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How heavy can a Bogner Ecstasy get?


TheGreatGreen

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I'm talking about saturated, tight, modern super high gain tones here. How far can the Ecstasy go? With the right gear, like say a guitar with EMG pickups and an EQ in the loop, and maybe even a boost pedal of some kind, could an Ecstasy ever enter something like ENGL territory? Or, will it always be a medium gain rock amp?

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I think it can definately get brutal, especially with a boost on the red channel. It's pretty heavy even without the boost, but the boost helps to tighten it up more. On it's own, I think it is tighter than the Uberschall. It can be just as darks/saturated sounding too. It just lacks a little of the low-end thump the Uberschall has.

I've owned 2 fireballs, a powerball and an SE and the boosted XTC can definately hang. Just as a more organic voicing relative to the ENGLs and does much better clean and mid-gain stuff.

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The Red channel gets pretty heavy but I wouldn't say modern super high gain territory. Even when you try to boost it, it gets a little too compressed and saturated for my tastes. IMO, the XTC is more of a vintage voiced amp (even in the modern switch setting). With the excursion set to tight, it does stay fairly tight but nowhere near any other common top notch high gainer. I played my xtc only one time with an EMG 85 in the bridge and it was just too noisey for me and didn't bother to play for more than a few minutes with it like that.

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The XTC is a fantastic amp. However, if you are looking for a dark, heavy, Engl-like tone, there would be no sense in dropping $3-4k on this amp. It can hold its own for metal, sure, but it is definately not what it excels at. If you want an Engl tone, why don't you just look into an Engl? The SE and Invader are in a comparable price range and does some pretty awesome clean, vintage and mid-gain tones while definately exceling at teh br00talz.

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Sorry to highjack the thread but how tight is the Uberschall?

 

 

Depends. The Uberschall is an awesome amp but has a VERY distinctive sound that will pretty immediately invoke a certain love or hate reaction. It also, like a ton of other high end high-gain amps (Engl, Mesa, etc.), has WAY more gain on tap than anyone will ever need. The key to a tight Uber is keeping the gain lower and it produces a fantastic tight chunky tone. The second the gain goes too high it turns into a box of bees.

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Depends. The Uberschall is an awesome amp but has a VERY distinctive sound that will pretty immediately invoke a certain love or hate reaction. It also, like a ton of other high end high-gain amps (Engl, Mesa, etc.), has WAY more gain on tap than anyone will ever need. The key to a tight Uber is keeping the gain lower and it produces a fantastic tight chunky tone. The second the gain goes too high it turns into a box of bees.

 

 

On it's own, it's a pretty loose amp in general though when compared to ENGLs, VHTs, Diezel, etc. I like to run the gain at about 10 to 11 o'clock and boost it with the BB preamp. It is just as tight and saturated as an ENGL powerball (I had them side-by-side for a comparison yesterday).

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Henson seems to know his stuff on HG gear. But I am surprised that you all dont consider and XTC to be a HG amp. Sure its more vintage voiced but I think thats because its less compressed and is breathable type amp. I believe it is HG.

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http://www.soundclick.com/bands/default.cfm?bandID=559543&content=songinfo&songID=6682813


?

Just some info on that clip. I had the boost function engaged but only had the gain at 12:30 in "medium", B1, and used a PRS Cu 24 with the stock HFS. V30 miced.

The newer XTC's can get A LOT heavier than the pre '04's. They are tighter, a little brighter, and have an ass load more gain than the older version. With the XTC's, you really have to use your ears to dial them in. You'll have to have the treble and presence high (around 2:30 - 3:00). The pots in the XTC's are different from most amps. There's a hump around the 3:00 range.

If you play it in "tight" mode, you back off on the treble and presence, medium, you bring up the treb and prec, loose mode, add a little more treb and prec. The T,M and L are labeled as tight, medium and loose, but it's acually more of a bass boost. Mark Cameron explained all this stuff to me. He knows these amp really well. I like playing it in the "L" mode, bring up the highs and....:thu:

Anyway, the newer XTC's can pretty much do ANYTHING you want. Throw a boost in front and it's as broootal as any amp out there.

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Just some info on that clip. I had the boost function engaged but only had the gain at 12:30 in "medium", B1, and used a PRS Cu 24 with the stock HFS. V30 miced.


The newer XTC's can get A LOT heavier than the pre '04's. They are tighter, a little brighter, and have an ass load more gain than the older version. With the XTC's, you really have to use your ears to dial them in. You'll have to have the treble and presence high (around 2:30 - 3:00). The pots in the XTC's are different from most amps. There's a hump around the 3:00 range.


If you play it in "tight" mode, you back off on the treble and presence, medium, you bring up the treb and prec, loose mode, add a little more treb and prec. The T,M and L are labeled as tight, medium and loose, but it's acually more of a bass boost. Mark Cameron explained all this stuff to me. He knows these amp really well. I like playing it in the "L" mode, bring up the highs and....
:thu:

Anyway, the newer XTC's can pretty much do ANYTHING you want. Throw a boost in front and it's as broootal as any amp out there.



:D

I really want a newer XTC after hearing that ;)

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The Ecstasy definitely isn't a "medium gain rock amp". When I think that, I think single channel 800 levels of gain. Even the Shiva's got quite a bit more gain than that.

I remember DerekB saying he really liked the Ecstasy when he still posted on here. He's about as death metal as it gets, and IIRC the biggest Engl and Framus dealer in the US.

They have a lot of gain on tap, but the voicing probably isn't to the liking of most modern metal guys- too loose and mid-heavy. That being said, I haven't spent a ton of time on Ecstasies so I don't know all the intricacies of dialing them in.

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I remember DerekB saying he really liked the Ecstasy when he still posted on here. He's about as death metal as it gets, and IIRC the biggest Engl and Framus dealer in the US.

 

Yep Derek did some death metal clips when he had an XTC classic that were great, but I dunno if he still has 'em. Love mine, does everything I want it to :thu:

 

xtc-classic08.jpg

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