Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

[Cleveland Metal]

I own the CAE3+se/VHT 2150 Combination, and love it dearly. So I can say you would be well served for you material as that is my own selection also.

I would advise you to also post this on my Clevelandmetalzone EZBoard as there is a person there that owns both of these units, plays that style, and would gladly answer as many questions as you'd ask.

The link to my board is below, you'll see the AMPS AND EFFECTS forum easily.

Hope to see you there.

[Soloist1]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

John I noticed on your main page that you have no friends? We have something else in common besides loving the CAE preamps. lol I have a CAE 3+ and can honestly say it is the best damn preamp I have ever had the pleasure of owning or listening to. I haven't owned a Bogner Fish but I have heard one. Me likes the CAE 3+ better. I can easily get the same tone as Megadeth with it. And that is even through a Mesa 20/20 power amp. I'm playing in a small space though so the tubes of the power amp don't over compress like they would in a larger area. I would highly recommend the CAE 3+. I've heard the 3+ SE also and would have to lean toward the 3+ because I like the 3rd channel better than that of the 3+ SE. The clean and the 2nd channel of both are virtually identical. The CAE stuff is about a grand cheaper than the Bogner and easier to find also. But you don't see many 3+'s. I wonder how many 3+'s there actually are. I know there are 200 Fish but never got a number on how many 3+ were made.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

"John I noticed on your main page that you have no friends?"

Main page? where? haha

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

Nevermind, I just realized what you were talking about... Duh... I should fix that! Bad link to the links!!! Doh...

[mortis999]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

I own both A bogner fish and Cae3+. Depending on
what kind of sound you are trying to create.
The Cae3+ has some great classic tones. Voxac30,
Fender blackface, Marshall plexi. And most anything in between. The bogner is more unique.
It has it's own character and is very recognizable. The clean channel on it is Ok.
No the greatest not the worst. The strato channel (my personal favorite) is very chimey clean overdrive. The brown channel I think it's pretty obvious. If you have always wanted to sound like Van Halen II this will nail it.
The shark channel is very grindy but still cleans up pretty well if needed.

In all honesty, if I were buying these for the first time. I would get the cae3+ or a soldano
X88R (essentially the same unit).

The fish is cool but with that you are paying more for it's rarity rather than it's sound quality. Don't get more wrong, they smoke most any preamp out there, but the way I see it. If
you are going to pay 2500+ for a fish you may as well just find a 100B extacy. Far superior sounding to any fish or cae preamp.

[Soloist1]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

One other thing I would like to mention is tubes really make the the 3+ a great preamp. With your basic variety of new tubes that are on the market you can tell it has a lot of special characteristics built in there. The one problem I had with mine and the newer tubes was that the low end was kind of flabby. I experimented with some fine vintage tubes and came out with a rack that has all the great growl and searing lead tones of most of the great boutique heads. While none are exact, similar tones to the SLO, Uberschall and Ecstasy 101b can be had with this preamp. I can't say with the Ecstasy 100b. Never got to hear one. But I heard they are the Ecstasy to have it you buy one. One thing I love about my 3+ is the EQ section. Unlike the Soldano preamps each knob controls the range it is specifically ment to control. On the Soldano's one EQ knob would effect the sound of another. Haven't got to play with a Fish so I can't say what the EQ section of that is like.

[Angel_of_Death]

Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

I want to buy one or the other of these preamps. I'm having a dilemna figuring which one I want. I've tried the CAE 3+ SE preamp and it kicked ass. But I'm very curious to hear the Bogner Fish I'd buy one without question if they weren't so expensive and rare. My style is strickly metal Megadeth, Slayer, Metallica. I know Megadeth has used both of these preamps on albums with a VHT 2150 power amp. Any insight would be most appreciated.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Bogner Fish VS. CAE 3+

To anyone interested, there is an excellent review on these preamps (and some other related equipment) on my Clevelandmetalone EZBoard that is quite worth the reading...

Go there!!

See link below...