Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

[speed2dirt]

Re: Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

I'm a big fan of the Alchemist. I have a 6L6 Shiva and the Alchemist has 6L6's, so they're closer applesto apples than an XTC or EL34 Shiva to the Alchemist. My general take on them is that the Shiva is more vintage voiced ('80s and earlier) while the Alchemist is more modern voiced (2000s and on). The clean of the 6L6 Shiva is even better than the Alchemist, which is saying a lot since the Alchemist has nice, lush cleans. The advantage to the Alchemist, besides the price and consequently QC issues, is the tweakability. There are mulitple switches on each channel that change the charcter or voicing of the amp while the Shiva is a more straight forward tone. All in all, I have the Alchemist and Shiva currently and like them both for their differences. I've never played a real Ecstasy, so I can't comment there.

Side note: put a 12AT7/5751 tube in the PI slot to clean it up and take out some fuzz, as well as jumper the parallel FX loop to add a gain stage. It makes the Alchemist even higher gain while smoothing it out and not as bassy/flubby.

 

[Roobaloob]

Re: Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

I'm a big fan of the Alchemist. I have a 6L6 Shiva and the Alchemist has 6L6's, so they're closer applesto apples than an XTC or EL34 Shiva to the Alchemist. My general take on them is that the Shiva is more vintage voiced ('80s and earlier) while the Alchemist is more modern voiced (2000s and on). The clean of the 6L6 Shiva is even better than the Alchemist, which is saying a lot since the Alchemist has nice, lush cleans. The advantage to the Alchemist, besides the price and consequently QC issues, is the tweakability. There are mulitple switches on each channel that change the charcter or voicing of the amp while the Shiva is a more straight forward tone. All in all, I have the Alchemist and Shiva currently and like them both for their differences. I've never played a real Ecstasy, so I can't comment there.

Side note: put a 12AT7/5751 tube in the PI slot to clean it up and take out some fuzz, as well as jumper the parallel FX loop to add a gain stage. It makes the Alchemist even higher gain while smoothing it out and not as bassy/flubby.

The Shiva that I played (6L6) was so glorious!! The only reason I went with Ecstasy (I want them both), is that it was $50 less, used. I picked up the Alchemist for a Shiva-ish amp, and it DEFINITELY reminds me more of a vintage rock machine that can be driven all the way to thrash metal and beyond, if you have the chops. I plan to sell it eventually to get money for a Shiva.

But what really interests me is the Tubes. I have always loved tube amps. My old Mesa Boogie Nomad 45 used EL84's and man that combo was amazing for some STP type tones. People started playing my amp when I wasn't around, and they blew my alpha transistor. I sold the amp soon after. Now I'm back into it, but I have no idea how to "FX loop jump" or the details on pre-amp tubes and their order. Can someone drop some knowledge, or perhaps send a helpful video/link/book my way to get a better understanding? I also have no idea how to bias.

TL;DR - I love tubes, can you help me understand them better?

Cheers!

Ruben

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

See the link below for the Alchemist user manual. The tube layout is on page 10. You'd want to put a 12AT7 or 5751 in the Phase Inverter (V5 - ie. the one by the power transformer furthest away from the guitar input) to clean it up. Jumping the FX loop is simply putting a guitar/patch cable in the Send & Return jacks on the back. The Level knob controls how much of the additional gain stage you want to add, so use to taste. You're basically sending the signal out of the amp and back in, which adds the tube for the FX loop.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/268699/Bogner-Alchemist-212.html

 

[Roobaloob]

Re: Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

See the link below for the Alchemist user manual. The tube layout is on page 10. You'd want to put a 12AT7 or 5751 in the Phase Inverter (V5 - ie. the one by the power transformer furthest away from the guitar input) to clean it up. Jumping the FX loop is simply putting a guitar/patch cable in the Send & Return jacks on the back. The Level knob controls how much of the additional gain stage you want to add, so use to taste. You're basically sending the signal out of the amp and back in, which adds the tube for the FX loop.

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/268699/Bogner-Alchemist-212.html

Ooh. Thanks for the great info! What about a speaker cable instead of a patch/instrument cable?

 

[Roobaloob]

Re: Ideal cab for a Bogner Ecstasy?

Ooh. Thanks for the great info! What about a speaker cable instead of a patch/instrument cable?

So i tried the speaker cable and wow, it added clarity to my cleans (which I don't know if I want) and a nice cutty punch to the gain channel. tightened things up. Can get more easily into Thrash territory!