Bogner Alchemist 1X12 Combo

2008 model, built really well, especially being manufactured in China. Would be versatile with one little modification, to obtain volume boost in the second channel.

Big tone for the money. I've tried single coils, noiseless single coils and humbuckers, works well with em all, plenty of gain for overdrive in channel two.

Inspected under the hood, it is built VERY WELL, don't expect any problems due to workmanship or quality. Being a tube amp, either have a spare set of tubes along with fuses or have a backup.

Now this is where it gets sticky. Bogner's attitude is that of a high tech company trying to protect rocket science, which it is not. Anybody with sufficient technical background can reverse engineer this amp to produce a schematic, or to disclose their "secrets" That said, it is a lot easier for a competent tech to look at a schematic diagram and be able to determine whether mods to personalize the circuit is feasible or not. This is not a rubidium atomic time base, it's only an audio amplifier. Customer service and support should take their head out of their %&&.

Playing since 1966, if stolen I would not buy another one simply because of the lack of the engineering consideration from the support group, as a matter of fact I am returning this amp to the place of purchase on January 02, 2008 to exchange for another manufacturers model, that is a manufacturer who understands and respects an engineer's position who has purchased their products. Bogner is really in the dark come to think of it because many of the mods in use by them and others came at the hand of the experimenters and engineers who act as free beta testers who evaluate and submit suggestions for improvements. Seems that they should be paying me for my time !! All that said, I am hesitant to go for the high dollar SHIVA model simply because of their customer support attitude.

Playing guitar since early 1970, pro and semi pro and electronics technician doing repairs and tube amp mods in many music stores in the 70's and early 80's, including The Music Forum, Strings & Things, Fitchburg Music. I later went into electrical engineering.
The Alchemist 1X12 combo amplifier was purchased in early December 2008. I find it has impressive tone and a nice feature set with both reverb and delay built in. It also has a foot switchable and panel switch boost function that increases the thickness of tone in channel one by a good amount but is barely discernible in channel two. Please note that this boost function does not kick up the volume as in a "solo" level switch, which I find would be very beneficial in a live gig amplifier, (more on that in the customer support column). Overall, I've found the build quality and tone in this amplifier is excellent and a great value for the price. If it had an adjustable master level control for the switchable boost function I would rate this amp a "10"

Primarily focused on 70's 80's classic rock and heavy album rock, I'm using Gibson Les Pauls, Fender Strats and Telecasters. Unlike many amplifiers on the market, this amp will give you great tones with the tone dials set just about in any position. I've heard many users who tried this amp in stores say "I can't get bad tone out of this amp no matter where the tone controls are set" Now I don't know for sure, but the darker and sweeter sound characteristic of this amp with its Vintage 30 speaker leads me to suspect that the speaker may be broken in at the factory before final assembly, because I normally associate a new Vintage 30 with a lot snarlier and aggressive top end characteristic. The 2X12 combo version of this amp BTW uses two different model Celestion speakers which produce quite a different tonal characteristic which sounds awesome also.

Because of my long time electronics and engineering background, I like to open an amp right away to see how well it is designed and layed out and to see if I purchased a decent piece of equipment or a piece of junk. If I decide I'm going to keep it, I then like to make sure the details of the assembly are all in order such as with tie wraps, lugs and connectors being tight, snap in boards being fully set in place, etc. That said, upon inspecting this amplifier I was pleasantly surprised to find it to be of very good quality and workmanship. I did not have to do anything "under the hood" to bring the details of the assembly to my specifications. The quality of the components also seem to be very good. Whether or not they're running these components at conservative voltages or not I cannot say, but just from what I have observed upon inspection I believe it is a decent piece of equipment.

Now here's where I wish my experience with Bogner were different. I've decided that I want to make a modification to the boost circuit in order to attain what I need from this amplifier, and yes, this would void the warranty! When I called customer support to request limited circuit details documentation they flatly turned me down. I also emailed them with an explained description of what I wanted to do along with a link to a technical credentials page and I have gotten no response, zero, thus my opinion of their customer service is low. If Bogner would like me to update this review in a positive way, then they will need to favorably respond to my emailed technical request or call me.

Ah yes, the question of what other gear do I own, well .... currently: One Mesa Lonestar 50/100W head, one Marshall JVM-410 100W head, one Marshall Super Lead Plexi 100W head, one Marshall 1974X 18W combo, one Vox AD120VTH 120W stereo head, one Ampeg SVT 8X10 w B2RE 450W head, four Marshall 1960 straight cabs with vintage Celestion Greenbacks, one Marshall 1960 slant cab with vintage Celestion G12H-55Hz, two Fender American Deluxe Stratocasters, one Fender American Deluxe telecaster, three Gibson Les Paul Customs (68RI, 57RI, and a 2000 series), and I won't go into all the small stuff here!
Back to the Bogner amplifier, I really do like the amp overall, but I am seriously disappointed with their support and lack of concern for my needs. If lost or stolen I would seriously look at another manufacturers model simply because of that. This is not a good feeling when a company turns its back and snubs its nose at you.