Bogner Ecstacy History

  • Thread starter Thread starter FourT6and2
  • Start date Start date
PhilC said:
I've had 3 100b's and a 100a. I've had friends with various generations and tried a few shiva's. One of the b's was modded by rheinhold. They were all great in different ways. The 100's are the rawest of the bunch. But even those are not like trying tame a cranked up old marshall. I found my home with a 100b and it's not going anywhere. I use it for a slicker, more refined super bass type sound. Mainly the blue or the red with no boost. It's definitely its own sound. I could see if you want raw aggression it not being the amp for you. I love it for what it does.
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Hmm... I'm willing to bet the clips of 100A/B I liked were boosted then.
 
PhilC said:
I've had 3 100b's and a 100a. I've had friends with various generations and tried a few shiva's. One of the b's was modded by rheinhold. They were all great in different ways. The 100's are the rawest of the bunch. But even those are not like trying tame a cranked up old marshall. I found my home with a 100b and it's not going anywhere. I use it for a slicker, more refined super bass type sound. Mainly the blue or the red with no boost. It's definitely its own sound. I could see if you want raw aggression it not being the amp for you. I love it for what it does.
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Great to hear, Phil!
You mean the footswitchable extra (tube) Gainstage boost right?
 
FourT6and2 said:
Hmm... I'm willing to bet the clips of 100A/B I liked were boosted then.
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If it's that red 100a, that's the 100a I owned. I sold it to the guy posting those clips. It has plenty of gain. That's the amp Vai used on Tender Surrender (like the actual amp. It used to belong to cliff cultreri.) All XTC's have a bunch of gain, it's just smooth, singing gain. Not hairy, buzzy chainsaw metal gain.
 
SQUAREHEAD said:
Great to hear, Phil!
You mean the footswitchable extra (tube) Gainstage boost right?
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Yeah. I rarely use a pedal in front of an xtc unless it's in plexi mode. I have plenty of other amp options if I'm wanting wilder or more aggressive. I use my xtc for what it likes to do.
 
PhilC said:
If it's that red 100a, that's the 100a I owned. I sold it to the guy posting those clips. It has plenty of gain. That's the amp Vai used on Tender Surrender (like the actual amp. It used to belong to cliff cultreri.) All XTC's have a bunch of gain, it's just smooth, singing gain. Not hairy, buzzy chainsaw metal gain.
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Yeah the red 100A sounds nice.

Is this you?

 
He got some great tone and licks in that video. The EQ setting on the red/blue channel is unusual, might give it a try.
I've been spending last few days dialing mine in after watching the Zen clips. Hadn't put the proper time into it previously.
 
ZEEGLER said:
Don't you guys think it's weird how every single amp manufacturer gets it right the first time when a model comes out and they subsequently ruin the amp with each revision? If the original model is so good, why don't they just keep making it the same? Or better still, make it even better? :dunno:
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I think this is the problem. :D
 
I have a 20th EL-34 that I got back in August brand new. The amp is an absolute beast!
 
Only owned a 20th w/ El34s. Really great amp. Nothing else sounds quite like it. Chewy midrange swirl was insane when you get the volume going - I really miss that. Complex and rich if you want some buzzwords. Raw rock n roll.....not really. It's a more "sophisticated" type of sound. Moody solo players seem to like these amps best from what I've seen over the years and I get it - single notes are pretty amazing.

Years ago....Went to buy a Classic that was available locally with a bogner 2x12 for stupid cheap. I couldn't get a sound I liked out of it, but I also had no idea what I was doing. Bright cap needs to be on 1 or 2 at the least for what I like - wish I had spent more time trying. I passed on it.
 
Got to play extensively a 101b with EL-34's, and I agree with above that nothing else has that chewy midrange swirl and it's really complex and rich midrange. Probably one of the best lead amps out there in my opinion. The vibe of this amp is just amazing with lots of feel. In my opinion a very classic sounding amp, kind of similar to a modded Marshall vibe on the gain channels.
 
ZEEGLER said:
Don't you guys think it's weird how every single amp manufacturer gets it right the first time when a model comes out and they subsequently ruin the amp with each revision? If the original model is so good, why don't they just keep making it the same? Or better still, make it even better? :dunno:
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It was actually cost prohibitive for Reinhold to keep the 100 series going.
Hence, the 101B, with more features, Dual presence controls, more refined excursion switches, foot switchable standby, foot switchable boost for clean channel…
 
101 b in 96 good amp 101b 2005 not so good same tubes everything the later was weak. I have owned every Bogner made up to 2005. Everyone of them had some kind of issue went back to Marshalls
 
panhead said:
101 b in 96 good amp 101b 2005 not so good same tubes everything the later was weak. I have owned every Bogner made up to 2005. Everyone of them had some kind of issue went back to Marshalls
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Yep, I have played my Bogners less than 5 hours since getting my Larry Dino in 2018.
Bogners are great amps, they really are, but when I got accustomed to the clarity and rich tone of the Dino, it’s so satisfying and completely addictive with that upper mid Marshall swirl and complexity not found anywhere in the Bogner DNA..
A (cranked up) Bogner reminds me of a 67/68 Marshall 100w, but more blunt, without that kerrrrang you get from a Marshall. That kerrrrang is not what Bogners do well.
Warm, smooth, saturated, fat, saggy and polished vintage tone is how I would describe Bogners. You either love ‘em or hate them.
I used to love them.
But they still have their place, somewhere.
 
One thing to add since @FourT6and2 you know amp circuits...at some point there was a Cameron mod to one of the cathodes. A 'partially partially bypassed" cathode lol. There was a cathode bypass cap added somewhere but it had a resistor in series with it so it wasn't so drastic of a change. If I dig I could find it. And then I think Reinhold then tweeked the values of the Cameron mod. Or maybe I have that backwards, Cameron tweeked RBs mod. Point is, that wasn't in the early ones I don't think and might account for the added gain of the later ones.

EDIT: Memory fading back in I think it was across the 10k cold clipper. One of the configs was a 10k resistor in series with either a 0.68u or 1u cap.
 
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SpiderWars said:
One thing to add since @FourT6and2 you know amp circuits...at some point there was a Cameron mod to one of the cathodes. A 'partially partially bypassed" cathode lol. There was a cathode bypass cap added somewhere but it had a resistor in series with it so it wasn't so drastic of a change. If I dig I could find it. And then I think Reinhold then tweeked the values of the Cameron mod. Or maybe I have that backwards, Cameron tweeked RBs mod. Point is, that wasn't in the early ones I don't think and might account for the added gain of the later ones.

EDIT: Memory fading back in I think it was across the 10k cold clipper. One of the configs was a 10k resistor in series with either a 0.68u or 1u cap.
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Ah, yeah I know of that. Cameron worked at Bogner if I recall. Partially/fully bypassing a stage would certainly add some oomph. Easy enough thing to play with.

There's a Helios for sale locally at an ok price. I might grab one of those and tweak it. But if a 100A/B pops up somewhere, I'll see what I can do.
 
Had a 100B (#24) that Reinhold had modded to fix the loop issues and incorporated some of the later 101B features. That amp could be really raw, yet sweet, and loved to be dimed.… just an Incredible amp. One thing to be mindful of is that the power filtering caps on those earliy versions are extinct from what I was able to find. If the amp’s healthy, not really a worry, but if something goes BOOM, original spec components aren’t around, from my research and communications with Jörg.

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Also had a 101B Classic - another really nice amp that was similar to the 100B, but not quite as gainy.
 
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