Gigged the Bogner last night - loved the flexibilty!

[Twinfan]

Yeah, only got it last week after waiting approx 6 weeks from ordering it  :roll:

I picked up their chorus too.  Very nice pedals  :D

[gordiji]

lovely bit of kit, great sparkly cleans.i'd always prefer too much power than too little, esp for the cleans and i'm sure
the blue/red channels sound great even at bedroom volume,as big modern amps often do

[Twinfan]

Yeah, it doesn sound good at lower volumes.  I was quite surprised, given some of the reviews on t'interwebnet...

[Johnny Mac]

Sure sounds nice Dave. So a good versatile gigging amp, yes?

[Twinfan]

Indeed Johnny, indeed.  Especially in a band that plays a range of tunes like we do and has two guitarists.  In a one guitar band you can get away with a lot less, but if you want a range of gains at a range of volumes like I do, then the XTC is a godsend...

[Johnny Mac]

Indeed Johnny, indeed.  Especially in a band that plays a range of tunes like we do and has two guitarists.  In a one guitar band you can get away with a lot less, but if you want a range of gains at a range of volumes like I do, then the XTC is a godsend...

I can understand what you mean. The more songs you play from all kinds of styles, the more tones you need. I'm glad it's worked out for you. Some of these multi channel amps around now really are more than one trick ponys. It's EL34 isn't it?
I've been trying loads of different tones out in rehearsals with 3 channels and my pedals. It gets to be quite a tap dance now.

[Twinfan]

Yep, EL34s.  Everything else I've got is KT-66...

[JamesHealey]

Twin you said 'I now want to play a massive stadium gig to get the thing REALLY cooking!'

Sorry dude, ain't even gonna happen if you play a big stadium gig, especially if it's outdoors sound guys want the control now, so using a 100w head live in just about every situation you'll ever encounter it's not going to be cooking.

Attenuators are your friend, wattage just gives a different tone to be honest these days..

I play 35w Trainwreck clone live and I used an attenuator to get the volume down to reasonable levels and It's great. I've only played one gig where I didn't have to use the attenuator and that was just because I forgot it, over powered the band a tad in a 500 capacity venue.

Most amplifiers I build these days for gigging are 15w - 35w.. more than enough power.

[Twinfan]

Attenuators suck balls, and I prefer the sound of a big amp - none of this namby pamby 20w fannying around .  Big valves = big sound to my ears.

The stadium gig thing wasn't meant literally  :roll:  Anywho, the master volumes on the XTC work great for rehearsals and small gigs.  Reinhold knows his onions.

[tomjackson]

15 - 20 watts might be good for smaller gigs but it's nice to have some headroom spare.  I like power amp drive but it can be a little overated, my WEM for example was on permanent mushy meltdown at some gigs, it sounded good in a vintage sense but just got too ragged.

30 - 50W is usually more than enough for most gigs but with decent pedals and a good MV I agree with TF that the extra watts don't really pose a problem, they are at least there is you need them.

Just becuase you have a Ferrari doesn't mean you can't drive at the speed limit :D



 

[Twinfan]

^ exactly mate, that's my point.  I prefer to have some "room" rather than have an overly saturated sound.  The latter is fine for recording, but if you need to vary volume levels you need headroom...

[Johnny Mac]

The master volumes on these modern heads are the business i think. Its so controllable, bedroom volumes are no problem. For cleans you do need lots of power for that bell like chime, its luuurvely!

My tone with the Koch doesn't really change that much from F LOUD to liver mangling, larynx vibrating with gag reflex FFF LOUD. A slight exaggeration you think? No! Plug into the cab at 4ohms if you have it and crank it. After 10 mins you will feel ill! Now thats loud, proper loud. I don't know what the Db level is at that volume in a small room but it must be above 140. I did this in my old flat with my Charvel when i had no neighbours.  :twisted:

When these amps were designed they did think of us mere mortals at home too.

Bring it to the meet Dave, we'll have a blast!

[HTH AMPS]

Glad you're digging the XTC Dave, they're great amps.

I've found the same thing with bigger gigs - you always think you're gonna be able to crank your amps more, but in reality its rarely the case.  I remember playing at Newcastle Uni's smaller room (about 1000 capacity) and thought I'd be pinning the pair of stacks (Marshall 2203 and a Selmer T&B) I was using at the time - wrong! It wasn't even as loud as the typical pub gigs we were playing.

I'm playing a biker gig out in Brampton (about 6-8 miles east of Carlisle towards Newcastle) at the weekend and I'll be taking the 100w HTH high gain monster with me through a 4x12, plus the HTH 1x12 plexi combo and running them together.  I doubt the masters will get above the usual 2-3 level I have them at in pubs.  Since the 1x12 combo is open backed, I might even point it out into the fields behind us to reduce the stage volume but still get some spill from the back of the cab and have a 'cranked' tone through FOH and the monitors  :D

[Twinfan]

Yeah, the XTC is really nice.  I took it to 'DC rehearsal last night, as we're planning some non-DC gigs so I needed some flexibility.  Even the bass player and singer loved it!  :lol:

[HTH AMPS]

but did the drummer notice? - thats the acid test  :lol: