Fellow Wizard "Merlin"s, a question for thee:

L

lessarti

Well-known member
For all Wizard amp owners on this board, what pedal do you use to "goose" the front end or boost for a tad more compression and "grease" feel ?

IF you do not, that is fine too, I am just curious to throw this out there and see what everyone's tastes are like.

I, myself, sometimes enjoy using a Fulltone OCD v2 on "LP" mode with Vol 50-60%, tone half way and Drive 0 zero / off. Adds a bit more compression to the openness of the Wizard sound.

Any takers? Thoughts ? Preferences?
 
I've tried 8-9 boosts with the 6 Wizards I've had and prefer the Duncan 805. The VFE Dragon added the most compression and was cool, but the 805 is more natural sounding to me.
 
No need for a boost a Wizard. (I've had 8 of them)I have had periods of time where I use boosts with my Wizards and when I stop using them straight in sounds odd. After I allow enough time, I adjust to straight in tone and prefer it. A lot of players who boost play straight in and immediately stop. One has to allow time to adjust to not using a boost. It's a different tone, not only with Wizards. The Wizo needs no tightening.
 
glip22 said:
No need for a boost a Wizard. (I've had 8 of them)I have had periods of time where I use boosts with my Wizards and when I stop using them straight in sounds odd. After I allow enough time, I adjust to straight in tone and prefer it. A lot of players who boost play straight in and immediately stop. One has to allow time to adjust to not using a boost. It's a different tone, not only with Wizards. The Wizo needs no tightening.
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What genre are you playing though? For hard rock/classic rock I'd agree that with the right guitar/pups/speaker no boost is necessary...still sounds great with one IMHO. However if we're talking thrash, death metal, etc, then I think they need a boost if using passive pups. Active pups might be a different story, I've never used them. I'm on my 6th Wizard and feel they all have needed a boost to saturate and add compression for those styles. Still a raw as fuck tone, but you get some needed squish for the fast heavy stuff.
 
The natural sound is amazing and plenty of sounds to be had. I am just curious for strictly lead tones, as I sometimes get curious and happened to have this pedal to try it out with.

Rhythm tones the Lead boost "on" is PERFECT for me, and don't get me wrong I love it for leads. Just diff flavors.
 
i can agree for those genres. I play more in fusion genre so I prefer the dynamics of the amp unboosted. My mtl has a lot more compression than my mc11 fwiw
 
glip22 said:
i can agree for those genres. I play more in fusion genre so I prefer the dynamics of the amp unboosted. My mtl has a lot more compression than my mc11 fwiw
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Yeah with the Sat knob of the MTL and Hybrid there is more saturation/compression and I could play those for metal at higher volume, but still preferred with a boost. The MCII I absolutely need to boost though for metal. Maybe at stadium volumes I'd have a different opinion.
 
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With the MTL I don’t really like boosts with it. Kinda makes it into something it’s not meant to be imo and takes away from what makes it special. It’s a very open, rock solid, dry, articulate amp and the boosts just take away from that imo, even my Klon. I think it can do thrash just fine without a boost, but I tend to like dryer tones for that style. For death metal I wouldn't use a Wizard (boosted or not). For that I'd use one of my older 2 channel Rec's (Rev D or Rev F/C mod Triple) or megalith beta
 
The W800 needs a boost. I have never played the other models. It is supposedly close to a jcm, though. Once you boost it, that is where I want to live. I tried the suhr koko after so many recommendations, but honestly, I love the way it sounds with my 808HW
 
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