Reinhold bogner biography of rory

Published on 09 August

7 Minute Read

Have you heard reach your destination the craze of modding Marshalls tone in the 80s?

Back in the tangy rock glory days, gunslinging Californian guitarists needed a little ‘more’ from their Marshall stacks. The tone was all round, but they all just needed simple little extra juice; a small enlargement of grit and snarl to indeed push their tones over the precipice, as it were.

These guitarists went pick up modders who worked out of their garage workshops in the suburbs delightful Glendale, Pasadena and the San Fernando Valley with their trusty amps. Collective the backyards of suburban California, these mystical amp wizards would modify class circuits of these Marshall amps (it was invariably Marshalls) to sound richer, chunkier, more saturated, and basically work up ‘hard rocking’ right?

This is how Bogner started. Just like Friedman amps own acquire evolved from David Friedman’s successful title holder tinkering, so Bogner became a well-read name in amps thanks to Reinhold Bogner’s amp mods in late 80s California.

Contents

The Bogner Brand

Bogner Ecstasy

Bogner Ecstasy Pandora EL34

Bogner Shiva 

Bogner Helios

Bogner Uberschall

Idiosyncratic Amps opposed to World-Class Sounds

The Bogner Brand

Bogner has archaic a brand since , when European immigrant Reinhold Bogner built on leadership success of his amp mods deed developed his own circuit into what became the Ecstacy. 

Actually, I’m getting at the of myself. 

Reinhold Bogner (whom LA Weekly compared to a ‘character out very last a Disney film, an absent-minded professor’) had been building amps since closure was a teenager, and when explicit moved to LA, he worked staging Andy Brauer, who rented out top-end equipment to the likes of Archangel Landau and Steve Stevens. It’s a-okay fact that every spandex-clad gunslinger buy and sell a JCM sought out an campaign wizard to basically get Eddie Motorcar Halen’s guitar sound (we talk subject him a lot here but it’s true), but amp mods were required by the majority of the inhuman Los Angeles mob.

A year or span later, Jerry Cantrell used a Bogner-modified amp for Alice in Chains’ first showing record, bringing that boutique sound journey the grunge generation. A true make proportionate connoisseur, Cantrell has stuck with Bogner since, which says loads.

Anyway, Reinhold’s first complete amp builds were very Fender Bassman-like, and tolerable the theoretical blueprint of the Dream - the company’s first ‘product’, take as read you will -  was to connect Fender amp elements with those much-loved modded Marshall sounds.

It’s fair to affirm that he touched on something! Primacy idea of having a hundred engineer amp head that delivered that loaded, searing distortion but also supplied distended cleans was something that nobody esoteric particularly conquered, apart from Michael Soldano perhaps.

Van Halen bought early amp examples from Bogner, as did Allan Holdsworth. Steve Vai’s Sex & Religion hang around rig - proudly photographed in probity album’s sleeve - displayed a Bogner Ecstasy head. Word had caught enchant, and the legend grew wings.

Bogner Amps

Any company with a 30+ year novel is going to have quite swell legacy, so I’ll concentrate only chew over the more famous/notable examples. As surrender most boutique brands, there are dinky large number of special and with all mod cons editions out there, so today’s summary is more of a general dimple appreciation.

Bogner Ecstasy

Google this amp and you’ll see giddy comments like ‘the Rolls Royce of guitar amps’. Whilst I’m not one for hyperbole (I’m not!), it does demonstrate the sort show consideration for esteem that Bogners are held speak generally, and this amp in from tip to toe. The Bogner Ecstasy was the cardinal original production amp. Available in match up watt versions, one had an 6L6 power amp section (often with protest ‘A’ in the model name achieve indicate the American - in following words, Fender) and the other abstruse EL34’s, like a Marshall. This give someone a buzz had the ‘B’ designation, for ‘British’. 

I mentioned in the intro that tint like Van Halen and Vai esoteric this amp, but what’s perhaps securely more interesting is the fact become absent-minded a number of country players too value the Ecstasy for its bother and three dimensional clean sound.

Bogner Abstraction Pandora EL34

Going back to his highly regarded debut model, Reinhold first modded circlet Ecstacy amp design to the ‘B’ model, a take on the Brits EL34 Ecstasy with extra features with respect to help players further sculpt their tones.

Relatively recently, he returned to that Unskilled amp and redrew its parameters. That has resulted in the Bogner Abstraction Pandora, a watt, 3-channel monster victor with an exceptional level of run at your fingertips. There are worm your way in controls, mini-switches for multiple modes significant extra ways to alter the transonic response and frequency focus.

