Spent Enough Time With The Bogner Ecstasy 104BV to Have An Opinion

  • Thread starter Thread starter Rackman
  • Start date Start date
Rackman said:
Yeah. This is the first Casey Crabtree guitar I've ever held, and I'm really impressed. I don't know how it compares to the Neal Moser ones which I've never played, but it's the nicest made guitar I've ever owned. I just wish it had stainless fretwork.

The Alnico II Pros seem to mate up well with a mid-heavy body with that thick cap. Their high end extension helps with the dark nature of the Bogner too.
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I don't know much about Casey Crabtree, but I've got a Moser made Rich Bich from 2024. It's on par or better than anything I've seen out of Gibson Custom, ESP Custom, PRS Private Stock, or Jackson Custom. Obviously a very different thing than any of those, but the quality, attention to detail, fretwork, fit and finish, everything, is at least as good and better than most.
 
Anje said:
Yes, I would be all in for a simpler focused one channel true early 100B or Fish amp.
I wonder how the Helios is close to that btw?
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Yeah, I'd be all over something like that, too. I've got a 101B and a Helios 100, among others, and they can get close, but the 101B has the edge. The Helios is more modded Marshall, more upper-mid cut. It can get those really vocal overtones and some of the chewy low-mids, just not quite like the 101B can, though.

The Snorkler is another thought, maybe a little closer to the XTC than the Helios in that it sounds more like a Bogner than a Marshall, but it isn't the Blue channel, either. It's thicker, a little more compressed, and not quite as organic.

IDK, maybe the Shiva 30th, but it's got its own thing going on, too. It's open and organic but doesn't get the overtones that the XTC does.
 
Rackman nice set up what speakers are you running in your Soldano 4x12 cab
 
thegame said:
Bogner really should make a 1 channel 100w Ecstacy based on the blue channel alone. After all these years that still seems to be Bogner’s most beloved tone. Keep the amp feature rich with the various voicing switches and perhaps some additional ideas but again, limit the scope to fundamentally a one channel Blue.
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They should make an amp based on the Purple or Zero channel as it can be dialed in to sound like the blue but with a huge variation of tones based on the balance between the volume and gain knobs combined with the scooped switch or mid position and the three way bright to dark switch. Good amount of gain in that channel too. Has an impressive vintage type feel.Really great channel just as the blue is but different.
 
I am a Bogner freak and after 50 years of buying and trying almost every amp and mod out there I always come back to Bogners and have settled on these.

IMG_2586 2.jpeg

IMG_2587 2.jpeg
 
ChurchHill said:
I don't know much about Casey Crabtree, but I've got a Moser made Rich Bich from 2024. It's on par or better than anything I've seen out of Gibson Custom, ESP Custom, PRS Private Stock, or Jackson Custom. Obviously a very different thing than any of those, but the quality, attention to detail, fretwork, fit and finish, everything, is at least as good and better than most.
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I definitely feel the same way about this one. It's just a work of art. I play my KE2 more but the Mockingbird is the better sounding guitar. They both play good. The KE2 got refretted and pleked.
 
thegame said:
Bogner really should make a 1 channel 100w Ecstacy based on the blue channel alone. After all these years that still seems to be Bogner’s most beloved tone. Keep the amp feature rich with the various voicing switches and perhaps some additional ideas but again, limit the scope to fundamentally a one channel Blue.
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I have wanted an amp exactly like this for many years (except with a great clean channel). So I rock a Shiva now instead. Not the same of course. I did experiment and tried a Bogner blue pedal into the amp's clean channel and I felt I had instant XTC Blue tones right there. I have not went this way live though. Maybe I should ha! I even thought about having it modded as some cat on here once had his Shiva modded to blue channel specs.
 
I will also add a little bit of a list of which pickups seem to have paired well/badly with the high gain channels:

Best:
Bare Knuckle Holy Diver (this pairing is just insanely good both bridge and neck - great texture. The split sound is best too)
Duncan Alnico II Pro (Both positions. Split just good.)
Duncan Classic Stack (tied with the split holy diver for single coil, but silent)

Good:
JB bridge
59 neck
PRS \m/ (Bridge/neck. Split sounds [PRS wiring] good)
Duncan Pegasus/Sentient (mostly good downtuned to Eb. In E maybe just OK. Split good.)

