/9o9

[James Lugo]

Go ahead and cut through the BS and get the Wizard Modern Classic or the VH4......they are very different, but both sound incredible. Just depends on what your looking for.....here is a clip of one my Wizards:

And here is James Lugo's VH4:

Yup

 

[Ventura]

Good tone that's not into the nu-metal territory, that I've played, and that I've kept...

Bogner 20thA XTC loaded with EL34
Diezel VH4S
Mako Mak 4 Preamp w/ Fryette 2:90:2


All have GOBS of amazing tone (even though tone is a very personal thing), sound unique, have great cut, and more.

Due to my love of these amps? And my experience with these amps? And the fact I've been SPOILED with such incredible tone? The next on my roster of purchases revolves around:

Diezel Einstein
Diezel Herbert
Bogner 20thA Shiva
Vox AC30

Just FYI, the ones I've had, used, tested, recorded, etc are too lengthy to all name model for model, but they include:
Cornford
Fuchs
Peavey
Soldano
H&K
Marhsall
HIWATT
Budda
...and several others including boutiquey one-off's and so forth.

V.

 

[supersonic]

Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

From your OP, doesn't sound like Diezel. Diezel is more modern Nu Metal tone. The sound tight, dry and lack charictor compared to something more classic. Personally I prefer XTC, Shiva, Marsha or SLO. Had a Herbert, it sounded cold and artificial for classic tones, clean was meh. Diezel are great for what they do though.

 

[glip22]

Good tone that's not into the nu-metal territory, that I've played, and that I've kept...

Bogner 20thA XTC loaded with EL34
Diezel VH4S
Mako Mak 4 Preamp w/ Fryette 2:90:2


All have GOBS of amazing tone (even though tone is a very personal thing), sound unique, have great cut, and more.

Due to my love of these amps? And my experience with these amps? And the fact I've been SPOILED with such incredible tone? The next on my roster of purchases revolves around:

Diezel Einstein
Diezel Herbert
Bogner 20thA Shiva
Vox AC30

Just FYI, the ones I've had, used, tested, recorded, etc are too lengthy to all name model for model, but they include:
Cornford
Fuchs
Peavey
Soldano
H&K
Marhsall
HIWATT
Budda
...and several others including boutiquey one-off's and so forth.

V.

V. You would love he Shiva 20th as well.

 

[wheelman]

well, it will just be for my own enjoyment in my home studio. I hear what you are saying about volume, so the wizard & slo have to be cranked high to get it to sound good, had the same problems when i had my plexis, than started to use boogie mark 2's back in the day when i was touring. That db's level will cause problem, hhmm. The Einstein clips sounds good coming through the p.c. speakers,but its not the same if you can be in the same room as the amp is being played its not really true. Its unfortunate no shops in my neck of the woods have any of these amps. Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

The wizard doesn't have to be cranked to a get a great tone. Not at all but they get very loud pretty quickly so it just depends on what you think loud is. Also there is nothing better than an amp that sounds great at low volumes and only gets better the louder you get it. No matter what brand you pick.

 

[glip22]

Bogner Shiva 20th or the Ecstacy 20th for what you want.

 

[Ventura]

Good tone that's not into the nu-metal territory, that I've played, and that I've kept...

Bogner 20thA XTC loaded with EL34
Diezel VH4S
Mako Mak 4 Preamp w/ Fryette 2:90:2


All have GOBS of amazing tone (even though tone is a very personal thing), sound unique, have great cut, and more.

Due to my love of these amps? And my experience with these amps? And the fact I've been SPOILED with such incredible tone? The next on my roster of purchases revolves around:

Diezel Einstein
Diezel Herbert
Bogner 20thA Shiva
Vox AC30

Just FYI, the ones I've had, used, tested, recorded, etc are too lengthy to all name model for model, but they include:
Cornford
Fuchs
Peavey
Soldano
H&K
Marhsall
HIWATT
Budda
...and several others including boutiquey one-off's and so forth.

V.

V. You would love he Shiva 20th as well.

This I know. There's something very hot and raw about the Shiva, and the 20thA's are the series of models that simply seem to be the top-drawer models throughout the line up. I am SUPER impressed with my 20thA XTC, and of the clips I've heard of the Shiva - man, it's just raw beauty!!

So ya, it'll be part of the repertoire eventually

As will an Einstein

Hey - Merry Christmas everyone!!! I'm in the midst of thinking about buying a Zoom H4N digital recorder as another xmas gift to me so that I can lay down clips for this site without the hassle of mic/preamp/DAW to RT. Just more on the fly. I'm too much of a perfectionist with my recording set up, and I think having one of these lil' gadgets would allow for more access to nailin' down some clips.

WHY I mention this is I want to provide some clips that sound 'good'. Period.

Peace Y'All,
V.

