Dr. Z Amplification is an American manufacturer of boutique guitar amplifier

Guitar amplifier

A guitar amplifier is an electronic amplifier designed to make the signal of an electric or acoustic guitar louder so that it will produce sound through a loudspeaker...

s.

History

The company was founded in 1988 by Mike Zaite, a.k.a. Dr. Z, a drummer who started producing tube amplifiers in his Cleveland area shop, while maintaining his day job as a medical electronic engineer at G.E.. As the son of a TV repair shop owner, Zaite learned the ropes at the age of thirteen when he began tinkering with amps and PAs.

His first amplifier was based on a reverb amplifier for a Hammond organ

Hammond organ

The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...

. He sold a few hundred of those, and the re-engineered them so he could build them from scratch. His first commercially made amplifier was the Carmen Ghia, an 18-watt amplifier with nothing but a volume and a tone control, 12AX7

12AX7

12AX7 is a miniature dual triode vacuum tube with high voltage gain. It was developed around 1946 by RCA engineers in Harrison, New Jersey, under developmental number A-4522. It was released for public sale under the 12AX7 identifier on September 15, 1947. The 12AX7 was originally intended as...

 and 5751 pre-amp tubes, and two EL84

EL84

The EL84 is a vacuum tube of the power pentode type. It has a 9 pin Noval base and is found mainly in the final output stages of amplification circuits, most commonly now in guitar amplifiers, but originally in radios and many other devices of the pre-transistor era.It was developed to eliminate...

 output tubes.

In 1990, Zaite provided Joe Walsh

Joe Walsh

Joseph Fidler "Joe" Walsh is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has been a member of three commercially successful bands, the James Gang, Barnstorm, and the Eagles, and has experienced notable success as a solo artist and prolific session musician, especially with B.B...

 with a SRZ-65 model amplifier. In 1994 Zaite received a call to build several more amps for Joe to use on the 1994 Eagles World Tour. Subsequently, he quit his job to focus on amps full-time. The following year, a Guitar Player

Guitar Player

Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...

review of the SRZ-65 boosted the company's public profile in the boutique amplifier market.

A further boost in popularity would come to Dr Z. with the design of several new amplifier models together with Brad Paisley

Brad Paisley

Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....

beginning in 2001. These signature models include the Stang Ray, Prescription ES and the Z Wreck.