Metroplex vs. Wizard MCII

[lespaul6]

The metro looks like a cool amp for sure... on the wizard/hiwatt comparison I just don't get it other than the build quality and the cosmetics of the headshells... I don't know anyone who looking at the circuitry would say it is hiwatt based... they all say marshall. Yes the hiwatt is loud and the wizard is loud but I have blood that is the color red and so do chickens... doesn't mean that I came from a chicken. ha

 

[Racerxrated]

The metro looks like a cool amp for sure... on the wizard/hiwatt comparison I just don't get it other than the build quality and the cosmetics of the headshells... I don't know anyone who looking at the circuitry would say it is hiwatt based... they all say marshall. Yes the hiwatt is loud and the wizard is loud but I have blood that is the color red and so do chickens... doesn't mean that I came from a chicken. ha

I'm with you. Everyone that has one says its the best Marshall type out there. They don't compare it to anything else. Maybe the circuit has HiWatt similarities but to me its a Marshall on steroids when I've heard one.

 

[Greazygeo]

Yeah, that ghosting is the worst IMO. A slight addition to filtering from 32/32 to 50/50 makes a world of difference in the old Plexi's.

I go much farther than that with mine.

 

[Greazygeo]

on the wizard/hiwatt comparison I just don't get it other than the build quality and the cosmetics of the headshells... I don't know anyone who looking at the circuitry would say it is hiwatt based... they all say marshall. Yes the hiwatt is loud and the wizard is loud but I have blood that is the color red and so do chickens... doesn't mean that I came from a chicken. ha

i have a 74 Hiwatt DR103 and '68 and '69 plexi. The Hiwatt has the clarity, attack and solid bottom end that the Marshalls don't get. The Hiwatt has this big and bold thing going on. The Marshall has a great midrange voice, but too soft of an attack and very little bottom or top to balance it out. My Wizard combined what I like about both camps. Pretty cool.

 

[fuzzyguitars]

Yep

I stand by my previous statement that I feel that the wizard has some hi watt flavor.

I still own a 69 dr103
Also have and use 69 superbass and 70 supertrem and 73 metal panel super lead.

I crank me up regularly and to me, the wizard has way more low end grunt and top end fidelity that is simply not there in my vintage marshals. I still feel that it also has some flavor of my cranked hiwAtt which is a lot cleaner , tighter, bigger bass and hi highs.

on the wizard/hiwatt comparison I just don't get it other than the build quality and the cosmetics of the headshells... I don't know anyone who looking at the circuitry would say it is hiwatt based... they all say marshall. Yes the hiwatt is loud and the wizard is loud but I have blood that is the color red and so do chickens... doesn't mean that I came from a chicken. ha

i have a 74 Hiwatt DR103 and '68 and '69 plexi. The Hiwatt has the clarity, attack and solid bottom end that the Marshalls don't get. The Hiwatt has this big and bold thing going on. The Marshall has a great midrange voice, but too soft of an attack and very little bottom or top to balance it out. My Wizard combined what I like about both camps. Pretty cool.

 

[Kapo_Polenton]

I modded an old Traynor YBA-1 to plexi-ish specs and it sounded killer..... all but the slight ghosting I could hear though. What a pain in the ass. Brought up the filtering and that took care of that. So yeah, what the others are saying. I think both amps sound great from the clips I have heard. That said, everytime i look at the prices of each amp, I go run my JCM800 with an SD-1 in front and I say good enough for me!

 

[charvelstrat81]

Metroplex

 

[UDTBUDS]

Haunting Midz ...

 

[lespaul6]

Yep

I stand by my previous statement that I feel that the wizard has some hi watt flavor.

I still own a 69 dr103
Also have and use 69 superbass and 70 supertrem and 73 metal panel super lead.

I crank me up regularly and to me, the wizard has way more low end grunt and top end fidelity that is simply not there in my vintage marshals. I still feel that it also has some flavor of my cranked hiwAtt which is a lot cleaner , tighter, bigger bass and hi highs.

on the wizard/hiwatt comparison I just don't get it other than the build quality and the cosmetics of the headshells... I don't know anyone who looking at the circuitry would say it is hiwatt based... they all say marshall. Yes the hiwatt is loud and the wizard is loud but I have blood that is the color red and so do chickens... doesn't mean that I came from a chicken. ha

i have a 74 Hiwatt DR103 and '68 and '69 plexi. The Hiwatt has the clarity, attack and solid bottom end that the Marshalls don't get. The Hiwatt has this big and bold thing going on. The Marshall has a great midrange voice, but too soft of an attack and very little bottom or top to balance it out. My Wizard combined what I like about both camps. Pretty cool.

