The right Wizard model for me.

  • Thread starter Thread starter turtlefingers
  • Start date Start date
turtlefingers said:
Man, I just asked to try to understand the wizards core from their models, not to bash the amps.
Don't take it personal.
I live in a complicated country and I can't miss the bullet.
I missed on a Aiken, AFD Special Edition, Silver Jubilee...
I almost pulled the trigger on a Bogner XTC 20th once I am glad I didn't because I couldn't bond with the blanket in front of the speaker which I couldn't get rid os it.
As I said, I have a CCV and If you say the CCV sounds like shit, I don't care and don't take it personal.
I Just asked in a good way.
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I wouldn’t say the Cameron stuff sounds like shit, but they are not for me. All I was saying was if you like the CCV and were looking for a Wizard that sounded like that, they don’t at all. Just very different amps. If you are lookimg for something very differen, than a Wizard might be it.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
One thing I will say. When I play my Wizard, it sounds Metal. But @nzsteve played it and it sounded just like the marshalls i love... So I think it depends on what you are playing also. I don't play vintage stuff as much. So before I heard him play my amp, I would have been inclined to agree the mids are in a different place.
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Sounded really good to me!!!
 
Oh my, how times have changed. I remember pimping Wizard amps on obscure forums such as Vintage Amps, Plexi Palace and JCF online in the late 90's. At one point I almost couldn't give away my mid 90's 50w 5881 loaded MC 1.
 
turtlefingers said:
Man, I just asked to try to understand the wizards core from their models, not to bash the amps.
Don't take it personal.
I live in a complicated country and I can't miss the bullet.
I missed on a Aiken, AFD Special Edition, Silver Jubilee...
I almost pulled the trigger on a Bogner XTC 20th once I am glad I didn't because I couldn't bond with the blanket in front of the speaker which I couldn't get rid os it.
As I said, I have a CCV and If you say the CCV sounds like shit, I don't care and don't take it personal.
I Just asked in a good way.
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gotta be careful how you speak of other peoples mids, its a sensitive topic and feelings get tender quick :ROFLMAO:
 
I’ve been dying to get a JCM800, the W800 KT150 may be an option for me.
 
DanTravis62 said:
I mean, Henson's got his natural charms, for sure - but I think his sick chuck riffs sound best with his wizards and fryettes

i'm pretty sure I was literally born for playing triplets on a Larry
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And for its Hermansson. My game changer life partner
 
I have not owned a CCV but have had a few Cameron modded Marshalls and a Wizard Metal X ( from the 90's). Wizards and Camerons are very different from one another so any Wizard would be something different, I have played my friends MC 25 several times and I like it pretty well, ( he loves it). The Wizards are really dry sounding but I would not call them fizzy. If anything they sound a little dull and two dimensional, although they do kick like a mule and are certainly loud and uncompressed. I just don't find them to have a very pleasing tone. They sound similar to a VHT. Good but not great imo. A good Marshall 2203 or 2204 sounds so so much better to my ears. Hard to beat a healthy stock Marshall. After all the Bogners, Soldano, Bradshaw OD 100, VHT, Wizard etc etc. I am back to a '82. 2204. It blows any modern production amp away imo.
I would suggest an early JCM 800 and call it a day.
 
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Bro KV said:
I’ve been dying to get a JCM800, the W800 KT150 may be an option for me.
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Why not just get the JCM 800 since that is what you are dying to get. Accept no substitutes. Just get the real deal.. Even with inflated prices , still way cheaper than a Wizard and from my experience a good 800 has so much more life and natural feel than any Wizard I have owned or played.
 
turtlefingers said:
This is the exactly what I feel when I listen to the MC2.
I am assuming the MC 2 is not the right amp to me.
I am going to focus and listen the MTL more carefully.

Thank you guys!
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Neither Wizard I had (2010 MC100-C transformers; 2012 MTL 50) had abrasive or unpleasant highs. That description is any Mark III or Stiletto that I've tried. All day. Could not dial it out of those Mesas no matter what I did.
Also, you mention a Mark having forward mids/present mids vs a Wizard? Other than the honk of the 750 slider I have no clue how a Wiz would ever sound scooped compared to a Mark, ever. I had to boost a Mark with some kind of upper mid flavored pedal to even attempt to hear it while blending it with the Wizards I had (ABY pedal in the room). A Wizard buries a Mark just by the nature of it's midrange...maybe the MTL not as much but the only way I could hear any Mark I had when I had the MC100 was to simply make it louder. Wizards don't have the exact same mids as a Marshall; but they are far more present than any Mark series.
 
