VHT/Fryette amps - best high gain tones....ever?

[MetalHeadMike]

In my experience, the D60 and Wizard MCII sound and feel EXTREMELY fucking similar. Both epic af

Haven't played any other Wizards

They're similar in some regards but quite different in others, at least how I perceive it having owned a few D60s and a pile of Wizards. Both articulate, punchy, grinding, and uncompressed. However the Wizard is more articulate, less saturated, more open/uncompressed, hits harder, and sounds MUCH better at lower volumes to me...D60 need VOLUME. As much as I enjoy the D60, I prefer the tone, gain structure, and voicing of the MCII by a wide margin. Actually sold an MCII and grabbed my last D60 convinced it was close enough to the Wizard and would satisfy....not even close, for me anyway.

The CLX is much closer to the MCII than the D60, and it still doesn't get but maybe 60-70% there for me.

 

[braintheory]

Another “amazing” high gain amp that is so legendary that…… no one has ever used them!

I was the biggest VHT fanboy for a long time
: when I was playing live that is. I used to run a UL and a deliverance in stereo, sometimes my Herbert and the UL In stereo, sometimes the 5150 and UL etc…. I admit, live they were my favorite amps on earth, but my little virgin ears were lying to me.

Recording, I absolutely can’t stand them. That blaring hollow midrange thing they got going on, and then believe it or not, the low end just crumbles and falls apart under a mic: it’s very strange, but to me it doesn’t sound great at all.

They will always be nostalgic to me becsuse in my early years of playing I drove out to cocoa beach to a VHT dealer and bought both of my deliverance cabs there, and I thought I had just found tonal nirvana.

I agree. I had an UL early in my gear journey and for a while it was tough to beat vs what I had tried at the time. The hollow midrange & lack of complete growl on powerchords always bothered me though and it seems to get more pronounced in recordings. In person they all seemed to sound very clear and defined on the lows, but it’s true that for whatever reason the clips I heard of them sound different than how the bottom end was in person. Not sure why that is

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I agree. I had an UL early in my gear journey and for a while it was tough to beat vs what I had tried at the time. The hollow midrange & lack of complete growl on powerchords always bothered me though and it seems to get more pronounced in recordings. In person they all seemed to sound very clear and defined on the lows, but it’s true that for whatever reason the clips I heard of them sound different than how the bottom end was in person. Not sure why that is

It's interesting that most every UL review/description I've read talks of the amp's extreme dryness/tightness yet the year I had was the most saturated/compressed amp I've owned. I found it too saturated in fact and it didn't stick around long...it was like eating something that's just too sickeningly sweet...just too much of a good thing and way overboard in the saturation/compression. It was an early 2000s.

 

[braintheory]

It's interesting that most every UL review/description I've read talks of the amp's extreme dryness/tightness yet the year I had was the most saturated/compressed amp I've owned. I found it too saturated in fact and it didn't stick around long...it was like eating something that's just too sickeningly sweet...just too much of a good thing and way overboard in the saturation/compression. It was an early 2000s.

I’ve tried plenty of amps that I’d consider drier and plenty others tighter. The Fryette UL I owned (2010’s I think) (and others I’ve tried of that era) leaned more on the dry side and open, but I remember the VHT ones I tried being way more saturated & compressed. What I’m talking about though with hollow & lacking growl is imo independent of saturation & compression

 

[Cenotaph]

I own a D120, an MCII and an MTL, They are all staying but if I had to only have one...MCII. Thankfully, I dont have to pick. the D120 dialed in kinda low-ish gain mixed in with the MTL is like god tier shit though.

 

[turboblues]

I owned a VHT Sig X for a couple of years and I wasn't that excited about it. Didn't have the opportunity to test it at high volume before buying it (owner didn't want to disturb the neighbor ). Maybe I should've put new tubes in it or maybe I should have bought a VHT cabinet instead of using my old Marshall cabs, dunno but never liked the sound. I bought a used Peavey 6505+ after it and was more satisfied with that one..
Never owned a Wizard but every time I hear one I like it.
Sounds nothing like my old VHT/Fryette (Sig X) to me. But the guy who bought it from me was very satisfied with it, when I met him again after 6 months, so what can I say...

 

[stephen sawall]

Steve said he was done with excuses and the UL II will be done in a few months. The Sig X II will also be done.

He currently has approximately 15 projects he is working on. All of them will be done soon.

In other news man is going back to the moon.

The new UL is going to be 4 channels. The added channel is based on the clean channel on the Sig X. I always preferred the Sig X and Deliverance over any of the Pittbull amps. But interested in checking it out.

 

[midnightlaundry]

Another “amazing” high gain amp that is so legendary that…… no one has ever used them!

I was the biggest VHT fanboy for a long time
: when I was playing live that is. I used to run a UL and a deliverance in stereo, sometimes my Herbert and the UL In stereo, sometimes the 5150 and UL etc…. I admit, live they were my favorite amps on earth, but my little virgin ears were lying to me.

Recording, I absolutely can’t stand them. That blaring hollow midrange thing they got going on, and then believe it or not, the low end just crumbles and falls apart under a mic: it’s very strange, but to me it doesn’t sound great at all.

They will always be nostalgic to me becsuse in my early years of playing I drove out to cocoa beach to a VHT dealer and bought both of my deliverance cabs there, and I thought I had just found tonal nirvana.

Turns out that when you put a Mic in front of something, it records what is being played in front of it..

I don't think a Resonance control is very useful on an Amp that already has a strong bass, or a Graphic Eq for that matter.. People dial in this massive sound with Freqs that cross over into the Bass Guitar and Drum territory and wonder why it doesn't fit in a mix.

