Bogner Ecstasy Blue Mini Overdrive

[backinit]

I absolutely love this thing. Mega settings....use it on the high gain setting into a clean amp...as a boost with one of the 2 lower gain settings. Very sweet. I had to clear a spot for this one.

[golem]

A few of us do. I bought two of the older ones with boosts and a mini red one. Absolutely my favorite gain pedals.

[backinit]

I spent about a few weeks waiting for sweetwater to get stock (best deal at the time) and went back and forth on whether to get the red or the blue, It seemed like there was a little overlap. I'm pleased with my decision.

[toomanycats]

Yep, I've got the Ecstasy Blue, full-sized. It's my go-to overdrive/gain/dirt pedal. But it's really much more than that. I've A/B'd it with many other great overdrives, and nothing can come close to doing what the Bogner Ecstasy Blue does.

What it really sounds like is an actual British voiced guitar amp with a high quality preamp in front of it (like a Echo-Plex or something like that). It is very organic, touch sensitive, and 3-dimensional. I find that it sounds best when run into an American voiced 6L6 amp set at very mild break up. Let the Bogner pedal be the coloration and use amp as just a PA. As good as mine sounds run at 9 volts, it sounds even better powered at 18 volts. I know that the literature on this unit says that it internally kicks up the 9 volts supplied to 18 volts, but my ears aren't deceiving me. As good as it sounds with 9 volts, It has significantly more clarity and headroom when powered at 18 volts.

One quirk I did encounter recently when running the the full sized Bogner Ecstasy Blue off battery power is that even with a fresh battery it can "freak out" when turning on the boost. It started flashing wildly and sending a pulsing chirp though the amp, while blocking the guitar signal. This has only happened to me a couple times, but Murphy's law dictated that it was during a live gig and not in the studio environment. I prepare for gigs like I'd pack a parachute, so this was very unsettling. I researched this issue and discovered that it's a known quirk of the full sized earlier iterations of the Bogner Ecstasy Blue, and it mostly happens when powered by a battery or the external power supply is weak (the pedal is downstream in the chain). Something about a relay requiring so much juice when it's engaged that it triggers this fit.

If this pedal was either destroyed or stolen my most immediate priority would be to acquire an identical replacement. I couldn't live without one.

DC7C2ED7-1580-420D-AABD-286FC31375EA.jpeg (50.82 KiB) Viewed 2214 times

[backinit]

Yep, I've got the Ecstasy Blue, full-sized. It's my go-to overdrive/gain/dirt pedal. But it's really much more than that. I've A/B'd it with many other great overdrives, and nothing can come close to doing what the Bogner Ecstasy Blue does.

What it really sounds like is an actual British voiced guitar amp with a high quality preamp in front of it (like a Echo-Plex or something like that). It is very organic, touch sensitive, and 3-dimensional. I find that it sounds best when run into an American voiced 6L6 amp set at very mild break up. Let the Bogner pedal be the coloration and use amp as just a PA. As good as mine sounds run at 9 volts, it sounds even better powered at 18 volts. I know that the literature on this unit says that it internally kicks up the 9 volts supplied to 18 volts, but my ears aren't deceiving me. As good as it sounds with 9 volts, It has significantly more clarity and headroom when powered at 18 volts.

One quirk I did encounter recently when running the the full sized Bogner Ecstasy Blue off battery power is that even with a fresh battery it can "freak out" when turning on the boost. It started flashing wildly and sending a pulsing chirp though the amp, while blocking the guitar signal. This has only happened to me a couple times, but Murphy's law dictated that it was during a live gig and not in the studio environment. I prepare for gigs like I'd pack a parachute, so this was very unsettling. I researched this issue and discovered that it's a known quirk of the full sized earlier iterations of the Bogner Ecstasy Blue, and it mostly happens when powered by a battery or the external power supply is weak (the pedal is downstream in the chain). Something about a relay requiring so much juice when it's engaged that it triggers this fit.

If this pedal was either destroyed or stolen my most immediate priority would be to acquire an identical replacement. I couldn't live without one.


DC7C2ED7-1580-420D-AABD-286FC31375EA.jpeg

Yeah, I don't know if this is an amp in the box or an overdrive, but I don't care. I remember a point where sweetwater was clearing out some of the larger pedals, but I've been pleased with my MXR Modified Bad Ass OD (and still am). It's tough for me to drop coin on an overdrive, because you don't really need to and I have plenty of them, honestly.
When these went on sale in the new mini version I started watching the youtube reviews and was blown away. Thankfully sweetwater sold some of these on the 'bay and I had some credit there. I have even considered trying one of the NUX XTC pedals,but I'm not going there. Many pedals get wonky with juice requirements so I'm not surprised you were having issues.

[andrewsrea]

I was going to mention @golem , but he already rang in. I've tried his Bogner's and like the Friedman pedals, I feel they are convincingly like the amps they are designed to sound like. Definitely a 'tweaker's pedal.'

[Rollin Hand]

Aren't the Bogner and Freidman mini heads essentially the Bogner and Friedman pedals with a Class D SS power section?

[golem]

@Rollin Hand That's what TGP seems to say.

[andrewsrea]

Aren't the Bogner and Freidman mini heads essentially the Bogner and Friedman pedals with a Class D SS power section?

Makes sense, but I don't know for sure.