Bogner Wessex and Burnley Pedals Great

I've had these two pedals for awhile now, couldn't be more impressed. The feel is just great and the sound is just more refined, with great detail and no harsh top end. The Burnley is a distortion- a little on the dark side but it grows more and more on me every day- sustain for days. Both pedals work great with the XTC - into the clean channel with bright switches on or off,(lots of pedals suck here- bright cap messes with them) both pedals sound great- no harshness or brittle sounds- lots of low end on both pedals - love both but, give the Wessex a little more love for being more versatile- all round pedal. Cant emphasize enough- about the feel of these pedals, like having a compressor on- very easy to play

I love the Wessex.
I use it on the first channel of my twin jet to give it a little more vintage feel.
Sounds incredible IMO.
I use it like a TS and have zero drive and 3/4 level. Or I use a little drive on the pedal and less on the amp for a different but still great feel

Yea don't read much about these - got the burnley on a trade and then had to try the Wessex love it

Strange how quickly the Bogner pedals sort of fell out of popularity. The Red and Blue rival any amp in a box type pedals and the Wessex is one of the best lower gain overdrives I've ever played.

just thinking the same thing

I haven't had a chance to try either of these yet, but they're on my "to try" list

Sorry but I have to disagree. I had the Blue, the Red and the Burnley and none of them really cut it for me, in fact I was outright disappointed because they did not live up to the marketing.

I thought that the Blue and Red were missing the boldness and thickness to drive a only slightly driven Marshall. For me the Burnley on the other hand always was sort of over the top and hard to control. I sold them right the other day.

In that sense I guess it no surprise to me that you find a lot of them on the used market nowadays. I can only say that my Barber pedals like the Small Fry and SR LTD really deliver in front of my old Marshalls and Bogners while I would have a hard time to say the same about said Bogner pedals for nearly double the price.

Cannot comment on the WESSEX though....as far as I can see it seems the best of the Neve series and you hardly find them used. Looks like a keeper for most. Curious if the LaGrange stuff is really better though.

Wessex is the only one of the bunch that is intended to give a drive channel more. The others are like amps in a box, better in front of a clean amp. The Burnley is a distortion box, better in front of a clean channel also.

From my experience the Burnley did not deliver at all when I strapped it in front of my lovely Marshall 1930 from 1968 (which is pretty clean amp btw). The Barber Small Fry in comparison made that little 10w Marshall roar like a hot rodded 1959 and it worked on my Goldfinger and 1977 Marshall JMP. The Burnley did not...Whatever, little do I know....I bought the Small Fry some ten years ago and its still with me. The Bogner pedals came and went.
As much as I love the Bogner amps I have yet to hear one of their mid/high gain pedals that convinces me to get rid of the Fry.

Maybe you didn't understand, fender combo amp clean. This is how the pedals were Demo'd. If you use gear out of context it may or may not yield the best results. I only have experience with the Wessex, which is a good drive pedal in front of a "kinda-clean" or dirty amp. From what I understand burnley sounds best in front of a fender clean. But I don't get my drive from pedals. I have nice Friedman, Bogner, and Diezel amps for that

LunatiBSW":37vszty4 said:

Maybe you didn't understand, fender combo amp clean. This is how the pedals were Demo'd. If you use gear out of context it may or may not yield the best results. I only have experience with the Wessex, which is a good drive pedal in front of a "kinda-clean" or dirty amp. From what I understand burnley sounds best in front of a fender clean. But I don't get my drive from pedals. I have nice Friedman, Bogner, and Diezel amps for that

Click to expand...

I hear you but anyway seems like you did not read carefully what I wrote.

I stated that I strapped the pedal in front of a Marshall Popular 1930 10W combo made in 1968.
In case you don't know this amp, what I assume because its a rare creature,
it is a neat little amp that delivers only cleans, no breakup even when maxed out. It is Fender clean.

Despite being a Marshall that amp is not able to produce anything slightly reminding you of breakup.
Thats why I needed a pedal that sounded organic.

Tried the Burnley - did not work at all. Same before for the Blue and Red pedal.
Enter the Barber stuff and it was spot on. Thats all I am saying.

Bogner is a genious when it comes to marketing but unfortunately some of the products,
especially the pedals don't seem to live up to the hype and the price tag.

Next will be the Friedman BE-OD.
But not going to argue about taste...to each its own....

