Bogner Amp Stupid Deal of the Day

The Bogner Alchemist amp is the Musicians Friend Stupid Deal of the Day today:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/stupid/

Seems like a great deal if the markdown from list is any indication. I know nothing about this amp--IS is a good deal?

Yea, I posted a question too last week.

Don't think many(alchemists) out there.. they were pricey, but, have
come down.

I played through one at a guitar store once and it sounded AWESOME in all settings, clean to dirty. I've heard these amps have some reliability issues though so who knows. The one I played sounded really good though.

Bought one three weeks ago, same day I bought my AC15C1.

I bought the Alchemist first. It sounded pretty good in the store, and the deal was smokin' hot clearance priced, so I took one. A head. Brand new, in the box. Got it home and hooked it up to my cab, and it sounded glorious, for about five minutes. Then it started making all kinds of weird noises.

The biggest issue, was what I called a ghost note, not sure what it's really called. When I would play a note on the clean channel, it would also play the samew note slightly behind tempo, really low behind the main note, and super, super distorted. Like somebody off in another room was echoing whatever I played, right behind my notes, with a ton of gain. As my actual clean note would die out, the gain note would keep going. It sounded absolutely awful.

I was trying to figure that out, and thr reverb turned on. All the way up it sounded like, and would not turn off with either the knob or the footswitch. I took it back and bought the Vox. Shame, it was an awesome sounding amp when I first unboxed it. Definitely very giggable both clean and dirty. Mine just didn't work long enough to get to a gig.

Not saying anything about reliability one way or another, just that the one I got was a dud, and I needed an amp for a gig that night. I didn't have time to wait around for it to be fixed.

From what corner of the earth did the tubes come?

Bought one three weeks ago, same day I bought my AC15C1.

I bought the Alchemist first. It sounded pretty good in the store, and the deal was smokin' hot clearance priced, so I took one. A head. Brand new, in the box. Got it home and hooked it up to my cab, and it sounded glorious, for about five minutes. Then it started making all kinds of weird noises.

The biggest issue, was what I called a ghost note, not sure what it's really called. When I would play a note on the clean channel, it would also play the samew note slightly behind tempo, really low behind the main note, and super, super distorted. Like somebody off in another room was echoing whatever I played, right behind my notes, with a ton of gain. As my actual clean note would die out, the gain note would keep going. It sounded absolutely awful.

I was trying to figure that out, and thr reverb turned on. All the way up it sounded like, and would not turn off with either the knob or the footswitch. I took it back and bought the Vox. Shame, it was an awesome sounding amp when I first unboxed it. Definitely very giggable both clean and dirty. Mine just didn't work long enough to get to a gig.

Not saying anything about reliability one way or another, just that the one I got was a dud, and I needed an amp for a gig that night. I didn't have time to wait around for it to be fixed.

And the best part is you got an AC15C1 :razz:

I too saw the SDotD and thought "I'll get one!" Thankfully I took the time to look up some reviews. Chinese made, reliability issues, bad customer support (it has to do with this being a Line6 Chinese product, not from Bogner USA). Digital reverb. Quite pricey given all that, even at $599.

Oh boy, glad I asked! Well, I can keep suffering with my 1965 Princeton Reverb at gigs, I suppose :-}

Yeah, I passed. A non-Bogner.

Whole Chinese Line6 thing was the kiss of death, plus I've seen a lot of negative posts about the amp elsewhere, never mind the many furious posts about Line6 customer/warranty support.

How they originally wanted over two grand for this thing boggles my mind.

One thing I will say about Line6, though: Whenever they dump something, they let them go at DEEP discount.

Nice price on the Bogners, I also saw that Vox AC15C1s are $479.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/vox-custom-ac15c1-15w-1x12-tube-guitar-combo-amp/423619002001000

For the record, I've never had anything but bad luck with Chinese Voxes, either, and I've been through a bunch of them. :sad:

Love the look, love the interesting circuits, detest the build quality.

That these are "restocks" is really predictable, though maybe it means that they're new service returns that have had their screwups fixed.

I too saw the SDotD and thought "I'll get one!" Thankfully I took the time to look up some reviews. Chinese made, reliability issues, bad customer support (it has to do with this being a Line6 Chinese product, not from Bogner USA). Digital reverb. Quite pricey given all that, even at $599.

Plus, made from particle board, and very heavey. 60 lbs for a 1X12" combo. 80 lbs for a 2X12" combo. I won't buy another Vox either, due to the particle board, weight and lack of reliability. Failure rates are around 40%. I went through two Vox combo's, in one year.

There are to many other great sounding amps, that are lighter, cheaper, and more reliable.