 

[MatrixClaw]

I owned a VHT Sig X for a couple of years and I wasn't that excited about it. Didn't have the opportunity to test it at high volume before buying it (owner didn't want to disturb the neighbor ). Maybe I should've put new tubes in it or maybe I should have bought a VHT cabinet instead of using my old Marshall cabs, dunno but never liked the sound. I bought a used Peavey 6505+ after it and was more satisfied with that one..
Never owned a Wizard but every time I hear one I like it.
Sounds nothing like my old VHT/Fryette (Sig X) to me. But the guy who bought it from me was very satisfied with it, when I met him again after 6 months, so what can I say...

Same experience for me. Overall, I dug the tone of the SigX (LOVED the clean channel, but I got it for metal, not low/mid gain) but no matter what I did to it, I just felt like it was lacking... Something. Gain, mids, clarity - I could only seem to get one, not all of them. I had a similar experience with the UL, as well. I only owned the D60 very briefly and remember disliking it because it was only a single channel and I needed a footswitchable clean at the time. Definitely interested to try another one but not enough to spend the prices they are now to try it again.

 

[Techdeth]

In my experience, the D60 and Wizard MCII sound and feel EXTREMELY fucking similar. Both epic af

Haven't played any other Wizards

My MTL2 feels nothing like a vht . But my MTL2 6l6 version seems like a super vht . I can’t believe they only have different power tubes . It’s drastic when you play then back ti back

 

[VHTStark]

Steve said he was done with excuses and the UL II will be done in a few months. The Sig X II will also be done.

He currently has approximately 15 projects he is working on. All of them will be done soon.

In other news man is going back to the moon.

The new UL is going to be 4 channels. The added channel is based on the clean channel on the Sig X. I always preferred the Sig X and Deliverance over any of the Pittbull amps. But interested in checking it out.

Interesting. So, if the added channel is based on the Sig-X clean, will there be 2 clean channels now? Either way, the ULII is a long time coming and I will at the very least check it out!

 

[midnightlaundry]

I'll probably be interested in the new Ultra Lead.
I'd like to try a Wizard, but at nearly 6K, I cannot justify that kind of cash for an amp..

 

[Greazygeo]

I owned a VHT Sig X for a couple of years and I wasn't that excited about it. Didn't have the opportunity to test it at high volume before buying it (owner didn't want to disturb the neighbor ). Maybe I should've put new tubes in it or maybe I should have bought a VHT cabinet instead of using my old Marshall cabs, dunno but never liked the sound. I bought a used Peavey 6505+ after it and was more satisfied with that one..
Never owned a Wizard but every time I hear one I like it.
Sounds nothing like my old VHT/Fryette (Sig X) to me. But the guy who bought it from me was very satisfied with it, when I met him again after 6 months, so what can I say...

They are alittle picky with speakers. But so are alot of amps. If they were 75’s they aren’t that great with them imo.

 

[Greazygeo]

I'll probably be interested in the new Ultra Lead.
I'd like to try a Wizard, but at nearly 6K, I cannot justify that kind of cash for an amp..

I was on Wizard’s website looking around. Yeah they have really gone up!

 

[VHTStark]

I'll probably be interested in the new Ultra Lead.
I'd like to try a Wizard, but at nearly 6K, I cannot justify that kind of cash for an amp..

Same with me man. I am in Canada and the pricing in American dollars he has hurts me even worse: over 7k for a new Wizard. I absolutely want to try one, as I have a feeling it will be right up my alley, but can't take a chance blindly for that kind of bread.

Who knows though....maybe the new Ultra-lead will priced rediculous as well! Lol!

 

[midnightlaundry]

SF knows how to bring a product to market.. It will be reasonable compared to a Wizard I'm sure.

 

[CrystalSky]

Yes I’ve lost recently trying a couple epic amp virginities lately lol, but I’ll keep those other ones off here. Just gotta try at some point a real Trainwreck now. I’ll post on ig some iPhone vids of them. I tried playing one of your things on it (with my twists lol) and yes none of my other amps cut it for that stuff. It is what it is. Some memory slip ups as there often are when I’m being filmed lol

How do I find you on insta?

 

[apophis]

I think its important to point out that Fryette amps seem to sound waaaay better with eminence speakers. At least to my ears, I have tried it with a bunch of cabs and those with eminence always sound way better. Also please consider that the Shure sm57 might not be the best mic for these amps. Don't give up on them if the classic celestion+shure 57 sounds shitty with them. Remember both the speaker and the mic have an eq curve that might not accentuate the amp's tone like it does for others

 

[RedB4Black]

I think its important to point out that Fryette amps seem to sound waaaay better with eminence speakers. At least to my ears, I have tried it with a bunch of cabs and those with eminence always sound way better. Also please consider that the Shure sm57 might not be the best mic for these amps. Don't give up on them if the classic celestion+shure 57 sounds shitty with them. Remember both the speaker and the mic have an eq curve that might not accentuate the amp's tone like it does for others

That’s funny and shows how subjective this all is…I absolutely hate every eminence speaker I’ve ever tried. P50es are absolute garbage IMO.

 

[Techdeth]

I'll probably be interested in the new Ultra Lead.
I'd like to try a Wizard, but at nearly 6K, I cannot justify that kind of cash for an amp..

It is crazy at that price now . But if you can find a good deal on a wizard or Hermansom they are worth it . To me they are good for your ear too . After having them I think it helped my ears dial in less formidable amp to sound better .