Headfirst Alta or Ground zero Hellion or Wizard

  • Thread starter Thread starter GuitarManTim
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Ryan990 said:
I have a sniper mod 59 HW that absolutely slays. It's the only other amp that I've played that rivals my Wizards in overall thump. I think a MOAB+ would balance out my other amps. Every now and then I want something that is a little more compressed and greasy under my fingers and I think the MOAB+ would scratch the itch.
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The MOAB+ I have goes from the utmost organic/insanely open/raw AF tones to the most beautifully saturated compressed tones I could want. Takes boosts sooo well but also is incredible straight in. I've had MANY Wizards and love them and won't lie, they are among my favorite amps, including the Hybrid I have now...loving it...but the MOAB+ may be my favorite amp I've ever owned. I still want to try a Sniper.
 
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The MOAB+ I have is one of my favourite amps i've ever played. It's on 1977 JMP. I purchased quite a few amps over the past few years and it has become top of the list for me.
 
Can the hellion get close to the same tones of the moab or is there still a good difference in sound and feel? Thank you all for helping me decide I didn't expect to get so many people to respond lol.
 
GuitarManTim said:
Can the hellion get close to the same tones of the moab or is there still a good difference in sound and feel? Thank you all for helping me decide I didn't expect to get so many people to respond lol.
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I just sold my Hellion V2 after 1.5 years of owning it. I got the MOAB+ and after a few weeks sold the Hellion. That's not to say the Hellion isn't an absolutely fantastic, first rate fucking amp. Its the longest I've owned any amp. But while similar in some ways, they are very different. Similar in that both can be open and raw or compressed with gobs of gain and compression, both have great clarity/definition/articulation, both are very fast in the attack, aggressive as hell, and have little to no sag.

The MOAB+ is Marshall true and true in voicing while the Hellion is a Hellion in its voicing. If I had to put it in a box, which I hesitate to do because it is it's own thing, I'd say its like a mix of a Mark series and a Marshall kind of. The Hellion is a more modern sounding amp because, well...its a modern amp with modern components. The MOAB+ is your donor components with some modernization, so it retains a lot of that vintage raw/warmish yet aggressive nature. Ultimately I found the MOAB+ capable of more open/organic tones and feel under the fingers, punchier, wider sounding, and more articulate. My guess is the Dagnall or Drake iron plays a big part. I've not played an amp like the MOAB+, it leaves my jaw on the floor every time I plug in. Even next to the Wizard Hybrid I recently grabbed to direct compare, and I absolutely adore Wizards, but if only one amp could stay, it would be the MOAB+.

It sucks bigtime I sold the Hellion, I love that amp and I think its one of the very best made modern amps today. Wish I could keep them all, but its a give and take game and part of the deal for me in this hobby.

I'll add that I also have a GZ Trem Recto and its also among my favorite amps...top 5 category.
 
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MetalHeadMike said:
I just sold my Hellion V2 after 1.5 years of owning it. I got the MOAB+ and after a few weeks sold the Hellion. That's not to say the Hellion isn't an absolutely fantastic, first rate fucking amp. Its the longest I've owned any amp. But while similar in some ways, they are very different. Similar in that both can be open and raw or compressed with gobs of gain and compression, both have great clarity/definition/articulation, both are very fast in the attack, aggressive as hell, and have little to no sag.

The MOAB+ is Marshall true and true in voicing while the Hellion is a Hellion in its voicing. If I had to put it in a box, which I hesitate to do because it is it's own thing, I'd say its like a mix of a Mark series and a Marshall kind of. The Hellion is a more modern sounding amp because, well...its a modern amp with modern components. The MOAB+ is your donor components with some modernization, so it retains a lot of that vintage raw/warmish yet aggressive nature. Ultimately I found the MOAB+ capable of more open/organic tones and feel under the fingers, punchier, wider sounding, and more articulate. My guess is the Dagnall or Drake iron plays a big part. I've not played an amp like the MOAB+, it leaves my jaw on the floor every time I plug in. Even next to the Wizard Hybrid I recently grabbed to direct compare, and I absolutely adore Wizards, but if only one amp could stay, it would be the MOAB+.

It sucks bigtime I sold the Hellion, I love that amp and I think its one of the very best made modern amps today. Wish I could keep them all, but its a give and take game and part of the deal for me in this hobby.

I'll add that I also have a GZ Trem Recto and its also among my favorite amps...top 5 category.
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I suppose I'm concerned that if I send my Jcm800 to him for MOAB mod it still may not sound right as it's always been a bit off or maybe he'd change some components to make it sound like it's supposed to before modding idk.. I thought maybe I should buy just the hellion as sometimes I feel my 2203 is a bit FUBAR sometimes as it's been worked on by multiple people. Your moab sounds exactly like what I want though. I appreciate your detailed descriptions too. I'll go ahead and email him too, to see what he thinks about what I'm experiencing with my 2203.
 
I need a hellion . But a wizard is a must at some point .
 
GuitarManTim said:
I suppose I'm concerned that if I send my Jcm800 to him for MOAB mod it still may not sound right as it's always been a bit off or maybe he'd change some components to make it sound like it's supposed to before modding idk.. I thought maybe I should buy just the hellion as sometimes I feel my 2203 is a bit FUBAR sometimes as it's been worked on by multiple people. Your moab sounds exactly like what I want though. I appreciate your detailed descriptions too. I'll go ahead and email him too, to see what he thinks about what I'm experiencing with my 2203.
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The moab is my favorite thing that he does. It really is an amazing amp. Beautiful voicing and very punchy.
 
GuitarManTim said:
I suppose I'm concerned that if I send my Jcm800 to him for MOAB mod it still may not sound right as it's always been a bit off or maybe he'd change some components to make it sound like it's supposed to before modding idk.. I thought maybe I should buy just the hellion as sometimes I feel my 2203 is a bit FUBAR sometimes as it's been worked on by multiple people. Your moab sounds exactly like what I want though. I appreciate your detailed descriptions too. I'll go ahead and email him too, to see what he thinks about what I'm experiencing with my 2203.
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Jeremy would surely correct any issue and get it right before modding it. But just grabbing a Hellion is definitely worth considering, like I said, it's an incredible amp.
 
I don’t have any ground zero experience yet, but I will say that the Alta kills for modded Marshall tones _and_ I wouldn’t necessarily run to wizard for those tones. I can totally get how folks turn to an MC II for some strident Malcolm Young vibes, but most of the tones you are citing make me think of a more saturated sound.

But also… just saying… you may just want a NMV Marshall and an attenuator/reamper for that tone. IMO nothing else will do exactly that thing.
 
MetalHeadMike said:
I just sold my Hellion V2 after 1.5 years of owning it. I got the MOAB+ and after a few weeks sold the Hellion. That's not to say the Hellion isn't an absolutely fantastic, first rate fucking amp. Its the longest I've owned any amp. But while similar in some ways, they are very different. Similar in that both can be open and raw or compressed with gobs of gain and compression, both have great clarity/definition/articulation, both are very fast in the attack, aggressive as hell, and have little to no sag.

The MOAB+ is Marshall true and true in voicing while the Hellion is a Hellion in its voicing. If I had to put it in a box, which I hesitate to do because it is it's own thing, I'd say its like a mix of a Mark series and a Marshall kind of. The Hellion is a more modern sounding amp because, well...its a modern amp with modern components. The MOAB+ is your donor components with some modernization, so it retains a lot of that vintage raw/warmish yet aggressive nature. Ultimately I found the MOAB+ capable of more open/organic tones and feel under the fingers, punchier, wider sounding, and more articulate. My guess is the Dagnall or Drake iron plays a big part. I've not played an amp like the MOAB+, it leaves my jaw on the floor every time I plug in. Even next to the Wizard Hybrid I recently grabbed to direct compare, and I absolutely adore Wizards, but if only one amp could stay, it would be the MOAB+.

It sucks bigtime I sold the Hellion, I love that amp and I think its one of the very best made modern amps today. Wish I could keep them all, but its a give and take game and part of the deal for me in this hobby.

I'll add that I also have a GZ Trem Recto and its also among my favorite amps...top 5 category.
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I'm definitely going to try to get the Moab mod on my 2203. You found the MOAB to be more articulate than the hellion? I thought it would might be the other way since the hellion is more modern sounding.
 
Smash said:
I didnt suggest because he limited choices. But this is the obvious answer of course
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Im open for any amps lol those are just the ones that piqued my interests the most. Is there a big difference between the mgl and ground zero stuff?
 
GuitarManTim said:
Im open for any amps lol those are just the ones that piqued my interests the most. Is there a big difference between the mgl and ground zero stuff?
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Yes. There is a huge difference. I think the closest you get to MGL is if you boost a wizard mcii. That gets you pretty close.
 
That's about the best tone can get for high gain on my jcm800. Badly recorded with messy sleep exhaustion playing too lol. I'll try to get an sm57 soon, anyways im looking for something that can still clean up well like in my video and has that grind but doesn't get fizzy and fuzzy like my jcm800 does when boosted like that. I'm boosting with a timmy pedal. I'll get something more vintage later im looking for as much high gain clarity and punch as possible right now.
 
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GuitarManTim said:
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I probably should've specified it was a ceriatone I didn't think about it because im just used to saying jcm800 or 2203. Transformer was replaced with mercury magnetic and the weird nasal thing at high volumes stopped a few days not sure what was causing it maybe I need to replace the tubes.
 
Eazy-ESP said:
Why is it “infamous”?
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it became a temporary RT meme thanks to a few active threads in a short period of time where it was a central theme. It was amusing and often heated with hilarious insult slinging from many sides...

I'd forgotten about the SL-X, so it worked out well because thanks to these threads I went looking and found one and bought it. It's a great amp IMO, if you like what it does but not favored around here like its predecessor the 800.

The SL-X uses an extra tube stage in the preamp for gain, vs other 900 models that use clipping diodes. I see it as a factory hot rodded Marshall, less refined than the Jubilee and JCM 2000 / DSL - sits in a small niche between these amps and the 800.
 
rsm said:
it became a temporary RT meme thanks to a few active threads in a short period of time where it was a central theme. It was amusing and often heated with hilarious insult slinging from many sides...

I'd forgotten about the SL-X, so it worked out well because thanks to these threads I went looking and found one and bought it. It's a great amp IMO, if you like what it does but not favored around here like its predecessor the 800.

The SL-X uses an extra tube stage in the preamp for gain, vs other 900 models that use clipping diodes. I see it as a factory hot rodded Marshall, less refined than the Jubilee and JCM 2000 / DSL - sits in a small niche between these amps and the 800.
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I want to try one now. I’ll make a NAD thread and you can jump in. A few years from now they’ll be holy grail collectors items if we play this right.
 
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