Thinking about an Uberschall... opinions?

[RobRR]

Ive been thinking about picking up an Uberschall... I like the Vetta, but Im really just looking for one good sound, not 4,000,000 different ones. Cheapest Ive found is $1700 for the Uberschall head, so its gonna take alot of saving up, most of wich will come from the sale of the Vetta. Thoughts?

[Firebird V]

Sure. Great amp. Played through an Ecstacy once at a GC in Cherry Hill. Only heard clips of the Uber but they sound very good.

[lhrocker]

The one time I tried an Uber, it was LOUD!!! Very LOUD, but the lows were very tight. It sounded great, but I wonder how it would sound closer to bedroom levels?

[horns666]

Yes, it's loud but you can only feel it when played next to my 200wt Marshall rig. Even with the Uber's presence, treble, and mids cranked. The Marshall just walks all over it..it's not even close.

With that said, the Uber has a crushing modern metal sound, and low end from any other head I've heard. It can cover alot of styles, from AC/DC to Arch Enemy/Nevermore. My only complaint with the Bogner is its NOT player friendly when it comes to doing certain things such as harmonics..squeals from hell so to speak. The planets must be aligned perfectly to nail them. Unlike other amps such as Marshall, JSX, 5150, Vetta where that stuff is pretty effortless. I can nail a "ping" on every string on every fret with pretty much any other amp dialed in for metal...not so with the Bogner.

I milked the Bogner for all it's worth since I bought it in 2002. I changed preamp tubes to tung sols which improved the tone. The stock JJs have way too much midrange "honk" for my liking at loud band levels. The tung sols remedied that big time. Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of natural guitar freqs/midrange. Marshalls are voiced perfect for this. But the Uber's voice is really focused on low mids and high end "bite" no matter what you do with the extremely interactive controls. No matter how you dial it..it pretty much sounds the same over a drummer. I can dial in a AWESOME tone at moderate levels but it changes when you crank it. My Marshall doesn't do that whatsoever. Whatever I dial at bedroom levels is the same tone at very louds levels.

I love the Bogner's tone, I really do. Which is the reason I haven't given up on it. But it does impede my playing style, even after all these years. That is quite a bummer really.

Well, I would try one at $1700..that's pretty reasonable. You won't lose money with an Uberschall so that's one good thing. People want these amps and for good reason.

I may slam the front of it with a stomp like alot of people do. That will prolly give me what I need to do pinch harms and shit. I thinks it is silly using a stomp in front of an amp capable of obscene amounts of gain, but its not the kind of gain that works well with what I described.

[horns666]

The one time I tried an Uber, it was LOUD!!! Very LOUD, but the lows were very tight. It sounded great, but I wonder how it would sound closer to bedroom levels?

It sounds INCREDIBLE at bedroom levels. Band levels is where I have the problem with the fucker. The poweramp section compresses and changes the overall sound and feel of the amp. With an amp with this much preamp gain that's just stupid. On amps like old Marshall sure that's where it gets sweet, but with the Bogner it just gets a little hairy. I wish the power section was alot more stable...more headroom I guess.

[Wizard of Ozz]

Yes, it's loud but you can only feel it when played next to my 200wt Marshall rig. Even with the Uber's presence, treble, and mids cranked. The Marshall just walks all over it..it's not even close.

With that said, the Uber has a crushing modern metal sound, and low end from any other head I've heard. It can cover alot of styles, from AC/DC to Arch Enemy/Nevermore. My only complaint with the Bogner is its NOT player friendly when it comes to doing certain things such as harmonics..squeals from hell so to speak. The planets must be aligned perfectly to nail them. Unlike other amps such as Marshall, JSX, 5150, Vetta where that stuff is pretty effortless. I can nail a "ping" on every string on every fret with pretty much any other amp dialed in for metal...not so with the Bogner.

