Bogner Fish Preamp

Features/specs are widely available... if you've made it to this page, you know what you are looking at.

I have #197 - allegedly owned by Jerry Cantrell and used on the Facelift album and tours. It was retired to his sound guy who in turn sold it to me via ebay. Bogner removed the mid-boost "Jerry Mod", but the circuitry is still there if so desired.

The channel switching is not as refined as more modern multi-channel amps. I use two latch switches to do the job, but it can get confusing to switch mid song and hit it right - sometimes you have to stomp both at once to make certain jumps. Custom pedals can be made to do the job, but I can't afford that. Otherwise, I wish it had reverb.

I am giving it a 6 for features because there are not that many really... it is very simple and to the point, which is a good thing for me.

I play mine through a Mesa 20/20 power amp and two 1x12 cabs. It is plenty loud for me and playing with a PA, but not loud enough for a loud band. Again, the power amp plays a big roll and everyone uses a different setup, so each reviewer rig probably sounds totally different.

When I got this amp... I totally dropped all effects and have been playing dry for 5 years now. I use either LPs or G&Ls to get my tonal variety.

Country Channel (Clean) - I really am not a huge fan of this channel. It rings true and clear, but not very dynamic. I rarely play thru this channel.

Strato Channel - This is my main channel. It has all the range I want... it cleans up as you roll off the volume, then you roll on volume it becomes very expressive and broken up. Classic rock all day long. This sounds really good through all my guitars - hum and sc pickups.

Brown Channel - I rock out with my cock out in this channel. I actually prefer it over the Shark channel for heavy music. It seems more meaty and grungy. Again, keep the volume back a notch for riffing and strumming, roll it all the way up for stand out solos. Play drop tuned and your chest will rattle. I love this channel.

Shark Channel - this is the "metal" channel. It sounds razor sharp and nasty. Think Motley Crue style. It can also be toned down for a more 70s fuzz sound - Ziggy Stardust when played though a SC pickup. I don't use this channel as often as the Strato or Brown.

Overall, the amp plays quietly. It does get really hot, so give it space in the rack to breath. It holds its own and drives my power amp very well. I am giving it an 8 because two of the channels are perfect and the others leave room for improvement, but again... my power amp choice may be to blame.

VERY GOOD. I have had zero problems with reliability. I had to recently have all the tubes replaced... the sound quality was really getting bad in a few channels, but I should have done that years ago and my power amp was in real bad need of tubes. Again, that is normal wear n tear for tubes, not the amps fault.

I have called Bogner a few times over the years and a real person answers the phone every time and that same person can answer my question right on the spot. I LOVE that kind of support. I have not had to send my amp to them for any reason, so I cannot vouch for repair time.

I have been playing for 15 years. This is my first boutique amp ... though I have played through many. I almost always like what I hear when I play other set-ups of similar quality, but I am always glad to plug back in mine. Lately, I have been contemplating getting a new amp... Bad Cat Hot Cat 30R. While I'd love to add to my collection, the cost of these things forces me to trade one for another ... which is why I am reluctant to let it go.

I wish I didn't have a rack setup to haul around. I wish it had reverb built in. I wish the channel switching was more refined. The faults tho are part of the charm and part of the experience of owning a hand made, limited run piece of gear. Otherwise, I love this amp. It is rare, it is unique, it sounds incredible, it covers a lot of ground tonally ... if this were lost or stolen I may not be able to find another to replace it, but I will definitely continue to own Bogner Amps.

SN 12X

Others have listed the features and they are available at Bogner's website.

Compared to their more available amps, the heavy channel most closely resembles the Ubershall. The clean is the best Bogner clean sound I have gotten, but that maybe the power amp helping there. The distortion is also crisper and fuller than the Ubershall, but again, the power amp maybe the reason for that. I use it with a VHT 2100. AWESOME tone. This, the 101b, and a Demeter TGP3 are my favorite amps.

Awesome preamp. overall give a 9 since they did not ever finish some parts of the desing and made too few so the price is too high.

