Wizard W800 gutshots

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glpg80 said:
You can make any excuse you want to justify your $5000 amplifier but I’ve seen reverse engineered schematics and it’s a knockoff of a Jubilee with a lot of extra redundancy that can be accomplished with a lot less.

Rick is a douche. Hand builds the amplifiers but then screwed an owner wanting over $1,000 to replace a bad PT not including shipping. He doesn’t stand by his products like Soldano of the old days or Larry, but has the price tag that’s up there with them. It’s all fine and dandy until your unobtanium iron loaded amplifier can’t use anything that’s available off the shelf except through him.

Justify your cost all you want. Not my amplifier, not my investment, not my problem. But to talk about him as if he’s not the modern day Cameron 2.0 is where I draw the line - he would charge more if he knew he could get away with it. The only difference is he delivers and thrives on the exclusivity which in turn, drives demand. No one would care about them if he priced it to compete with Ceriatone which, having seen their build quality, is cleaner than the OP posts of Ricks work or my work for that matter.

Im just here to call a spade a spade. Everything is copies of everything, including Ricks Wizards.
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The only problem I have with this, is that we are back to talking about a different model. I heard that the modern classic was heavily inspired by a silver jubilee. I think that the silver jubilee is a kick ass amp. One of the best amps i have ever heard to be honest. I have never tried a modern classic, but would like to. Obviously my amp is a W800 as in jcm 800, so I doubt it is a rip off of a silver jubilee, but if you see something in my circuit that reminds you of the silver jubilee, besides cold clipper, I am interested. I don't think I have once tried to justify the cost of the amp at all. I would pay the new prices, though I have never paid them. I would pay a lot for an old les paul, too, though i think they are overpriced sometimes.
 
I feel like we’ve all learned from amps like old Fenders that how clean and perfect the inside of an amp is doesn’t determine the quality of tone and dynamics. For me, the Wizard MCII gives me something I can’t seem to get anywhere else. I’ve spent way too much time and money trying too. Same with PCB vs hand wired. All I care about is that it delivers in the right ways. I’ve definitely had amps that were great at home but got lost with a band. Strange phenomena for sure, but very real. I’ve yet to find another amp that punches and cuts through a mix like an MCII. Especially not one that remains so dynamic. It doesn’t mean they’re not out there. Is love to try a Larry, but I don’t see that happening any time soon.
 
FourT6and2 said:
They look like typical Switchcraft or Switchcraft-style jacks to me... But maybe I'm missing something. But hey, I will gladly install those in any amp you want for $5,000 ;) Lots of builders use those jacks and that, by itself, doesn't really scream "built better than any other amp" to me. But what do I know.
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A lot of other builders may use these for sure. You say that you are just asking questions without ill intent. I think I have been nothing but nice and forthcoming with you. I don't know a lot about the amps. I know that i have rewired a lot of cabs and guitars. I always buy high quality jacks, because i don't like ones that slide in and out easy. They wear out. I spent more on the jacks. Not enough to break the bank. But I know a good jack from a bad jack. I sure as fuck don't remember saying that made the amp worth 5gs or that it made it the best built amp. I respect you and your amp building. But I am not a fan of your tone, and I think if you are angry about Rick's amps being thought of as being built better than other amps for whatever reason, you could take it out on someone besides me.
 
I think at the end of the day, there are a lot of emotions about rick's amps. I only really care about the emotions evoked from playing one. There are several people on rig-talk that played one and hated it. I have no qualms with that. Plenty of people like amps that i cannot stand. I know a lot of guys like me played the amp, and found exactly what they were looking for. I know on rig-talk using a boost is a curse word, lol. I used to think the same thing. But now, i find and amp that sounds good without a boost, or an amp that has THAT TONE with a boost, I am happy. I am a guitar player. Not much of one, but it's what i do. I take apart my amp, and I am amazed, lol. If you aren't, no big deal. But like SBLUE said, I am willing to let anyone play it if you have interest. I would love to play your amp, too. I love solid state and tube cheap or expensive. I don't like shit sounding amps as much, but i will still play the fucker to find out if it is bad.
 
SpiderWars said:
FWIW, I think they look great and sound great (only from clips sadly for me). Yes they're expensive but if I handbuilt amps for sale I'd charge as much as I could too. You have to sell alot of amps to make a living.

I think if you ask 10 amp builders (shadetree or not) how they'd build that amp you'd get 11 answers. I was looking to learn something about making amps better so I found 46and2's question interesting.

And IIRC you're not that far from me and I've never played a Wizard (let alone at volume) and I've always wanted to. I might take you up on that offer someday!
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You're very welcome to stop by and try it out. Just PM me and let me know a few days in advance and I'll gladly get them from storage and bring them home, so you can try them out.
They are really fun to play, and it's guaranteed to at least put a big smile on your face, while standing in front of a good 4x12 with a loud Wizard on top of it.
 
What is otherwise an objective question about amps becomes very personal to some.