I milked the Bogner for all it's worth since I bought it in 2002. I changed preamp tubes to tung sols which improved the tone. The stock JJs have way too much midrange "honk" for my liking at loud band levels. The tung sols remedied that big time. Don't get me wrong, I understand the importance of natural guitar freqs/midrange. Marshalls are voiced perfect for this. But the Uber's voice is really focused on low mids and high end "bite" no matter what you do with the extremely interactive controls. No matter how you dial it..it pretty much sounds the same over a drummer. I can dial in a AWESOME tone at moderate levels but it changes when you crank it. My Marshall doesn't do that whatsoever. Whatever I dial at bedroom levels is the same tone at very louds levels.

I love the Bogner's tone, I really do. Which is the reason I haven't given up on it. But it does impede my playing style, even after all these years. That is quite a bummer really.

Well, I would try one at $1700..that's pretty reasonable. You won't lose money with an Uberschall so that's one good thing. People want these amps and for good reason.

I may slam the front of it with a stomp like alot of people do. That will prolly give me what I need to do pinch harms and shit. I thinks it is silly using a stomp in front of an amp capable of obscene amounts of gain, but its not the kind of gain that works well with what I described.

Is this really Bill or some evil clone?!?

Unhappy with his Uber? Blasphemy!!!

I won't argue with you on the Marshalls, as I think they make great amps. The Uber has too dark a voicing and not enough upper mids to do the pinches/squeals at will like other brighter, upper mid voiced amps... like Marshall or Soldano.

PS: I've owned 4 different Bogner Uberschalls, but just never could bond with them. Too many small things bugged me. Volume difference between channels, line level loop, and the dark/spongy voicing.

[roodyrocker]

My Uberschall is still with me and I plan on keeping it. When it comes to high gain amps, this is the king IMO. I do have a few other amps but the Uber excels at the high gain stuff. WIth the gain level at about midway up or just beyond, it does 80's hard rock great. It also remains well focused even if you turn the gain completely up which is something not many other amps can do. In other words the entire range of the gain knob is useable and you just have to set it to your taste. The volume difference between the clean and distortion channel is an issue with this amp for live gigging. Then again my band mates play very loud and I can't convince them to back off a bit. In those live situations I find that I can't hear the clean channel onstage so I just back off the guitar volume knob to do cleans. Mind you the Uber is not the greatest at cleaning up but make no mistake about it, the distortion channel simply rules! The loop is not the friendliest in it either and I have taken everything out of the loop and put it in front of the amp for effects. The Uber's loop is line level and even my G-Major in that loop seemed to change the tone a bit and made those pinch harmonics a bit tougher to nail like Bill was mentioning. And yes, the way my Marshall Rhoads amp is voiced makes it seem like its louder than the Uber but then nothing has the gain of the Uber. I've never used a distortion pedal in front of my Uber as it has as much gain onboard already as you could want. For $1700 you should jump on that Uber because those are $2800ish new with optional metal front grill. If the mismatch in volume between clean and gain channels bothers you, Bogner has a new revision coming out that fixes that and I saw and heard it at NAMM. But then you're not getting that for $1700 either. My Uberschall is a revision Blue and I wouldn't trade it for anything. Robb RR, have you played the Uber yet or just heard clips? The clips I've heard on youtube just don't convey the Uber's crushing tone IMO. At $1700 you should be able to easily flip it if need be so I say go for it

[RobRR]

I havent tried one yet, just been listening to as many clips as I can. The clean/gain volume thing could be an issue though... this will be a gigging amp, and some of our songs and future songs well write will have clean parts so that could be an issue.

Thanks alot for that review Bill... just what Im looking for. From hearing your old bed of nails demo, our playing styles are pretty similar. I like me some pinch harmonics... and I really need something to cut through and not break up at the top end. What Marshall are you using? I really dont want to have to put anything in front of it, and was hoping it had a good useable loop.

Im going over to Sam Ash tomorrow to test drive the Bugera 333XL... its definitley not a high dollar amp but Ive heard some good stuff about it, so I figured Ill give it a shot and see how she does. For $600, I could sell the Vetta, buy that head and still have some money left for FX since I sold everything when I got the Vetta.

