Need info/opinions on Bogner Ecstasy

[Ventura]

I had a Cameron moded 101B that was great...but a bit too compressed on the red and blue channels. It was missing that Marshall punch if you know what I mean...

KERRAAAAAANG!!!!

V.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

I had a Cameron moded 101B that was great...but a bit too compressed on the red and blue channels. It was missing that Marshall punch if you know what I mean...

KERRAAAAAANG!!!!

V.

exactly...

 

[glassjaw7]

Cool amp, especially the Blue channel which is pure gold. Red channel is good, not great. Cleans can be nice if dialled in correctly.

This sums it up. The Blue crunch channel is a masterpiece.

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

 

[Greazygeo]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

 

[Ventura]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

I dunno guys... I can set my 20thA (granted, things came a little more to "life" with some hot Gold Lion KT77s) to T for Tight speaker excursion, crank the bass, presence to taste, Modern & New toggled ON, and hit the boost on the RED and this thing is TIGHT. Not hi-fi tight like my VH4S, but damn tight, takes drop tunings nicely (nothing extreme, just Drop C down Full Step), plays well with passives and actives, and pounds. It is NOT a tight amp when compared to, as mentioned, my V, but it's no slob either when EQ'd properly. Now, granted, I've had limited use of the 101B, and it was a nice amp, a little more 'standard' in its approach, but the 20thA can certainly hammer it out with the rest of them; and the KT77's definitely added some OOOOOMPH to the amp.

Just sayin
V.

 

[TheMagicEight]

Blue Channel:
https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=4424074

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

Red Channel
https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=6780045

These two clips from JB are pretty much what got me into Bogner. IMO the N brightness setting is useless. B1 gets fizzy for me - though it might work with some well broken in V30s - but B2 was perfect with greenbacks. The Ecstasy power section is nearly identical to that of a JCM800 / SLP. Higher voltage, and I'm not sure how filtering is done or how much, but otherwise it's damn close. I personally thought it did a great Plexi sound; you've just got to set it up correctly. Plexi mode, B2, MV all the way up and use channel volume to get your sound.

As for tightness, IMO a lot of it is in how you set the amp up. T excursion will get you a tight attack, but I don't think the amp sounds best there. I'd go for L excursion and set presence between noon and 3:30. And most importantly, the harder you push the amp, the closer it gets to its intended design; I believe the Ecstasy is unlike many other high gain amps in that it sounds best when the power section is distorting a bit (hence it can sound muffled at low volumes).

 

[Random Hero]

OP, are you only interested because you have a line or because you've been after one for a while and one has come up? I only ask because I dunno if you've considered the Shiva? I loved my XTC, especially the Blue channel as I said up there but I prefer the Shiva. Better cleans, gain is a bit crunchier and I almost kinda saw it like a Blue/Red hybrid. Shiva and a good board and you'd have a killer Bogner rig.

Just my opinion.

 

[Greazygeo]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

I dunno guys... I can set my 20thA (granted, things came a little more to "life" with some hot Gold Lion KT77s) to T for Tight speaker excursion, crank the bass, presence to taste, Modern & New toggled ON, and hit the boost on the RED and this thing is TIGHT. Not hi-fi tight like my VH4S, but damn tight, takes drop tunings nicely (nothing extreme, just Drop C down Full Step), plays well with passives and actives, and pounds. It is NOT a tight amp when compared to, as mentioned, my V, but it's no slob either when EQ'd properly. Now, granted, I've had limited use of the 101B, and it was a nice amp, a little more 'standard' in its approach, but the 20thA can certainly hammer it out with the rest of them; and the KT77's definitely added some OOOOOMPH to the amp.

Just sayin
V.

Thats not a 101B though. I owned a 101 for a year and a half. Its not a tight amp and does not have fast attack. Play a VHT UL sometime, then you'll see where Im coming from.

 

[Greazygeo]

Blue Channel:
https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=4424074

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

Red Channel
https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... ID=6780045

These two clips from JB are pretty much what got me into Bogner. IMO the N brightness setting is useless. B1 gets fizzy for me - though it might work with some well broken in V30s - but B2 was perfect with greenbacks. The Ecstasy power section is nearly identical to that of a JCM800 / SLP. Higher voltage, and I'm not sure how filtering is done or how much, but otherwise it's damn close. I personally thought it did a great Plexi sound; you've just got to set it up correctly. Plexi mode, B2, MV all the way up and use channel volume to get your sound.

As for tightness, IMO a lot of it is in how you set the amp up. T excursion will get you a tight attack, but I don't think the amp sounds best there. I'd go for L excursion and set presence between noon and 3:30. And most importantly, the harder you push the amp, the closer it gets to its intended design; I believe the Ecstasy is unlike many other high gain amps in that it sounds best when the power section is distorting a bit (hence it can sound muffled at low volumes).

Yeah like I said in the other post, I owned a 101 for a year and a half and tried everything. Yes you can set it tight, but compared to other amps its not as tight. The attack is nowehere near the attack of a VHT or Wizard. I hate saggy amps and its a saggy amp to me. Mine was an earlier version, before the Classic came out. At some point they changed it abit. The new ones could be better/ different. Bt I'm happy with what I have so no need to revisit.

I also have two real 68 and 69 plexis, so yes it has a plexi mode and lets leave it at that.

