While killing some time in the Raleigh-Durham area today, I made a trip to the local Guitar Center to scope out used guitar deals. Didn't really find anything worthy of note, though I did spot one of the new Bogner Alchemist combos and decided to put it through its paces as a potential living room amp. The Alchemist is Bogner's first "mass produced" amp... rumor is that it is built in a Line 6 factory in China. Unlike the Line 6/Bogner Spider Valve, however, which is more of a digital modeler connected to a tube power section, the Alchemist is all-tube preamp/power amp with a digital effects section thrown in for good measure. So having been less than impressed with the Spider Valve (too much gain, not enough tone!) and Egnater Tourmaster (versatile, but just couldn't find tones that worked for me), I didn't get my hopes up for the Alchemist.
That said, having spent half an hour with an Alchemist 2x12" combo today, I'm pretty sure it will be the next amp I add to my arsenal. :) First off, the amp has some great features... half power (40/20 watt) switch, selectable delay (ducking/analog/tape) and reverb (spring/hall/plate) voicings, footswitchable boost, parallel effects loop, even mixed Celestion speakers (G12M Greenback + G12H 70th Anniversary). Each channel has independent 3-band EQ plus a variety of tone-shaping switches... the gold (clean) channel has bright/deep/crunch switches, while the mercury (lead) channel has bright/punch/mid-shift switches. The plethora of switches is reminiscent of a Mesa Mark IV, but (good news) the Alchemist was much easier to dial in than most Mesas.
Tonally, all these options givethe Alchemist considerable versatility: Starting with the gold channel, I dialed in a fat, warm, jazzy tone. Tweaking the EQ a bit and engaging the bright switch yielded a thinner, funkier tone. Engaging the crunch switch added additional gain, bringing a plexi-like bite to rhythm tones. Similar versatility was found on the mercury channel... while the to-be-expected Bogner high-gain tones were present, disengaging the bright and punch switches delivered an amazing fusion lead tone. All-in-all, the tone exceeded my expectations: it was warm, fat, and dynamic with plenty of edge available for cutting through in a band situation. It's one of the few amps that could go from a rock gig to a blues gig to a jazz gig and (tonally) deliver. (And, I might point out, I auditioned it with a so-so guitar... a PRS SE Custom. So I'd expect even better tone & response from a guitar with higher quality electronics.)
So it probably is only a matter of time before I sell a couple of amps around here and pick up a used Alchemist... for the money, there are few amps on the market that deliver comparable versatility and tone.
--B
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2 comments:
A used Alchemist? The amp just came out! If you're that impressed by it, why not buy it new?
Well, let's see, I could pay $1200 for a new one, or score a slightly used one for $800 with a little patience.
There's too much depreciation on new gear, so pretty much everything I buy these days is used.
--B
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