Wizard Model Breakdown

[Techdeth]

Listening to clips again, I actually really like this one of an MCII w/6L6 and the second clip of two other amps (both with 6L6s). So maybe I'm gravitating toward 6L6 models?

He's in Cornwall, Ontario as the previous poster said. You might have better luck finding someone here to let you try their Wizard and also have a cheaper flight most likely. Probably more friendly experience too lol

I would like to try the new Hell Razor myself if I can somehow, but it would have to either have good midrange growl or be able to punch better than my Carlsboro Hermansson or be as tight or tighter to be an amp I'd keep around. I don't think either are very likely scenarios, but who knows

I have a couple MTL2s . One of them totally is up there with the Hermansons I’m punch and tightness . Maybe some you can try it . Who knows

 

[Smash]

I dont mean to shit on anyone's amps, because we all are looking for something different, but mcii..i cant call that silver jubilee. I was playing back to back mcii, mtl, w800. Mtl sounded great. W800 sounded the best, mcii was so bland in comparison that i played it for 20 seconds before switching. Mtl i can see why people prefer it, but w800 has more of the presence than the mtl, so if you prefer low mids to high mids, mtl for you. The hellrazor i have yet to play. I would also love to try the rock standard

 

[Racerxrated]

I dont mean to shit on anyone's amps, because we all are looking for something different, but mcii..i cant call that silver jubilee. I was playing back to back mcii, mtl, w800. Mtl sounded great. W800 sounded the best, mcii was so bland in comparison that i played it for 20 seconds before switching. Mtl i can see why people prefer it, but w800 has more of the presence than the mtl, so if you prefer low mids to high mids, mtl for you. The hellrazor i have yet to play. I would also love to try the rock standard

I concur....I know part of the topology of the MC resembles a Jube; but after owning prob 10 of them over the years, when you play a Wizard I just don't hear a similarity. Jubilees are one of my favorite Marshalls too.
The Wizards can be slightly dry Ala VHT/Fryette-ish but still have a great feel/grease to them vs the Fryette stuff. Not to say the VHT stuff doesn't have good feel; they do but it's just in a different way.
The clarity/power Wizards have is only matched by an old HiWatt or Superlead. I found the 2010 MC I had, didn't like boost pedals unless I left the on board pull boost off...then, it had 2203 gain levels and loved a boost pedal...which also added some 'grease' to the feel.
They are killer amps. They tend to love speakers that typically jive well with Marshalls...GBs, T75s, 65s...etc

 

[braintheory]

I dont mean to shit on anyone's amps, because we all are looking for something different, but mcii..i cant call that silver jubilee. I was playing back to back mcii, mtl, w800. Mtl sounded great. W800 sounded the best, mcii was so bland in comparison that i played it for 20 seconds before switching. Mtl i can see why people prefer it, but w800 has more of the presence than the mtl, so if you prefer low mids to high mids, mtl for you. The hellrazor i have yet to play. I would also love to try the rock standard

Agreed. I used to have a 1987 Jubilee and next to the 2016 MTL I had and I couldn’t really hear much similarities at all between the 2. I do remember the MC I had being more bland the the MTL. Haven’t tried a W800. I think we should be able to openly speak our opinions without having to worry about being diplomatic. That’s too much effort lol

 

[braintheory]

I concur....I know part of the topology of the MC resembles a Jube; but after owning prob 10 of them over the years, when you play a Wizard I just don't hear a similarity. Jubilees are one of my favorite Marshalls too.
The Wizards can be slightly dry Ala VHT/Fryette-ish but still have a great feel/grease to them vs the Fryette stuff. Not to say the VHT stuff doesn't have good feel; they do but it's just in a different way.
The clarity/power Wizards have is only matched by an old HiWatt or Superlead. I found the 2010 MC I had, didn't like boost pedals unless I left the on board pull boost off...then, it had 2203 gain levels and loved a boost pedal...which also added some 'grease' to the feel.
They are killer amps. They tend to love speakers that typically jive well with Marshalls...GBs, T75s, 65s...etc

The DR103 I had had more power than the wizards I had and more open, but maybe not more clarity. It was also more neutral/boring in the midrange. Once I got that Hiwatt I felt like I was getting a history lesson from how it’s sound relates to what I was hearing in other amps I’d played before it like the Fryette’s, Wizards and maybe a few others. My Carlsboro Hermansson I felt slightly edged out the MTL I had in those departments too and I believe it also has those Patridge tranny’s if I’m not mistaken and also has that Hiwatt-ish flavor, which I don’t care for, but man does it hit hard and sound big lol

 

[braintheory]