 

[marshall]

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_7630353

Amp kicked ass. So it's not as tight as a VHT. Most VHT's IMO sound like shit anyway.

Blue Channel-

http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_7630457

 

[glassjaw7]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

It certainly can be dialed in to get a tight thrash tone.

 

[Badronald]

OP, are you only interested because you have a line or because you've been after one for a while and one has come up? I only ask because I dunno if you've considered the Shiva? I loved my XTC, especially the Blue channel as I said up there but I prefer the Shiva. Better cleans, gain is a bit crunchier and I almost kinda saw it like a Blue/Red hybrid. Shiva and a good board and you'd have a killer Bogner rig.

Just my opinion.

One has come up, but after reading the responses I'm not sure I'd dig it over any of the tones I get with my Triple Rectifier and JTM45. I think I should probably just stay with those two amps. I LOVE the Triple Rec for gain stuff. The Vintage channel is just ridiculous and I really dig the cleans. I do prefer the cleans on the JTM45 to any other amp so I guess I'm good.

Thanks for the responses. I'm sure the Bogner is a killer amp, but I've gone through so many boutique amps (VHT, ENGL, Soldano, etc....) and all roads seem to lead back to Marshall and Mesa for me.

 

[thiswaythatway]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

It certainly can be dialed in to get a tight thrash tone.

I owned a 101B and I'm gonna have to go ahead and completely disagree with you.

 

[glassjaw7]

And this amp can dialed in to have a very tight response. Definitely not a "slow attack".

No freakin way is that a tight / fast attack amp.

It certainly can be dialed in to get a tight thrash tone.

I owned a 101B and I'm gonna have to go ahead and completely disagree with you.

I don't know, I had an old white chassis on loan for a bit a couple years ago and with some knob twisting I was able to get a pretty fast thrashy sound happening.

I agree that's it's not as tight as a VHT or several other more "dry" sounding amps but it's not always loose either. But of course it excels at chewy goodness.
Not the tightest sound ever by any means, but wouldn't say it's slow or loose.
Check this vid around :50
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiGoqMBX7H0&sns=em

 

[Ventura]

So, back to Badronald... Are you confused as f*ck now???

V.

 

[_actual time_]

As for tightness, IMO a lot of it is in how you set the amp up. T excursion will get you a tight attack, ....

... Yes you can set it tight, but compared to other amps its not as tight. The attack is nowehere near the attack of a VHT or Wizard.

this has been my experience too. i play a lot of high-gain thrashy prog / proggy thrash on 7-string guitars. with the right settings, i can get my 101B pretty tight but not razor-tight like a VHT, and the lower notes you go, the less tight it gets.

my tightest settings are Red channel, the post-2007 gain setting (which is much tighter than the pre-2004 gain) but the gain only at about noon, T excursion, and B1 brightness (which for some reason is tighter than N or B2). i've used EL34s but now i run KT77s. i get a thick hard-rock crunch tone without the boost on and a more thrash tone with the boost on. this all through a Bogner OS2x12 with V30s.

i think the main thing about the 101B is its thickness. so if your priority is thickness, sometimes pretty tight or other times saggy, the 101B is definitely worth trying. but if your priority is tightness, you might look into VHT or other tighter amps first.

 

[Badronald]

So, back to Badronald... Are you confused as f*ck now???

V.

Haha! There are some very conflicting opinions here. Of course I don't care about a metal or thrash tone, so they really don't apply to me!

 

[Dale B]

I love Bogner amps. They record like no other, and they just kick ass. The 101B is a great amp. You can dial in the cleans to sound like a Deluxe or Super Reverb going into the EL34 power section. The Blue channel just kicks ass and the 3rd channel can be modified very easily.

The link below is a clip of the 101B's blue channel. Everything recorded was strictly on the Blue channel, but the cleans were from, guess what, the clean channel. Guitars used were a Gibson Les Paul Standard or Classic (can't remember which one I used) and an Ibanez Baritone with EMGs. SM57 on a V30 (Uberkabe) into a Metric Halo ULN2 and then Logic 9. Sorry for the drum loop repeat. I never finished the song.

Also, the old band I was in used the very same amp on their last EP. Go to iTunes, search for Social Recall and listen to all of the clips on the EP called Rebirth. That 101B was what they used for guitars.

 

[skoora]

I owned one in the late 90's and have played them on and off over the years. I sold the one I owned because it just didn't quite have the OG Marshall spank that I was used to. I did like it a lot though. Today I played through a brand new one with the new headshell covering and it really was awesome. To me the Red channel was as good, if not more fun than the blue channel and had a ton of useable tight gain (with a JB humbucker). I didn't need the preamp higher than 1-2 O'Clock with the gain set to H. No Boost. I find you just need to have the red channel use presence B and turn it almost all the way up. All the "klang" and bite is in that knob being up there. Sludgier metal will rule with Excursion on Loose but like others have said setting it to tight or medium will work great for a tighter response. I've learned to just not expect a 70's Marshall response out of the Bogner and I'm happy. What I dig is the gain settings (mini toggles) really sound good in either setting and truly make the amp very versatile in what kind of amp you want it to be.

I had just played though a SIg X before the Ecstasy and 10 minutes on the Sig X couldn't get me one glorious sound. Just a few good ones. 20 seconds after turning the Bogner on with the red channel it was an ear to ear, hard rock grin.

 

[FourT6and2]

Clips!!!

Playing starts at 2:50