Rick seems to put a lot of effort into understanding and controlling his supply and demand and he works that to his favor. A large portion of the cost value is in his time and not necessarily the materials. Can't hold that against him. If people are willing to pay the loot for his amps and they enjoy them then its no harm no foul.

Beauty is in the eye of the beerholder
 
Re: the whole $5000 amp argument. Let's try to remeber that before the pandemic an used MC1 100w goes for about $2600 most of the times and the VC were usually under $2k used. An used SLO100 were usually $2400 before Mike shut his doors. Used BE100 were usually in that range too. In that perspective Wizard were pretty good buys.

Then the free money drove the price of everything up.
 
Smashedguitarist said:
A lot of other builders may use these for sure. You say that you are just asking questions without ill intent. I think I have been nothing but nice and forthcoming with you. I don't know a lot about the amps. I know that i have rewired a lot of cabs and guitars. I always buy high quality jacks, because i don't like ones that slide in and out easy. They wear out. I spent more on the jacks. Not enough to break the bank. But I know a good jack from a bad jack. I sure as fuck don't remember saying that made the amp worth 5gs or that it made it the best built amp. I respect you and your amp building. But I am not a fan of your tone, and I think if you are angry about Rick's amps being thought of as being built better than other amps for whatever reason, you could take it out on someone besides me.
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I'm not picking on you. Didn't mean to come off that way. And the $5K comment wasn't directed at you, just in context of the thread convo as a whole. I'm also not angry at all about Wizard amps or the guy who runs the company. I know absolutely nothing about the guy. I'm genuinely interested any time anybody makes a claim like this about anything. Imagine making this claim about a shoe lol.

Dude 1: This Reebok sneaker is built better than most every other shoe.
Dude 2: How so? Better rubber? Better leather? Better stitching? Better glue? Better manufacturing process?

There's zero emotional subtext to what I'm saying here. Absolutely none. Anyway... I'll stick to the technial forums from now on since people there are happy to discuss this kind of stuff with an open mind :)
 
Based off the photos of the inside of that amp, there's nothing there to convince me to buy a Wizard.
 
FourT6and2 said:
There's zero emotional subtext to what I'm saying here. Absolutely none. Anyway... I'll stick to the technial forums from now on since people there are happy to discuss this kind of stuff with an open mind :)
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Man this is the way of the internet forum. What I read as completely innocuous (your comments in this case), others may take as passive aggressive, sarcastic or shit-stirring. Probably just a personality thing, exacerbated by this strange medium where we type at each other.
 
FourT6and2 said:
I'm not picking on you. Didn't mean to come off that way. And the $5K comment wasn't directed at you, just in context of the thread convo as a whole. I'm also not angry at all about Wizard amps or the guy who runs the company. I know absolutely nothing about the guy. I'm genuinely interested any time anybody makes a claim like this about anything. Imagine making this claim about a shoe l
Dude 1: This Reebok sneaker is built better than most every other shoe.
Dude 2: How so? Better rubber? Better leather? Better stitching? Better glue? Better manufacturing process?

There's zero emotional subtext to what I'm saying here. Absolutely none. Anyway... I'll stick to the technial forums from now on since people there are happy to discuss this kind of stuff with an open mind :)
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No harm then.
 
ZEN Amps said:
Man this is the way of the internet forum. What I read as completely innocuous (your comments in this case), others may take as passive aggressive, sarcastic or shit-stirring. Probably just a personality thing, exacerbated by this strange medium where we type at each other.
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Tone can be lost or misinterpreted in text. I have a pretty quick temper and at work lose it often at what i read as passive agressive text or emails. So I am obviously guilty of this.
 
jdel77 said:
Based off the photos of the inside of that amp, there's nothing there to convince me to buy a Wizard.
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I know what you mean, it can be a struggle. When I take the chassis out of the head shell and look at it, at the construction, wire and solder and electric stuff, it just F’ing sits there. What’s a reasonable amount of time to wait for it to do something? There’s also these weird holes in the black faceplate next to the turning knob things on the right, it says ‘input’ and ‘hi’ ‘low’? Why would you even need those ? What a waste of money, could probably shave a ton of $$$ if those holes were eliminated.
 
Everyone has their opinion. Some hate Les Pauls, some love them, some hate Teles, some love them, you may only play AxeFX, Helix and Kemper sucks. Wizards are overpriced, Friedman's are made in a sweatshop, Diezel's suck - too much $$$ - why you need a $150 overdrive in front of a $4k amp? These threads are enlightening. If it sounds great to you - enjoy. Some guys are happy playing their gear and could care less what the general shade throwing keyboard warriors have to say. I dig my W800 :cool:
 
Strange thread.

I want an amp to be built 'well' but it doesn't have to be the best construction and wiring I've ever seen etc.

Ultimately it's how it sounds and I think that's why some people love Wizards.

I think of Wizards as being more about the years of experience, knowledge, trial and error, and perfecting the tone of his amps... rather than 'the best build construction ever seen'.

At the end of that, some will love the tone and others won't... like any amp.
 
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