NAD X2: Friedman BE-50 deluxe, Bogner Ecstacy

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

https://m.imgur.com/a/ZsmlIwB

So the BE-50 arrived yesterday and the Bogner this morning.

Only just getting started playing them but wow they are both outstanding. The Friedman is every Marshall type tone I’ve ever wanted with a monster amount of gain on tap. Lots of switches for tone changes and the 3 gain stage switch is a very nice touch

The Bogner is obviously a different flavour completely and that’s what I wanted as I love so many different amps and this one has been on my bucket list for years. Vai’s best tone was his Bogner era to my ears and this out does the Carvin legacy which I have here which is much darker and hard to dial out without it getting too toppy

More to come once I have a good session with them both. Very happy NAD

spirit7 · August 2019

Amazing! Love my Ecstasy 20th. Would be interested in your comparisons of the high gain channels of both.

DanR · August 2019

Welll I’m suitably envious.

You planning on keeping both?

andy1839 · August 2019

Congrats! Loving the colour of the Bogner suitably mental!

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Thanks guys. Really please with both so far. Now up to 6 amps so some may be on the chopping block

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

DanR said:

Welll I’m suitably envious.

You planning on keeping both?

Yes the plan is to keep both and then I may sell my EVH 5150 and/or my Victory silverback

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

andy1839 said:

Congrats! Loving the colour of the Bogner suitably mental!

I know it’s very unusual but I really like it’s 80’s vibe.

Theres a tonne of switches on both amps but now I’ve found my tone they won’t need messing with again. Though I’ll need to take pics of the settings as my son often comes in and moves all the knobs around

Pablocrackers · August 2019

Damn sweet setup man! Congrats!

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Pablocrackers said:

Damn sweet setup man! Congrats!

Thanks buddy

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Just had a couple of hrs playing the Bogner and it’s just fantastic.

Thought I’d then plug in the Friedman and was expecting it to not come close as the XTC was so good but boy was I wrong. It goes toe to toe with it easily

The Bogner is a different beast and has a somewhat raspy edge to the tone where the BE-50 is smoother and slightly more compressed. They are like chalk and cheese and I absolutely love them both and the Friedman is what I’ve always wanted from a Marshall but was always bitterly disappointed with an actual Marshall itself

The bottom end is brutal with both of them and they’re actually making my Cornford MK50 look tame in comparison and that is my go to amp normally

Pablocrackers · August 2019

This is the same for me how i feel about my Helios vs the Friedman, Friedmans more polished Bogner more raw both awesome id give the edge to Friedman tho for the master volume taper and the loops but both killer amps man

Pablocrackers · August 2019

If you want a bit more roughness to the Friedman try pushing the responce up past 1 oclock, with the voice switch in the middle i think, Saturation switch off, up the presence & mids and back off the treble! You can also get it more vintage like the smallbox with gain cut in middle and up the mids brilliant amp

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Pablocrackers said:

This is the same for me how i feel about my Helios vs the Friedman, Friedmans more polished Bogner more raw both awesome id give the edge to Friedman tho for the master volume taper and the loops but both killer amps man

The Friedman master volume is extremely good. Great tone at bedroom volume too. The 25w mode loses a lot so I run at the full 50 as intended

The Bogner is 100w and has a half power mode too and this actually sounds much better for home use so I’m currently using that. Also has the switch for either class A/B or A. Class A mode sounds the best for plexi mode but A/B is where it’s at on the blue and red channels. Has a really good clean too but I didn’t buy it for that

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Pablocrackers said:

If you want a bit more roughness to the Friedman try pushing the responce up past 1 oclock, with the voice switch in the middle i think, Saturation switch off, up the presence & mids and back off the treble! You can also get it more vintage like the smallbox with gain cut in middle and up the mids brilliant amp

I’ll have a look at those settings thanks. Amazing amp and I wasn’t planning on buying both but the Bogner was too good to pass up at £1600

Pablocrackers · August 2019

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Pablocrackers said:

If you want a bit more roughness to the Friedman try pushing the responce up past 1 oclock, with the voice switch in the middle i think, Saturation switch off, up the presence & mids and back off the treble! You can also get it more vintage like the smallbox with gain cut in middle and up the mids brilliant amp

I’ll have a look at those settings thanks. Amazing amp and I wasn’t planning on buying both but the Bogner was too good to pass up at £1600

Nice price defiantly worth it! Looks cool too! I have to try an xtc one day!
Yeh i never liked 25w mode on the be50 either the masters are that good you dont really need it imo

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Pablocrackers said:

Fortheloveofguitar said:

Pablocrackers said:

If you want a bit more roughness to the Friedman try pushing the responce up past 1 oclock, with the voice switch in the middle i think, Saturation switch off, up the presence & mids and back off the treble! You can also get it more vintage like the smallbox with gain cut in middle and up the mids brilliant amp

I’ll have a look at those settings thanks. Amazing amp and I wasn’t planning on buying both but the Bogner was too good to pass up at £1600

Nice price defiantly worth it! Looks cool too! I have to try an xtc one day!
Yeh i never liked 25w mode on the be50 either the masters are that good you dont really need it imo

Took a chance as I could make my money back if I didn’t get on with it but it’s not going anywhere

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

This Friedman master volume really is great. Wife and son in bed so had the volume on 0.5 and it’s still sounds great even at night time volume. Really surprised

Aidanspaghetti · August 2019

Ive been through a smallbox and the SS models... amazing amps but unfortunately sold them.. think the be 100 could be my next!

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

Had another afternoon of playing for several hrs on both of these beasts and it’s tone heaven and they are both completely different beasts so I’ll be definitely keeping them both

The Friedman sounds very polished and articulate and works for so many styles so actually covers more ground than the Bogner.

However the XTC has it’s own raspy/ballsy/cutting thing going on and I love it. Need to A/B it with my Carvin legacy next to compare it but can already tell that the legacy is much darker

The only thing the XTC is missing is a resonance knob. All my amps have one including the new Friedman ‘Thump knob’ and it really does add more thump on the low end frequencies.

Not to worry though as I have a couple of the AmpTweaker Depthfinder devices here so shoved that in the loop and bingo it’s huge

CHrisP86 · August 2019

Great NAD!

Hadn't really thought about a BE50 before but this (and the BE100 DLX thread) has really got me intrigued.

Any idea how the BE50 stacks up against the 3 channel version of the small box?

Fortheloveofguitar · August 2019

CHrisP86 said:

Great NAD!

Hadn't really thought about a BE50 before but this (and the BE100 DLX thread) has really got me intrigued.

Any idea how the BE50 stacks up against the 3 channel version of the small box?

I think the small box has a plexi/clean channel and a more ‘vintage’ style BE channel

The BE-50 has a Buxom Betty clean and then a BE channel and then a HBE channel too. So definitely geared at the higher gain player gain channel wise

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NAD X2: Friedman BE-50 deluxe, Bogner Ecstacy

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