I have a couple MTL2s . One of them totally is up there with the Hermansons I’m punch and tightness . Maybe some you can try it . Who knows

Which MTL version is that one? I’d say the MTL I had was way more punchy than my Hermansson Rectifier and 5GS Marshall (those amps are also light years more compressed and distant sounding lol), but this Carlsboro Hermansson is a very different animal than other Hermansson’s and punched harder than the MTL I had, but is not as tight or modern as typical Hermansson’s

Other than this carlsboro, wizards I think should punch more than most Hermansson’s, but I don’t think any of them (other than perhaps the hell razor that I haven’t tried yet) would rival the Herm’s in tightness. That’s imo kinda their real forte of what distinguishes them from other amps and the reason I have mine. I’ve not tried any amps yet that can come close to the 5 Herm’s I’ve tried in tightness other than a Dino

 

[FourT6and2]

I dont mean to shit on anyone's amps, because we all are looking for something different, but mcii..i cant call that silver jubilee. I was playing back to back mcii, mtl, w800. Mtl sounded great. W800 sounded the best, mcii was so bland in comparison that i played it for 20 seconds before switching. Mtl i can see why people prefer it, but w800 has more of the presence than the mtl, so if you prefer low mids to high mids, mtl for you. The hellrazor i have yet to play. I would also love to try the rock standard

I have no interest in the W800 or Rock Standard so those are easy to eliminate.

 

[Smash]

i played the Fortin Hi watt maxwatt thing. It was great, but probably would be bland in a comparison. The Ultra Lead sounded better than the wizards to me, but it was not as huge by any means and didn't punch hard enough. If you played it by something besides a wizard, It would probably sound like the best amp ever. I love the ultra lead voicing.

 

[Smash]

I have no interest in the W800 or Rock Standard so those are easy to eliminate.

I have a great amp now for me. But If I buy another amp, it will be a Larry. That is the marshall i have always wanted, and if I am purchasing another amp, I won't settle for less.

 

[FourT6and2]

i played the Fortin Hi watt maxwatt thing. It was great, but probably would be bland in a comparison. The Ultra Lead sounded better than the wizards to me, but it was not as huge by any means and didn't punch hard enough. If you played it by something besides a wizard, It would probably sound like the best amp ever. I love the ultra lead voicing.

I had the Fortin/Maxwatt/Hiwatt. Pretty angry amp with tons of growl. I did mostly like it. But the loop was completely useless and the amp had a bunch of design issues (tons of noise, bad bias control design, etc.). I got rid of it after a while because ultimately... my own amp sounded better. It's really hard to beat a supped up 800.

 

[FourT6and2]

I have a great amp now for me. But If I buy another amp, it will be a Larry. That is the marshall i have always wanted, and if I am purchasing another amp, I won't settle for less.

I don't have the desire/patience to wait that long for an amp. Larry has been helpful to me in my DIY hobby and I'm thankful for that though.

 

[FourT6and2]

Oh, btw... looking at gut shots of these amps, and schematics, a simple resistor addition will address all the mid-range criticisms for the models that don't have the contour or sweep controls. Piggyback a 120K resistor over the 47K slope to give you all the mid-range bark/growl y'all desire.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I concur....I know part of the topology of the MC resembles a Jube; but after owning prob 10 of them over the years, when you play a Wizard I just don't hear a similarity. Jubilees are one of my favorite Marshalls too.
The Wizards can be slightly dry Ala VHT/Fryette-ish but still have a great feel/grease to them vs the Fryette stuff. Not to say the VHT stuff doesn't have good feel; they do but it's just in a different way.
The clarity/power Wizards have is only matched by an old HiWatt or Superlead. I found the 2010 MC I had, didn't like boost pedals unless I left the on board pull boost off...then, it had 2203 gain levels and loved a boost pedal...which also added some 'grease' to the feel.
They are killer amps. They tend to love speakers that typically jive well with Marshalls...GBs, T75s, 65s...etc

I had a brand new 2205x back in Dec/Jan and the way I had it set had some similarity to the MCII. More in that I could get that dry, punchy, articulate as hell thing going on the Marshall similar to MCII. Voicing was not overly similar, but feel, crunch, and what I mentioned previously was. Probelm with the 2205x is the mids lie in a narrow range of usability for me. Below noon is too scooped and above 2 o'clock the mids and overall tone falls apart.