Bogner Fish Preamp, serial number # 10,
4 channel tube-preamp(channels are called: country, brown, strato and shark channel) with bass, mid & treble EQ, gain and volume knobs for each channel; Brown and Strato channel are sharing their EQ.Country and shark channel each have 3-way switches which affect the respective channel's timbre.

This particular fish preamp has a custom channelswitcher made by Sean Dunham.Standard features, no MIDI, no effect loop.I use it in an A/B set-up with a VHT poweramp and a Mesa/Boogie Mark IV along with some Keeley pedals and Lexicon PCM effects.It has enough features to work perfectly in my set-up.

In combination with the right poweramp and guitar, the fish's brown channel is a straight ten to my ear, the other channels deserve a nine.

I use the fish preamp for Fusion music, Jazz and some progressive stuff, but it works well in virtually any musical environment.

1.The brown channel is my personal favourite, it can be tweaked to produce a wonderful crunchsound that sound very close to Vai's mid '90's "Alien Love Secrets" era.One of the best crunchsounds I ever heard.The Soldano SLO-100 and the Custom Audio SE 3 are on the same level to my ear, but on this niveau it's a matter of taste, I suppose.
2.The country channel is a solid clean channel that can be switched to a slightly muted clean sound for "real-book-sesions" or a typical funky-sound.I always use my Mesa-Boogie Mark IV for my clean sounds though(6L6's).
3.The stratochannel is very similar to the brown sound, it's little tighter though and has more of a "green-blue" leadsound-timbre(whatever that is...).
4.The poweramp you use will affect the timbre of the preamp a great deal, of course.
The shark channel is a good example of that.Over a VHT it sounds quite modern and fat; played over other poweramps I found it not so impressive.

I switch between the Bogner and the Mesa/Boogie to use both amp's strong points.For the sounds I get with it, I give it a 10.Not all channels deserve a ten,though.

I've been playing the fish preamp for 1,5 years now.
I haven't had a problem with it yet.
I would rely on it, but I always like to have a backup live.

From what I heard, their customer support is exceptionally good; can't make any comment on this, I never had any problem with my preamp.
Bogner products has a lifetime warranty, I heard.

The overall rating would be a ten, at least for the things I use it for.
In connection with the Mesa/Boogie Mark IV it's the perfect set-up for me.I already mentioned the reasons.I've been checking out a lot of equipment over the years, and of course there is some boutique equipment by Custom Audio, Soldano, Bogner and Mesa/Boogie that has the same quality with a different sound character.As I said, on this niveau it's a matter of taste and what you need it for.The fish definitely has some top-of-the-line sounds; if you already have a good poweramp, I think you can't go wrong here.

Serial #37 used to be Jerry Cantrell's fish. Has the mod on the shark channel for more midrange and gain. I play heavy metal and this preamp is versatile enough for anything. It can go from clean to heavy crunch with a stomp of the footswitch. 3 Channels (4 if you count the strato/brown seperate, they share the same eq of a channel). No effects loops or headphone jacks why would yo want it? I use this amp live in a thrash metal band and it has plenty of "balls" just like the shark channel says. 2 outputs jacks, a/b footswitch, 2 on/off buttons one in front other in back.

I use a Jackson Kv1 with emg 81/85 combo into the bogner fish then a vht 2150 into a Marshall 1960a with 75 celestians. Can you say brutal?? Cause it is! No noise at all very quiet unit, even with the knobs all cranked, nice piece of gear here. Like I said before from clean to crunch and everything in between. Hey it was used on such metal albums as megadeth-rust in peace, slayer-seasons in the abyss,divine intervention, anthrax-persistence of time, is that metal enough for you?? I nearly get a "woody" everytime I play through this thing simply amazing!

I could rely without a backup forever. This is high quality bogner gear hey it's over 10yrs old, toured with jerry and keeps on ticking I think that says it all.

I've never dealt with the company but I have heard great things. I think the warranty is lifetime.

I've been playing guitar for 10yrs. I've tried other high end preamps CAE 3+/CAE 3+ SE, mesa boogie triaxis. The CAE is the only other preamp I would highly recommend, but I love the fish so much more it's just freakin awesome. If it were stolen, the guy who did it wouldn't be able to be identified by his/her own mother. I love the aqua face of the unit very cool looking all the black chicken head knobs the, the tone, the reliabilty, this unit has it all. Get one of these preamps if you can there are only 200 in the world you will not regret it, I guarantee it!