Yes, it has that expanded bandwidth on the lows for sure but the mids are definitely for angus...lol no squish

 

[Schaf]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

I don't really get the hankering for new amps because I'm really happy with my JCM800 and have been for a long time, but this is one that I'd love to get. And would probably never need another amp. It has the gain but still retains that plexi type tone. More so than almost almost any of the hot rod plexi type amps I've heard.

As for the post about QC issues....I haven't heard that before. Everything I've heard about his replicas is that they are very well built.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

That one thread on TGP turned into a complete joke, ending with damage control and back pedaling posts by Lance and George lol.

 

[lespaul6]

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

I think they censored it... of course. lol

Not surprised.

 

[anomaly]

Why do people like these modded Marshall amps so much? They all sound the same, and make everyone that plays through them sound the same. It's gotta be the most generic guitar tone ever.

 

[UDTBUDS]

George is a fine amp maker & Lance a great player.

They're both salesmen, Lance more than George.

Why Lance would knock other amp builders [at 9:44] to prove his point i'm not sure.

He sez "the other amps are easy to play" .... Hey Lance, why would you want an amp thats a pain in the azz to play ???

Po-tate-toe/po-tot-toe its all different flavors of the same stuff.

Metroplex sounds a little thin from what ive heard but the proof would be to demo it myself.

WIZARD Modern Classic will be mine the next 10K i get or build another race bike IDK.

I myself know what i hear thru the computer unless its totally clipping.

Ive bought 3 Les Pauls & 2 MARSHALLS without playing them and they're fantastic because ive had them before and know what to expect.

Metroplex is a fine amp but not thee [best] ive ever heard and for what Georges wants for that it better be the best. [$$$]

 

[sjk]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

That one thread on TGP turned into a complete joke, ending with damage control and back pedaling posts by Lance and George lol.

I started the thread and nuked it the other night. Turned into a complete joke as you stated Got tired of the bitching over something not that big a deal (to myself anyway,and I own a Friedman and Metropoulos) but I mostly deleted it to mess with the people's heads who were still posting in it Sorry guys!

 

[Greazygeo]

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

 

[glip22]

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

I think it's easy to try and compare aspects of the Wizards to other amps. I hear you George on the Hiwatt big, and bold tone. I think the same. I get Martin ion the Mesa thing. I think it might be in the highs. There's something about the crunch that may be a little Mark series, not Recto.
Bottom line is that the Wizard is it's own thing. Big, bold. punchy.Good feel. Dynamic. Gain is on the cleaner side. Like you said things about the old Marshall that could be better. I like the feel of the Wizard. It has the punchy big sound but not at the expense of being too stiff.
When I had a Helios here the first thing I noticed when playing it was how tight it was. I liked the amp but not how stiff it was. When I plugged back into the MCII, I immediately felt the strings much better. The Wizard accomplishes that huge tone and feel without being overly filtered and built properly so there is no ghosting, crosstalk, or artifacts in the signal.
The circuit seems like Marshall Jubilee with some tricks with a Marshall output section. No idea what the tricks are though but they make all the difference.

 

[Racerxrated]

Why do people like these modded Marshall amps so much? They all sound the same, and make everyone that plays through them sound the same. It's gotta be the most generic guitar tone ever.

And its the most popular, most recorded tone in history. Marshall or a variant of. Take the Diezel VH4 channel 3 for instance....most popular Diezel amp and its most praised channel. Its also the most Marshall-like according to most. Coincidence? Hmmmm.....I know VH4s have their own thing but again, that's the channel to use if you want a Marshall type tone. You don't have to like Marshall or ever play one. But chances are you've played/owned a Marshall variant. Most players find at least one Marshall tone they fall in love with, be it stock/modded or a variant of. Peavey 5150/6505 is an SLO clone. An SLO sounds very Marshall-like when I dial it in....I can sound Marshally with a VHT Deliverance. Its the tone I grew up with so there ya go. You younger dudes may love the Dual Rec tone because that's all you heard growing up. Marshall has its place and it can't be denied. Even the Wizard sounds Jubilee-ish to me, but on steroids. Wizards do have a Marshall thing going on, but also something more. People pay for new Marshall type amps because its still a great tone, 50 plus years later..

 

[jcm800x4]

I got it Friday. Haven't had much time to play it. But what little I. Have played it I like a lot. I'm shocked at the amount of gain it has. Taking it to practices tonight to open it up with the band. Stay tuned......

It sounds big for sure. The mod mode has ALOT of gain. Big in a dimed old Marshall kinda way. The cool thing about the metro is the eq section actually works. The slightest adjustment seems to make a big difference in tone. Unlike old Marshall's. Glass tone is there also. George is a good dude. And he knows Marshall's. If you've never worked with him or done business with him before he's first class all the way. I have one of his 12000 series heads as well. Hard to compare to a wizard though. To me the wizard is the one amp out there that definitely has it's own thing going. I'm really looking forward to hearing the metro with the band tonight.

This would be me.