Super Scoop!

Originally printed in the February 2013 issue of Guitar Player. Reprinted with the permission of the Publishers of Guitar Player. Copyright 2008 NewBay Media, LLC. All rights
reserved. Guitar Player is a Music Player Network publication, 1111 Bayhill Dr., St. 125, San Bruno, CA 94066. T. 650.238.0300. Subscribe at www.musicplayer.com
What We Used to
Test These Pedals
MATT BLACKETT
PRS McCarty, Fender Stratocaster, Bad Cat Hot
Cat 100, 1973 Marshall
JMP 50-watt through
PRS Stealth 2x12
BARRY CLEVELAND
PRS Custom 24 Brazilian
and Custom 22, Fender/
Roland GC-1 Stratocaster, Bad Cat Hot Cat
100, Rivera Venus 6, Fractal Audio Axe-Fx II Mark II
DARRIN FOX
Fender Telecaster, Gibson
SG, Fender Deluxe Reverb,
Fender Princeton Reverb
SAM HAUN
Gibson Les Paul, Fender
Stratocaster, Vox AC30,
Fender Blues Junior
Super Scoop!
EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK AT BOGNER’S
ECSTASY BLUE AND ECSTASY RED
T ESTE D BY ART T HOMPSON
$299 each
DAVE HUNTER
Fano JM6 with Fralin
P-90s, Gibson 1958 Les
Paul Reissue, TopHat
Vanderbilt 33 amplifier and 2x12 cab
Designed to replicate the tones of the Blue and Red channels of Bogner’s Ecstasy tube
amplifier, the Blue pedal aims at classic “plexi” style tones while Red is all about high-gain
aggression. Common to both are discrete class-A gain stages (Blue has four, Red five)
along with a Variac switch (simulates dropped-voltage dynamic response), a 3-way Pre
EQ switch (controls high-frequency harmonics), and a 3-way Structure switch (selects
EQ and gain structures of various Ecstasy amps). Both pedals have trimpots for presetting the amount of gain and level increase for the footswitchable Boost, along with a
Mode switch: Blue’s selects lower or higher gain, whereas Red’s chooses between three
different EQ curves and gain structures.
Both pedals deliver rich, tube-sounding distortion over huge range of gain and output.
The Blue can serve up everything from bluesy, old Marshall-style grind to heavy rock
rhythm and lead tones—while Red has more of everything—including searing gain and a
huge EQ range that’ll go deep into scooped-mid territory for skull-crushing metal tones.
Amazingly, though, even at the highest gain settings, it’s quiet and the tones clean up well
with a twist of your guitar’s volume knob. I dig ’em both, but the Red has so much going
for it on the rock and metal side it earns an Editors’ Pick Award. Either way, though, these
boxes put an inimitable Bogner stamp on whatever you play them through.
MICHAEL MOLENDA
Epiphone Dot Studio,
custom LAG Jet, Fano Retrosphear, California Guitars custom Blue with
single-coils, Mesa/Boogie
Stiletto, Orange Tiny Terror
ART THOMPSON
PRS SC58, PRS Quatro,
Fender Telecaster, Gibson
Les Paul, 1973 Marshall
JMP 50-watt through
PRS Stealth 2x12, Fender
1964 Super Reverb,
Bad Cat Hot Cat 100
through Bad Cat 4x12
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 / G U I TA R P L A Y E R . C O M 69
JUNE 2013
the gear
in review
87
PRS
7 -St ri n g S E
88
E R N I E BA L L
Mu si c M an
A rma da G u i tar
90
MX R
Talk Box
92
R E V E R E ND
GU I T A R S
B a y o n et Gu i tar
94
SEYMOUR
DUNCAN
Gus G Fire
Blackout
system pickups
94
C H A OSOU ND
A n t i -Effe c t
GUITAR
WORLD
PLATINUM
AWARD
EX
CELLENCE
True Colors
BOGNER ECSTASY BLUE AND RED PEDALS By Ch ris G ill
SINCE THE EARLY Nineties, Reinhold Bogner’s
Ecstasy and Uberschall amps have played significant roles in modern guitar tone, having been heard on
hundreds of influential recordings and seen on numerous concert stages. Because Bogner amps were never
inexpensive (these days an Ecstasy head sells for nearly
$4,000), they’re rarely seen outside of professional rigs
or studios. Fortunately, in recent years, the company has
developed new products that make its signature tones
more accessible to the masses.
