...I may have finally turned a corner.
I've made no secret of the fact that I believe the Bogner Ecstasy Red is the best distortion pedal ever made, so when I saw one cheap I decided it's time I made a board with it. Of course, not being one to do everything the normal way, it had to be a bit different...the problem is that I don't have an amp capable of producing a clean tone. So...
This board takes care of everything, with no mucking around putting the delay into the effects loop. Signal chain is:
Wah -> tuner -> TC Shaker (don't really like it, to be honest, but there was a gap) -> Bogner -> Eventide -> AMT F1
That last bit is the clever part; it's AMT's take on a JFET-based Fender preamp. The idea is that this board can go into the effects return of any amp, and get pretty much the exact tone I want. If I ever end up playing gigs again (and that's a possibility, depending on whether my plans in the first half of the year work out), I'll actually be able to say "sure" when asked if I mind using someone else's backline, and travel with literally just my guitar and my pedalboard.
I can even run it direct into the PA, thanks to the F1's cab sim output.
Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, it sounds
wonderful running into the effects return of my JCA22H - at least as good as plugging straight into the amp's preamp. I've got a bit of tweakery to do, but I'll probably post clips at the weekend.
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Comments
I believe there was a tiny bit of bleed-through from the amp's preamp into the clean sound, at a level which normal people wouldn't be bothered about
It happily powers the Eventide Time Factor (notorious for causing all sorts of noise in other pedals if it's not isolated) at 9V, the AMT at 12V and the rest of the pedals on the combined outputs, with zero noise. In fact, this board into my JCA22H's power section is practically silent, which can't be said for the amp itself.
EDIT: Also, can we please have a moment of silent appreciation for the fact that this is the first time ever that I've put a board together and had exactly the right amount of space on the board for the pedals I wanted on the front row. It's quite literally (and accidentally) millimetre-perfect.
As for the Bogner...I don't really have any frame of reference, since I rarely spend long with distortion pedals. It is, however, very amp-like; my preferred way of doing things with my amps is to have the crunch channel right up and ride the guitar volume for clean, and that works just as well with the Red as it does with my amps (actually, I think it's slightly better).
I've got a bit of a problem somewhere in the mids where it's sounding slightly nasal and losing clarity, but I think that's because I haven't got the hang of where the AMT's mid control's centre frequency is relative to the Bogner's. I need to play with it a bit more, that's all; if not, I can always put the Mooer Juicer in front of it to add some sparkle and clarity.
What I can say is that even without the boost, the Red has crushing amounts of gain on tap, especially in 20th Anniversary mode.
Band Stuff: https://navigationofficial.bandcamp.com/album/silhouette-ep
I used to use a lot of borrowed amps and it always got me the sound I wanted.
I rate it higher than the Sansamp GT2.
just stop it.
Yet.
im glad to hear it works well in that capacity, so you can run 'amp in a box' type pedals into it, but how well does it work itself as an amp in a box? I gather it's a fender twin in a box? Does it do this well?
im basically looking for a blues in a box pedal that will go straight to the PA. is the cab sim good on the F1? Does the F1 take ordinary drive pedals well like a tube screamer? I'm looking for something to give me SRV style tones at an always controllable volume. I like the idea that I could have a fender clean tone with built in cab sim that will go to FOH, step on a tubescreamer or equivalent for an SRV tone, step on a Marshall in a box for some classic rock... am I barking up the wrong tree with the F1? I know the Kemper of helix will give me the tones I want but it seems quite an expense!
It can be driven into overdrive quite well on its own (the gain knob has a good range on it), and if you put a boost in front it behaves almost exactly as you'd expect an amp to; in my limited experience of Fender amps, I'd say that it does exactly what it says on the tin. It's a bloody brilliant little bit of kit.
It also has a send/return for an alternate "channel" when you bypass it - so you could get the AMT JCM800 pedal and have an instant clean/dirty preamp.
I'm not joking when I say it's one of the best buys I've made in quite a while. I've had this board in my head as an experiment for ages, and I think it's here to stay.
Yeah, I have no idea why they discontinued them. Bloody stupid idea, because I remain convinced that it's the best switchless wah on the market.