Bogner red/blue or Wampler Plextortion into Marshall Artist

[Iron Dog]

Hey bud, I thought I'd let you know I tried the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal today. It sounds good and the controls and toggles all make a noticeable and musical difference, in the end it still sounds like a pedal and doesn't have the fullness of good amp distortion, It's not what I'm looking for, which for me is going to be an all-tube high-gain tube amp.

Best of luck in your search.

Hey Iron Dog I forgot to ask ya when you had the Bogner Red Ecstasy pedal did you try running it to the Effects Loop Return - using the Bogner Red as preamp and using the tube power section of the Marshall Artist3203?

No, I didn't take it home. I tried it at the store and wasn't impressed enough to bring it home, it sounded nice, but still sounded like a pedal. I tried my Tech 21 US Metal (which I use a recording preamp) into the Marshall just yesterday and while it sounded good (but still like a pedal), the amp distortion crushed it, the amp distortion was fuller and richer.

I have bypassed the preamp in the past at least once to try my Rocktron Voodu Valve as the preamp (a completely awesome rack preamp by the way), but I've since gone on to make a 2nd midi rig.

You could go that route and pick up a rack preamp with the Marshall Artist as the power amp, you should see what's available I've seen the Eleven rack units used for about $500 and I think the GSP 1101's are even cheaper. I don't have any experience with either and would suggest the Rocktron Voodu Valve if you can score one.

 

[Charvel1975]

Have you considered the Mesa Boogie Mini Rectifier, low wattage and reviews are good. If you're looking at $300 for a pedal. A used Mini Rec goes for $500, not a whole lot more. I only used one once and either it was a bad amp/cable/cab or user error as it sounded like shit, very weak distortion, the Marshall Artist crushed it, which doesn't seem right as the Mini Rec should have way more gain on tap.

By the way I was looking up stuff on the Marshall Artist and a guy on another forum had one and had old articles about it and said that the amps 30 watts rating was very conservative and it's actually closer to 42 watts, I believe it, freaking loud little amp

Hey Iron Dog forgot to tell ya I got my Artist 3203 back from repair, yea there was a bunch of stuff wrong with it but it's back up and going, have yet to use it at rehearsal to see if it'll keep up. Forgot you mentioned the Mesa Mini Rectifier 25 watt head, guy came over here to buy a cab off me and had one, he plugged straight in with an older stock Peavey Wolfgang drop tuned, turned the volume up to about 9 o' clock and HOLY SHIT!! Sounded amazing!! Might definitely have to check out a used Mesa Mini Rectifier, he said his was a little over a year old and he might be selling it, wonder if it's still punchy for low volume bedroom practice/recording and if it would be loud enough for shows?

 

[Rafito]

Here's a demo I did for the Ecstasy Red: