Bogner Helios

[tubortski]

More open? Less compressed? Sometimes I'm missing that with my 101b.

 

[Ventura]

Listen to that amp sing!

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit excited.

 

[RG955TT]

Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TdDZ2ALBHE

 

[LP Freak]

More open? Less compressed? Sometimes I'm missing that with my 101b.

The exact reason I never bonded with either of my 101's

 

[supersonic]

If the Helios is so fantastic why did Bogner wait so long to release it?

 

[glip22]

It's cool they did something different. I am very reserved until real reviews hit. All we have now is clips that sound very good and a couple of guys that were at the show and heard it in the room and were not impressed.

 

[TrueTone500]

More open? Less compressed? Sometimes I'm missing that with my 101b.

The exact reason I never bonded with either of my 101's

This was my experience as well. The 100B and 101B 'Classic' were near perfect to my ears.

Question: Is the XTC 20th as compressed sounding as the standard-fare 101B?

 

[RG955TT]

No, the 20th is noticeably less compress in the higher gain channels than my 101B

 

[Ventura]

If the Helios is so fantastic why did Bogner wait so long to release it?

My guess is they had their hands full with the other not-so-well-know brands getting unleashed in the east (where they are highly applauded and in demand). Then it was back to [this] market segment, hey, let's take a look around and what's getting all the press - Friedman, yep, Bray, okay, what are the musicians backing nowadays, ah ha, more modded Marshall stuff....well, okay, let's make a simple handwired amp that kills

 

[Ventura]

Question: Is the XTC 20th as compressed sounding as the standard-fare 101B?

No. It's a sweet combo of saturation and openness IMHO.

 

[rupe]

Question: Is the XTC 20th as compressed sounding as the standard-fare 101B?

No. It's a sweet combo of saturation and openness IMHO.

But is it a game changer?

 

[Jofipe]

If the Helios is so fantastic why did Bogner wait so long to release it?

My guess is they had their hands full with the other not-so-well-know brands getting unleashed in the east (where they are highly applauded and in demand). Then it was back to [this] market segment, hey, let's take a look around and what's getting all the press - Friedman, yep, Bray, okay, what are the musicians backing nowadays, ah ha, more modded Marshall stuff....well, okay, let's make a simple handwired amp that kills

Exactly.
I wonder what Diezel will do.. I hope nothing haha.

 

[ttosh]

If the Helios is so fantastic why did Bogner wait so long to release it?

Bogner has released many fantastic amps, so your point is?

 

[Heritage Softail]

I thought the Snorkeler tone was killer from Bogner.

There is only so many uber gain amps to get. The mid gain and edge of breakup tones are pretty awesome.

I think it has potential. It should end up in the Atlanta high end gear room with the other Bogners. Could end up with one. No big deal either way.

It's just another Marshall based flavor.

 

[Ventura]

Question: Is the XTC 20th as compressed sounding as the standard-fare 101B?

No. It's a sweet combo of saturation and openness IMHO.

But is it a game changer?

It's a "game changer" amongst the "gamer changers". It's mega

 

[TrueTone500]

Question: Is the XTC 20th as compressed sounding as the standard-fare 101B?

No. It's a sweet combo of saturation and openness IMHO.

 

[hopkinWFG]

Would this monster sound the same as what Reinhold bogner did for the modded jcm 800 ?

 

[Heritage Softail]

All hype aside, when one gets to ATL guitar center I will hear for myself. They have an XTC, Shiva, Über in typical stock. Will be interesting to see how it does with a weekend warrior player on a stock LP.

 

[drspearing]

Here's part one of the additional video I'd embedded above the other day - some tele finger pickin' goodness
Some chat about the design too.

Bogner is a great company and I have always has great service from them on anything and everything. Can't say enought great things about them or their products even though I have moved on.

However, I laughed out loud when the guy talked about all the notes that were taken of Eddie's amp and that the notes inspired the Helios. Yet, ask the techs at Bogner if they have a schematic of a 100B. Nope. They had one of my 100Bs there for almost 3 months because they didn't have a schematic.

I'm interested in hearing this and the ATMA.

 

[Schaf]

Can someone explain to me why there is so much buzz about this amp? I'm not being antagonistic but curious what I'm failing to perceive.

Many men have been waiting many moons for Bogner to release an amp that has his lower mids but with more Marshall upper mid bite. Something more like his old Marshall mods. This amp is seemingly just that. Add to it the fact that it is handwired, and the WIN score increases exponentially.

Thanks Jim...you took the words right off of my keyboard. The tone in the clips was good but nothing that I haven't heard many times over. From the comments, you'd think "hot-rodded Marshall tone" was something new and different.

Yes it sounds great but nothing new compared to current or prior Marshall-flavored Bogner Goldfinger or Duende, Friedman, Marshall YJM, Metropolous master volume, Suhr SL68, Bray, Landry, PWE, etc.

The amps you quote, such as the Suhr, Landry, PWE have enjoyed their own tremendous levels of hype online. In fact, no "modded Marshall" style amps have been hyped online more than the Friedmans. I guess my question back to you is: why should the Friedmans, Suhrs, Landrys and PWEs get more hype online than a similar product from Bogner, which is a bigger name brand to begin with?

Because they've all been doing it for many years now, perhaps?
Sorry, but this brings absolutely nothing new to the tone party that I can see/hear...just another brand name applied to an old concept (a good one no doubt, but an old one nonetheless).

I can't disgree with the bolded item above, Bill. But if all of these builders are just rolling out the same old tired concept, why is everyone picking on the hype around the Bogner offering? Some of the hype threads around some of the other builders are enough to make a person sick, yet they go ON and ON and ON and ON and ON ad nauseam!

I can't disagree with that. As to why the hype around Bogner, I have no clue...I suppose the masses need to anoint something as the "latest/coolest" thing. Combine that with Bogner's brand name recognition and reputation and it's certainly going to generate more hype than most of the lesser-known brands mentioned.

I'm sure it's a cool amp...I just don't see/hear it bringing anything remotely new to the tone party from what we've seen/heard so far.

You know, maybe Peter is just responding to something his customers want or have been asking for. How many times have we all heard, I love the Bogner sound but I wish it were more open sounding, or less compressed, etc, etc. So he creates a simple, great sounding amp (from what I here from the demo) for a seemingly reasonable price.

Duh. lol. I meant Reinhold. Peter is easier to spell though.