 

[pstar]

Glip22, that just sucks, was this recently ?, did you try contacting the buyer/store/the company to get answers and to replace the unit ?, u also mention others have had issues with wizards - first time i am hearing of this.. but when you read some of the posts at their forum alot of the customers are kinda of in limbo waiting to hear about updates on there orders and waiting for emails responses/return phone calls, this would concern me as a potential customer, if a company can not respond in an appropriate timely fashion manner, that says something about the company. i do understand the boss is a busy guy on tours, but that may indicate a lack of commitment to this side of their business, am being gentle not to offend or defend anyone here, lets face it amp techies are techies and perhaps not very savy business people. On the side of the bogner u pefer the xtc 20th, hhmm, creamy tones, looks interesting, and it has enough gain for hard rock - fat & smooth solo lines ? Such wide views on these amps, I do appreciate everyone's comments, all are welcome.

 

[King Guitar]

well, it will just be for my own enjoyment in my home studio. I hear what you are saying about volume, so the wizard & slo have to be cranked high to get it to sound good, had the same problems when i had my plexis, than started to use boogie mark 2's back in the day when i was touring. That db's level will cause problem, hhmm. The Einstein clips sounds good coming through the p.c. speakers,but its not the same if you can be in the same room as the amp is being played its not really true. Its unfortunate no shops in my neck of the woods have any of these amps. Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

The wizard doesn't have to be cranked to a get a great tone. Not at all but they get very loud pretty quickly so it just depends on what you think loud is. Also there is nothing better than an amp that sounds great at low volumes and only gets better the louder you get it. No matter what brand you pick.

Ok I'm going to get flamed for this but Fuck it. The Wizard sounds great, but the engineering of the amp leaves allot to be desired. Unless things have drastically changed(which they may have thanks to Jerry P and myself, a couple of others followed) the amp has issues period. The main thing is for a high gain amp it is grounded completely wrong! I speak the truth and others are aware of it. Like I said it may have been changed but I spent 47000 bucks on mine and sold it for 2500.00. Period point blank the amp was built fucked up. Take it to the fuckin bank. Get the Bogner.

Sorry you had trouble but when was the Wizard ever billed as a high gain head?

 

[Superunknown]

well, it will just be for my own enjoyment in my home studio. I hear what you are saying about volume, so the wizard & slo have to be cranked high to get it to sound good, had the same problems when i had my plexis, than started to use boogie mark 2's back in the day when i was touring. That db's level will cause problem, hhmm. The Einstein clips sounds good coming through the p.c. speakers,but its not the same if you can be in the same room as the amp is being played its not really true. Its unfortunate no shops in my neck of the woods have any of these amps. Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

The wizard doesn't have to be cranked to a get a great tone. Not at all but they get very loud pretty quickly so it just depends on what you think loud is. Also there is nothing better than an amp that sounds great at low volumes and only gets better the louder you get it. No matter what brand you pick.

Ok I'm going to get flamed for this but Fuck it. The Wizard sounds great, but the engineering of the amp leaves allot to be desired. Unless things have drastically changed(which they may have thanks to Jerry P and myself, a couple of others followed) the amp has issues period. The main thing is for a high gain amp it is grounded completely wrong! I speak the truth and others are aware of it. Like I said it may have been changed but I spent 47000 bucks on mine and sold it for 2500.00. Period point blank the amp was built fucked up. Take it to the fuckin bank. Get the Bogner.

Dunno Bro....all I can tell you is that I own two Modern Classic's (one was featured in the 2010 LA Ampfest) and they both sound incredible......no grounding, reliability, or engineering issues at all with mine. The Wizard is a no excuses amp that has performed for me flawlessly. I believe that one confirmation of this was that the Wizard simply brought the goods at the 2010 Ampfest....where others found many reasons as to why their amps didn't sound good, the Wizard simply delivered.

Regarding the build quality, the following is info from Rick St. Pierre:

"All Wizard products are built in Canada by Wizard Amplification Inc. with construction consisting of military type turret boards, true point to point soldering, premium capacitors and metal film resistors for stability and tolerance.
Fully welded and polished 14 gauge nickel and brass plated steel chassis support high quality custom built transformers.
Lexan control panels dress these amplifiers and high grade potentiometers control them. Heavy duty sockets are fitted with matched sets of high grade tubes.
Hand wired and zero compromise in construction assures ultimate reliability in the studio and on the road."

 

[King Guitar]

+1 I have owned more Wizards than just about anyone and they have all been overbuilt and bombproof. Not sure what happened to yours but that was not my experience.

B

well, it will just be for my own enjoyment in my home studio. I hear what you are saying about volume, so the wizard & slo have to be cranked high to get it to sound good, had the same problems when i had my plexis, than started to use boogie mark 2's back in the day when i was touring. That db's level will cause problem, hhmm. The Einstein clips sounds good coming through the p.c. speakers,but its not the same if you can be in the same room as the amp is being played its not really true. Its unfortunate no shops in my neck of the woods have any of these amps. Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

The wizard doesn't have to be cranked to a get a great tone. Not at all but they get very loud pretty quickly so it just depends on what you think loud is. Also there is nothing better than an amp that sounds great at low volumes and only gets better the louder you get it. No matter what brand you pick.

