Hard to choose: XTC/ Lynx (badcat) / Wizard MCII any help ?

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Zakk13

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Hi all,

In my quest to find the best amp for my use , after a lot of time i finally selected 2:

- Bogner XTC 20th in EL34

- Wizard MC II

I have few projects ( Home/ studio / gigs/ ...):
- Some in classic rock (like Rolling stone/Lynyrd / Allman bro/ ZZ ) I need some warm woody crunch light to medium
- some AC/DC /aerosmith/guns/ hard stuff or stooner project like QOTSA
- And I want to be able to play in some hotter lead stuff if need as well as in full clean with effect (blues, ...).



I Live in Europe, Bogner can be found easily and I use to have an Uberschall head ( i like the bogner grain anyway).

For the Wizard and especialy the MCII , i only have few video on the web ( with heavy crunch which blow me away) and only few review for on the MCI not the MCII... I Dont know If this beast can dial with some classic tone like the blue channel/plexi of the XTC.

That why i need your help. Maybe someone have this 2 heads and can compare them?
Anyway, I really need your advices. These amps are very expensive , i dont want to make the wrong choice

:thumbsup:
 
Having played both I think the wizard might fit the bill better. Bogners are great and can get there as well but I the wizard has more of the old school marshall flavour where the Bogner has the Bogner flavour if that makes any sense. The wizard can do the mid gain stuff no problem. Just be prepared for ridiculous volume from the wizard it's got the power like an old marshall as well.
 
Thx !

To your sens, power attenuator is needed for a Studio "midgain" use with the Wizard ?

Wizard amps in europe, are totally unknow. Bogner and the XTC , in the other hand are known as the swissknife holygrail. And 20th anniversary goes a step further.

I know that i could get some pretty cool plexi tone or classic rock tone with the XTC. I was not sure for the wizard, as i thought it was a more mordern amp . But I might be wrong. It's very interessing to have your feedback on this.

Do not Know is the vII of the MC is very different of the V1 too.
 
The Wizard MCII is the best Marshall-type amp I've ever played
It covers most of your Marshall tones, from the late 60's to metal 80's and of course your AC/DC tones
So you get 20 years worth of tones in that amp, any tone that's been dialed with a Marshall, you can get it with that amp. You can also tweak you rhythm channel to be a clean channel
And it's not that loud... had an early Splawn Quick Street Rod Pipe or whatever that was retardedly loud, much louder that the Wizard
The price you would have to pay to get it shipped to Europe is just out of this world though

As good as the Wizard is, the Ecstasy is probably still my favorite amp though, loving the 101B almost more than the 20th (blue channel love)
 
Very interesting buisiness, thx.

For the shipping it's not such expensive ( only for the head) for the 4x12 forget (x2 the price)

Anyways, you are not the fist that said " i prefer the 101B blue channel". I really have to think about it, did you test the EL34 custom or the regular 6L6 20th version ?

Good to ear that the MCII can be easy with all marschall type tone
 
For versatilty go Bogner. For raw tone Wizard. FWIW, a 100 watts is a hundred watts. Some amps come on very quickly with the turn of the volume. Its more the pot range than it is the amp being a "loud amp". A loud amp is one where the volume on 2 is putting out damn near full volume already. If the volume taper had a wider sweep the amp would have a larger range of volume. I have had Marshalls where the volume on 2 was very loud. I swapped the master and the same volume on 2 was now on 6.
 
If you're after a 101b blue channel tone out of the 20th, try vintage mode and if you like it extra smooth try old style. Otherwise the 20th blue has more high mid bite and definition in the highs.
 
I don't have the 20th Anny XTC, but I have had an XTC Classic and multiple 101Bs, as well as the Wizard MCII.

The Wizard will do anything you need it to do and, as Dave ('Business') stated above, it does not need to be ridiculously loud (but it CAN be ridiculously loud when you need it to be :thumbsup: ). Light crunch and mid-gain tones are easily achievable on the MCII. Although the MCII has a ton of gain, I find for "liquid" leads, I will typically hit it with a light clean boost or a little bit of grit.

I personally prefer the FX loop on the Wizard to the FX loops on Bogners as well.

I woud recommend you go with the Wizard but, given you're in Europe, from a cost and serviceability standpoint, the Bogner might be the cheaper and safer option.

Good luck! :rawk:
 
Zakk13":3qfvtqys said:
Very interesting buisiness, thx.

For the shipping it's not such expensive ( only for the head) for the 4x12 forget (x2 the price)

Anyways, you are not the fist that said " i prefer the 101B blue channel". I really have to think about it, did you test the EL34 custom or the regular 6L6 20th version ?

Good to ear that the MCII can be easy with all marschall type tone
Click to expand...

Got the 20th EL34 version
Great amp, but if you're talking blue channel only, it's not worth paying more than for the 101B

The Wizard can not only do good Marshall tones, it's THE best Marshall tones out there (IMO)
I've owned Cameron and Friedman modded amps, they didn't even come close, even though they were good at modded Marshall tones
 
Business":2z23xzcb said:
The Wizard can not only do good Marshall tones, it's THE best Marshall tones out there (IMO) I've owned Cameron and Friedman modded amps, they didn't even come close, even though they were good at modded Marshall tones
Click to expand...

^ This is true. All of it. IMHO.
 
How would you say Fargen Olde 800 MKII stacks up with the Wizard MCII?
 
bbaug14":32cs495r said:
How would you say Fargen Olde 800 MKII stacks up with the Wizard MCII?
Click to expand...

I've never played the Olde 800 MKII. However, I have to imagine the Wizard sounds much "bigger", due to the higher power/headroom and MASSIVE transformers.
 
Get the Bogner! Really can cover tons of ground. Will probably cover your needs better as you change styles over time. I am sure the Bogner also has better resale. I love my classic.
 
Thx a lot for all these answers .

Quite hard to choose. In a hand the wizard, look to be one of the best marshall sound ever. On the other hand the xtc .

In fact i can not see where the xtc is better .modern tone ? Plexi tone ? Clean tone ? Blues tone ?

Much more versality ?
 
The Wizard is better than the Bogner in terms of all Marshall tones.

The Bogner will have it's own take on Marshall tones, but there is always that Bogner (low) mids thing happening with the XTC.
 
While the XTC 20th is a huge improvement over the 101B IMO, any XTC will sound rather timid compared to a Wizard.
 
I had played XTCs since 1997. 101A, 101Bs (stock and one Reinhold modded for me) and finally settled on the 100B (I had 3 at one time). I've never played a 20th to know how it compares to the 100B but I liked the 100B much better than all of the other versions I owned. The Bogners are great amps so owning one is definitely a good thing. However, for me, I was searching for a certain feel/response in the mids that I could never get out of the Bogners. I found myself always adjusting something while I was playing. I could not get the mids to where they were right in my ears. I just recently sold the last 100B in favor of a Wizard MCII. While the XTC is more versatile (feature wise), the Wizard MCII gets me great Marshall clean and dirty tones and I don't miss the Bogners at all. I can set the Wizard and just enjoy playing it without tweaking it all the time. I like the build quality on the Wizard better too.
 
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