I have an early ser# short chassis model. 8 12ax7 tubes (Chinese are recommended by Bogner) 4 channel preamp with separate eqing and volume for 3 of the 4 channels (2 channels share an eq), a master volume and master presence control (both on back) Inputs on front and back (cool!), 2 footswitch jacks (need something!) and 2 main outs.

I am using this for mainly a high gain distortion rock tone. I like a tight bottom end and a chunky heavy gain.
The clean channel on this preamp is awesome. As good as any preamp I've tried out there (Triaxis/Marshall JMP-1... and I own or have owned many high end heads Soldano/Mesa/ Cornford/BadCat/Matchless etc)
The Shark channel is Plexi like with a Balls control for more modded gain.
My fave channel is the Brown channel which is hard to describe. Its basically a very gainy spongy warm toneful high gain. (But not so spongy that palm mutes are mushy.) Just awesome.
The Strato channel shares the same EQ as the Brown (lack of space?)
and sounds like a higher gain version of the Brown. It's not as warm as the brown channel, however palm muted lines are tighter.

It heats up a lot but no problems yet.

3 for 3 emails have been returned by the Bogner company. very cool!!!

A great high end Preamp for those who want one of the best. I hope Bogner once again makes a preamp in the future. Be great to get an UBERSCHALL mod on this puppy............maybe that will exist someday.

Ton of features, what more could you ask for in and analog preamp with 8 12ax7's in it. It has 4 channels, country, strato, brown, and shark. And plenty of eqing on each channel,. Ah and the gain on the shark channel is called "Balls" so you know its business. As far as and analog preamp goes this one has features galore

The clean is nice and warm, i replaced the tubes it came with and put some electro harmonix tubes in the country channel which made it warmer, i like some of the other people use this preamp with a VHT poweramp. The clean channel is clean, its not a real warm fender, vox clean but it does what it supposed to. If they would have added a 5th channel with a fender clean it would have got a 10. The Brown channel is one of my favorites, its straight up Alice in chains sounding, Its awesome and warm. Its Alice in chains in a box. The strato i dont fiddle with as much because i love the brown and shark the best. But it is nice. I just havent had the time to dwell in the strato because of the brown and shark channel. Come to think about it, if they would have put the fender channel here that would have been nice to. The shark channel is out of control. Think Zakk Wylde. I have a triple rec head to. As far as gain its about the same but with the shark channel the palm mutes, and pitch harmonics come off so much easier than on my triple rec head. You can hear notes so clearly, this is definatly the high gain solo channel from hell. I can whip out tones from the No more tears album with ease with this beast. They make and Anathrax mod for even more gain if you choose to go that route.

I bought this off ebay only had it 2 months it seems pretty reliable, Hell its 10 years old. Its built like a rock. I love Bogner so much that i will give them a 10 on this because i know if something goes wrong the goes at Bogner are always there to help you

The Best. THE BEST/. I cant stress this enough. Everyone in the industry should get there notebooks out and take notes from these guys. Its always good business with Bogner. I have owned a shiva in the past, and these guys are always so nice. even though my fish is 10 years old and bought used, they will help me anytime i have a question. Theres no wait on the phone. I really cant say enough for these guys. If there was a rateing above 10 i would apply it here.

THis is the best preamp ever made, and i have tried them all. I run a recording studio, and i have had people bring in various units from time to time that i get to fiddle with. Usually if someones putting out a badtone or something, ill offer them a few of my rigs to jam on, after playing the fish they always have a big smile, and are like hell ya ill play this man. Im interested in tryin the new VHT preamp comeing out. They dont have the customer service Bogner does. But i reckon that think supposed to be pretty nice. As for the Bogner what can i say its awesome, they only made 200 of these in the world. A real collectors item. The price was high, but the tones are worth it. I really have never seen one thing in a box, that can give you EVH, Alice n Chains, and Zakk Wylde in one box. So this thing is the real deal. I still have no clue why they only made 200, thats kinda weird, considering how good they sound.

