Need amp help: Thinking of Wizard MTL/Rivera KR7/Maxxwatt SH

[mctallica1]

To muddy the waters even more for ya, I'd definitely be looking at the Peters Bodyhammer also. I talked to James for a couple hours and if you like modern tones, thrash tones, and death metal, it seems like it'd be sick.

If you go the Wizard route, DON'T discount the MCII. It's a fuckin beast for all things metal

I’ll second the BodyHammer.

Absolutely love mine. Very flexible with the Dampimg/Depth/Presence master controls.

Brings the broots with the best of them.


It and my Cherry Bomb are 1a/1b (its a toss up) for the best amps I’ve ever played for thrashy metal tones.

For reference, I play, almost exclusively, in standard and drop D.
T

 

[Beyond Black]

"Looking for brutal gain clarity with tight gut punching lowend and good grinding mids."
You just perfectly described the KRS Ares in the classifieds for $1350 shipped. One of the coolest and most pissed off sounding amps I've ever owned. Fat, yet tight, with mids that rip like a chainsaw. I can't believe nobody's bought it yet.
Also, I recently saw Cattle Decapitation and one of their guitarists was playing a Maxwatt. His tone was KILLER. It was really tight, gritty, and fuckin pissed. Definitely had it's own thing going on.

 

[Apex1Rg7X]

I owned a KR7 a few years back. That thing was a monster and you can literally get any tone you want out of it. Its up there with a Pittbull UL as most brutal amps I've owned.

+100 on this. Owned the KR7 two different times.
Last time I had one. We had a Amp fest.
Buddy of mine brought over his Ultra Lead.
We were doing some head cutting trading riffs playing with my drummer.
Both of us were at gig level loud.
And both amps sounded exactly the same.
The Kr7 has so many pull push knobs it’s crazy.

Yeah man the knobs are quite overwhelming at first but the ease of getting killer tones out of that amp is simple.
Between the KR7 and the Ultra Lead, I would say the UL is a touch dryer than the KR7 but both amps are crushing
and ironically both have killer clean channels as well. I need one of those amps back in my rig at some point.

 

[Mailman1971]

I owned a KR7 a few years back. That thing was a monster and you can literally get any tone you want out of it. Its up there with a Pittbull UL as most brutal amps I've owned.

+100 on this. Owned the KR7 two different times.
Last time I had one. We had a Amp fest.
Buddy of mine brought over his Ultra Lead.
We were doing some head cutting trading riffs playing with my drummer.
Both of us were at gig level loud.
And both amps sounded exactly the same.
The Kr7 has so many pull push knobs it’s crazy.

Yeah man the knobs are quite overwhelming at first but the ease of getting killer tones out of that amp is simple.
Between the KR7 and the Ultra Lead, I would say the UL is a touch dryer than the KR7 but both amps are crushing
and ironically both have killer clean channels as well. I need one of those amps back in my rig at some point.

Most certain. Actually owned the amp twice.
Like a sledgehammer to the chest!
I just leaned more into the Mesa sizzle style amps so I sold it off.
Would i get another this day and time? Hell yes.
I didn’t even think they made them anymore.

 

[jharpersj]

I have had everything probably 3x over and nothing has beaten (for what I like) a 100W 2016 Wizard MTL

 

[glip22]

I have had everything probably 3x over and nothing has beaten (for what I like) a 100W 2016 Wizard MTL

Have you played a Dino? That's the one amp I would like to play but not for 7 plus large

 

[LunatiBSW]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

 

[VC4EverAgain]

Are you going for something completely different from what you have?

The wizards are good but they aren’t chugging machines. Don’t let the MTL designation fool you. Do you play out a lot? They sound good loud but to me they fatigue the ears. Not so great if you just play at home.

I would pick up the Fortin Messugah NIB in the classifieds if I was you.

 

[Racerxrated]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

If you order new, ask Rick about the 150w option...he's built one for someone on this board, can't remember who offhand.

 

[Racerxrated]

Are you going for something completely different from what you have?

The wizards are good but they aren’t chugging machines. Don’t let the MTL designation fool you. Do you play out a lot? They sound good loud but to me they fatigue the ears. Not so great if you just play at home.

I would pick up the Fortin Messugah NIB in the classifieds if I was you.

I had an MCI with a boost chugging so hard I thought the foundation was moving. As far as ear fatigue( ), here's a suggestion...move around the room. You can get ear fatigue from any amp if you sit in the same spot at high volume....I always laugh at the 'ear fatigue' thing. If you ever played out before, that's one of the first things you learn...don't point the cab right at your ears...

 

[VC4EverAgain]

Are you going for something completely different from what you have?