This year, the amp maker released a new line of pedals
that provide many of the distinctive sounds and innovative
features of Bogner amps in affordable stomp-box packages.
The lineup currently consists of three pedals—the Ecstasy
Blue, Ecstasy Red and high-gain Uberschall—that deliver
a wide range of incredible tones, from vintage crunch to
harmonically complex distortion. Each pedal costs about
the same as a decent boutique overdrive, which means that
guitarists can get all three for a mere fraction of the price
of a Bogner amp. For this review, I tried out both Ecstasy
pedals to compare their contrasting sonic personalities.
FEATURES The Ecstasy Blue and Ecstasy Red are based
on separate channels found on the Bogner Ecstasy amp.
guitarworld.com
85
SoundCheck
For video of this review, go to
GuitarWorld.com/June2013
* optimized for iPhone, iPad and Android!
cheat
sheet
LIST PRICE $349.99
(each)
MANUFACTURER
Bogner Amplification,
bogneramplification.com
Both pedals are
configured like standalone amp channels, with
volume, gain and threeband EQ controls.
Although they both have virtually
identical features, the Blue pedal
provides crunch similar to a
“Plexi” Marshall along with the
crush of a later JCM-style amp,
while the Red’s tone is warmer
and fatter, with considerably more
gain on hand. Both pedals have
amp-like controls consisting of
volume, gain, treble, middle and
bass, along with Bogner’s unique
Variac on/off, Pre EQ b1/n/b2 and
Structure 101/100/20th switches
(representing the 101, 100 and
20th Anniversary Ecstasy models).
The Blue pedal also provides
a Plexi/Blue mode switch, while
the Red has a three-position
mode switch with Tight, Mellow
and Full settings. In addition,
both pedals feature a Boost
mode, complete with its own
footswitch with miniature
volume and gain controls.
Both pedals operate on a ninevolt battery or with a nine-volt
DC/100mA adapter, which will
be a relief to anyone using a multiunit power supply and coping with
today’s increasingly current-hungry devices. A 1/4-inch remote
jack enables a remote controller to
86
gu i ta r wor l d • j u n e 2013
turn the effect and boost functions
on or off, allowing users to mount
the pedals in a rack.
PERFORMANCE Because the
Ecstasy Blue and Red are almost
like amps unto themselves, it’s best
to use them with amps that are
dialed in to clean tones instead of
an amp that’s already overdriven
or distorted. I found that the Blue
pedal sounded best with Fender
Bassman and Twin, Hiwatt, Krank,
and VHT amps. The Red pedal is
compatible with an even wider
variety of amps.
Both pedals deliver a wide
range of tones and textures, from
clean overdrive boost to sizzling
distortion. The Blue pedal’s
Plexi mode emphasizes uppermidrange frequencies and nails
classic EVH and AC/DC tones, and
the Blue mode tames the treble
slightly while boosting lower
mids. The Red pedal is much more
aggressive, producing smooth,
singing compressed high-gain
tones in Mid mode and raunchy,
speaker-ripping rhythms in Full
mode, while Tight mode provides
the detailed, focused bottom end
essential for modern metal tones.
On both pedals, Variac mode
drops the output level slightly
while producing a spongier feel.
The Pre EQ boosts treble at the b1
setting and midrange and highs
at the b2 setting, while the n setting is neutral. The Structure
101/100/20th switch changes the
overall feel. The 101 setting produces loose, Tweed tones that
respond well to dynamics; 100
offers focused midrange and a
tighter attack; and 20th has a modern personality with harmonically
complex mids and highs.