I own #154 out of 200 ('91?). Four channels. Lead channels "Brown" and "Strato" share the same EQ knobs (treble, mid, high), and have separate gain and volume knobs. Crunch channel "Shark" has a gain knob labeled "Balls" (Pretty much what sold me) and a dark/bright switch. Clean channel "Country" has all the EQ, plus a country/jazz switch. Dual outs, presence and master vol on back. I use a rocktron patchmate and DMC ground control to change channels. PLENTY of versatility for a knob-turner like myself. I run it through a VHT Classic power amp. I've played out and in the studio with it. More than enough power for me.

I play a '96 strat (stock pickups still, this will change SOON), '80 SG (Dimarzios) and '89 Ibanez sabre (Andersen H3 bridge humbucker, duncan quarter pound center single coil, duncan neck jazz humbucker). I play rock, metal, blues and jazz. This is incredible for all of those styles. I know there's no amp that can do it all, but this one comes close. With the money I had, I could have either bought a few decent amps for seperate sounds, or dropped it all into one ultra-high quality amp with lots of versatility. I opted for quality.

I produced a band in the studio and they played through my rig. Everything from twangy rockabilly to screaming punk-rock. Combined with the VHT, this does it all. The engineer and mixer were amazed. At one point, we had all of the volume and gain knobs maxed for one particularly crazy song. I stood by the rig waiting to put out flames incase it went up. Nothing. The isolation booth it was in could have been made out of tissue paper. The sound of God was coming out of my Marshall 1960 reissue 4X12. Amazing.

My only slight knock is the clean channel is as one earlier reviewer put it, very clean. The VHT makes up for it, but an alternate clean amp in the studio would be more appropriate. Gets a little gainy at super high volumes. But live, this is the perfect setup (for me).

As I said earlier, the amp went through a beating in the studio. (My bulletproof VHT had to be retubed, but the Fish was fine). I use it live, no problems. I would gig without a backup no problem.

I talked to Sean a few times with more techy questions. Always knowledgable and friendly. I've never had a problem, so I don't call them too often.

I've been playing for 13 years. I also own an old (back when they were in Anaheim) Music Man 130 watt 2X12 open-backed cab, and a Yamaha/Soldano 50watt combo. I would track down the guy who stole my Fish like Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive. Then I'd work him like Marcellus Wallace in Pulp Fiction. Or I would definitely track down a used one and buy it. I absolutely love this preamp. I know what sound I will get out of it everytime, I know what it's capable of (basically everything), I know it's limitiations, (basically none), and the confidence and comfort I have with it makes me a better player. I chose it because it wasn't a huge company like Marshall or Fender (I always go with the underdog), because it sounds amazing, because it is versatile, because it's a cool teal/blue color and because it has a knob on it labeled "balls".

As a tone generator, it's got all of the features you should need. No MIDI but it's not that kind of unit -- if you want continuous control, buy a Triaxis or that $3000 motorized Soldano. I've heard rumors that Bogner is now doing mods on these older units like shock mounting the PC board and adding new, more "modern" voicings. Best to check with them directly.

Like any preamp, this unit is very dependent on the power amp it is connected to. I use it with old Gibson guitars and a VHT 2:50:2 in Class A mode with EL34s. The clean channel sounds good but it is very clean . . . if you want any gain at all for bluesy stuff you need to get it from your power amp. Jazz switch works well for warmer, Wes sound on chord melody stuff. Funk setting is a bright switch, subtle but effective. Strato and Brown channels are unbelievable, absolutely wonderful liquid gain at 12 to 3 o' clock settings. Any more gain than that and the background noise comes up and the notes, while still retaining more definition than they would on a lesser preamp, start to buzz out a little. Brown is very British sounding. I've seen pictures of idiots with every knob on their Fish turned all the way up . . . obviously they don't know what they're doing and are missing out on a lot of the sounds you can get out of this box. I think this preamp sounds the best with the controls sent right around high noon. Mid control is extremely powerful and allows for lot of control of the voicing of the tone. You can play major thirds with these two channels and they sound good, clear and very articulate. If your technique sucks people *will* notice. The Shark channel was a big disappointment. Not sure what Bogner was trying to do here . . . I've tried every combination of preamp and power amp settings with no luck. It sounds like a muddy, heavily distorted Marshall, almost like a JCM 900 in need of a tube change. No high end or definition. If you're looking for modern-sounding heavy stuff, do yourself a favor and get a piece more along those lines, like a Dual Rectifier. But that's not why people rave about this preamp . . . the Brown channel is truly magnificent and worthy of a "10" rating. If you're looking for the ultimate spare-no-expense lead voice in a preamp format, you should check one out (if you can find one).