The wizards are good but they aren’t chugging machines. Don’t let the MTL designation fool you. Do you play out a lot? They sound good loud but to me they fatigue the ears. Not so great if you just play at home.

I would pick up the Fortin Messugah NIB in the classifieds if I was you.

I had an MCI with a boost chugging so hard I thought the foundation was moving. As far as ear fatigue( ), here's a suggestion...move around the room. You can get ear fatigue from any amp if you sit in the same spot at high volume....I always laugh at the 'ear fatigue' thing. If you ever played out before, that's one of the first things you learn...don't point the cab right at your ears...

Hey that’s cool man. Sure you can get the chugg from any amp with a little bit of help from a boost. But are you really gonna spend 5k to do that?

As far as “ear fatigue” goes, well, I have many amps and I know what hurts my ears. Others have said it also about wizards. YMMV.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

"Looking for brutal gain clarity with tight gut punching lowend and good grinding mids."
You just perfectly described the KRS Ares in the classifieds for $1350 shipped. One of the coolest and most pissed off sounding amps I've ever owned. Fat, yet tight, with mids that rip like a chainsaw. I can't believe nobody's bought it yet.
Also, I recently saw Cattle Decapitation and one of their guitarists was playing a Maxwatt. His tone was KILLER. It was really tight, gritty, and fuckin pissed. Definitely had it's own thing going on.

The one up for sale here was mine, and honestly it took longer to sell than I anticipated Just don't think too many people go for the ARES I'ts a beast of an amp for sure! AWESOME lower volume tones, probably some of the best I've experienced.

Need to stop talking about now before I wind up buying it back....hahahahaha!

 

[Gsxrbusa]

What the heck is a Maxxwatt Super Hi??????

Please enlighten me and the Fortin envolvment.

 

[RedB4Black]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

If you order new, ask Rick about the 150w option...he's built one for someone on this board, can't remember who offhand.

I have the 150W MCII with 4 KT88s. Problem is that now I want the MTL version now too

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

If you order new, ask Rick about the 150w option...he's built one for someone on this board, can't remember who offhand.

I have the 150W MCII with 4 KT88s. Problem is that now I want the MTL version now too

How is the KT88 better in the Wizard and can you switch back to an EL34 family if you want to? I love both KT88 and EL34/KT77 in most of my amps I'm just curious how it changes the Wizard. My guess would be tighter overall, slightly bigger bottom end and a smoother mid/top end.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

If you order new, ask Rick about the 150w option...he's built one for someone on this board, can't remember who offhand.

I have the 150W MCII with 4 KT88s. Problem is that now I want the MTL version now too

Your sick

 

[JerEvil]

MCII would be my vote.

 

[FourT6and2]

What the heck is a Maxxwatt Super Hi??????

Please enlighten me and the Fortin envolvment.

Aldrich clone

 

[RedB4Black]

Love the opinions and feeedback guys. Y’all are the best. Keep it coming. Leaning toward a wiz MTL with kt88’s right now.
If anyone has any newer wizards and wants to shoot me a reasonable offer, I’d consider it before ordering new. I know there aren’t many kt88 versions out. But honestly I’d entertain any wizard offer. Worst I can say is no.

If you order new, ask Rick about the 150w option...he's built one for someone on this board, can't remember who offhand.

I have the 150W MCII with 4 KT88s. Problem is that now I want the MTL version now too

How is the KT88 better in the Wizard and can you switch back to an EL34 family if you want to? I love both KT88 and EL34/KT77 in most of my amps I'm just curious how it changes the Wizard. My guess would be tighter overall, slightly bigger bottom end and a smoother mid/top end.

The tubes are not interchangeable as the KT88 version has a different OT. I can "switch families" because I own the 100w e34L MCII as well . In comparison, set the same, the KT88s do what you’d expect....The amp is even tighter and gives it a little more modern character. Sound is even bigger and more punch in the face. Yes, the top end is a tad smoother. I don’t know that I’d necessarily call it a lot better than e34Ls, or night and day different it’s just a different character of the same amp. All else being equal, the KT88 amp is a little darker sounding than the e34L amp

 

[ZEEGLER]

FWIW I've heard the Riveras really need some volume before they sound good, maybe more so than other amps so that could be one reason?

Yeah, there is definitely some truth to that. A Rivera tube head does not make a good bedroom amp that's for sure. I have been able to dial mine in to get a reasonable tone at low volume, but it's just not what a 100 watt head was designed for and it just sounds so much better at proper volume. With the same EQ setting that I use for playing with the band, if I turn the volume down as low as it will go, it sounds like a kazoo, and is still kinda loud for bedroom playing. However, if playing quietly in my bedroom was a requirement, a 100 watt head would not be a consideration.