The EQ controls are very
reactive and cover a wide
sonic range without ever
sounding artificial or unmusical.
Considering all the switching
options, it can take a while to dial
in a particular sound that you have
in mind, but along the way, you’re
likely to discover satisfying tones
you may not have considered
before. The best feature of both
pedals is that anyone can dial in his
or her own signature tones with
them, and, unlike other stomp
boxes, sound different from other
players using the same pedal.
The Boost mode features
its own footswitch and
separate volume and
gain controls, allowing it
to operate almost like a
separate channel.
The Mode switch alters
the tonal personality as
well as the gain structure,
providing vintage and
modern textures.
The Structure
101/100/20th switch
allows guitarists to
modify the pedal’s
dynamic response and
tonal personality to
sculpt the sound with
even greater detail.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Offering versatile
performance and the
sonic personality of
separate channels in
Bogner’s Ecstasy amp,
the Bogner Ecstasy Blue
and Ecstasy Red pedals
provide an affordable
gateway to Bogner’s
coveted signature tones.
REVIEW > BOGNER
BOGNER
ECSTASY BLUE & RED
OVERDRIVE PEDALS
BY JORDAN WAGNER
W
hen it comes to high-powered
boutique amps, few command the
respect of the Bogner Ecstasy. The buttery
cleans, extreme dynamic range, and guttural overdrive have enthralled fans of hotrodded British tone since the early ’90s. For
many, Ecstasy amps embody the ideal combination of these qualities. Unfortunately,
they're quite pricey, too.
Reinhold Bogner recently set out to
provide a more affordable path for guitarists
who want to tap into the Ecstasy’s potent
tones. The result is the Ecstasy Blue and
Red overdrive pedals—each based on a
channel from the Ecstasy series. Each aims
to capture the tonal nuances that made the
Ecstasy 100, 101, and 20th Anniversary
models so desirable.
Red vs. Blue
The Ecstasy pedals use class A circuits that
eschew diodes or op-amps for overdrive clipping. Each circuit board is populated with
select components—Japanese Nichicon and
German WIMI caps, gold-plated relays,
and Carling switches for true bypassing and
boosting. You can also vary voltage to widen
dynamic range and touch sensitivity.
Both pedals share the same simple control layout: volume, treble, middle, bass,
and gain knobs. Directly above these are
four switches that change the gain structure, response, and feel. Variac, which acts
like an actual Variac transformer by lowering the pedal’s voltage, gives the tone more
sag and pulls back the volume to more
neighbor-friendly levels. The mode switch
flips between lower- (plexi) and higher(blues) gain modes on the Ecstasy Blue,
and three different EQ curve and gain presets on the Ecstasy Red.
Each pedal’s pre-EQ switch has two
levels of presence and high-end boost, and
these can be bypassed completely when set
premierguitar.com
to neutral. The coolest feature might be
the 3-way switch that realigns the pedals'
EQ and gain structures to match the major
versions of the Ecstasy amplifier—the 100,
101, and the coveted 20th Anniversary.
Both pedals also have a footswitchable
boost feature that can boost the volume and
gain levels at the same time. You can independently set the amount of volume and
gain boost via two small potentiometers
located directly beneath the pedal’s main
volume and gain knobs. The mini-boost
pots also house LEDs that light up when
you stomp the boost footswitch.
ECSTASY BLUE
The Ecstasy Blue excels at clear, harmonically rich clean tones, purring
low-gain rhythms, and biting
Variac
classic-rock overdrive. Its threeon/off
dimensional tone and woody
attack are astonishingly close to
the Ecstasy amp's blue channel.
In plexi mode and with
structure at 100, the Blue transformed a Fender Deluxe Reverb,
embellishing the rich cleans
with detailed highs and butterysmooth lows. Raising gain to 11
o’clock and switching the pre-EQ
to b1 gave the Deluxe’s trademark
sparkling top end and refined
RATINGS
HEADOnline…
to hear audio clips of the pedals at
premierguitar.com/may2013
attack a little more body, and the midrange
took on a much beefier quality.
Mids sound less aggressive in 101 mode,
and the overall tone is smoother and a bit
more compressed—much like the difference
between the 100 and 101 amp revisions.
With a Strat, the 101 mode’s springier low
end really lends itself to blues leads that are
just over the edge of breakup.
For overdriven AC/DC riffing and Zepinspired leads, 20th Anniversary mode and
a Les Paul delivered the requisite upper-mid
aggression, steel-drum tightness, and velvety
Plexi and
Blue modes
Pre-EQ switch
Boost function
Bogner Ecstasy Blue, $299 street, bogneramplification.com
Pros:
Sounds authentically like the actual Ecstasy blue channel. Three modes sound and feel like three different amps.
Variable boosting is super-useful.
Cons:
Boosts can’t be set to cut gain and volume individually.
Tones
Versatility
Build/Design
Value
PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2013 127
REVIEW > BOGNER
overdrive in spades. It cleaned up remarkably well without losing volume or body
when I rolled back the Paul’s volume.
The boost not only affects the gain and volume, but also the presence in cleaner settings.
Boosting volume from 11 to 2 o’clock made
the upper mids much more prevalent and full.
Pick attack also became more pronounced,
without significant loss of warmth. And boosting the gain slightly with the volume control
gave the high end a softer edge that was handy
when I cranked the Deluxe into slight overdrive and slammed the front end with output
from the pedal.
Though it can take a little tweaking to
nail a tone that’s a match for your amp, the
balance between Bogner’s brawny voicing
and the Deluxe’s own sound was remarkable. The Fender’s clean tones are a great
blank slate for any pedal, and the Bogner’s
ability to emulate a hot-rodded Marshall
without turning the Deluxe into a sputtering, muddy mess says a lot about how carefully this pedal was voiced.
The Verdict
The Ecstasy Blue is a fantastic pedal for
both clean tone shaping and low to moderate overdrive. Bogner has captured the
natural response, note-to-note clarity, and
robust overdrive that made the Ecstasy’s
blue channel a hit with blues and rock guitarists. Its ability to get you so convincingly
in the Ecstasy’s sonic ballpark at a fraction
of the price is nothing short of remarkable.
ECSTASY RED
Bogner’s little red devil aims to capture
the searing overdrive that made Bogner
a household name among fans of heavy
guitar. And for all intents and purposes, it
succeeds. It puts many of the nuances that
distinguish the Ecstasy amp's thick and
chewy overdrive at your fingertips, and the
extremely sensitive EQ section can help
you drastically reshape its voice. The noteto-note clarity and dynamics are just as
remarkable as the Ecstasy Blue’s, though the
cost of massive gain can be noisier output.
With a Twin Reverb and the Ecstasy Red
set to its 100 mode and a low-gain setting,
the pedal generated the barking midrange
and juicy low end that defined the original
Ecstasy. Every note had enormous body,
sustained smoothly, and teetered at the edge
of luscious feedback. Lighter pick attack
revealed even more detail in the midrange
128 PREMIER GUITAR MAY 2013
Tight/mellow/low
voice switch
and created a jelly-like bounce
in the low end—a defining
characteristic of Bogner’s amps.
Things got more ferocious
when I turned the gain to 1
o’clock and engaged the b1
presence boost, unleashing a
roaring overdrive perfect for
dropped tunings. The 101
mode increases compression
and smooths out top end
slightly, but retains enough
power in the high-mids for
Alice in Chains-style hard rock.
Even at super high-gain settings
where most overdrive and distortion pedals
begin to mush out, Red's drive remained
fluid, dynamic, and powerful. And switching variac on added a touch of brown sound
with looser mids and slower attack that
begged for EVH-style playing.