I've only had mine for a week, but no problems so far.

Again, haven't talked to them yet, but I've heard lots of good things about them.

This is a relatively simple box which does a few things really well. The Brown and Strato Channels are simply wonderful and give you a beautiful voice. It's also got a decent clean channel but I prefer an old Twin or the Orange channel on my Rectifier (probably 'cuz it's got 6L6s . . . however I'd like to hear this channel through a 2:90 or my VHT with 6L6s in it). If you're looking for a box that is super flexible (MIDI, presets, effects loop) or has enough processing power to launch the space shuttle, the Fish isn't for you. If you're looking for really brutal, Pantera or Fear Factory-type crunch, get a Dual Rectifier or Triaxis / 2:90 setup or a Randall or Line 6 amp -- that's what they're designed to do. But I've owned lots of different amps and preamps over the years and this piece is a keeper. As a preamp, it's much easier to integrate it into a rack system than a head in terms of dealing with level changes caused by resetting the Master Volume. As for the price, if you can find one somebody is willing to sell, they're commanding substantial premiums these days -- over two grand (remember, there are only 200 in the world!) -- but, like most things, you get what you pay for.

READ THE OTHER REVIEWS - THEY'RE CORRECT, SIR.

LES PAUL -> BOGNER-> ROCKMAN SMART GATE -> GROOVE TUBES DUAL 75 STEREO POWER AMP (WITH KT88'S AND EL34'S) -> 2 JENKINS SOUND SHOPS 2X12'S WITH THD LONGHORN AND CELESTION GREENBACK 12'S. MY SOUND IS GOD.

THE PRESENCE POT FELL APART ON ME - I JUST DROVE TO BOGNER AND SEAN AND REINHOLD TOOK IT IN BACK WHILE I HAD A CUP OF COFFEE, IT WAS DONE IN TWENTY MINUTES, DURING WHICH I PLAYED THROUGH THEIR NEW PREAMP PROTOTYPE, THE "ATMA". GREAT GUYS

NONE BETTER.

I'M LOOKING FOR THE GUY WHO WROTE THE REVIEW ABOVE ME - JERRY G. WHERE ARE YOU??? I WANT TO BUY YOUR FISH!!!! PLEASE CONTACT ME AT MY E-MAIL ADDRESS IMMEDIATELY IF YOU STILL HAVE IT AND WANT TO SELL. I NEED A BACK UP FOR MINE NOW!!!

4 channel preamp. See previous post for details, as he`s right on the money.

I`ve been around for a while, and playing semi-pro for the last 20yrs. This thing will cover most bases well, but is no comparison to the Ecstacy, no matter what power amp is used. Sounded great for 5yrs through Marshall, Mesa, and finally VHT power amps into Vintage 30`s. Then I tried an Ecstacy, and figured out why Bogner doesn`t make these any more. No comparison. The sound of the Ecstacy is just more "fuller". If you can find one of these (good luck) for a grand, it may be a good deal, IF you already own a good power amp. If not, pass on it.

Never let me down. Try some Telefunkin`s in it, and it will run at it`s best, IMHO.

There is no customer support in the buisness equal to Bogner. Period.

I`ve owned more amps in the last 30yrs than I care to think about. Some of my favorites are Bogner Ecstacy, Fuchs Overdrive Supreme, and Line 6 stuff for practicing at home. The prices these preamps command are stupid. Granted they are one of the best preamps made, but Bogner`s new amps are just better. Think about it, are you better at your job now than you were 10yrs ago? It`s really a no brainer.