Metroplex vs. Wizard MCII

[UDTBUDS]

WIZARD MC to me sounds like the biggest baddest hot rod MARSHALL / HIWATT hybrid ive heard ...

 

[lespaul6]

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

I think it's easy to try and compare aspects of the Wizards to other amps. I hear you George on the Hiwatt big, and bold tone. I think the same. I get Martin ion the Mesa thing. I think it might be in the highs. There's something about the crunch that may be a little Mark series, not Recto.
Bottom line is that the Wizard is it's own thing. Big, bold. punchy.Good feel. Dynamic. Gain is on the cleaner side. Like you said things about the old Marshall that could be better. I like the feel of the Wizard. It has the punchy big sound but not at the expense of being too stiff.
When I had a Helios here the first thing I noticed when playing it was how tight it was. I liked the amp but not how stiff it was. When I plugged back into the MCII, I immediately felt the strings much better. The Wizard accomplishes that huge tone and feel without being overly filtered and built properly so there is no ghosting, crosstalk, or artifacts in the signal.
The circuit seems like Marshall Jubilee with some tricks with a Marshall output section. No idea what the tricks are though but they make all the difference.

nicely put... and not the recto. I think rick was trying early on in the 80's to extend the bandwidth of angus' tone buy using the mK III and the marshall together. Bob rock was doing the same thing in the studio and its a big tone. I can see rick making his own amps based on what he wanted to hear with acdc live. Just a thought

 

[lespaul6]

Why do people like these modded Marshall amps so much? They all sound the same, and make everyone that plays through them sound the same. It's gotta be the most generic guitar tone ever.

And its the most popular, most recorded tone in history. Marshall or a variant of. Take the Diezel VH4 channel 3 for instance....most popular Diezel amp and its most praised channel. Its also the most Marshall-like according to most. Coincidence? Hmmmm.....I know VH4s have their own thing but again, that's the channel to use if you want a Marshall type tone. You don't have to like Marshall or ever play one. But chances are you've played/owned a Marshall variant. Most players find at least one Marshall tone they fall in love with, be it stock/modded or a variant of. Peavey 5150/6505 is an SLO clone. An SLO sounds very Marshall-like when I dial it in....I can sound Marshally with a VHT Deliverance. Its the tone I grew up with so there ya go. You younger dudes may love the Dual Rec tone because that's all you heard growing up. Marshall has its place and it can't be denied. Even the Wizard sounds Jubilee-ish to me, but on steroids. Wizards do have a Marshall thing going on, but also something more. People pay for new Marshall type amps because its still a great tone, 50 plus years later..

here here!

 

[fuzzyguitars]

i think i read about that combo in a old mix magazine interview

makes sense to me.

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

I think it's easy to try and compare aspects of the Wizards to other amps. I hear you George on the Hiwatt big, and bold tone. I think the same. I get Martin ion the Mesa thing. I think it might be in the highs. There's something about the crunch that may be a little Mark series, not Recto.
Bottom line is that the Wizard is it's own thing. Big, bold. punchy.Good feel. Dynamic. Gain is on the cleaner side. Like you said things about the old Marshall that could be better. I like the feel of the Wizard. It has the punchy big sound but not at the expense of being too stiff.
When I had a Helios here the first thing I noticed when playing it was how tight it was. I liked the amp but not how stiff it was. When I plugged back into the MCII, I immediately felt the strings much better. The Wizard accomplishes that huge tone and feel without being overly filtered and built properly so there is no ghosting, crosstalk, or artifacts in the signal.
The circuit seems like Marshall Jubilee with some tricks with a Marshall output section. No idea what the tricks are though but they make all the difference.

nicely put... and not the recto. I think rick was trying early on in the 80's to extend the bandwidth of angus' tone buy using the mK III and the marshall together. Bob rock was doing the same thing in the studio and its a big tone. I can see rick making his own amps based on what he wanted to hear with acdc live. Just a thought

 

[SBlue]

i think i read about that combo in a old mix magazine interview

makes sense to me.