The pedal’s 101 and 20th Anniversary
modes unleash the most unrelenting and
aggressive tones. The midrange is more
snarling in the 20th Anniversary mode than
in 100 or 101 mode, and a harder pick
attack lends a grittier edge to the highs.
Increasing the gain in the 101 and 20th
Anniversary modes also seemed to make the
already sensitive EQ even more reactive.
When I accidentally moved the treble
control from 1 o’clock to 11 o’clock, I
thought I’d rolled back the tone knob on
my Les Paul. The only control out of the
three that seemed to have less of an effect
in high-gain settings was the bass control,
though it still had plenty of range. The
pedal’s only major drawback was how much
hiss was present when I had the boost gain
set above 3 o’clock. I had no issues with
feedback, but the white noise was somewhat excessive, and I was often tempted to
dig out my noise suppressor to clamp down
on the hiss.
While the Ecstasy Red has plenty of
overdrive to satisfy the heavier proclivities
of most players, it isn’t really designed with
Boost function
the scooped-mid crowd in mind. I was able
to get some seriously heavy tones by scooping the mids down to around 9 o’clock, but
since the circuit is dedicated to generating that brawny mid voicing, some of the
pedal’s body and detail are lost in these
scooped-mid environs. Keeping the mids at
11 o’clock or above highlights the pedal’s
strengths. At the end of the day, this is a
pedal for heavy players who cut their teeth
on hot-rodded British style amps, and really
understand how important great midrange
presence is in crafting the best heavy tones.
The Verdict
If you’re a rocker who has drooled at the
thought of owning an Ecstasy amp but can’t
cough up the required cash, you should
take a close look at the Ecstasy Red pedal.
Bogner has done an amazing job replicating
the tone, feel, definition, and response of
all three of the Ecstasy’s variants. Granted,
you’ll need a good, blank slate of a tube
amp to make the most of these pedals. But
considering how inaccessibly priced most of
these amps are for the average player, laying
down $300 for the company’s flagship overdrive tones seems like a fair price to pay for
the next best thing.
RATINGS
Bogner Ecstasy Red, $299 street, bogneramplification.com
Pros:
Infuses clean tones with the signature Ecstasy high-gain
sound exceptionally well. Very responsive to pick attack and playing
dynamics. Wide-ranging, sensitive EQ. Three modes have noticeable
differences, like having three amps in one.
Cons:
Boost has some background hiss at higher gain settings.
Tones
Versatility
Build/Design
Value
premierguitar.com
Gear Reviews
Red, Wild,
and Blue
Bogner’s Ecstasy Pedals
T
o say that pedal-building is in
vogue is to make one of the biggest
understatements of the decade. Daily,
it seems, new Hammond-boxed threeknob wonders promise unwitting
guitarists the one missing piece that
they need to get noticed. With such
a jaundiced view, the timing is right
to have the scales removed from our
pedal-weary eyes.
Enter Reinhold Bogner, the man
who birthed one of the most lauded
amp lines of the late-’80s and early-’90s
boutique amp explosion. In the two
decades since, Bogner has worked tirelessly to improve and expand his line.
Most recently, he has introduced three
pedals: the Ecstasy Blue, the Ecstasy
Red, and the Uberschall. The former
two represent Bogner’s efforts to mine
the finely honed tones of the Blue and
Red channels on his flagship Ecstasy
amplifier.
The Bog ner
Blue and Red
pedals
Bogner
Ecstasy
pedals
Price: $299.99 (each, retail)
Info: bogneramplification.com
Vintage Guitar
feature amp-like layouts including
Volume, Treble, Middle, Bass, and
Gain knobs. Beneath the knobs are
Boost and On/Off footswitches,
along with mini pots for Gain and
Volume that are activated when the
Boost footswitch is depressed. Four
mini toggles are assigned Variac (see
below); Mode (Tight/Mellow/Full on
the Red, and Plexi/Blue on the Blue);
Pre EQ (b1/n/b2); and Structure for
101/100/20th gain settings based on the
corresponding Ecstasy amplifier channel. Both pedals can be powered with a
9-volt battery or
DC supply.
