Bogner Uber Ultra Tone Check // Discussion

KyleKing

KyleKing

Member
Had this wonderful 100Watt EL34 Uber Ultra I ordered arrive a few weeks ago and I've been having an absolute blast messing around with it.

Super huge sounding with heaps of gain on tap, but still articulate. The amount of flexibility you have to shape things, boost etc is a treat.

I threw up a quick test a few weeks ago if anyone's interested in having a listen, it seems there's interest in these amps but not loads of videos going through things.

I'm tempted to throw together a longer more in depth look at it with the above in mind, but I'm also keen to see what tones others are getting with theirs, or even if there are any previous Bogner/Uber owners out there who have any tips to get the best out of them, this is my first Bogner so I'm still learning :unsure:.

First post on RigTalk also so apologies if this isn't in the most ideal forum!

 
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Sounds awesome dude! I've got mine dialed in pretty similar except I mostly use the Hair setting and run channel 2 in Uber mode, my eq settings are pretty similar though. I'm a huge Bogner fan, had a ton of their amps over the years, I've got an old early Rev 2 Uber that I never thought would be replaced but I've been playing the Ultra nonstop since I got it about 3 months ago, best metal amp I've ever had!
 
Great clip man! I love the Uber Ultra. I got my hands on one a couple months back and I've been playing it pretty much constantly since then.

Here's a slower clip I made where I tried to get the palm mutes to do the "purr" thing that I keep reading about. There are two tracks hard panned to each side, so four overall. The amp is in channel 1, one set of tracks is in Bright mode, and the other is with Bright off.



Here's the same line but quad tracked on each side for 8 total guitar lines. It's just stupid. But it sounds big and was fun to see how many tracks I could stack without the whole thing turning into a mess of noise.




So yeah. The Uber Ultra rules, at least to me. It's just like you said. It can get as huge and saturated as you want, but it just doesn't lose clarity.

If I could give any tips, I'd say don't be afraid to experiment with the entire range of the Presence, Depth, and Density controls. They are extremely powerful dials and if you adjust the standard EQ and volume controls to sort of compensate for the poweramp controls' more extreme settings, you can find useful sounds through the entire sweep of all three of those controls. Something else to keep in mind is don't be afraid of turning the Treble knob down. Like waaay down. I think with the clips above I had the treble on channel 1 somewhere between 8:45-9:45 or so, but the Presence was cranked over 3:00 or so to compensate. At those settings where one control compensates for the other, you're more or less just shifting the high resonant peak of the amp to a different frequency more than giving it some extreme EQ curve. If you turn the mids down as well to kind of match the Treble, you can get a big, slightly more mellow sound that still retains clarity and avoids the blanket-over-the-speakers thing. The tone just gets darker and richer overall but still retains cut and detail.
 
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KyleKing said:
First post on RigTalk also so apologies if this isn't in the most ideal forum!

Click to expand...


You are def in the right place :yes: Welcome to Rig-Talk

A tad loose but your single notes were tight so seems very recto to me :dunno: Sounds great. Was that an inroom mic>?
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Love the Uber Ultra. I got my hands on one a couple months back and I've been playing it pretty much constantly since then.

Here's a slower clip I made where I tried to get the palm mutes to do the "purr" thing that I keep reading about. There are two tracks hard panned to each side, so four overall. The amp is in channel 1, one set of tracks is in Bright mode, and the other is with Bright off.



Here's the same line but quad tracked on each side for 8 total guitar lines. It's just stupid. But it sounds big and was fun to see how many tracks I could stack without the whole thing turning into a mess of noise.




So yeah. The Uber Ultra rules, at least to me. It's just like you said. It can get as huge and saturated as you want, but it just doesn't lose clarity.

If I could give any tips, I'd say don't be afraid to experiment with the entire range of the Presence, Depth, and Density controls. They are extremely powerful dials and if you adjust the standard EQ and volume controls to sort of compensate for the poweramp controls' more extreme settings, you can find useful sounds through the entire sweep of all three of those controls. Something else to keep in mind is don't be afraid of turning the Treble knob down. Like waaay down. I think with the clips above I had the treble on channel 1 somewhere between 8:45-9:45 or so, but the Presence was cranked over 3:00 or so to compensate. At those settings where one control compensates for the other, you're more or less just shifting the high resonant peak of the amp to a different frequency more than giving it some extreme EQ curve. If you turn the mids down as well to kind of match the Treble, you can get a big, slightly more mellow sound that still retains clarity and avoids the blanket-over-the-speakers thing. The tone just gets darker and richer overall but still retains cut and detail.
Click to expand...


Sounds great man! I really like the high end, it reminds me of 90s era Grave digger



With the amount of clarity the amp has, I bet you could tighten it up a bunch and make it a bit less insane by just notching the gain down a number or two on all the tracks and still retain the purr sound youre talking about
 
DanTravis62 said:
Sounds great man! I really like the high end, it reminds me of 90s era Grave digger



With the amount of clarity the amp has, I bet you could tighten it up a bunch and make it a bit less insane by just notching the gain down a number or two on all the tracks and still retain the purr sound youre talking about
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I can hear what you mean for sure. I'll give it a shot soon!
 
