Wizard of Ozz":2cn05k4e said:
For "extreme metal" there are other amps. Which is why I also own a Diezel Herbert and Engl SE... these would be my first two picks for anything heavier than your average garden variety death metal tones... black... ultra-black... pick one.
The Wizard amps handle 90% of everything from classic rock, classic metal to '80s metal, to most all prog/power/death metal. Amon Amarth, CoB, Arch Enemy, old InFlames is about as heavy as I get. I play mostly classic & power metal.
Pedals: I've had great success with both my Majik Box Rocket Fuel & Keeley Red Dirt. Both sound great pushing the MTL with the gain on the amp back a bit.
Competition: I've owned a lot of amps... and pretty much every variety of Marshall and modified variants... and I'd pick the MTL over any Cameron (Jose/Ocean/Aldrich)... Friedman BallBuster100... Soldano SLO... or stock Marshall with pedal. The tone stays tight, focused and articulate with any amount of gain or volume... the competition does not.
Also these amps are built very, very nicely. They are point to point wired by one person on a turret board by the man himself. The work is not farmed out to who knows who using a soldering iron with a kit amp and some pc boards. And play tested by the same person.
Bottom line: These amps do kill. The real deal.
Ok ya reeled me back in when you said Amon Amarth and Arch Enemy

I'm guessing the MTL would be good for thrashy stuff too? I don't know, I've been considering a Wizard but the Herbert has been haunting me lately. It just has that fun to play saggy compressed thing going on which is why I moved the one I had, but I'm now at the point I miss that attribute.
I keep reading that while the Wizard stuff is very open and un-compressed, many praise it for being easy/fun to play. That's what I'm after in the next amp. Kinda like my ARES in the sense it can get really tight and fast tracking (Especially with an od) but it remains easy and fun to play. Its not stiff; you don't have to fight it. That's why I'm thinking of picking up a Herbert again.