Just acquired my dream ASAT Z3

[JJJJ]

Well, it's been forever but I finally got an ASAT Z3. Blown away by the build quality, sustain and sound. It's a 2008 model with an Extra Wide C neck -- **perfect** for me. In guitar heaven.

[image]http://i.imgur.com/tA0rGN3.jpg[/image]

[Fumble fingers]

beautiful Z3 !!

[sam]

Hey JJJJ,

Beautiful Z3 ya got there. I'm a big fan of those Z guitars (2 and 2 parts Z coils) you are in for a treat. Tell us more about it as you play, what styles, yer impressions and what did you switch from to a Z3?

Play on!!

[KenC]

Congratulations, and welcome to the forum!

Ken

[JJJJ]

OK -- have spent a while playing with it. What an incredible guitar.

I've always been a Strat person. Most of the music I end up getting hired to play is pop R&B/soul/jazz-ish -- while my personal tastes veer a little more into Nile Rodgers, Zapp and fusion (Holdsworth, Jef Lee Johnson) territory. So basically I need great tone, leaning on the "glittery" or "glassy" side of things, spend a lot of time in Strat neck pickup territory, and an equal amount of time chugging along in the "in-between" part of the five-way switch.

One of the things that always frustrated me about my Strat, though I love it, is that the single coils sound so GOOD, but don't respond well to drive. They just aren't super hot, and they make a lot of noise.

So when I got the Z3, I was looking for 1) a passable, perhaps meatier, Strat neck pickup sound 2) a passable, maybe less hollow 80s funk picking sound 3) a proud bridge pickup for taking shreddy solos. (Within reason )

This guitar vastly exceeded my expectations!!

First thing I noticed was the intonation was great up and down the neck. The hardtail and locking tuners really seem to keep tuning nicely, and give chords and single-notes both a huge amount of sustain.

The neck pickup sound is sumptuous, perhaps even putting out a tad *more* bass than is strictly necessary. As it's elementary to roll a little bass out at the amp stage, this is absolutely welcome. It's perfect for neo-soul, R&B, blues and so on. The MFDs are sensitive and give a sense of having a lot more dynamic range than my Strat single-coils -- even when I pick super hard, they seem to work *with* the sound just a little bit more.

The 2nd position sound was a bit disappointing. It sounded great, but it didn't sound like Prince/Zapp. No hollow quack. I was worried, so I tried the 4th position.
WELL -- *there* was that sound! Better than I've ever heard it. Full, throaty, articulated, bright but not cloying. Easily prefer it to the Strat 2nd position for fulfilling essentially the same job.

Bridge pickup by itself sounded a shade "twangy," maybe the only position that sounded a bit like a Tele -- but only just so. Remarkably clear, glittering sound. In fact, it was becoming clear that no matter where I had it set, the guitar just has a singing sense of clarity. Notes are clearly defined and in tune, even complex chords.

I run a pretty simple signal chain. I run into an Empress compressor, then Fulltone GT-500 Distortion/OD, then DD-20 and MVP Volume. That's it. I'm always trying to preserve the great clear analog tone the guitar's starting with -- the DD-20, being buffered, could use an upgrade in that department, but I didn't much like the Timefactor so for now that's what I got.

The Empress with the Z3 is a GREAT combination. Playing the kind of clicky rhythm parts I do can make over-picking sounds stick out from time to time -- the Empress, running at a 2:1 ratio, just snips down those high-midrangey peaks. I don't know that I would advocate an "always-on" compressor for other kinds of guitars, but it fits the Z3 like a glove.

The GT-500 is one of my favorite pedals. The Z3 bridge pickup into the GT-500 is heavenly. All that sustain is a good match for it. A Strat's bridge pickup can be frighteningly, piercingly high when distorted -- the Z3's bridge by comparison is creamy, just a little bit hotter, and controlled.

It was at this point I got *really* excited about the MFDs -- because if you know the GT-500, you know it can be an unforgiving noisemaker. The red channel, distortion, created almost NO noticeable noise when clicked on. Amazing and required for live performances as far as I'm concerned.

But still the really exciting bit was when I turned on the Boost channel, fed into Distortion -- for that shreddy sustained sound -- and the noise, while present, was NOT annoying, and not a hum, but instead just an almost pleasant, non-threatening hiss. While the notes are horrifically, obscenely loud.

In short, this guitar does everything I need it too, and it's pretty to boot.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum -- I'm not leaving G&L land, like, ever.

J

[Fumble fingers]

that natural binding is just unbelievably sweet with the Black ...... I like the Z coils too , mine is in Comanche form , they don't have near as much quack as Tele or strat but not a problem for me because they have enough , z coils just have there own sound

[Elwood]

nice tone report,
in case you haven't seen it, here's a well read post about voicing the Z-coils:

http://guitarsbyleo.com/FORUM/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1329

[NickHorne]

What a gorgeous instrument! Fantastic score.
Z3s are my favourite guitars of all time, and the extra-wide C likewise my absolute favourite.
The Will Ray bridge pickup may be a temptation waiting down the road for you, but there's not a single other tweak I could imagine anyone could contemplate on that guitar.
Fantastic!

[Case24]

Congratulations! Great looking Z3! Love the black with wood binding as well!

[patricks]

Nice work - a looker and a player! Welcome

[NickHorne]

P.S. you also now have that rarity among electric guitars; a tone knob that's really worth using!
My whole idea of what's possible was expanded when I got my first G&L.
+ what a very beautiful guitar yours is.

[john o]

...It was at this point I got *really* excited about the MFDs -- because if you know the GT-500, you know it can be an unforgiving noisemaker. The red channel, distortion, created almost NO noticeable noise when clicked on. Amazing and required for live performances as far as I'm concerned.

But still the really exciting bit was when I turned on the Boost channel, fed into Distortion -- for that shreddy sustained sound -- and the noise, while present, was NOT annoying, and not a hum, but instead just an almost pleasant, non-threatening hiss. While the notes are horrifically, obscenely loud.

In short, this guitar does everything I need it too, and it's pretty to boot.

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum -- I'm not leaving G&L land, like, ever.

J[/quote]

thx for the review, most helpful. i have been discerning on scoring a comanche. some folks are excited about the will ray Z3 pickup, a few more winds and output, at the bridge position.

[NickHorne]

G&Ls in general and, for me, Z-3s in particular, are just uniquely good.
As a hardtail-only player, if I could have only one electric then it would be a Z-3 with a no 4 neck.
J's guitar is just tuxedo-smart, beautiful.