Bogner XTC as compared to the pedals?

[Heritage Softail]

Short story...

I tried an XTC at ATL Guitar Center. It was meh.. Came back a few times again, still sounded uninspiring. I heard a Red demo, fantastic! I like the Blue demo Bob did.

No doubt the XTC had something wrong with it. So many loyal XTC owners swear by it as a Desert Island amp.

How do the specific pedals Red and Blue compare to the amp?

I'm thinking about getting the Blue. The Red is pretty amazing. The little idea in my head is the Red and Wample Triple Wreck make a great pedalboard front end. The Blue could finish it out and if it is close to as good as the amp, that would cover some awesome core Bogner tones.

Thx.

 

[spirit7]

I've played both, and while the pedals are impressive they are no substitute for the real amp nor a faithful recreation of the feel of one. My 2p.

-C

 

[Random Hero]

Yeah, agreed. They sound great but they're not an amp. They're still a pedal. An expensive pedal but still a pedal.

 

[Heritage Softail]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I'm pissed at GC for having a broke amp on the floor. The little Red thru a DSL100 and Marshall 4x12 is killer. The 20th thru a proper Bogner cab should rule.

 

[tripstan]

I have owned the red for about 7+ weeks now.. I use it at practice and home use. I like it a lot, although, I have never played the actual amp, I can say this much... I find that the pedal can be a slight muddy. Just a tad bit. I was on the fence with either the red or the plexitone.. I am still happy with my red, but would still like to play the plexitone to see the difference. Anyway.. overall, a good pedal imo..

What amp you play them with? I've used a Einstein, Shiva and a Mark III and none of them sounded muddy to me.

 

[Heritage Softail]

I'm funny about too much gain as well. I keep the gain down around 9:00.

Sounds great with an LP. Rich harmonic wiry gain.

Dig it

 

[Bob Savage]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I had the Ecstasy Classic and, it is.

 

[tripstan]

I'm funny about too much gain as well. I keep the gain down around 9:00.

Sounds great with an LP. Rich harmonic wiry gain.

Dig it

Agreed. I couls see it getting muddy on certain amps if your cranking the gain. On the Red I never go past noon.

 

[spirit7]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I'm pissed at GC for having a broke amp on the floor. The little Red thru a DSL100 and Marshall 4x12 is killer. The 20th thru a proper Bogner cab should rule.

20thA XTC through a Diezel FL = heaven.

-C

 

[Anonymous]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I had the Ecstasy Classic and, it is.

I have the Ecstasy Classic and, it still is

 

[Heritage Softail]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I had the Ecstasy Classic and, it is.

So how do you rate the Blue pedal Bob? You have the Tele to use with it as well, which I was thinking along those lines.

 

[thiswaythatway]

IMHO the pedals have more gain than the amps unless you put the pedal on a spanky clean channel. Bogners are love em or leave amps, I left them. Red channel on the XTC was always a bummer for me, too mushy with no attack IMHO, but the blue channels are nice.

 

[Anonymous]

IMHO the pedals have more gain than the amps unless you put the pedal on a spanky clean channel. Bogners are love em or leave amps, I left them. Red channel on the XTC was always a bummer for me, too mushy with no attack IMHO, but the blue channels are nice.

That's why the Classic and now 20th have reworked Red channels.
The all-time favourite is the Blue on the 101B I reckon

 

[rcm78]

My Ecstasy Classic was definitlely an aquired taste. When I first got it I honestly thought something was wrong with it. I brought it to Jimmy Somma at Sommatone. He found the powertubes worn out with one way out from the others, and one pre amp tube causing a hum. Otherwise the amp was fine.

I still wasnt feelin it. The amp felt stiff, I had to fight it to get what I wanted. Truth is my playing was sloppy and not up to par. This amp like an old Marshal rewards good playing and showcases bad playing.

A couple of months after getting the amp I joined a cover band and had to learn 80+ songs. Needless to say I played the guitar alot over the next month or so and slowly my chops came back. This is when I began to understand the amp.

I love the XTC now and after a year and a half with it I have it dailed in perfectly. My latest tweek was replacing the V-30's in my 2X12 cab with Scumback M75's. The tone is slightly different but the feel of the amp with the M75's is more loose. Feels like the speakers move more.