Greazygeo said:
Over the years Ive probably had at least 30 different old Marshalls, 68-79 mostly. My first was a 72 50 watt that blew up all the time. Back then there really were not many amps to even choose.
Playing them at 4 hour gigs were tough, the last set and a half they were always just a mud fest. Also the ghost notes were terrible and to run any FX took a ton of gear. But for that middle set and a half they sounded great. Some nites would be awesome tone, some so/so and some terrible.
Still have a 68, two 69’s, a 1959RR and a 74 Hiwatt DR103. I play them at home for recording from time to time but the Wizard goes to every gig. With the Wizard everytime I turn it on, it sounds the same. Rarely ever even have to adjust a knob from room to room. There are other amps I like alot too, but perfectly content with this Wizard.
But no amp is for everyone. And at $5200, man that is just too much for any amp. But in my mind an early Marshall is still a $350.00 amp.
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This is a very interesting post; which reminds me of a conversation I had about 12 years ago with a friend of mine who owned the local music shop(it was like the 'barbershop' for musicians lol) and back in the mid-late 80s was the GP for a pretty popular local HR band that would eventually shop their demo in LA; he's got pics of him and Doug Aldrich hanging out haha. Anyway he played mostly NMV Marshalls like you George and of course ran them cranked all night. I was getting frustrated with my 2204 'changing it's tone' at some (not all) gigs and was dumbfounded as to what caused it. Well, he said it was the wall voltage between clubs and the fact that I probably had my selector on 110. Which was exactly the case lol. Most of our voltages are 120 or even more; I was stressing the PT out keeping it at 110. He also said that he used a spendy voltage regulator since he experienced the same but worse change in tone with his NMV 70s Marshalls. The Vintage Marshall PTs were not designed for over 110v and that over time running them at 120v plug in voltage would stress, tone would change and eventually take out the PTs. Which is one reason why you see many NMV Marshalls with replacement PTs.
If I ever gig with either of my NMV Marshalls the variac comes with.
 
Jdub said:
The Wizards are really dry sounding but I would not call them fizzy. If anything they sound a little dull and two dimensional, although they do kick like a mule and are certainly loud and uncompressed. I just don't find them to have a very pleasing tone.
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i agree :dunno: kind of like this vid, maybe some dudes like this kind of tone but to me its just completely lifeless

 
A good NMV Marshall , you can feel it as well as hear it when its cranked. Those amp compress in a way that actually makes them very easy to play once you get used to the volume. I think some are actually scared to go there. :unsure: Most other amps do not compare once you have gone there.
 
Racerxrated said:
Neither Wizard I had (2010 MC100-C transformers; 2012 MTL 50) had abrasive or unpleasant highs. That description is any Mark III or Stiletto that I've tried. All day. Could not dial it out of those Mesas no matter what I did.
Also, you mention a Mark having forward mids/present mids vs a Wizard? Other than the honk of the 750 slider I have no clue how a Wiz would ever sound scooped compared to a Mark, ever. I had to boost a Mark with some kind of upper mid flavored pedal to even attempt to hear it while blending it with the Wizards I had (ABY pedal in the room). A Wizard buries a Mark just by the nature of it's midrange...maybe the MTL not as much but the only way I could hear any Mark I had when I had the MC100 was to simply make it louder. Wizards don't have the exact same mids as a Marshall; but they are far more present than any Mark series.
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Yeah this jives with my experiences as well.

It makes me wonder if there's something going on otherwise in the rig? Like speakers, etc.

I've never heard a mc or mtl that wasn't mids forward, and most marks I've played sound excessively "honky" if they aren't hetfield/peteucci scooped.

I understand the frequencies are in slightly different spots in the midrange, but marks invariably sound "quieter" volume wise because all the good tones are with a V on the GEQ.
 
Jdub said:
They have tons of muscle but it's more like a thud. They lack the Marshall knock and sparkle, to my ears anyway. To each his own..
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Its only Saturday, there's still one more day in the week (this week anyway) to change your mind :ROFLMAO: Love ya Dude :rock:
 
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