Bogner Uberchall

[Josh Jackson]

Looking at a Uberchall, what do you all think of them?
I don't play death metal but I do play down tuned thrash.
Right now I have a Recto and Mark iv and looking for some thing
new.

[jgcable]

Looking at a Uberchall, what do you all think of them?
I don't play death metal but I do play down tuned thrash.
Right now I have a Recto and Mark iv and looking for some thing
new.

lets see.... A Recto, A Mark IV and now you want an Ubershall.
I say... GREAT CHOICE. Next amp you will need is a Soldano SLO100

I would then start looking for a Deizil Herbert

[Spivonious]

Bill here always raves about his Uber. I'm sure he'll post here eventually.

[horns666]

I've own My Bogner since 2002, and it was just months old. I'm exclusely a metal player that writes only original music along the lines of Testament/ Nevermore/Arch Enemy/ The Haunted/Exodus/Coroner and Eidolon..with a dash of Pantera. Well you get the idea.

After twiddlin' with this thing in a band envirement and frequently with my son on drums (he's a real basher). It is THE best metal head I've yet to hear or own. I've owned five 5150, and milked those to death. The very first Recto, shitloads of Marshalls.Ampeg VL-100s. I still have my favoririte Marshall rig. Mesa Mrk III, a couple cheaper Soldanos like the Super Lead 60 and HR 100. I plyaed most of the VHT stuff, SLO100s which both have great tone. But for gobs of tight 100% usuable articulate gain, with singing leads and a nice clean channel (which I don't use) . Basically I tried everything I've came across in 30 years of search for THE tone. I found it with the Uberschall. BUT not quite as is. My only beef with the Uber was this annoying midrange freq that drove me nuts at LOUD band levels. To me it sound like a car horn "honk". Even with the extremely active/interactive tone controls I could not rid this fuggin' "Honk" . Until I was luck enough to have a preamp tube go bad. I explained my discontent to Dan at the tube store about this mid rand "honk" and he said that is a common complaint with the Uberschall and strongly advised me to try Tung Sols. It took quite some time to dial the amp in because it really changed the voice and feel of the amp for the better. It immediately got rid of the "Honk"..in fact you can't make it honk. It gave me TONS more bass. With the stock JJ I always dimed the low end but with the Tung Sols it's just too wayyyy too much bottom end (I'm also a bass player)..although not flubby at all..it just too overwhelming and BLOATED. So finally dicovered the best tone by just using the low control to thicken up my pick attack. I never been happier with it...and I truly enjoy it every time I plug in. It's a very inspiring tone. You can NOT make an Uverschall sound bad no matter how you set the controls it's all usuable and very versatile. People think the Uberschall is just a metal amp. It has the thickest, heaviest metal tone of any amp I've heard thus far but it can be tamed to do AC/DC..to classic VH..It can get a dark Marshal JMP tone out of it. But I always runs mine full on metal.

The only way I can describe it is. It sound like a much tighter, thicker, heavier version somewhere between a 5150 and Recto..I always found 5150 to be kinda "flubby" and the lead tones lifeless..But they have a nice "chug". A Recto is just buzzy to me. I don't do well with them at all. Some do amazng with them like Jeff Loomis, best sound he had whenver I saw him. But for me it's just dialing in buzz..it's there no mater what I do. Much like The Uber's "Honk" with the stock JJ's. Maybe what I need in '90/'91 was different preamp tubes in the Recto..I dunno.

Now Rudy, Nateb, Sven will prolly chime in and agree about the Uber being the ulitimate metal amp. They had theirs for a while and theirs isn't going anywhere soon. I just read that Spiral Achitect total regrets getting rid of his Uber, and he had some pretty nice stuff ass well. Nothing bad can be said about an Uberschall..especially in the right hands!!!

The best "truest" Uberschall example I can point you to on any record I've heard so far is Iced Earth's last "The crucible of man". Jon Schaffer used to used a Larry with a BBE 422 in the loop for his dirty tone and a Roland Jazz Chorus for his cleans with a A/B box. But since since he got his Uber when Ripper joined then around 2003 he uses both channels and it sounds amazing live and in studio. He didn't miss any coolness in his clean tones and The Roland is one of the holy grails for that stuff.

BTW..The Uber WILL reveal any sloppiness and you really have to hit pings and harmonics right on the money..which I had to adjust to do. Unlike my Marshall rig that likes anything I throw at it.. The Bogner is unforgiving than the Marshall is which can be frustrating at times. But it actually made be a better player for it..The Marshal and Bogner sound amazing together. It must be heard to be believed. Their voices really really blend so damn nice together. I actually wish I could have THAT sound with one amp. Because whenever I go for a crazy pinch harmonics if the Bogner doesn't pick it up..the Marshall will. This actually has me thinking of slamming the front of it with a pedal because my Marshall has diode clipping. So with that..I may achieve THAT sound with one amp.

So, there's one opinion from a diehard Uber owner/fan. Hope that helps.

Bill Z

[horns666]

Bill here always raves about his Uber. I'm sure he'll post here eventually.

Gotcha Spiv!!!

[horns666]

lets see.... A Recto, A Mark IV and now you want an Ubershall.
I say... GREAT CHOICE. Next amp you will need is a Soldano SLO100

I would then start looking for a Deizil Herbert

Hahha..That's hliarious...and funny I actually mentioned those in my spew. See, great minds think alike..