[Robert Burns]

It sounds INCREDIBLE at bedroom levels. Band levels is where I have the problem with the fucker. The poweramp section compresses and changes the overall sound and feel of the amp. With an amp with this much preamp gain that's just stupid. On amps like old Marshall sure that's where it gets sweet, but with the Bogner it just gets a little hairy. I wish the power section was alot more stable...more headroom I guess.

** Now im curious...Which Marshall do you have? 2 100wt heads?
Or is it a 200 wt Marshall head? Pics!

[jgcable]

If the one good sound you are looking for is a high gain modern metal sound.. the Uber is a great choice. If you are in a 2 guitar band and the other guy has an amp that has midrange (like a Marshall), look elsewhere.
If you want a nice Bogner that can do a variety of great tones you should look at the Ecstacy 101B. Its an incredible amp. If you don't want to spend that kind of cash you should look at the Carvin Legacy because it sounds ALOT like the Ecstacy.
The Uber is a great amp. IMHO.. the Deizil Herbert is even better though.

[jgcable]

BTW... the Vetta rocks. I miss mine.

[roodyrocker]

If the one good sound you are looking for is a high gain modern metal sound.. the Uber is a great choice. If you are in a 2 guitar band and the other guy has an amp that has midrange (like a Marshall), look elsewhere.
If you want a nice Bogner that can do a variety of great tones you should look at the Ecstacy 101B. Its an incredible amp. If you don't want to spend that kind of cash you should look at the Carvin Legacy because it sounds ALOT like the Ecstacy.
The Uber is a great amp. IMHO.. the Deizil Herbert is even better though.

I just gigged out with my Ecstacy 101B last weekend. Very versatile and great sounding amp. The clean is nicer and much more useable than that on my Uber. However the Ecstacy doesn't have anywhere near the gain the Uber does. Interestingly, it will do the pinch harmonics easier and will also feedback, in a good way, easier than my Uber. The other thing about it is that since it has less gain I think it cuts through the mix better than the Uber. The other advantage to the Ecstacy is the third channel lets me dial up a higher gain and louder sound that I can use to boost up for solos. The Ecstacy has so many options on it that you can dial up tons of great sounds with it. Both are great amps but different sounds. Reinhold Bogner is pure genius and I don't think he could design a bad sounding amp even on a bad day

[jgcable]

I just gigged out with my Ecstacy 101B last weekend. Very versatile and great sounding amp. The clean is nicer and much more useable than that on my Uber. However the Ecstacy doesn't have anywhere near the gain the Uber does. Interestingly, it will do the pinch harmonics easier and will also feedback, in a good way, easier than my Uber. The other thing about it is that since it has less gain I think it cuts through the mix better than the Uber. The other advantage to the Ecstacy is the third channel lets me dial up a higher gain and louder sound that I can use to boost up for solos. The Ecstacy has so many options on it that you can dial up tons of great sounds with it. Both are great amps but different sounds. Reinhold Bogner is pure genius and I don't think he could design a bad sounding amp even on a bad day

Probably the best live guitar tone I have ever heard came from 101B's. the band was Rascal Flats. That guy Joe Dons guitar tone was simply outstanding.
The 101B also will cut through any mix. Every Bogner amp is great. I just prefer the 101B

[Bengal65]

I was going to say ask Bill or Roody. I see they were already here. Ok, I'll go back to sleep

Uber guys are great

[Strangletooth]

I had one and it was definitely brutal, but not very versatile, not as much as the 101B, had one of those to. I would have to mirror what everyone else has said about both. Even that dude using Bill's screen name...

I actually picked up an Ectasy mod to try out for a while for my Randall RMc yesterday and it's quite cool as well. That may be another way to go when buying a new head, check out the Randall stuff, they've got all of the Bogner mods and Pete can do a little magic with them as well. They're pretty close iirc, it's been a while since I had either of them.