TheRealJTM45":diwkc315 said:

LunatiBSW":diwkc315 said:

Maybe you didn't understand, fender combo amp clean. This is how the pedals were Demo'd. If you use gear out of context it may or may not yield the best results. I only have experience with the Wessex, which is a good drive pedal in front of a "kinda-clean" or dirty amp. From what I understand burnley sounds best in front of a fender clean. But I don't get my drive from pedals. I have nice Friedman, Bogner, and Diezel amps for that

Click to expand...

I hear you but anyway seems like you did not read carefully what I wrote.

I stated that I strapped the pedal in front of a Marshall Popular 1930 10W combo made in 1968.
In case you don't know this amp, what I assume because its a rare creature,
it is a neat little amp that delivers only cleans, no breakup even when maxed out. It is Fender clean.

Despite being a Marshall that amp is not able to produce anything slightly reminding you of breakup.
Thats why I needed a pedal that sounded organic.

Tried the Burnley - did not work at all. Same before for the Blue and Red pedal.
Enter the Barber stuff and it was spot on. Thats all I am saying.

Bogner is a genious when it comes to marketing but unfortunately some of the products,
especially the pedals don't seem to live up to the hype and the price tag.

Next will be the Friedman BE-OD.
But not going to argue about taste...to each its own....

Click to expand...

Maybe you're using the Red and Blue wrong. If I use them in the clean channel of my XTC they sound as good as the OD channels. They sound best into a clean amp!

It's good you found a product that worked for that, but IMO the Wessex sounded like it woulda been what you wanted not the burnely. I think the Wessex does what it's intended to do beautifully, super warm and organic, doesn't sound like a pedal. It surpassed my expectations for sure, just like his amps.
I can't stand combo amps though, so like you said to each their own

Yes, may be the Wessex would have been the one to try...

But like I said, the Barber stuff really did it for me. One point that really made the difference to me is that the Small Fry is able to retain the dynamics of the tone while gain wise you are already in VH territory. There is even a knob for dialing in the amount of dynamics on this pedal. I wasn't able to get close with the Burnley. The Wessex would be too weak I guess as I am looking for high gain stuff and the Burnley was supposed to be the choice.

Another funny thing I noted with Bogner pedals is that when you back off the gain i.e. on the Burnley the sound loses its body the same way as it happens when you back the gain off on one of his amps (I had the Shiva, the Goldfinger and currently own the Helios 100w so I do believe I am qualified to say that).

If that is by design then Bogner stays true to his philosophy here, too. Bogner amps always do have a sweet spot on the gain. Once you go below I feel you lose too much and when you go past it is getting a bit too oversaturated and muddy. Although I love the Bogner tone in general that sort of feature sometimes leaves me a bit frustrated as I would like to keep the body of the tone when dialing in lower gain tones.

In contrast, on my Friedman Small Box you never feel like there is a sweet spot in that sense. That low mid punch is really amazing on this one from low to high gain which is why I bought it. Don't know how Dave does it but it is crazy. Like I said, I will give the BE-OD a try.

Yet if you find that sweet spot on the Helios the Smallbox cannot touch it.

supersonic":jftgmee9 said:

TheRealJTM45":jftgmee9 said:

LunatiBSW":jftgmee9 said:

Maybe you didn't understand, fender combo amp clean. This is how the pedals were Demo'd. If you use gear out of context it may or may not yield the best results. I only have experience with the Wessex, which is a good drive pedal in front of a "kinda-clean" or dirty amp. From what I understand burnley sounds best in front of a fender clean. But I don't get my drive from pedals. I have nice Friedman, Bogner, and Diezel amps for that

Click to expand...

I hear you but anyway seems like you did not read carefully what I wrote.

I stated that I strapped the pedal in front of a Marshall Popular 1930 10W combo made in 1968.
In case you don't know this amp, what I assume because its a rare creature,
it is a neat little amp that delivers only cleans, no breakup even when maxed out. It is Fender clean.

Despite being a Marshall that amp is not able to produce anything slightly reminding you of breakup.
Thats why I needed a pedal that sounded organic.

Tried the Burnley - did not work at all. Same before for the Blue and Red pedal.
Enter the Barber stuff and it was spot on. Thats all I am saying.

Bogner is a genious when it comes to marketing but unfortunately some of the products,
especially the pedals don't seem to live up to the hype and the price tag.

Next will be the Friedman BE-OD.
But not going to argue about taste...to each its own....

Click to expand...

Maybe you're using the Red and Blue wrong. If I use them in the clean channel of my XTC they sound as good as the OD channels. They sound best into a clean amp!

Click to expand...

After 30 years of playing tube amps I do believe I am familiar with how to use pedals
Recall buying a Ibanez Tubescreamer in 1987 to get that sound of Master of Puppets
....wish I never sold it....