Both the Bogner Blue and Red Ecstasy were tested with a ’67 Telecaster,
a reissue Les Paul, and a Strat played
through a 1965 Deluxe Reverb, a Dr Z
Carmen Ghia, and a recent Vox AC15.
With the reissue Paul plugged into
the Bogner Blue and the Deluxe, and
with everything set at noon, twisting and twirling the pedal’s various
knobs result in an enjoyable variety of
Marshall-esque tones. The Gain knob,
for example, goes from barely clean to
a full, biting drive. The pedal operates
cleanly and with an extremely low noise
floor, while the passive three-band
EQ’s range makes dialing in different
guitars fun and keeps with the pedal’s
amp theme. The pedal is also notably
touch-responsive. Even at high gain
settings with the humbucker-equipped
Paul, by simply softening his or her
touch, the player achieves a clean tone.
Conversely, digging in results in nice
sizzle and grit.
Players prompted by curiosity to
pop the back off the Bogner Blue
Ecstasy will be amazed at the amount
of circuitry involved compared to a
run-of-the-mill dirt box. Two large
pigg ybacked circuit boards
are accompanied by a
fair amount of
goop and a
plastic cover
that appears to
serve as a dam
to hold more goop
over a certain area
of the board. Presumably the cover
and goop protect some of the design,
create some level of mystery, or both.
Although they certainly aren’t willing
to remove all of the mystery, the folks
at Bogner do indicate that the pedal’s
headroom and amp-like responsiveness are due to a number of factors,
including a lack of op-amp buffer
and clipping diodes, internal circuitry
greater than 9 volts, and four stages of
class-A gain.
Back to the pedal’s exterior, activating the Boost footswitch changes the
gain and volume settings to those of
their respective mini pots. Boost has
very nice gain and volume-boost levels,
allowing the player to simply make
their drive tone louder and increase
the gain/dirt level.
Moving on to the Variac mini toggle,
flipping from off to on creates a small
thump as the internal voltages and
overall level are lowered a bit. Bumping
the Level knob to compensate results
in the more compressed and squishy
tones of the Variac setting. The Plexi/
Blue switch changes the tone and gain
levels ever so slightly, moving from
vintage (Plexi) to more modern (Blue),
while the Pre EQ toggle allows the option of tonal shaping before the drive
stage, and Structure allows the player to
choose the era of Ecstasy amp desired.
The Red Ecstasy exhibits the highgain, hot-rodded tones that have made
the Bogner amps the choice among
tone-conscience rockers. And that’s a
good thing – these higher gain tones
sound unlike any other high-gain dirt
box. Via its complement of knobs and
switches, the Red Ecstasy has all the
same amp-like touch-sensitivity and
tone-tweaking abilities as the Blue
Ecstasy, just at higher gain levels. Even
those who don’t favor high-gain pedals
will find themselves pulled in by the
Red’s full range gain settings. Although
the tone is quite saturated at high settings, it never evokes the desire to don
spandex (perhaps leather, though).
Both pedals worked exceptionally
well with the guitars and amps on hand
for testing. The tone-shaping switches
and knobs allowed easy dialing in of
each guitar, and unlike many drive
units, both were friendly with any amp
with which they were paired.
But what really sets both the Bogner
Blue and Red Ecstasy apart from the
horde of drive pedals on the market are
their unique abilities to sound and react
like great amplifiers. Instead of sucking
away touch-sensitivity and dynamics,
they enhance them while offering a
wide tonal range that inexplicably gives
an amp a second channel of brilliant
musical drive tones. Though the prices
are relatively high, unmatched tone and
build quality should make them musthaves for many. – Zac Childs
A p r i l 2013VintageGuitar.com