New Ecstacy On The Way...little info?

[pcweidman]

Whats up HC. I havent posted in a while but I wanted to drop a line and let the forum know I just ordered a new Bogner Ecstacy 101B with A/B option and Black Metal Grill from Elite Music Sales. I also got a new Ubercab to go along with the head. What has led me to this point is the total crap of a Deizel Einstein I owned. I won't go into to much detail but I owned a DE that was over 1 year old and I was the second owner and it had some serious serious electrical problems and was sent to Diezel USA twice to be fixed. It came back twice unable to be ran for over 2 hours at stage volume and continues to blow the 3rd position power tube. I love Deizel and will probably own another one one day. I think I just got a lemon. I was disappointed in their inability to have proper technicians in the states to fix my amp but Peter was great with communication with me. Our lead guitar player FastRedPonyCar has posted videos on YouTube if you are interested. Moving on.

 

Anyway, the reason I am writing is to see if any of you Bogner guys know of any tricks for maintenance, quirks, good sounding tube combinations, possible problems or flaws, etc etc that come to mind with the Ecstacy. This is my first Bogner and I am very excited!

 

Thanks,

[Erock503]

great amps man, congrats. Couple things to keep in mind for tubes, the average plate voltage on these things is very high. Mine was measuring around 520Vdc, so they need a tube that can handle high plate voltage. Ones I know of that are spec'd to handle the high voltages are the SED Winged =C=, and the Ruby/Shuguang EL34BHT. It's also an easy mod of one resistor if you want to run KT88/6550 in the amp, the output transformer and circuit are spec'd to take it no problem. I have 6550 in mine, and really like the low punch and snarl they give it. Check out the Bogner forums for some clean settings to try out.
http://bognerampforum.informe.com/tip-how-to-get-a-true-fender-clean-tone-dt257.html

also, really like V30 x H30 with this amp, although the Uberkab will probably sound killer too. All V30 sound great with it too. Oh, and watch when you're in Class A, the amps get really hot if it sits idle for a while in that operation mode.


Congrats again, I saw that Diezel vid FRPC posted, very unsettling to say the least being a Diezel owner myself.

[JC-TONEQUEST]

great amps man, congrats. Couple things to keep in mind for tubes, the average plate voltage on these things is very high. Mine was measuring around 520Vdc, so they need a tube that can handle high plate voltage. Ones I know of that are spec'd to handle the high voltages are the SED Winged =C=, and the Ruby/Shuguang EL34BHT. It's also an easy mod of one resistor if you want to run KT88/6550 in the amp, the output transformer and circuit are spec'd to take it no problem. I have 6550 in mine, and really like the low punch and snarl they give it. Check out the Bogner forums for some clean settings to try out. http://bognerampforum.informe.com/tip-how-to-get-a-true-fender-clean-tone-dt257.html also, really like V30 x H30 with this amp, although the Uberkab will probably sound killer too. All V30 sound great with it too. Oh, and watch when you're in Class A, the amps get really hot if it sits idle for a while in that operation mode. Congrats again, I saw that Diezel vid FRPC posted, very unsettling to say the least being a Diezel owner myself.

I want your XTC damn it. Trade me already for my VHT UL would you!

[Wizard of Ozz]

Whats up HC. I havent posted in a while but I wanted to drop a line and let the forum know I just ordered a new Bogner Ecstacy 101B with A/B option and Black Metal Grill from Elite Music Sales. I also got a new Ubercab to go along with the head. What has led me to this point is the total crap of a Deizel Einstein I owned. I won't go into to much detail but I owned a DE that was over 1 year old and I was the second owner and it had some serious serious electrical problems and was sent to Diezel USA twice to be fixed. It came back twice unable to be ran for over 2 hours at stage volume and continues to blow the 3rd position power tube. I love Deizel and will probably own another one one day. I think I just got a lemon. I was disappointed in their inability to have proper technicians in the states to fix my amp but Peter was great with communication with me. Our lead guitar player FastRedPonyCar has posted videos on YouTube if you are interested. Moving on. Anyway, the reason I am writing is to see if any of you Bogner guys know of any tricks for maintenance, quirks, good sounding tube combinations, possible problems or flaws, etc etc that come to mind with the Ecstacy. This is my first Bogner and I am very excited! Thanks,

Sorry to hear about your experience with the Diezel Einstein, but that seems to be about par for the course with Diezels these days. More and more guys having issues with their amps. Another VH4 user here on this forum had a similar "unfixable" problem that couldn't be resolved after sending his amp back to Diezel HQ in Germany twice. Not good.

I've owned a Herbert for the last 4 years and have had zero issues, so it seems like the problems have started occuring in the last couple of years. And there have been a lot of them.

As for the XTC, my best tones came from the red channel with the gain at 3:00 and the presence also at 3:00 (which is important to get the best cutting tone from the XTC IMHO). Bass, Mid, Treble, all around 11-1:00 +/-. The XTC can take some time to dial in due to all the preamp vocing switches and other options. I also preferred the full power mode, myself.

[starsnuffer]

Tone is all in your fingers with an XTC. Set everything to noon and learn to play the amp before you even start {censored}ing with the knobs. It'll give you what you put into it.