OK but hard to dial:
EMG 57TW bridge (single coil sounds have been a bit of a struggle)
EMG 66TW neck (ditto)

I'm a little disappointed with the EMGs but largely in comparison to the Alnico II Pro and Holy Diver.
 
One more pickup report, the Fishman Fluence Modern set (Ceramic bridge, alnico neck) goes in the "Best" category. It's single coil mode in particular is just awesome with the Purple channel. At least of this amp the Fishmans are MUCH better than the EMGs.
 
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Rackman said:
I will also add a little bit of a list of which pickups seem to have paired well/badly with the high gain channels:

Best:
Bare Knuckle Holy Diver (this pairing is just insanely good both bridge and neck - great texture. The split sound is best too)
Duncan Alnico II Pro (Both positions. Split just good.)
Duncan Classic Stack (tied with the split holy diver for single coil, but silent)

Good:
JB bridge
59 neck
PRS \m/ (Bridge/neck. Split sounds [PRS wiring] good)
Duncan Pegasus/Sentient (mostly good downtuned to Eb. In E maybe just OK. Split good.)

OK but hard to dial:
EMG 57TW bridge (single coil sounds have been a bit of a struggle)
EMG 66TW neck (ditto)

I'm a little disappointed with the EMGs but largely in comparison to the Alnico II Pro and Holy Diver.
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This tracks. Bogners are so thick that I find they work best with pickups that have extended, clear highs. Most EMGs actually do extend farther up the spectrum than most other pickups, to the point that they can sound like piezos if you dial them clean enough on a hi-fi enough rig, but they have a mid/low-mid emphasis that tends to overshadow those highs in thick amps, and that also compounds too much with Bogner's own mid/low-mid emphasis, to the point where the EMGs can sound too stuffy or flat with them.

EMGs can work with Bogners but they really need EQ between the guitar and amp to shine.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
This tracks. Bogners are so thick that I find they work best with pickups that have extended, clear highs. Most EMGs actually do extend farther up the spectrum than most other pickups, to the point that they can sound like piezos if you dial them clean enough on a hi-fi enough rig, but they have a mid/low-mid emphasis that tends to overshadow those highs in thick amps, and that also compounds too much with Bogner's own mid/low-mid emphasis, to the point where the EMGs can sound too stuffy or flat with them.

EMGs can work with Bogners but they really need EQ between the guitar and amp to shine.
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Yeah the issue was dialing the mids. It worked OK in humbucker mode on Red/Blue (still hard to dial) but single coil mode on Purple just wasn't great. The Fishmans were awesome though.
 
Jakem said:
Great review, thanks! This was a nice read for a 101B owner. I love Your top quality rack rig as well! 😍
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Thanks. I really like the Eclipse as a simple rack FX option. I have an H8000 too but that's a lot to schlep around and since there's not many 5u racks it pushes me to a 6u if I want to have wah.
 
Hello,

I have one of these 104BV’s as well. Amazing amp. I am having some difficulty dialing in the purple channel however compared to the others. Mine sounds a bit thicker and fuller (than some of the Youtube clips I have watched) even when using the brightest pre-gain setting and high treble with low bass. I can tell it would be my favorite of all the channels if I can dial out some of the thickness especially with humbuckers but even some with my single coils. Has anyone else who has one tried it with a Fryette Power Station in order to use the presence control on that unit? I’m considering buying one to try to get a little more clarity than I have been able to dial in so far as I am committed to getting the best out of this channel.

As a side note, I don’t own a cabinet yet for it as I am looking for the perfect match before buying but have tried a 4x12 with greenbacks, a 1x12 open back with Mesa Black Shadow C90, and EVH 2x12 with Celestion Anniversary 30’s, a Friedman 1x12 small ported cab with Celestion 65 creamback as well as though a 2x12 twin reverb using only the speakers which were JBL D120f’s.

I appreciate anyone else who has one letting me know about their experience using this channel specifically. Again, amazing amp!

Thanks,
John
 
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