With all that said, I feel the Red and Blue pedals are very close to the amp tone wise but lack the feel of the amp. I have a RED running into a HR Deville. I've demoed the Blue into a HR Deluxe and should be buying one shortly. It's actually remarkable how close they are!!!

 

[blackba]

As cools the Bogner pedals are, I wonder how they would be if they actually had tubes in them, like the Kingsley and Blackstar pedals....

 

[se7en]

The 20th thru a proper Bogner cab should rule.

It really does. All 3 channels are great. Some people prefer the 101b blue channel, but not me...The 20th is more modern sounding with high power, new style and the modern/vintage switch set to modern. If you really like more compression and a spongy, looser feel, then the modern/vintage switch goes to vintage and the new/old style switch goes to old...simple.

 

[Bob Savage]

The actual amp must be glorious cranked up thru a 4x12..

I had the Ecstasy Classic and, it is.

So how do you rate the Blue pedal Bob? You have the Tele to use with it as well, which I was thinking along those lines.

I haven't had the opportunity to plug the Tele in, however, I let a friend use my Blue pedal to see if he wanted to buy one so I don't have it handy anyway.

As far as how close it is to the amp, it's going to depend hugely on the amp you run it into because you're reliant upon that voicing first and foremost, with the color of the Blue pushing the amp. That said, it's been years since I had the Classic so I wouldn't trust my "tone memory" to give a comparison. All I know is the Blue Pedal sounds great and the Blue channel on the classic is great.

Personally, if you REALLY want the Blue sound I'd say get an Ecstasy.

 

[thiswaythatway]

IMHO the pedals have more gain than the amps unless you put the pedal on a spanky clean channel. Bogners are love em or leave amps, I left them. Red channel on the XTC was always a bummer for me, too mushy with no attack IMHO, but the blue channels are nice.

That's why the Classic and now 20th have reworked Red channels.
The all-time favourite is the Blue on the 101B I reckon

I had the Shiva 20th, I thought it was a decent amp but I always used a pedal to tighten it up. I thougt about revisiting it but after trying one out I passed. I had a 101b and liked the blue channel, but even the Marvel mod didn't help the red channel much. Boosting it with a decent OD and it was pretty cool, but.....

 

[glassjaw7]

Ok, here's my take on it. I have played a lot of XTCs and I own the Red pedal. I think for some players, the pedal into a great clean amp (nice Fender, Boogie, etc) can be as good or even better than the real thing.

Yes, the pedals are only pedals, but they sound and feel like an amp, especially when playing it into a good tube amp. The 101B is an amp that many players do not like, at least the Red channel of the amp. It has a distinct presence, sort of a "white-hot" sizzle on top, but it is not voiced like a Marshall. The emphasis is more of a creamy, lower-mid voicing, and when you dial in the presence it gets a fiery top end but doesn't bark like a Marshall. The Red pedal on the other hand, can be dialed in to get that Marshall roar, or at least close. It is also a tad tighter than the amp. It's a tough comparison because it depends heavily on the amp you're plugging the pedal into, but either way it is the "Bogner sound", just a bit different than the amp.

So basically the 101B has a sort of dark lower mid creamy voicing and bouncy saturated vibe, while the Red has more dry bark and can get more of the kerrang found in the 20th.

I like both the older 101Bs (white chassis that most people hate) and the 20th amps more than the current 101Bs I've played or the pedals. The older ones seemed to "breathe" more and were more open.

 

[Heritage Softail]

The pedal so far has only been used with. DSL100 clean channel. I will eventually be running it into a Rhodes Gemini. The idea is to have a few dirt boxes into the ultra midi controlled Genini. Gizmo or whatever to tie it all down.

I will try it into a Dr. Z tonight to see how it behaves. The little Bogner New Yorker may also work well.

The Red does have some Marshall mid bark. The midrange control, all of the tone controls, really work with a big sweep. There is a bit of grainy girth that is not in the DSL lead channel. It was easy to set the pedal on the clean channel and off for switching to the Lead ch to hear how it compared.

I am thinking a Blue pedal will do while i save lunch money and look around, try an XTC.

Some great ideas and comments.

Thx for posting