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

I think it's easy to try and compare aspects of the Wizards to other amps. I hear you George on the Hiwatt big, and bold tone. I think the same. I get Martin ion the Mesa thing. I think it might be in the highs. There's something about the crunch that may be a little Mark series, not Recto.
Bottom line is that the Wizard is it's own thing. Big, bold. punchy.Good feel. Dynamic. Gain is on the cleaner side. Like you said things about the old Marshall that could be better. I like the feel of the Wizard. It has the punchy big sound but not at the expense of being too stiff.
When I had a Helios here the first thing I noticed when playing it was how tight it was. I liked the amp but not how stiff it was. When I plugged back into the MCII, I immediately felt the strings much better. The Wizard accomplishes that huge tone and feel without being overly filtered and built properly so there is no ghosting, crosstalk, or artifacts in the signal.
The circuit seems like Marshall Jubilee with some tricks with a Marshall output section. No idea what the tricks are though but they make all the difference.

nicely put... and not the recto. I think rick was trying early on in the 80's to extend the bandwidth of angus' tone buy using the mK III and the marshall together. Bob rock was doing the same thing in the studio and its a big tone. I can see rick making his own amps based on what he wanted to hear with acdc live. Just a thought

The thing I like about my Wizards(94 VC-100 & 93 Metal) is the clarity. The Metal, for example, can be used for blues & classic rock all the way to the very heavy stuff. Funny thing is, while with a lot of other amps you need more gain to play heavy, with the Metal you hear more clarity and less gain than let's say a HBE. However, once you start playing the Metal you forget about the extra gain to push it, because all the punch, low end, and huge palm muting earth shaking lows are all there.
So, with the Metal you can doo all that. With less gain and less compression than other amps. But with more clarity and punch.

 

[fuzzyguitars]

[very nicely put.

I agree completely q


uote="SBlue"]

i think i read about that combo in a old mix magazine interview

makes sense to me.

I think they censored it... of course. lol I know we all hear things differently but does anyone hear a marshall /boogie mixture in the wizard sound? that's what I hear as opposed to a clean massive headroom hiwatt sound.

i have a Triple Recto that is cool for 7 string stuff. Don't find my Wizard has much in common with it.

I think it's easy to try and compare aspects of the Wizards to other amps. I hear you George on the Hiwatt big, and bold tone. I think the same. I get Martin ion the Mesa thing. I think it might be in the highs. There's something about the crunch that may be a little Mark series, not Recto.
Bottom line is that the Wizard is it's own thing. Big, bold. punchy.Good feel. Dynamic. Gain is on the cleaner side. Like you said things about the old Marshall that could be better. I like the feel of the Wizard. It has the punchy big sound but not at the expense of being too stiff.
When I had a Helios here the first thing I noticed when playing it was how tight it was. I liked the amp but not how stiff it was. When I plugged back into the MCII, I immediately felt the strings much better. The Wizard accomplishes that huge tone and feel without being overly filtered and built properly so there is no ghosting, crosstalk, or artifacts in the signal.
The circuit seems like Marshall Jubilee with some tricks with a Marshall output section. No idea what the tricks are though but they make all the difference.

nicely put... and not the recto. I think rick was trying early on in the 80's to extend the bandwidth of angus' tone buy using the mK III and the marshall together. Bob rock was doing the same thing in the studio and its a big tone. I can see rick making his own amps based on what he wanted to hear with acdc live. Just a thought

The thing I like about my Wizards(94 VC-100 & 93 Metal) is the clarity. The Metal, for example, can be used for blues & classic rock all the way to the very heavy stuff. Funny thing is, while with a lot of other amps you need more gain to play heavy, with the Metal you hear more clarity and less gain than let's say a HBE. However, once you start playing the Metal you forget about the extra gain to push it, because all the punch, low end, and huge palm muting earth shaking lows are all there.
So, with the Metal you can doo all that. With less gain and less compression than other amps. But with more clarity and punch.[/quote]

 

[greatmutah]

I've got a Metroplex on the way myself and I'm quite stoked about it. I played the prototype at George's shop a few months ago and that's what sold me on the amp. That being said, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to trying a Wizard by any means. Or a Friedman or really anything else in the hot rodded Marshall/British realm. I mean, that's kind of the beauty of having all the options and builders we have today isn't it? Prior to ordering the MP, my main source of hot rodded British style tones was the Deliverance - which I still think is a fantastic amp, especially for their price on the used market. And that amp, to me, had some very Hiwatt-like characteristics, mainly in terms of volume and clarity. I briefly had an ENGL Powerball and LOVED channel 2 on that amp as it definitely had a hot-rodded Marshall-esque vibe to it. I'm also a big fan of Rectos (I've had 4, two were Tremoverbs) and Mark series amps. And 5150s. If I ever had to severely cut down my amps to one inexpensive one, I could live with a 5150/6505 and my Mesa 4x12 just fine. Different textures and different tools for the job.

