RaceU4her
Well-known member
They do, but there’s also multiple ones for sale at any given time here which seems weird to me given their status. Curious how this compares with your origin
HeadFirst Wizard MTL anyone played one?
- Thread starter acidvoodoo
- Start date
They do, but there’s also multiple ones for sale at any given time here which seems weird to me given their status. Curious how this compares with your origin
Racerxrated
Well-known member
I think they are fs so much because they have so much cash tied up in them, that after a while they realize that they can’t justify having 5K + in any amp. That’s what they run new these days after shipping etc. What else can I buy with 4-5K? Kinda thing.
LP Freak
Well-known member
This is so true
Racerxrated
Well-known member
They are great amps though…I think anyone with the gear obsession that we have needs to play through one someday; whether you buy or just try.
burger
Well-known member
For the record,
- we will continue with our DIY boards for guys with a passion to build their own tube amps.
- we will no longer build straight clones of anything in my shop. We all start somewhere, and I'm done with all that
- headfirst badges will no longer be made available for DIY builds
- we have our Cali and the new Alta in our line up going forward, and new designs in early development
- we will continue with our DIY boards for guys with a passion to build their own tube amps.
- we will no longer build straight clones of anything in my shop. We all start somewhere, and I'm done with all that
- headfirst badges will no longer be made available for DIY builds
- we have our Cali and the new Alta in our line up going forward, and new designs in early development
You are putting the Cali in production? Please say no. My bank account is already in dire straights
napalmdeath
Well-known member
Amen to that. I stay away from DIY builds unless Nik at Ceriatone built it, or some other well-respected builder did. And we certainly have some great guys right here on this forum that do fantastic work.
Dyllheaven88
Well-known member
Nik was suppose to build one for me , waited 14 months never happened haha , seem cool , still have a wizard pt if your interested 
lol
lol
napalmdeath
Well-known member
Exactly. I'd NEVER spend that kind of money on a head, regardless of who's name's on it. I play quite a bit, (but I don't gig anymore at 52 and haven't set foot in a bar in over 5 years). I can't justify having a $5000 head, when there's so many great amps out there used, (sleepers), for well under $2000. Hell, I have $1100 in my Friedman Runt 50, (bought it used in pristine condition and less than 10 hours on it), threw a Hot Mod V2 EVO in it, and that simple $200 put it in the same league as MUCH more expensive amps. I'm sure the Wizards are great, but the price tags are ridiculous, and solely based on the builder's ego. Same can be said about Fortin. I'd love to try a Cali, but there again, $3500 USED? No thanks.
glpg80
Well-known member
The headfirst MTL is a reverse engineered version of the wizard MTL with more bells and whistles, but just like with what Bogner has admitted in the past, the more features you add and wiring you add into an amp to support said features, the more you’re going to detract from the core tone due to parasitic capacitances and resistances. I personally think the headfirst MTL is close to the wizard MTLbut different enough tonally to say it’s not a direct replacement of the original. As always YMMV.
Jason is immensely talented, but I see first hand how many of these amps are built by people in his group that have no purpose behind a soldering iron and build amps that barely work at all with his boards. Some of the amps make Billy blades look professional. Many of them are realizing just how complicated high gain amps are to build and that’s even after Jason has done a lot of the heavy lifting. Your wiring placement and soldering skills do matter. What’s worse is that Jason allows people to stack features like a Lego kit to make something that has no support to troubleshoot when being built.
He’s got a great business model to allow people to build tube amps. The problem is that you’re rolling the dice with them in terms of execution and reliability on the used market if he did not directly build it. As someone else said there are people modding them for personal taste without knowledge of what they’re doing as well, so keep that in mind.
It seems the OP got lucky but I give a strong heeded warning to others looking to grab one. It’s true you run the same risk with ceriatone as well - know what to look for before you buy a basket case. Many of us here on the forum can help you weed out the bad builds.
