Bogner XTC 101B vs Friedman Butterslax/JJ/BE

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team13chad

team13chad

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I know it's kind of apples and elephants, but what are your thoughts on this?

I play hard rock/borderline metal stuff in drop C.

Thanks.
 
Be is dark, 101b is darker

Butterslax is brighter and has the most gain

JJ is maybe in between be and 101 in brightness, and has a ton of gain

It really is apples to elephants though, they're all good amps. It just depends what YOU want.
 
XTC is a mushy type of voicing and very dark - at least that’s what I get out of it. More of a solo playing amplifier. Can it do tight to match the aggressiveness? Sure, but it doesn’t do it well. You have to set the presence and treble really high to correct the darker voicing at lower volumes which is hard for this amp since it’s so god damn loud.

Id recommend going BE, I’m not sure you’d be as satisfied with the XTC.
 
Owned a ‘16 BE and an ‘08 101b. Compared them extensively and kept the Bogner. Loved the BE, but I just preferred the range of tones more on the XTC. It’s a Swiss Army knife and completely satisfied my need for Marshall-ish tones, even right next to a Suhr SL68. Needs some volume to sound its best, but not unbearable and it kicked all my other amps out of the house.

I’m playing an old ‘72 Marshall cab loaded with greenbacks. Classic rock, hard rock, and a little ‘80s-based metal in E standard and drop D. No complaints at all on the XTC covering all these tones.
 
Butterslax was great for Drop C, stayed fairly tight. I have not spent an extensive ammount of time with a JJ but it just felt it could've used a bit more gain on the JBE channel for what I like (about the same as channel 2 on the Butterslax, very similar voicing as well). I have not played an Ecstacy in years so no real comparison for you there, unfortunately. I would look at a Ceriatone Leviathan, which is a Butterslax clone, with some extra voicing options.
 
glpg80 said:
XTC is a mushy type of voicing and very dark - at least that’s what I get out of it. More of a solo playing amplifier. Can it do tight to match the aggressiveness? Sure, but it doesn’t do it well. You have to set the presence and treble really high to correct the darker voicing at lower volumes which is hard for this amp since it’s so god damn loud.

Id recommend going BE, I’m not sure you’d be as satisfied with the XTC.
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The XTC has a audio taper treble pot compared to most other amps that have a linear taper so that right there will tell you that you’ll have to run it way higher on the dial then other amps To get the same brightness. As far as tightness goes you for sure have to run the amp with a boost to get it to tighten up if you are going for a heavier tone, it’s really not the best amp for that. After owning an XTC I wouldn’t really say it’s very dark or mushy, I think it has one of the best feeling mid gain modded Marshall type tones out there. It’s a super inspiring amp to play In my opinion.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CO8sqN5Aq87/?utm_medium=copy_link
 
You’re right in that it is really inspiring to play - odd that someone else makes that comment because I was coming up with material on the spot even for the sound clip I made of mine. It brings to the table a great Marshall tone without wrestling it note for note.
 
I tend to play things on the line between rock/metal as well. I played Ecstasy amps for better part of a decade. I was not using the 101b though, I was running a stereo rig with a 20th Ann. EL34 and a Classic. I was very happy with my tone for everything I did. That said, I got a JJ due to being a fanboi, then after the JJ came a Slax and the Bogner's had to go...

All of these choices are fantastic amps and I don't think you could go wrong with any of them. That said, you gotta be clear on what you want. Rock/Metal can be a blurry line at the best of times and many of the rock/metal bands cover a wide array of tones, especially the progressive bands.

Ecstasy probably has the most versatility or widest range of tones available especially the 20th ann. as you can go from clean cleans, to mid gain with plexi mode, to high gain. On the JJ, the cleans wont be as clean as the Ecstasy but still very good. You also wont be able to get as much separation between the BE and JBE tones without mods to add gain and volume pots for the JBE mode, which also makes that mode footswitchable and more like a 3 channel amp. With Slax, you wont get clean cleans. You can get pretty clean, but not as clean as JJ nowhere near as clean as an Ecstasy. But you can get amazing hairy cleans up to crunch on channel 1. You can roll back the gain on channel 2 to get closer to mid gain tones, but I find that doesnt sound that good, this amp wants gain, so I tend to use the BE channel as a high gain rhythm channel. Slax channel 3 certainly goes above anything the JJ or Ecstasy can do in the gain department and is a true metal or lead channel.
 
101b is smooth, but not really aggressive, has thick Bogner low mids. 101b blue channel really is a unique flavor.
20th anniversary is a different animal more verdatile and can be aggressive.
The BE feels more Marshall and has Marshall mids, can be dialed more aggressive especially with a boost.
The BE/101b/20th anniv are 3 of my all time favorites.
Drop C go BE or 20th anniv
No experience with slax or JJ
 
glpg80 said:
XTC is a mushy type of voicing and very dark - at least that’s what I get out of it. More of a solo playing amplifier. Can it do tight to match the aggressiveness? Sure, but it doesn’t do it well. You have to set the presence and treble really high to correct the darker voicing at lower volumes which is hard for this amp since it’s so god damn loud.

Id recommend going BE, I’m not sure you’d be as satisfied with the XTC.
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This.
I just want to support this and agree that for drop tuned and heavy styles the BE would suit better.
 
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