 

As for tubes, Winged C EL34's or if you want a slightly more modern tone, Gold Lion KT77s. XTC's will eat through tung sols in the preamp especially V2 and the FX loop tube. I found best results with plain old chineese 9th gen everywhere except v2 where I like an LPS. That's after experimenting with many tubes.

 

Bias makes a huge difference, so make sure you bias it up right and then tweak it a bit to suit your tastes. A small change will take it everywhere from dark and lifeless to harsh and bright.

 

Enjoy the amp!

 

-W

[Erock503]

I want your XTC damn it. Trade me already for my VHT UL would you!

haha, I would love to try that amp, but I have an unhealthy addiction to the XTC for some reason. I suck at trying to write the kind of music that amp is geared for, but it just sounds so damn good. You can just hit big power chords and let them ring out and hang there, swirling and snarling away, lol.
The lead tones on it are kind of ridiculous too, one of those amps that you could swear is trying to help you play. The red ch has just the right amount of compression for my taste to make everything easier to play, without sacrificing a nice thick crunchy rhythm sound. Everytime I listen to AIC's Dirt in my truck, I have to go home and play that amp, haha.

have you tried boosting that UL? I'm a boost junkie, and so far I think my favorite boost pedal to date is the Xotic BB Preamp. I think it would kick ass with the UL.

[ThrashensteiN]

Bogner gas. . . increasing

[willy22]

I hate you for getting an XTC. My GAS for one is reaching epic levels. Got a fealing you'll probably wanna dump those 75s after awhile, but that's neither here nor there...Congrats on a KILLER amp!

[JC-TONEQUEST]

haha, I would love to try that amp, but I have an unhealthy addiction to the XTC for some reason. I suck at trying to write the kind of music that amp is geared for, but it just sounds so damn good. You can just hit big power chords and let them ring out and hang there, swirling and snarling away, lol. The lead tones on it are kind of ridiculous too, one of those amps that you could swear is trying to help you play. The red ch has just the right amount of compression for my taste to make everything easier to play, without sacrificing a nice thick crunchy rhythm sound. Everytime I listen to AIC's Dirt in my truck, I have to go home and play that amp, haha. have you tried boosting that UL? I'm a boost junkie, and so far I think my favorite boost pedal to date is the Xotic BB Preamp. I think it would kick ass with the UL.

Yeah I boost it with an Xotic RC Booster. The UL is a killer amp and I have been messing around with some settings and it has breathed new life into it again. I will most likely hold onto it for awhile. I am very interested in getting another XTC though. That is the one amp I regret getting rid of.

[Shiny_Surface]

Whats up HC. I havent posted in a while but I wanted to drop a line and let the forum know I just ordered a new Bogner Ecstacy 101B with A/B option and Black Metal Grill from Elite Music Sales. I also got a new Ubercab to go along with the head. What has led me to this point is the total crap of a Deizel Einstein I owned. I won't go into to much detail but I owned a DE that was over 1 year old and I was the second owner and it had some serious serious electrical problems and was sent to Diezel USA twice to be fixed. It came back twice unable to be ran for over 2 hours at stage volume and continues to blow the 3rd position power tube. I love Deizel and will probably own another one one day. I think I just got a lemon. I was disappointed in their inability to have proper technicians in the states to fix my amp but Peter was great with communication with me. Our lead guitar player FastRedPonyCar has posted videos on YouTube if you are interested. Moving on. Anyway, the reason I am writing is to see if any of you Bogner guys know of any tricks for maintenance, quirks, good sounding tube combinations, possible problems or flaws, etc etc that come to mind with the Ecstacy. This is my first Bogner and I am very excited! Thanks,

Congrats on the xtc, I saw the Diezel vid as well very unfortunate.

The Bogner is a great amp though, I wonder how it will sound in the mix with FastRedPonyCar's Nitro, report back to us.

[Erock503]

Congrats on the xtc, I saw the Diezel vid as well very unfortunate. The Bogner is a great amp though, I wonder how it will sound in the mix with FastRedPonyCar's Nitro, report back to us.

I bet that combo is going to be epic. Make sure to post clips!

[pcweidman]

Hey thanks you guys. Seems to be an all around thumbs up on choosing the Bogner. It is quite unfortunate about the Diezel so if you know anyone that wants to give it a shot im selling it for a HUGE discount, $2,000.00 plus shipping, so let me know and if you guys know anyone.

 

Thanks for the presets. If anyone has any favorite presets they would like to hit me with I would appreciate it. I like glassy cleans with little gain yet lots of body and power amp fullness that will make the speakers move. I am also going for a very crunchy strong second channel for palm mute rhythms for punk and metal, then a high gain little more saturation yet difinity and volume for big chorus'.

 

I will be mixing my XTC and Ubercab on Rhythm with a KT88 custom Splawn Nitro and Nitro Cab with Scumbacks on Lead. Please see FastRedPonyCar our lead player for his rig. Its very cool and has a custom tolex job. Drew and I will post some work on here when my amp comes in so you guys can hear the Splawn and XTC side by side.