Anyone Try The MI Audio Megalith Beta?

[Tiger1016]

Even if the Beta or Gamma amps are missing some secret sauce once you get them in the room, I think the implementation of tone and feel shaping controls is one of the most intuitive and useful implementations I have seen so far. I read through the manual after stumbling across this good walkthrough of the Gamma

EQ shift basically emphasizes the low mids, high mids, or scoops them. Attack switch can go from relatively smoother and balanced to focused and tight. The Contour control can go from pushing the mids very forward while warming up the highs on max, to scooped and warm mids with tighter bass on the opposite end. Then the three Gain Modes add a different vibe and feel while adding or decreasing the amount of gain on tap. And you have the normal 3 EQ controls left to fine tune the tone once you get everything else setup right.

Just seems a heck of a lot easier to quickly dial around to a wide variety of tones and feels intuitively by ear and does not seem to have finicky sweet spots that are tough to hone in on. FWIW this is coming from a Mark series loyalist, or should I say masochist, so anything will seem significantly more intuitive and easy in comparison.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPCgJeh3OJg

 

[Tiger1016]

I am out of the running on potentially being a guinea pig for these amps. Just sealed the deal on a Wizard MCI today. But these MI amps are still interesting to me, so I hope someone else gets a chance to give them a shot and bless us with a useable shoot out comparison.

 

[braintheory]

Is there anyone here who’s actually tried this amp in person that wants to chime in?

 

[Tiger1016]

Paging @maddnotez. This dude just got a Mi Megalith Beta in. Might be too early of days, but he is our fearless leader at the moment.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Is there anyone here who’s actually tried this amp in person that wants to chime in?

There's a post on SSO with a few guys who bought some. Bunch of clips in there. The more I listen to it, the less "tube like" it sounds, which makes sense considering the small amount of tubes actually used in the preamp. Even dialed back, it still sounds really aggressive, which is a shame with all the cool tone shaping tools in there...

 

[maddnotez]

Sorry for the delay. Still getting acquainted. Before I give any feedback I want to be upfront and say I potentially may need to sell because personal money issues came up. I planned to sell the amp before I even got it delivered so I just dont want it to come across like im trying to hype something up to benefit myself. With that said now that I have the amp I dont wanna let it go.

To answer the OP question. I think it is every bit as good as some of the top name amps. I have never played a Wizard or a Cameron however. Diesel, Mesa, Bogner, yes.

@metalheadmike - have to disagree. Generic isnt something I would call it at all. To my ears the most simple way to explain is think of a mix between JP2C and the old Uberschall. So it maybe familiar but generic seems harsh.

Regarding the builder. He is a very nice guy but yes he gets busy and the communication is not great. I got kinda mad at one point because delays and delays but I paid July 5th and got the amp like yesterday. He builds in batches, had like a dozen amps going and I think its a side gig.

It sounds killer guys. The videos dont do it justice. Rezas 2nd video sounded better but you just gotta play it. The bass is very deep and rather interesting. Can be touchy I guess. There are quite a bit of shaping options.

Im a simple guy and maybe it would be cooler to lock in my favorite settings and call it stock as there are some options id never use but it can go from sludgy/doomy to the Uber roar no problem. Edit: it isn't exactly like the uber roar, that's one of a kind but in the same vein.

I havent found a super duper tight option and unsure if it exists on this amp but im getting some great tones out of the box. And its probably the best clean channels on a high gainer ive personally played. The only thing that would give the JP2C an edge is the Reverb.

The build quality is top notch and it is just a very well built amp. I think its pretty incredible but thats just me.

I know im probably the only one in st louis but anyone would be more than welcome to come check it out.

Again i just got it yesterday so take all of this with a grain of salt.

Edit: this amp needs to be LOUD. Definitely not getting great bedroom tones but once you crank it up you can feel it. Also cant speak on the crunch tones as thats not my thing. One of the very few amps that doesnt need a boost and I boost everything.