 

[LP Freak]

So what's the wait time on a Metroplex now?

 

[greatmutah]

About 4-5 weeks. Not bad at all really. I'm hoping to see mine either this week or next week.

 

[journeyman73]

About 4-5 weeks. Not bad at all really. I'm hoping to see mine either this week or next week.

how was it when trying to dial-in straight up 12,000 tones?

doesthe modded mode have a ' sleaze' factor like AFD?

 

[JiMB]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

That one thread on TGP turned into a complete joke, ending with damage control and back pedaling posts by Lance and George lol.

I started the thread and nuked it the other night. Turned into a complete joke as you stated Got tired of the bitching over something not that big a deal (to myself anyway,and I own a Friedman and Metropoulos) but I mostly deleted it to mess with the people's heads who were still posting in it Sorry guys!

You're the one that nuked it, that was my daily gear related soap opera!

 

[sjk]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

That one thread on TGP turned into a complete joke, ending with damage control and back pedaling posts by Lance and George lol.

I started the thread and nuked it the other night. Turned into a complete joke as you stated Got tired of the bitching over something not that big a deal (to myself anyway,and I own a Friedman and Metropoulos) but I mostly deleted it to mess with the people's heads who were still posting in it Sorry guys!

You're the one that nuked it, that was my daily gear related soap opera!

It was an embarrassing thread Sorry!

 

[JiMB]

Lance Keltner did a demo of the Metroplex and it sounds killer. He raved about it and said he wants one for himself. He doesn't like MV amps and he said the master volume was amazing. Too lazy to post the vid, but it's out there on youtube.

Plus, there's a thread on TGP where George chimes in on both the metroplex and the 12000.

That one thread on TGP turned into a complete joke, ending with damage control and back pedaling posts by Lance and George lol.

I started the thread and nuked it the other night. Turned into a complete joke as you stated Got tired of the bitching over something not that big a deal (to myself anyway,and I own a Friedman and Metropoulos) but I mostly deleted it to mess with the people's heads who were still posting in it Sorry guys!

You're the one that nuked it, that was my daily gear related soap opera!

It was an embarrassing thread Sorry!

Yeah, it got away from just talking about the amp.

 

[greatmutah]

About 4-5 weeks. Not bad at all really. I'm hoping to see mine either this week or next week.

how was it when trying to dial-in straight up 12,000 tones?

doesthe modded mode have a ' sleaze' factor like AFD?

We put it against George's actual 68 Plexi and the tones were there. You could definitely feel that plexi vibe and dynamic coming through the Plexi mode. And the settings were pretty neutral on the Metroplex. Just 5 across the board. Didn't really dick too much with the EQ, so I can't say how sleazy I can get it, but the Mod mode brings some nice extra gain and a little (Not a lot at all) compression. It still felt very organic though. I'll be able to give an assessment of sleaze on it once I get mine in my hands.

 

[lespaul6]

Slash's guitarist frank sidoris is playing a Wizard Modern Classic I and bringing the sleaze with no problem... check out some live vid on youtube

 

[WizardSouth-JP]

I think they'd be different enough to warrant having both. The MC (and MCII) and exactly as they're named; Modern Classic
the amp can cover classic British tones and more heavy modern tones. The Wizard is never fizzy, or harsh unless you get the bright controls or presence too high. For a 2 channel amp it's amazing how much ground you can cover.

 

[bbaug14]

So... Did anyone actually compare these two amps? I have a MCII and I've owned numerous Plexi inspired amps. I've get to find anything that could replace the Wizard. I'm curious about the Metroplex though.

 

[lespaul6]

So... Did anyone actually compare these two amps? I have a MCII and I've owned numerous Plexi inspired amps. I've get to find anything that could replace the Wizard. I'm curious about the Metroplex though.

Agreed... from what Ive seen and heard of the metroplex its just not versatile enough. I can get what the metro does and much more... and play clean jazz. For the money and the pcb construction, and the lack of versatility, the amp is good but no big deal to me.

 

[fuzzyguitars]

i have a mtl

still would like to try a metroplex

and a ceriatone king kong

and


and

..........

 

[bbaug14]

i have a mtl

still would like to try a metroplex

and a ceriatone king kong

and


and

..........

I had the 2nd King Kong. Cool amp but not even in the same league as a Wizard. Reminded me of a CCV sort of. The clean channel was sort of Plexi, maybe like a warmer bass spec with far less grind/gain. The lead channel was CCV modern tone.