JCM800 vs. Bogner 3534

Thx for sharing!
That 3534 is one of those amps that I was really interested in because of the 3 channels on it and the size. It's small enough that I could take it to rehearsal with a small board and use the cab there. However, I keep seeing these coming up used on every guitar forum I am on. It's not just one either....many times over.

Is this the reason why?

Normally I would say there was a ground loop issue on the board but you clearly showed that isn't the case with the Marshall hooked up to the same board.

It's a cool little amp but I would hate to buy one and then realize this is not what I was hoping for. These are not easy to get north of the border as we have very few if any Bogner dealers up here.
 
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PBGas said:
That 3534 is one of those amps that I was really interested in because of the 3 channels on it and the size. It's small enough that I could take it to rehearsal with a small board and use the cab there. However, I keep seeing these coming up used on every guitar forum I am on. It's not just one either....many times over.
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Not sure what that proves? I've seen thousands of JCM800's sold over the years..does that mean all JCM800's suck?
 
^Sure there have been thousands of JCM800's siod over the years but there seems to have been quite a few 3534's sold in a much shorter time frame. I had a 3534 pass through a few months ago. It did sound really good it just didn't sound as big as a good 50 or 100 watt head.
 
Great demo. We need more of these on here. I love how you did the zoom-in on the controls. VERY nice.

The 3534 sounds great to me. The JCM800 sounds good too. The JCM800 has that thing, the 3534 is far more versatile and portable, and has "close to" that thing...but the Bogner thing in spades.

I love playing the JCM800 at my local guitar store. It is super fun and in an iso room where you can turn way up. But it is a big, heavy, one-dimensional beast. I want to visit it at the zoo, not keep it at home.

Now, I'm a total hypocrite and a Bogner fan-boy. I lived with a '68 Plexi (a real one) for years and a Metro 12000 for years. :) I now live with a 20th Anni XTC and it is a big, heavy beast. I take my Deluxe Reverb out when I gig.

I'd love to try the 3534 in person, but in all honesty I think the RED channel is probably WAY too gainy for me and this is more of a 5153 50w competitor.
 
PBGas said:
That 3534 is one of those amps that I was really interested in because of the 3 channels on it and the size. However, I keep seeing these coming up used on every guitar forum I am on. It's not just one either....many times over.
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Same here. I had a 101B I sold and figured this would have been a nice replacement.
Came super close but never pulled the trigger.

It's had design issues since day #1 it seems.
Think Reinhold focused too much on "Ecstasy-Lite" instead
of just making the best amp he could with the 2 x EL34s.

Didn't it start life with 4 x EL84s ???
 
The Marshall is awesome... sounded boosted though here ? (scratch that, it is modded i see by the description) Sounds great.
 
I personally dig the 3534 I've played through, but like Rdodson, I dig the Bogner low-mids thing. When I want the Marshall thing, I plug into a Marshall. :)

For me, the 3534 blue channel is the best rock rhythm channel on all the XTC models I"ve played (3534, 101B, 20th). Good range of gain, good clarity to the gain. The 3534 red for me is way too gainy; EVH gain at 9:00. The B1/B2 switches to my ear change blue and red from a tight crunchy gainy rhythm sound to a smoother, rounder, boomier low-end sound good for leads, but not as saturated and liquid as 101B blue. Treble and Mids set high since the Treble is a log pot, ~3:00, through Creambacks/Greenbacks.


Rdodson said:
I love playing the JCM800 at my local guitar store. It is super fun and in an iso room where you can turn way up. But it is a big, heavy, one-dimensional beast. I want to visit it at the zoo, not keep it at home.
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:)
 
Rdodson said:
but in all honesty I think the RED channel is probably WAY too gainy for me and this is more of a 5153 50w competitor.
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If the tube layout is anything close to the EVH, you could gain it DOWN by replacing some ECC83/12AX7's with 5751's.
That's what I did with my EVH and now there's a nice bit of classic hard rock tone available on the red channel and the insanity only starts above 2 o' clock on the gain knob, instead of 11:30.
 
The Blue channel on the Boggy sounded best to my ears.:thumbsup: Just too much compression on the Red channel for my liking but that is part of the Bogner trademark tone IMHO you either like it or you don't.

I listened to entire clip and near the end he got the Red channel sounding better to my ears, so overall the little Boggy sounded pretty good.

I would have to assume the Marshall had some kind of 34 or 39 mod to it considering he kept playing Guns and Roses.

Wow... $1995.00 I think I would just pony up and get the full size Ecstasy if I wanted the Bogner experience.
 
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I had a 3534 for a year more or less. It was a great amp and I loved it but I missed the higher wattage and punch of a 50 watt. I am also playing with a way louder drummer so I moved it on. It had a nice clean channel and the blue channel was good but the red channel was better to me. Now, on the 101B (which is my fav amp ever), the blue channel is my thing. It was different on the 3534 and that kind of bummed me out. It was a tad noisy too with the FX loop. I got a Runt 50 head and am enjoying that right now better.
 
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