The ONLY amp I'd love to try sitting next to my Uber is a Slpawn Nitro with KT88s and The Herbert..that's it. I'm not too impressed with any Engls ..but I think Jeff Loomis is coming out with a sig model..oh oh..

[roodyrocker]

Whenever I see a thread about the Uber I jump in and back up Bill Its very true that the Uber has no bad settings, you can't dial in a bad tone of you tried. Unlike Bill however I use mine in an 80's Rock band so my gain is dialed at roughly halfway up and I use it with a 4x12 Bogner cab loaded with Celestion 25W British Greenbacks. It works well that way for that kind of music. I have also tried it with my Mesa cab which has V30's in it so that changes it a bit especially if you turn up the gain which btw is very useable even fully cranked. On other amps when you crank the gain all the way up your tone goes out the window, not so with the Uber. The clean channel is not bad either but it needs to be really turned up to match the volume with the distortion channel in a live situation. Mine is the revision blue version. At NAMM 2009 Bogner had a new version of it out that had additional hi and lo knobs for the clean channel and KT88's in the distortion channel. That made the clean even better. The one thing I don't like on the Uber is the effects loop doesn't play nice with pedals as its meant for line level rack effects. I tried my G Major through the loop but it changed my distortion tone and I can't have that. The Uber distortion sound must remain intact as its the best Therefore I run nothing through the loop. Bill is also correct in that my Uber is staying with me, not selling it ever as its my favorite!

[Josh Jackson]

this looks like this might be the amp I'm looking for.
So I have a over size Mesa cab that should work well with the Uberchall.
I do play with a lot of mids so I don't think the mid honk won't be a problem.
And thanks Bill for the great review.

[Josh Jackson]

Don't get me wrong I love my Mesa's but I seen a band using the
Bogner and it sounded kick ass, the band was called, Cattle Decapitation.

[roodyrocker]

Don't get me wrong I love my Mesa's but I seen a band using the
Bogner and it sounded kick ass, the band was called, Cattle Decapitation.

I have a Mesa Dual Recto as well but have not really played it much since getting the Uber. I like the Mesa but its difficult dialing in that amp compared to the Uber and the distortion channel on the Uber is simply the best

[nateb]

Drunk.. so, excuse the typing.

Ubers are badass. They are pretty much plain and simple, metal amps. If you are looking for diversity, you are going ot have to invest a little more into them then just the head. If you are looking for just metal. Yeah, these things are just what the coroner ordered. Bill loves the with his Tungsols but, I must tell you that you need to screw around with this amp a little bit tell you find out the way that it breaths for you. Personally, I love the thing stock but, some of the issues I had with it are Hiss, feedback, and a less then flavorful clean section. The other side of the this amp is that you have just a earth crushing low end and lead section. These amps love effects but, I have noticed that they did have a problem with the GPS 1101 in the 4 cable method. I could never get that working right traditionally. But, I did have a lot of success through trial and error. I must say one thing though... I am using a combination of Rectifier cabinets and UberKab cabinets and this thing just screams. Some more things about this amp. It does sound great with the gain dimed but, I find if you back it off a little bit it gains a lot of character. Especially if you back it off to 2-3oclock and throw a stompbox infront of it.

I went through the Vetta.. I really wanted that to work but, failed in such a bad way...
I had a custom rack... It lacked.
I went through a Mesa Roadster... The hiss pissed me off and again, I just wanted it to work right but, it never did...

I think the best way to go with an Uberschall is a ProrackG, TC-Gmajor 2 for effects and amp switching, and possibly if your just as stupid as I am something that where you can punch in preamp effects for the clean (if that is something that you require)

Here is my nightmare...




-Nate

[Shawn Lutz]

Get an Ecstasy instead Bill doesnt even use the Uber...its not Br00tlz enough for Satans music, it needs the gain to go to 20 ...lol

[Josh Jackson]

Is there different versions of the Uberschall?
Is one better then the other?

[roodyrocker]

Get an Ecstasy instead Bill doesnt even use the Uber...its not Br00tlz enough for Satans music, it needs the gain to go to 20 ...lol

Thats funny but in fact I did also get an Ecstasy The Ecstasy is an incredible amp as well. Heck, anything Bogner kicks ass! The Uber is the king of gain however. The Ecstasy is more versatile and has more options plus the cleans on it are better than the Uber. Everyone needs an Uber AND and Ecstasy

[roodyrocker]

Is there different versions of the Uberschall?
Is one better then the other?

Slight variations during its production life. None are necessarily better, just slightly different. I believe Bill's Uber is an earlier model while mine is a Revision Blue. If you look on the back of the amp you will see where it says "Revision Blue" on it if it is indeed one plus the power light on it is of course blue.
The Revision Blue gain taper is a little different plus they added a knob on the back for the effects loop level. Then at NAMM this year I saw another version which has KT88's plus it has hi and lo knobs for the clean channel. Don't know if this latest version is available yet. I can tell you that I'm very happy with my Revision Blue and obviously Bill is happy with his earlier Uber. The only other option on them that I'm aware of is that you can get the Uber with a regular front panel or the metal front grill. The Metal front grill is more expensive but this is cosmetic and has nothing to do with the amp sound/tone. Most Ubers I've seen have the metal front grill. I believe this option is popular on the Uber and some dealers automatically order their stock this way. I've seen some great prices on Ubers on E-Bay lately and I'd say now is the time to buy if you can. They seem to be about $1K cheaper than new!