Egnater Maniacs: Who has A/B'ed a Fish with an M4 or IE4?

[King Guitar]

The very first time I ever played an ie4 was in a guitar shop in Honolulu, and the ie4 was in a rack with a Fish and some other pre - think it was a Groove Tubes. Anyway, I really liked both a ton. I didn't think they are comparable as the ie4 seeded to have it's roots more in classic 70s and 80s tones - to my ears anyway. I felt like the Bogner stuff had this shark-like, aggressive thing happening, that although cool at first, eventually started to grate on me. I had a Bogner Ecstasy, so the Fish seemed more than redundant. A year later, I played on at NAMM and was sold. First Egnater...something like in '97.

Don't ever buy anything based on what people on forums say! We're all a bunch of dipshits. Just get try to get a hold of one and play it to death. If you are in a geographically isolated place, this can be a pain, I know.

+1 I am a dipshit!

 

[Fish_Fanboy]

Here is my comparison of the fish and ie4.

Both preamps will give you high quality distortion.

Both preamps will provide you with great string dynamics that will inspire and improve your guitar playing and sound.

Both preamps provide multiple independent channel switching. (Note ie4 is more flexible)

Both Preamps are only as good as its owner. Neither of them will grant you any magical talent nor will they guarantee you fame.

Both preamps will blow your mind and make you feel special and at the same time will give you buyers remorse at some point of your ownership. Everyone has a bad sound day every once in a while.

So who should buy a Fish and who should pick up an ie4.

If you are the type of guitar player that is willing to pay anything to find the perfect sound because once you do it truly becomes your guitars only voice (fore the most part). Then the fish is what will set you free.

If you are the type of guitar player that wants to paint their sonic landscape with a large pallet of killer sound and get a great sense of value from their preamp... Then you should look into an ie4.

So it looks like ultimately they are both the best at what they do....

 

[Redhead]

Nice comparison ..... fanboy, but I think this thread wants to know if the preamp modules on the m4 or ie4 match up or sound better than the so called sweet channel on the Fish you spoke of.

I had a chance to hear a Fish preamp and a Soldano X-99 at a friend's house. He was trying to write a midi patch that sounded like the brown channel on the Fish. Both preamps sounded great but no mater how we twisted the knobs on the Soldano we were unable to mimic the Fish, and I dont remember being able to get the Bogner to sound like a SLO either. Mainly because both preamps have their own signature sound that goes beyond a eq stack and a gain knob.

So I would be interested to know just how close the M4 and IE4 modules get to capturing their namesakes sound. Damn I'm starting to see why modular preamps are so popular.

BTW: Do you know if they have Bogner and Solano modules Yet

 

[3 Mile Stone]

If you are the type of guitar player that is willing to pay anything to find the perfect sound because once you do it truly becomes your guitars only voice (fore the most part). Then the fish is what will set you free.

I'm going to disagree. My Egnater Ie4, M4 and now my MOD 50 have all truly became my guitars voice and not even for the most part. You comment makes it sound like the only way to achieve this is to buy the Fish and that the Egnater is only a more versatile tweaker tool. Not so. Not saying the Fish is not cool it just doesn't own that particular claim any more than my Egnater. For less $.

 

[Guitarvc]

I have had several Bogners including the Fish, and currently own a Mod 50...never tried the rack, but the modules are the same. The fact that I go for Classic Rock tones makes a difference in my opinion, but I prefer the Egnater. I loved all of my Bogners, but the flexibility of the Egnater won me over. The tones are different, but equally excellent in their own ways. Once you get in this class of quality, tone is purely subjective. I chose the Egnater