The EL-34 version sounds like it's the best configuration of the Ultras. I had the KT-88 version, it was cool but I wasnt blown away given the hype surrounding it. Hoping to snag a EL-34 to see the differences. on The KT-88 I found the "Hair" notch to give me the gain structure I was looking for, it seems a bit different from what I was expecting the "Uber/Ultra" mode to provide.
 
KyleKing said:
Had this wonderful 100Watt EL34 Uber Ultra I ordered arrive a few weeks ago and I've been having an absolute blast messing around with it.

Super huge sounding with heaps of gain on tap, but still articulate. The amount of flexibility you have to shape things, boost etc is a treat.

I threw up a quick test a few weeks ago if anyone's interested in having a listen, it seems there's interest in these amps but not loads of videos going through things.

I'm tempted to throw together a longer more in depth look at it with the above in mind, but I'm also keen to see what tones others are getting with theirs, or even if there are any previous Bogner/Uber owners out there who have any tips to get the best out of them, this is my first Bogner so I'm still learning :unsure:.

First post on RigTalk also so apologies if this isn't in the most ideal forum!

Click to expand...

Man love this clip- nicely done!
 
KyleKing said:
Had this wonderful 100Watt EL34 Uber Ultra I ordered arrive a few weeks ago and I've been having an absolute blast messing around with it.

Super huge sounding with heaps of gain on tap, but still articulate. The amount of flexibility you have to shape things, boost etc is a treat.

I threw up a quick test a few weeks ago if anyone's interested in having a listen, it seems there's interest in these amps but not loads of videos going through things.

I'm tempted to throw together a longer more in depth look at it with the above in mind, but I'm also keen to see what tones others are getting with theirs, or even if there are any previous Bogner/Uber owners out there who have any tips to get the best out of them, this is my first Bogner so I'm still learning :unsure:.

First post on RigTalk also so apologies if this isn't in the most ideal forum!

Click to expand...

Yes, you are in the right forum. And yes, that sounds really good. Welcome brother.
 
xfactor23 said:
The EL-34 version sounds like it's the best configuration of the Ultras. I had the KT-88 version, it was cool but I wasnt blown away given the hype surrounding it. Hoping to snag a EL-34 to see the differences. on The KT-88 I found the "Hair" notch to give me the gain structure I was looking for, it seems a bit different from what I was expecting the "Uber/Ultra" mode to provide.
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I agree. I wasn’t as fond with KT88’s as I am with just straight the EL34’s. Even mixed together I didn’t like as much. And yes, I made sure to bias properly. I tried at 50% and 70% plate dissipation.
 
PurityS.L.G said:
I agree. I wasn’t as fond with KT88’s as I am with just straight the EL34’s. Even mixed together I didn’t like as much. And yes, I made sure to bias properly. I tried at 50% and 70% plate dissipation.
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Yep, feel like el34 way to go with this amp.
 
I had the opposite experience with mine. Got the EL34 version, sounded good at low volumes but fell apart cranked. It was biased cold around 50%, I brought it up to 70% and it was better but still real hazy and muffled at high volumes. One of the stock JJ’s blew a few days later, replaced them all with JJ E34L’s and it sounded better, but still not great. Popped in a quad of Gold Lion KT88’s and it now sounds amazing! Super clear and defined at all volumes and gain levels, tone is so good I haven’t touched any knobs or switches in weeks, I just plug in and play! I have a quad of EHX 6CA7’s I was going to mess with but it’s just so perfect now I don’t really see how it could sound a better. Bias knobs on this are great as well, no more having to piggyback or change resistors to get different tunes in range, there’s a huge sweep from low to high when changing tube types.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Here's a slower clip I made where I tried to get the palm mutes to do the "purr" thing that I keep reading about. There are two tracks hard panned to each side, so four overall. The amp is in channel 1, one set of tracks is in Bright mode, and the other is with Bright off.

Click to expand...


Sounds like this could be dialed in to sound like Cantrell's tone on Degradation Trip. At least through the cheap earbuds I am using at the moment. I dig it.
 
loganflynn294 said:
I had the opposite experience with mine. Got the EL34 version, sounded good at low volumes but fell apart cranked. It was biased cold around 50%, I brought it up to 70% and it was better but still real hazy and muffled at high volumes. One of the stock JJ’s blew a few days later, replaced them all with JJ E34L’s and it sounded better, but still not great. Popped in a quad of Gold Lion KT88’s and it now sounds amazing! Super clear and defined at all volumes and gain levels, tone is so good I haven’t touched any knobs or switches in weeks, I just plug in and play! I have a quad of EHX 6CA7’s I was going to mess with but it’s just so perfect now I don’t really see how it could sound a better. Bias knobs on this are great as well, no more having to piggyback or change resistors to get different tunes in range, there’s a huge sweep from low to high when changing tube types.
Click to expand...
Interesting... I didnt check the bias on mine, I wonder if that could have made a difference?
 
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