 

[RedB4Black]

Which MTL version is that one? I’d say the MTL I had was way more punchy than my Hermansson Rectifier and 5GS Marshall (those amps are also light years more compressed and distant sounding lol), but this Carlsboro Hermansson is a very different animal than other Hermansson’s and punched harder than the MTL I had, but is not as tight or modern as typical Hermansson’s

Other than this carlsboro, wizards I think should punch more than most Hermansson’s, but I don’t think any of them (other than perhaps the hell razor that I haven’t tried yet) would rival the Herm’s in tightness. That’s imo kinda their real forte of what distinguishes them from other amps and the reason I have mine. I’ve not tried any amps yet that can come close to the 5 Herm’s I’ve tried in tightness other than a Dino

Do you own this one? ….

 

[braintheory]

Do you own this one? ….

No, mine is a CS100, not a PA

 

[glip22]

I haven't had any of the KT versions or Hybrids or newest version but my MTL 6L is my favorite of the 8 I owned previously.

 

[RedB4Black]

I haven't had any of the KT versions or Hybrids or newest version but my MTL 6L is my favorite of the 8 I owned previously.

I like the 6L models better than the el34 models, though both are great. Though I currently run KT66s in one of my MTLs and my HR. They’re like the 6Ls but with a little more beef in low end.

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

I onwed the HiWatt Fortin 50 amp at one point, I wasn't impressed at all - Wizards have a spread and authority to them that not many amps have. Pretty sure on the Kemper Toaster all Wizards sound like Line 6 Spiders and vice versa.

 

[midnightlaundry]

I've had 11 Wizards, so can speak from experience as opposed clips.

4 different 100w MCIIs all with V tranny---great midrange, not as full spectrum as a Marshall, it's own thing for sure, but far from "hollow" in the mids. It's a great mix of all mid frequencies and the contour helps fine tune whether your hearing more low mids vs upper mids. Low end is ample and has a thwack to it, like a concrete hardness, no flub. Can be bright or dark and anything in between via the treble, presence, bright, contour, and mids knob.

It's own animal, but definitely some Marshall DNA. When boosted and depending on settings, also takes on a little Mesa Markish tone/feel to my ears. Takes boosts like they're part of the circuit and with the right one you can get some killer compression/grease for the heavy stuff. Articulation, clarity, crunch, punch is top notch. Of all the Wizards I've owned, the MCII has the most growl, snarl, whatever word you use to describe aggression. Chords just sound mean AF...very pissed.

MCII 50w---One I had was a tranny other than the V, not sure if it was C or what, but it was quite different than the 100w V MCIIs I've had. I actually didn't care for it near as much. It had a different gain structure (more vintage maybe) and the mids were shifted to a place I didn't really like as much. There was a problem with the line out on this amp and the seller was great in taking it back, so I can only assume something wasn't right with the tone as it just sounded off in addition to the line out not working.

2021 & 2016 MC25---VERY close to the 100W MCII tonewise and actually a tad better IMHO. The mids are in a slightly better place to my ears and it's my favorite WIzard amp tone, it just doesn't fuck you as hard because of the smaller power section. Despite it's size/wattage, it still punches and hits hard, just not like the 100w. Despite no contour knob, it still has tons of range in the standard eq knobs to find any sweet spot one could prefer...bright, cutting, dark, blah, blah, blah. I'm running one now with TAD redbase 6v6 through a 212/412/active sub setup and it's an absolute monster.

MTL---one I owned was 2016. It just had a very neutral midrange that I couldn't gel with. Tried speakers, cabs, guitars, pups, boosts, eqs, still had this hollowish/neutral midrange. Other than that killer, especially with the sat/depth knob for the added girth/gain/compression.

100w Hybrid V tranny--I thought this would be the perfect Wizard for me in that it might have had the mids of the MCII but the saturation of the MTL. It was close but still lacked a certain grind/attack in the mids that the MCII achieves. Still a great amp and close to the MCII, but voicing, gain structure were still more MTL than MCII to me.

KT150 MCI MKII---CLose to the 100w E34L MCII, but had a bigger rounder low end with less of the sharp attack. I tried it with the stock KT88, 6550, KT90 and it always had that slightly rounder low end without the thwack/attack the 100w MCII has. Very very nice eq response though and the mids, highs, and lows just filled the space really well. Needless to say could really fuck hard and shake the walls.

KT66 50w W800---This may have been the most unique voicing/feel of all the Wizards I've owned. Think it may have been the C tranny. It was very open and didn't compress near as much as the others, even when boosted. It had a great eq response, killer mids, similar to Marshal but not Marshall mids. Low end was ample and tight but even when boosted with a modern pedal playing thrashy stuff, still had a slightly vintage feel/tone...hard to describe. All the others have had a more modern vibe where as the W800 reminded me a tad of playing late 70s era JMP or something. Not that same sound, but the attck and overall feel reminded me of that era Marshall.