 

[MatrixClaw]

Sorry for the delay. Still getting acquainted. Before I give any feedback I want to be upfront and say I potentially may need to sell because personal money issues came up. I planned to sell the amp before I even got it delivered so I just dont want it to come across like im trying to hype something up to benefit myself. With that said now that I have the amp I dont wanna let it go.

To answer the OP question. I think it is every bit as good as some of the top name amps. I have never played a Wizard or a Cameron however. Diesel, Mesa, Bogner, yes.

@metalheadmike - have to disagree. Generic isnt something I would call it at all. To my ears the most simple way to explain is think of a mix between JP2C and the old Uberschall. So it maybe familiar but generic seems harsh.

Regarding the builder. He is a very nice guy but yes he gets busy and the communication is not great. I got kinda mad at one point because delays and delays but I paid July 5th and got the amp like yesterday. He builds in batches, had like a dozen amps going and I think its a side gig.

It sounds killer guys. The videos dont do it justice. Rezas 2nd video sounded better but you just gotta play it. The bass is very deep and rather interesting. Can be touchy I guess. There are quite a bit of shaping options.

Im a simple guy and maybe it would be cooler to lock in my favorite settings and call it stock as there are some options id never use but it can go from sludgy/doomy to the Uber roar no problem. Edit: it isn't exactly like the uber roar, that's one of a kind but in the same vein.

I havent found a super duper tight option and unsure if it exists on this amp but im getting some great tones out of the box. And its probably the best clean channels on a high gainer ive personally played. The only thing that would give the JP2C an edge is the Reverb.

The build quality is top notch and it is just a very well built amp. I think its pretty incredible but thats just me.

I know im probably the only one in st louis but anyone would be more than welcome to come check it out.

Again i just got it yesterday so take all of this with a grain of salt.

Edit: this amp needs to be LOUD. Definitely not getting great bedroom tones but once you crank it up you can feel it. Also cant speak on the crunch tones as thats not my thing. One of the very few amps that doesnt need a boost and I boost everything.

That's kinda what I was figuring - even if I did end up liking it, with that huge power section, I was afraid it would only sound good when cranked

 

[maddnotez]

Sorry for the delay. Still getting acquainted. Before I give any feedback I want to be upfront and say I potentially may need to sell because personal money issues came up. I planned to sell the amp before I even got it delivered so I just dont want it to come across like im trying to hype something up to benefit myself. With that said now that I have the amp I dont wanna let it go.

To answer the OP question. I think it is every bit as good as some of the top name amps. I have never played a Wizard or a Cameron however. Diesel, Mesa, Bogner, yes.

@metalheadmike - have to disagree. Generic isnt something I would call it at all. To my ears the most simple way to explain is think of a mix between JP2C and the old Uberschall. So it maybe familiar but generic seems harsh.

Regarding the builder. He is a very nice guy but yes he gets busy and the communication is not great. I got kinda mad at one point because delays and delays but I paid July 5th and got the amp like yesterday. He builds in batches, had like a dozen amps going and I think its a side gig.

It sounds killer guys. The videos dont do it justice. Rezas 2nd video sounded better but you just gotta play it. The bass is very deep and rather interesting. Can be touchy I guess. There are quite a bit of shaping options.

Im a simple guy and maybe it would be cooler to lock in my favorite settings and call it stock as there are some options id never use but it can go from sludgy/doomy to the Uber roar no problem. Edit: it isn't exactly like the uber roar, that's one of a kind but in the same vein.

I havent found a super duper tight option and unsure if it exists on this amp but im getting some great tones out of the box. And its probably the best clean channels on a high gainer ive personally played. The only thing that would give the JP2C an edge is the Reverb.

The build quality is top notch and it is just a very well built amp. I think its pretty incredible but thats just me.

I know im probably the only one in st louis but anyone would be more than welcome to come check it out.

Again i just got it yesterday so take all of this with a grain of salt.

Edit: this amp needs to be LOUD. Definitely not getting great bedroom tones but once you crank it up you can feel it. Also cant speak on the crunch tones as thats not my thing. One of the very few amps that doesnt need a boost and I boost everything.

