Getting more JCM clunk out of my Wiz MC1..

[* velcro-fly *]

What you are missing is the unique tone that only a Marshall can make.

Stop wasting time and money, if it's the Marshall sound is what you are after, buy a Marshall.

Paging @Jdub .... clean up in aisle 3

 

[FourT6and2]

The clunk comes from large bright caps on gain pots. They shave off bass frequencies and boost treble. I don’t think wizards use them, and if they do they’re in another part of the circuit.

I don't necessarily agree with that. Bright caps add... brightness. Depending on the value, you can get more mid-range gain. But a hard-hitting clank or "clunk" (lol) can be anything. The amps I've been building lately have not 1, not 2, not 3, but FOUR low-pass filters killing high-end and they have TONS of that Marshall clank/clunk/kerrang or whatever you want to call it. Zero bright caps. And they seem to have that hard-hitting powerful attack just fine. It can be any number of things. Without seeing a schematic of the specific Wizard circuit, it's hard to say.

 

[Greazygeo]

The Wizards simply don’t accept boost/OD flavoring as readily as Marshalls do and are not nearly as responsive to tube rolling either. Their tone and response is in a weird way kind of set in stone and they just cannot be molded into something else as much as other amps can be.

I use an OD with mine alot. MC1’s are good in that respect. I can see the more modern ones not being that way.

 

[Jdub]

yeah but if that amp, say a Marshall or mod, doesn't feel and behave like the Wizard my life will get complicated again.. I'm more inclined to try something like the Myasnikov CCV pre or a Syn module through the Wiz tbh, perhaps the BE-DLX. that way, in my mind at least, I preserve the back end of the Wiz and change the pre character.

I think you are chasing ghosts to be frank. Using some sort of Marshall derivative pre amp into the Wizard 'to preserve the back end of the Wiz"would probably sounds good. But the Marshall power section imparts much of "that" sound. If you want Marshall tone, get a Marshall... I recently went through the viscous cycle again( every few years for the last 30) I bought a ton of the latest, and or "greatest" amps and revisited some old ones. Then I plug into a good Marshall and scratch my head wondering WTF was I chasing. Ultimately that is 'the tone" for me... NOTHING else quite has that little " it " factor Granted a lot of these other amps sounds great ( Wizards included) in their own way, but the rawness and "flaws" of a pure Marshall circuit are something you can't buy in a pedal etc. Like others have have said. let the Wizard Wizard and save the headaches and time and buy a Marshall to satisfy your Marshall itch.

 

[skoora]

Put this into your loop return and BAM!

 

[skoora]

…but seriously..there’s some pretty decent MIAB pedals for feeding your loop return now and one of them might do a pretty good job of scratching that itch. Maybe buy one or three from a store with returns and keep the winner.

 

[ZEN Amps]

A somewhat serious question - are clank and clunk the same thing?

Points for answers that define frequency ranges, distortion or dynamic characteristics. More subjective words are unlikely to help, so treat me like I'm soulless engineering AI.

@Catthan I have a few Wizards and a number of JCMs - they're just different. A boost pedal isn't going to help, although an EQ in the loop could help you refine a few things. I'd say running Ch1 loud and hot with the bass low, plenty of mids, contour max'd is the best it gets. Closer still would be a Synergy 800 module into the MC return, although its power amp sounds bigger and bolder than a typical Marshall.

Not that it really matters, but the MC and MTL are loosely based on the Jubilee (the latter has another gain stage along with some other voicing changes). This makes it hard for either to get legit 2203 tones.