Marking 35 years in business, Dr. Z presents the Carmen Ghia as a 1×10" combo, an amplifier design that has been in continual production in their lineup and is the first model sold under the Dr. Z banner. With its inception in 1988, the Carmen Ghia launched the business: a company that has weathered over 3 decades in the musical instrument marketplace without faulter, firmly establishing the Dr. Z name amongst music’s greats, past, present, and future. The Carmen Ghia is the distillation of the company’s goal: manageable volume, jaw-dropping tone, without compromise, utilizing a pure, direct signal path from amp, to speaker, to audience.
Early in the company’s history, Dr. Z would visit Ohio area guitar shows with the Carmen Ghia in tow. A seemingly diminutive 18-watt amp was a curiosity in the 1980s, a musical era marked by the mantra of “more, more, more.” More watts, more channels, more knobs, but backbreaking weight, headaches from complex signal routing, and frustration from multiple points of failure. Dr. Z had a unique package with 2 knobs, one channel, all hand-wired---a striking concept for the time. A pure focus on tone, performance and simplicity.
Fast-forward to 2023, the 35th Anniversary edition of the Carmen Ghia is built to the exact same specifications as it always has been, hand-wired by veteran builders in Dr. Z's Cleveland, OH shop. This year Dr. Z has added one important feature: a post-phase inverter master volume (PPIMV) that has been specifically integrated into the circuit to achieve versatile low-volume overdrive, but remain entirely out of the signal path when turned to its maximum setting. Pair this with a light weight 1×10" cabinet loaded with a WGS Veteran 30 10” speaker (the first Dr. Z/WGS pairing in company history), and you have a unique, yet simple, elegant, but easy to dial-in amplifier perfect for small gigs, studio sessions, prayer/worship use, and at-home practice. To top off the company's 35th birthday with a “cherry,” Dr. Z has hand-selected his favorite EL84 variant for this amp, a pair of NOS 6n14n power tubes, matched and tested in his shop, making the amp ready for years of rugged reliability and rich tone.
The Ghia 1×10 combo is in limited production through 2023 and comes branded with a 35th Anniversary commemorative badge on its grill cloth, as well a special Certificate of Authenticity signed by its designer, Mike Zaite, aka Dr.Z.
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT US WITH ANY QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE AT (512) 243.6036 OR sales@austinguitarhouse.com