Jason is immensely talented, but I see first hand how many of these amps are built by people in his group that have no purpose behind a soldering iron and build amps that barely work at all with his boards. Some of the amps make Billy blades look professional. Many of them are realizing just how complicated high gain amps are to build and that’s even after Jason has done a lot of the heavy lifting. Your wiring placement and soldering skills do matter. What’s worse is that Jason allows people to stack features like a Lego kit to make something that has no support to troubleshoot when being built.
He’s got a great business model to allow people to build tube amps. The problem is that you’re rolling the dice with them in terms of execution and reliability on the used market if he did not directly build it. As someone else said there are people modding them for personal taste without knowledge of what they’re doing as well, so keep that in mind.
It seems the OP got lucky but I give a strong heeded warning to others looking to grab one. It’s true you run the same risk with ceriatone as well - know what to look for before you buy a basket case. Many of us here on the forum can help you weed out the bad builds.
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I’ve had and gigged both. I’d say the Wizard is worth the money, and the Fortin is not. The Wizard is just a no nonsense well thought out performer. Once you adapt to it, it’s easy to use. In the world of high end professional tools, they’re not unreasonable. Just like most amateur photographers can’t justify a $5k+ DSLR. At least with a Wizard it’s not subject to rapid tech innovation that leads to obsolescence. Music is my passion and my calling, but Mountain biking is my hobby. Talk about expensive! $5k+ bikes with maybe a 5 year lifecycle. I play guitar WAY more hours a week than I get to ride.
It’s all relative and a matter of perspective. Even now, I find myself trying to convince myself that I could get by with something for less money and could use the money elsewhere. That’s such a dangerous road, because if you really love a Wizard, nothing else does what they do, and you’ll end up buying and selling trying to find something that does. Losing a little money in shipping and fees every time, only to end up with another Wizard. Doh…
DanTravis62
Well-known member
Yeah i agree with this. It isn't as much about the price in a vacuum, as it is what youre going to get out of it FOR the price.
I did the exact "buying and selling" merry-go-round for many years trying to get the larry sound, and I knew that's what would work best for me. I could have bought, ordered, and and received multiple amps from larry in that time frame. Instead, I bought, sold, and shipped 3 dozen ENGL, Boogies, Oranges, H&K, Laney, Diezel, and other amps, trying to force them to be something they weren't. I could have bought what I really wanted just from the money in shipping all those amps.
Similarly, I think wizards have a very specific "thing," and if you want that thing, nothing else is really going to scratch that itch.
The Cali is a bit different - there's a whole shitload of amps that are various flavors of Jose mods.
I respect your opinion, but that gut shot looked pretty good to me?
Let us not forget, before the internet and these online forums we all enjoy, we had Fender silver face amps that look like a complete shit fest inside, which actually sound great and many of which still work perfectly 50+ years later.
Not every amp has to be a Hiwatt mil-spec wiring masterpiece to function and sound great. Right?
Racerxrated
Well-known member
You mentioned more Bells/Whistles less tone…..
Absolutely and every time. No loop, no clean channel needed…
And you’ll sound much better.
ZEN Amps
Well-known member
Yes this particular one looks pretty good, and sounds like this particular builder may know what he's doing. I was referring less to this build, and more DIY amps for resale in general. Unfortunately neat looking wiring doesn't always equate to a professionally built, issue free, safe amp - not by a longshot.
Of course not every amp has to be a wiring masterpiece - but it is nice to know that an amp you buy off ebay was done by someone competent with the relevant skills, or by a company with accountability. I've seen plenty of Ceriatone builds sold online that don't meet either of these two basic and reasonable benchmarks.
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acidvoodoo
Well-known member
It has arrived!
Only played it for about 20 minutes so far, sounds pretty great. Lots of tone options, the loop is very transparent, the midi foot switch works perfect and the transformers are pretty f’n big.
Only played it for about 20 minutes so far, sounds pretty great. Lots of tone options, the loop is very transparent, the midi foot switch works perfect and the transformers are pretty f’n big.
cause i wanna fuck it.