A better Ecstasy?

ibzprestige said:
The new 50 watt is very good. I suggest checking it out
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It is, but I had the 6L6 20th Anniversary and the new 50 watter at the same time and I was able to really compare them.

The 20th was bigger sounding as you would expect, but it also did the lower gain stuff really, really well- better than the 50 in my opinion. The plexi switch with the boost function is killer feature.

Does it sound like a real plexi? No, but it's GREAT for low gain stuff. I have it assigned to the blue channel and use the footswitch boost and some drives to cover all my low to up to 80's gain needs. <chef's kiss>

Now, if the 50 had the same feature it might have been a lot closer.
 
gtr31 said:
They also just updated the 50
With 3 gain choices on the Red
And a 80s mode like Helios on the blue
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I just got one with the updates. It’s incredible. I love the gain structure switch on the red channel.
 
M@ttC3 said:
It is, but I had the 6L6 20th Anniversary and the new 50 watter at the same time and I was able to really compare them.

The 20th was bigger sounding as you would expect, but it also did the lower gain stuff really, really well- better than the 50 in my opinion. The plexi switch with the boost function is killer feature.

Does it sound like a real plexi? No, but it's GREAT for low gain stuff. I have it assigned to the blue channel and use the footswitch boost and some drives to cover all my low to up to 80's gain needs. <chef's kiss>

Now, if the 50 had the same feature it might have been a lot closer.
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Sounds like the OP already tried the 100 watters. The 50 watt is based on the 100/classic, opposed to the 101 and 20th anniversary, so it will be more open and less gain at its core tone, so might work out with what they are looking for.
 
I can get about $400- 500 off on either an Ecstasy 101b (no Class A/AB) or a Snorkler.
I owned the Ecstasy 2X. Can't decide.
 
CarlF said:
I can get about $400- 500 off on either an Ecstasy 101b (no Class A/AB) or a Snorkler.
I owned the Ecstasy 2X. Can't decide.
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I thought that Bogner Ecstasy clip sounded as good as the Snorkler and the Ecstasy does alot more other tones and sounds that seem to fit with your playing style Carl........The SNOrkler is kind of a 1 trick pony......
 
Just a comment on the VH4 - great amp, versatile, surprisingly good clean, channel 3 is “that” sound, channel 2 can get quite Marshally (at least mine can - it’s from 2021and from comments / clips I’ve seen, the newer ones seem to be a bit brighter than the older versions) and channel 4 has more gain on tap than I know what to do with.

A big difference to the 101b is feel - the VH4 is very clinical and has little to no “bounce”. It sounds great, but some might find it sterile in its delivery vs the 101b which has a more organic quality to it. As always, hard to put this stuff into words but it’s the best I can do!
 
harddriver said:
I thought that Bogner Ecstasy clip sounded as good as the Snorkler and the Ecstasy does alot more other tones and sounds that seem to fit with your playing style Carl........The SNOrkler is kind of a 1 trick pony......
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This is the problem that can happen when judging just by clips. I've tried every version XTC besides a 100B/A (even a Cameron modded XTC) and they absolutely do not have what makes the Snorkler special (for me at least). The Snorkler 50 I have has a richness, chewiness, growl and unique sticky feel that just is not in the cards for any XTC. The XTC just is inherently smoother, more polished/not raw and has a more liquid rather than sticky feel that is great too, but very different than the Snorkler. Really they're just different, but am much more impressed with the Snorkler and it's not a one trick pony. It can do a bunch of styles quite well (I don't play anything remotely AIC fwiw) and has a surprising amount of range in its eq and the blue mode can be a great lower gain crunch and even decent clean. I would say the XTC is more versatile in how many styles it can do 7/10 well, while the Snorkler can't pull off as many styles, it can do more styles 9/10 or better if that makes sense. I've tried most Bogner models and would consider it my 2nd or 3rd favorite amp I've played by them (along with the Rev 1 Uber and '90's Caveman). Unlike the UU, they nailed it imo with the new Snorkler
 
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The Snorkler is an awesome amp and I prefer it to all the Ecstasy's including the Pandora,100 and 101etc. I have not had the new 50 watt version though.The Snorkler is special. You can dial in a tone of shit. I also love my 6L6 Uber Ultra. Here is Doug Rappaport showing a little blue channel stuff.


and then some Red Channel
 
tonedog said:
The Snorkler is an awesome amp and I prefer it to all the Ecstasy's including the Pandora,100 and 101etc. I have not had the new 50 watt version though.The Snorkler is special. You can dial in a tone of shit. I also love my 6L6 Uber Ultra. Here is Doug Rappaport showing a little blue channel stuff.


and then some Red Channel
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This exactly. For my taste at least it smokes all the XTC's I've played. The guys that say the Snorkler is a one trick pony don't know what they're talking about and haven't tried it. They make that assumption probably since it's technically a one channel amp and assume it's just for AIC types tones (completely wrong)

To me I'd consider it in a way the most Bogner-y Bogner if that makes since it has the richest, chewiest quality to the low mids I've heard in their amps and that to me is Bogner's main forte. No XTC's gets those low mids quite as rich or chewy. They're just inherently smoother, more polished there
 
tonedog said:
The Snorkler is an awesome amp and I prefer it to all the Ecstasy's including the Pandora,100 and 101etc. I have not had the new 50 watt version though.The Snorkler is special. You can dial in a tone of shit. I also love my 6L6 Uber Ultra. Here is Doug Rappaport showing a little blue channel stuff.


and then some Red Channel
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Both those clips sound amazing to me. Shit, if I ever get to demo one it might be my next amp.
 
Killcrop said:
I have owned the Bogner Ecstasy on about 5 different occasions. I guess you could say I have a love hate relationship. I gigged the 101b for many years but mostly played it in plexi mode and used a few different pedals to boost. Tim and OCD. I loved the Blue channel and still do. But I don't usually play with that much gain. The red channel was always too mushy for me and noisy. The green was fine but a little too clean.

So who makes something similar to the Ecstasy but maybe fixes some of the issues I have with it? Basically a plexi style cleanish channel and something like the blue but maybe a little tighter. I have been down the road with the Friedman stuff and I can't say it's a great fit for me.

Anyway I have a feeling there is something I am over looking. Whatcha got?
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Maybe the 6th xtc will be the charm? If you like the general xtc tone but less gain on blue and a little tighter, the 20th fits the bill.

20th to me is less compressed, with a little more teeth and tighter, but still has Bogner flavor. I will say the blue Channel on the 20th is not as 'juicy', more an open crunch, but you said 101B blue is too much gain anyway, so could work perfectly. At band volumes this channel really works great.

20th with red channel assigned to plexi mode and use blue channel as needed. Plus, boost works on the plexi mode on the 20th. You also have the option of the Vintage/Modern structure switch for different flavors on blue and red channels.

Other than that, per others' comments the snorkler sounds killer, but even a helios 50 or 100 are great too.
 
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