Dr Z and Brad Paisley introduce DB4 guitar amp

Nothing gets a tonehound's pulse racing like a Dr Z, and now the Ohio guitar amp guru has launched its fourth collaboration with country guitar supremo Brad Paisley, the DB4.

Designed with British voicing in mind, the DB4 utilises a 5849 pentode preamp valve - famed for its use in Gibson's GA-40 Les Paul amp - driven into a rotary frequency filter, which attunes the four EL84 output valves to high-end brilliance, meaty resonance and everything in between. Dr Z calls it "a tone control for your output tubes".

The amp's switchable 38/18W output is adjusted via three controls - the aforementioned rotary tone switch, volume and cut - and will be available in three iterations: a Head, 1x12 'Classic-Lite' Combo (with Celestion Gold speaker) and 2x12 'Bluesbreaker' Combo (packing two Celestion Blue speakers).

If you want to experience what Brad Paisley has dubbed the "best sound ever… Seriously!", the DB4 Head will be $1,799, while the 1x12 'Classic-Lite' combo is $2,199 and the 2x12 'Bluesbreaker' combo is $2,899.

Michael Astley-Brown

Mike is Editor-in-Chief of GuitarWorld.com, in addition to being an offset fiend and recovering pedal addict. He has a master's degree in journalism, and has spent the past decade writing and editing for guitar publications including MusicRadar, Total Guitar and Guitarist, as well as a decade-and-a-half performing in bands of variable genre (and quality). In his free time, you'll find him making progressive instrumental rock under the nom de plume Maebe.