Bogner XTC (Ecstacy)

[GodWentPUNK]

I've been reading some reviews on the 101b head and heard some good things. I was hoping to hear from some actual XTC owners about their experience with the amp.

I play in a cover band and our first set is bluesy stuff, 2nd is 80's dance and 3rd is faster rock. So, I need a good clean channel and a good cruch channel...the 3rd channel is icing on the cake.

My cabinet is a Mashall 1036 2x12

joe...

[Shawn Lutz]

Joe I have the Ecstacy 101B and based on what your first two set types it will get you there. Can you discribe what you mean by "faster rock" ?

Its a helluva amp and you can go from bluesy rock, jazz and metal. I personally can't say if it will get ya to nu-metal (barf) because i don't do any detuned modern bass/mid heavy metal. But from jazz to hendrix to lynch/rhoads/evh and dream theatre stuff it will do. I love the amp myself and kept putting off getting one an dfinally found a good on ebay several years ago and have no regrets whatsoever even tho it was expensive.

Go to Bogners website and listen to some of the mp3 sound samples

http://www.bogneramplification.com/

What kind of speakers do you have in you 2x12? I prefer the 101B with V30's myself

[Racerx2k]

I consider the XTCs to be the Holy Grail of amps. Unfortunately, I'd need the Holy Grail of wallets to purchase one! (sigh)

[horns666]

Bogner RULES!!!!

[horns666]

The Uber samples that best sound like my tone are Uberschall samples 04, and 21..

[GodWentPUNK]

Can you discribe what you mean by "faster rock" ?

What kind of speakers do you have in you 2x12? I prefer the 101B with V30's myself

Faster rock: Sorry for the poor description. Lets say 'AC/DC...Joan Jett...Clash..."

My cab has one v30 and one stock G75.

I'm glad to hear that this amp does some of the stuff I want to do. I know these things are exspensive so I'm headed to Chicago over the week (MakenMusic) to check the amps out.

As for guitars: I use a Fender Strat and a Jackson Strat (both SSS with Hot Noiseless pickups). I also use a model3/ 475Deluxe...basically, HSS. Does the amp do good when going through guitar changes? Regardless of what guitar I played, my TSL100 sounded the same. My JSX on the otherhand, changes tone with each guitar I use.

joe...

[Fretburner]

Had one. Great amp!

[GodWentPUNK]

oh yeah, how's the effects loop on the amp...is it a tone sucker. My TSL killed my tone, my JSX fx loop is real good.

joe....

[horns666]

oh yeah, how's the effects loop on the amp...is it a tone sucker. My TSL killed my tone, my JSX fx loop is real good.

joe....

Mine is cool..it wasn't even a concern really..I changed the loop V sockets to hotter Tung Sol which boosted the shit out of everthing..so I had to re-tweak my G major..all is good now.

Bogner told a member here you can't do that..those sockets must be chinese tubes...uuummm, yeah OK...whatever..

That like Isrelli Arms insisting you can NOT use reloads with a Desert Eagle..I shot well over 1000 rounds with reloads, I reloded myself without one single jam, stove pipe, or double feed..and the gun looked like new inside and out...and operated perfectly when I sold it..

I love it when people say "you can't do that!!!", and they're flat out full of shit!!!

[Shawn Lutz]

I rarely use effects but I did try a DDL/Harmonizer in the loop on the clean channel for some chorus/flange/sweep effects and I noticed no tone dragdown

[Fretburner]

effects loop

I tried several high end effects unit through my loop. Mainly for a touch of delay in the dirty channel when soloing when I wanted it and it was barely in the mix. This was one of the reasons I sold mine. My Carvin V3 had a better loop than the Bogner. Kind of silly but a fact!

I rarely use effects but I did try a DDL/Harmonizer in the loop on the clean channel for some chorus/flange/sweep effects and I noticed no tone dragdown

[sparky]

The XTC should have no problem covering the styles you play. I wish I still had mine

[GodWentPUNK]

I went and test drove a XTC yesterday. I brought my 1988 Jackson S/S/S string-thru with Fender Hot Noiseless pickups. The cab was a Bogner 4x12 with v30's.

I hate to say this, but I don't think this amp is going to work for me. First of all, let me say that during my test drive, I did not CRANK the amp because the sucker was so FREAKING loud.

One issue for me is how that gain is set-up. It appeared to me that the gain and volume somehow work together in that if you turn the gain all the way off, you will have no volume from that channel although you might have the volume turned all the way up. On other amps that I have, once I set the gain, turning up the volume only increases the sound. On the bogner, it actually changes the sound. I had to turn the gain all the up so that I could get some good sounds at louder that bedroom volumes. But once I got a lot louder that bedroom volumes, I lost some of the gain sounds the amp had earlier. Again, maybe playing this amp at band levels, I might have experienced something different. It was like the gain was another volume knob...

Issue two: I was able to get a great sound from all 3 channels but I could not setup that amp so that all the switches worked together for all 3 channels at the same time. Meaning, I had to set the overdrive gain switch to high to get a good blue channel sound but doing so made the red channel sound crappy. The same goes for the clean channel. I'd set all the switch to get the clean sound I wanted but then the red/blue channel didn't sound good when using the footswitch to go to that channel. I think that if I was in a studio doing some recording, this amp would be great where I have time to tweak each channel. I was able to get so many different tones but in a live setting, it would be impossible for me to use.

Lastly, I am NOT person who has played from 100's of different amps or have tons of experience using amps in live situations so some of the issues I had experienced with this amp may be due to my limited exsposure/knowledge of these kinds of things.

I guess my next drive will be up to JC's to check out his QuickRods.

joe...

[Shawn Lutz]

thats exactly why I always tell folks to use their own ears as those ears know what they like to hear and eventually tell the wallet to buy Every amp isn't for every player and tone is a very subjective subject

[scotty]

I have wanted a Bogner for so long but I just cant buy one without hearing one first. I hear great things about them. I had to settle for a XTC preamp in my RM100. Maybe one day I will get the chance to play one.