This thing is also very flexible. You can power a speaker cabinet of 8 ohms or higher into a speaker rated at 100 watts. You can use the line level out to listen through headphones, go into a recording rig, or into the PA. You can leave the internal speaker off or on. By leaving it on you can monitor the stage volume while having the sound go through the house system with its own volume control.

Be forewarned that you can not do any modifications on this thing. The speaker is propitiatory so do not think about putting a "better speaker" in there. If you want a different speaker you are going to have to use a separate cab.

[GattonFan]

Thanks for the tip! I'm gonna have to take a closer look at these - first time I've heard of them.
Dennis

[Sarah93003]

Excellent points! Although I haven't heard this yet, the guy at GC told me that this amp makes a great "head" onto a speaker cab. I don't know the cab he ran it through but at that point he became a true believer that is is a bad azz little amp. Okay, I didn't really cuss with that one, it was just quoting what the man said!

[jfine]

That ZT sounds pretty interesting. I'll have to check one out. I've never tried a ZT, but I can tell you a lot about the Gallien-Krueger ML as I owned one for about fifteen years. I actually had the 250MLE-112 (built-in reverb, compression, chorus, and channel-switching, 1-12" Celestion Vintage 30 speaker) along with a matching G-K 112 extension speaker cab, and all the accessories--footswitch (used a MIDI cable but didn't switch via MIDI) and padded "Road Bags" for the combo and extension cab. It made a neat little mini-stack about 2-1/2 feet high, the combo weighed about 35 lbs. and the cab about 25. It was rated at 130 watts using both speakers, but it always felt underpowered, although I'd often use the XLR line out to run into the PA if I needed to. The clean sound was pretty good, especially with the compressor engaged, but the distortion channel could get pretty muddy, and as they shared the 4-band EQ, dialing the thing in was always a compromise. The chorus was OK; the reverb stunk--it was an analog bucket-brigade circuit, and you could hear the multiple repeats ("WHAPapapapap"). I don't know why they didn't use digital reverb in that amp--it would have been an improvement. To be fair, I think those amps were designed to sound like a Scholz Rockman headphone amp, and they pretty well did. I got it new in '91 after trying one at the NAMM show, and even after I replaced it as my main gigging amp, I'd still use it for small gigs where I needed to bring something small and light. It was on one of those--a jazz duo (guitar and sax) gig, that it finally died--a fat spark shot out the back of the chassis and the poor thing gave up the ghost. It had a ton of features, and I often said that it did everything but sound good!

[GattonFan]

Bummer, jfine ... I have one of the Series I 250 MLs from the 80s, the little amp that's built like a tank. When I bought it, I had the speakers re-foamed, but this is a very loud, tough little amp. My only complaint is that the "delay" isn't a true delay - more like a reverb than anything else. I'm still checking out the samples on YouTube of the ZT lunchbox ... Have to get over to GC to hear it in person.
Dennis

[vjf1968]

After some prodding my lead singer and video guy I have attained a live recording of my band with me using my Hallmark 60's Custom through the ZT Lunchbox amp. The space can hold 75 people so it's not the Fillmore but it is a good venue for this type of amp.

The recording was made via a video camera about 10 feet away from the stage (I'm guessing). Note that this is the sound of the 6.5 inch speaker. The amp was not going through the PA.

http://theabsinthedrinkers.com/l-i-s-t-e-n/ABSDR_song_Eldorado_2010-01_Time.mp3
On this I'm using a Fulldrive 2 w/ boost on the solo and a Danelectro Cool Cat Tremelo and an MXR Carbon Copy
http://theabsinthedrinkers.com/l-i-s-t-e-n/Grendel_2010-01_Time.mp3
On this I'm playing clean using the MXR Carbon Copy.

Let me know if this link works.

PS. I was doing some knob twiddling during the set.

[Veenture]

Interesting little amp this ZT Lunchbox, from what I've read and heard. The links vjf1968 posted work. Atmospheric sounds theabsinthedrinkers have there...they almost took me back to the days of Jim Morrison (The Doors) and also Brian Ferry (Roxy Music)