That's kinda what I was figuring - even if I did end up liking it, with that huge power section, I was afraid it would only sound good when cranked

Definitely. That is one thing I can consider negative. I do love an amp that sounds great or even acceptable at low volumes. The Megalith is definitely not one of them in my opinion. Needs to be cranked to be appreciated.

I saw all your posts about the tube count...I will admit when I was looking into the amp and waiting for it it worried me. I dont know the first thing about circuitry or tubes but I assumed your clipping assessment is accurate. It just makes sense....has to be right?

Idk theres plenty of gain and I like whats going on. Its probably not a "wizard caliber" amp but its really well made and sounds good to me. I think it does have some special mojo going on but thats just my opinion. I still miss my VHT pitbull so there is that.

 

[maddnotez]

Here's my cell phone clip..pretty rough playing to disregard I need some practice but anyway. Need to get the sizzle just right. Still trying to figure it out.

 

[Tiger1016]

Idk theres plenty of gain and I like whats going on. Its probably not a "wizard caliber" amp but its really well made and sounds good to me. I think it does have some special mojo going on but thats just my opinion. I still miss my VHT pitbull so there is that.

Thanks for jumping in with the feedback on this amp. Seems like a good amp. Funny you mention the pittbull. I had not really paid any attention to those until someone who owns 3 Wizard MTLs recently made an unsolicited mentioning to me on how much he loves that amp in addition to his MTLs and MC. After digging into it more, I realize it does a noticeable amount more of what I want over the MI Beta, although the Beta does seem to be in a similar ballpark. I wish I could port over the unique tone shaping controls in these MI Audio amps to some of the other amps that I am into. They really do have a good things going in that regard. An Ultra Lead has now become the next amp that I would love to add in alongside a Wizard Modern Classic and IIC+. I have heard that the Omega Granophyre apparently shares a good amount of similarities with the Fryette/VHT amps, so might be worth checking out if anyone else is into those.

 

[maddnotez]

Idk theres plenty of gain and I like whats going on. Its probably not a "wizard caliber" amp but its really well made and sounds good to me. I think it does have some special mojo going on but thats just my opinion. I still miss my VHT pitbull so there is that.

Thanks for jumping in with the feedback on this amp. Seems like a good amp. Funny you mention the pittbull. I had not really paid any attention to those until someone who owns 3 Wizard MTLs recently made an unsolicited mentioning to me on how much he loves that amp in addition to his MTLs and MC. After digging into it more, I realize it does a noticeable amount more of what I want over the MI Beta, although the Beta does seem to be in a similar ballpark. I wish I could port over the unique tone shaping controls in these MI Audio amps to some of the other amps that I am into. They really do have a good things going in that regard. An Ultra Lead has now become the next amp that I would love to add in alongside a Wizard Modern Classic and IIC+. I have heard that the Omega Granophyre apparently shares a good amount of similarities with the Fryette/VHT amps, so might be worth checking out if anyone else is into those.

Its been a very long time but the ONE amp I wish I kept was the 100CL. I did have an UL but it was a very early 1994 model and it was very meh compared to the CL. Id love to play a newer UL but to me the CL was just the most unique, raw and brutal amp ive ever had my hands on.

Ive put a few good hours into the Megalith now and I'm pretty pleased.

Im getting great tones out of it, better than what my video portrays. I will say the mids and sizzle on this amp is unique and I'm still working on dialing it in just right.

I'll repeat what I said about the Uber/Mesa thing. It has it. To my ears it has a similar low end to the old Uber but with not as much sag. It seems to go back to the "unsag" if you will a little quicker than the Uber so in that sense I guess i prefer the Uber in that aspect only. The overa roar of the MI i could say i probably liked better than the Uber.

The way the mids sit is what reminds me of the JP2C. Probably not the same but they seem to sit higher in the spectrum compared to other amps. I would absolutely LOVE to hear this amp in a band mix but im no longer playing unfortunately. Also the controls/knobs kind of remind me of the jpc without the weird taper.

Anyway thats about all I got on this as of now. Considering the price it's really a great amp.