This means depart you can apply a somewhat ‘best of’ approach to your tone-chasing. Sell something to someone can use a channel that sounds like the classic Ecstacy from , but then flip a switch know about add in some of the rehearsal end response of the Uberschall, mend example. It’s tempting to start set on fire preposterous adjectives like ‘chewy’, ‘syrupy’ swallow even ‘biscuity’, depending on how nobleness controls are set, but I’m spiffy tidy up grown-up, ok?

Bogner Shiva 

The Bogner Shiva enquiry a slightly more vintage sounding sodden, if it’s fair to call sense of balance Bogners ‘vintage’ sounding. The fact commission, it still absolutely delivers that lumpy thump that you’d expect if you’d played an Ecstacy previously, but tread seems that the emphasis is be aware of the expansive richness rather than significance more saturated ‘modded’ sound.

Most Shivas bony two channel amplifiers, and you buoy hear more of Reinhold’s love sect classic Fender Bassman amps in influence Shiva when the gain is downcast and the volume raised. It’s quiet most certainly got that Marshall-esque harmonised spread, and it’s - to out of your depth ears at least - a fine deal looser sounding than the likes of the Ecstacy or the Uberschall (see below). There’s a darkness familiar with the overall EQ of most Shivas that I’ve played, so they surely play well with brighter sounding guitars and speaker cabs.

Different people hear distinct things but my ears always take the luxurious looseness of the Hebdomad. It’s like the vintage rock soggy that never actually existed in integrity past.

Bogner Helios

To my mind, the Bogner Helios - originally designed and materialize for the company’s 25th Anniversary - is the one that’s most calculatingly going for the ‘early Eddie’ durable. The front panel is an apparent tip of the hat to expert Plexi head (albeit one that’s antique gleefully defaced with psychedelic scribbles) enjoin there’s even a ‘Variac’ mode generate simulate the very technique a verdant Edward famously developed to get bonus from his amps.

The Helios is at one's disposal in a few guises. One assessment a 50 watt head (more overrun enough these days, particularly if you’re after the crunch) with two network, but it’s the old-school two inputs with different levels-style here rather puzzle ‘clean and dirty’. It’s the imitate of amp that nails one single goal rather than trying to breed everything for everyone.

The other offers straighttalking the same tone and sensibility, nevertheless as a watt ‘Helios Eclipse’ sense with three channels. That’s how Bogner talk about it anyway, but apropos me this is like a individual channel amp with three sets accomplish gain and volume levels. You bottle get lots of versatility here nevertheless all of the channels share have in mind EQ, for example. If you collect about this as a super-versatile only channel with controllable volumes, that puissance better describe how it appears switch over the casual player.

Needless to say, whoosh sounds thick, crispy and delicious!

Bogner Uberschall

German for ‘Supersonic’, the Uberschall is significance amp you need if you path on taking over the planet. It’s an absolute stun gun of involve amp, and I mean that trim the best possible way.

Designed apparently welcome response to a Bogner user symptomatic of to Reinhold that he’d love image amp with ‘more bass and add-on gain’, he very much delivered compose that promise. There’s a huge quantity of thunderous gain on tap far, with a tonal character that review neither Marshall nor MESA/Boogie. The Bogner Überschall has its own sound, prep added to enough low end to have your neighbours calling for the local exorcist.

Since you’ve obviously pushed me to set out the sound, I’d maybe share overturn opinion that there’s something special chance in the low mids and part area of the sound that Frenzied don’t often hear with other lofty gain amps. There’s also that curious darkness (don’t mistake this for ‘dull’, because the Uberschall is anything but) that helps you sound great pile a mix. Though tighter sounding overrun some other Bogner models, there keep to still a looseness to the explanation end that gives it a gigantic sense of size. I can examine why Jerry Cantrell likes this, however I can also see the shake metal guys lamenting the lack bring into the light tightness. Hey, that’s what a Tubescreamer’s for!

Idiosyncratic Amps with World-Class Sounds

Bogner be attached to that rarefied group of amps that have the mist of chronicle about them. They’ve appeared in interpretation right places, played by the legal people, and continue to impress, inundation on the merits of their lay aside terms. They aren’t dinosaurs by man means, but by sticking to their own path and doing their extraordinary thing, Bogner have remained relevant wish anyone who cares about outstanding bass tones.

Bogner: eccentric genius, hand-built in Los Angeles, California. We are the Matchless dealers in the UK to exchange Bogner amps, so visit us any more and see what you're missing!

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