Ok I'm going to get flamed for this but Fuck it. The Wizard sounds great, but the engineering of the amp leaves allot to be desired. Unless things have drastically changed(which they may have thanks to Jerry P and myself, a couple of others followed) the amp has issues period. The main thing is for a high gain amp it is grounded completely wrong! I speak the truth and others are aware of it. Like I said it may have been changed but I spent 47000 bucks on mine and sold it for 2500.00. Period point blank the amp was built fucked up. Take it to the fuckin bank. Get the Bogner.

Dunno Bro....all I can tell you is that I own two Modern Classic's (one was featured in the 2010 LA Ampfest) and they both sound incredible......no grounding, reliability, or engineering issues at all with mine. The Wizard is a no excuses amp that has performed for me flawlessly. I believe that one confirmation of this was that the Wizard simply brought the goods at the 2010 Ampfest....where others found many reasons as to why their amps didn't sound good, the Wizard simply delivered.

Regarding the build quality, the following is info from Rick St. Pierre:

"All Wizard products are built in Canada by Wizard Amplification Inc. with construction consisting of military type turret boards, true point to point soldering, premium capacitors and metal film resistors for stability and tolerance.
Fully welded and polished 14 gauge nickel and brass plated steel chassis support high quality custom built transformers.
Lexan control panels dress these amplifiers and high grade potentiometers control them. Heavy duty sockets are fitted with matched sets of high grade tubes.
Hand wired and zero compromise in construction assures ultimate reliability in the studio and on the road."

 

[James Lugo]

Superunknown's Wizard was stupid good and annihilated. Seemed well built to me. Of the amps mentioned either the VH4 or the Wizard would be my choice. If pressed I'd go VH4 I just love the crunch of that amp, though the Wizard had a more raw thing going on. Both are amazing to me, it would all depend on style of music and taste.

 

[155]

brutal glip22 $4700 is a tough nut to swallow and have it not right , but in all honesty I want to see some say Diezel that dosent own one....I dont own it but would like to: get the bogner..or slo

 

[glip22]

You'll be happy with the Cornford MKII also.

 

[skoora]

I'll say this, If you can play loud you owe it to yourself to demo the Wizard, that amp has more balls than have hit George Takei's chin.

Right on, think I'll rock that for a sig for a while.

Does the OP need different EQ for the clean and dirty. Some of these amps have shared EQ. An amp that isn't talked about much but served me well for a few years in the late 90's is the Marshall 6100. Had a great clean and the overdrive tones were pretty nice. I haven't played one in quite a while though. My local GC has one but of course it's all fucked up and doesn't work.....but still on the sales floor

 

[pstar]

glip22, your frustration is understandable, i have spent many 10's of $10,000 of dollars on gear over the years, if i added it up well into 6 digits and have been let down alot of times, midi pioneers here live and studio applications, for many years we ran our own p.a. systems, our own truck/trailers, i've been all over this bus. touring. but i stopped years ago because the fundamental reason of playing music was gone. no need to apologize.

 

[The Hoff]

What a can of worms question. So much good stuff, so much disappointing stuff. Really just depends on your ear. I have gone through a number of amps, here are my favorites in no particular order:
-CAA PT100
-SLO 100
-Mesa Mark V
-Pre 500 Dual Recto
-Friedman Naked
-Diezel Herbert

Or you can go with ole faithful and get a 5150. It is a workhorse kind of amp and sounds fabulous recorded. Not personally for me but, you can find them going for $500 and they are without a doubt great amps

 

[The Hoff]

You could also go for an Axe FX...? Try one out before you but though. It isn't for everyone.

 

[johnnyjellybean]

A great low volume amp that can get loud and pretty much covers clean to high gain is either Elmwood Modena

 

[johnnyjellybean]

well, it will just be for my own enjoyment in my home studio. I hear what you are saying about volume, so the wizard & slo have to be cranked high to get it to sound good, had the same problems when i had my plexis, than started to use boogie mark 2's back in the day when i was touring. That db's level will cause problem, hhmm. The Einstein clips sounds good coming through the p.c. speakers,but its not the same if you can be in the same room as the amp is being played its not really true. Its unfortunate no shops in my neck of the woods have any of these amps. Wow supersonic your no to deizel, could you please explain ?

The wizard doesn't have to be cranked to a get a great tone. Not at all but they get very loud pretty quickly so it just depends on what you think loud is. Also there is nothing better than an amp that sounds great at low volumes and only gets better the louder you get it. No matter what brand you pick.

Ok I'm going to get flamed for this but Fuck it. The Wizard sounds great, but the engineering of the amp leaves allot to be desired. Unless things have drastically changed(which they may have thanks to Jerry P and myself, a couple of others followed) the amp has issues period. The main thing is for a high gain amp it is grounded completely wrong! I speak the truth and others are aware of it. Like I said it may have been changed but I spent 47000 bucks on mine and sold it for 2500.00. Period point blank the amp was built fucked up. Take it to the fuckin bank. Get the Bogner.

Yours had issues because you screwed with it by mucking with the bias and changing tubes and who knows what else. If I were you I wouldn't go there because we'll get TTosh & Hacksaw to finally come out and say the truth as to what went on when you bought that head. I would leave sleeping dogs lie if I were you. The only one who stands to lose face is you if you bring this up again is you.