After getting comfortable with this amp for a few weeks, I felt compelled to write a review. First, the tones are incredible. Very pure, responsive, and organic on every channel/mode. The bright, deep, midshift, and EQ switches allow tons of versatility for both channels and both gain modes on each channel. The amp is also extremely quiet, even on high gain settings. Much quieter than the fender, vox, and blackheart amps I own. The footswitch is great. The boost feature ads a touch of mids/volume/gain and fills a lead part nicely. My only complains are the volume difference between the ch1/gain and ch2/gain modes at the same settings - also with spring reverb switching from ch2 to ch1 produces a small pop. I don't notice at all but you couldn't record that particular operation. Totally quiet on plate and hall reverb when switching channels. The 20 watt mode is really cool for that spongey/loose gain response. Definitely more of a tonal adjustment than volume adjustment.

I play this head with the matching 2x12 open back Alchemist cab, which compliments the amp nicely both tonally and aesthetically. I might try switching out the speakers, but not for any fault of the amp or cab. Also using both single coils and humbuckers. With humbuckers, I prefer to have the bright switch on in most cases.

Overall, this amp is an outstanding value for the price. Great cleans, crunch, and gain available in independent footswitchable channels, with 'verb and delay. Solid build quality, feature richness, and versatility are what this amp is all about. Its been inspiring to play! Do yourself a favor and play this thing!

To offer some background for this review, one must keep in mind that I'm like the All-Exalted Master of Being Anal About Tone. So bear that in mind.

The Bogner Alchemist, for those of you who wig out about such things, is actually Chinese-made by Line 6, who, in my opinion, are the Ascended Defilers of tone. So imagine my skepticism when I plugged an SG loaded with Burstbucker 3's into this amp head, connected to the brand 2 x 12 cabinet. I put it at 20 watts and opened up the clean channel to get a good feel for the straight character of this amp - its voice, if you will.

Wow.

Perfect blend of American and British cleans, in my opinion. Dry, it sounds crisp and has a wonderfully intuitive, open pick response. Drench it in the amp's spring reverb, and even humbuckers can sound Fender-y. Don't get me started on single coils. Gentle picking, or fingerstyle will yield warm, rich bottom end with excellent sustaining qualities and natural compression, even for those high, long bends that tend to decay more quickly. The EQ on this channel is extremely versatile, as well. Very minor tweaks will take it from thick to glassy to bizarre and back again. Bright and bass boost switches are both nice features; when on, they can be subtle if you wish, or add a whole dimension of harmonics to your sound.

Here's the downside: the boost function, when used on this channel, does add a good dose of gain. Being subtle with your picking will allow you to keep it clean, then step it up to some nice rhythm crunch. But having said that, it also can get ridiculously loud. So you could really use a compressor, or an attenuator - something jury-rigged. I've just instead turned up the gain on the clean channel and stayed subtle so that I can get the crunch without throwing in the boost.

Speaking of crunch... the clean channel also has a 'crunch' switch. Not digging it so much... it's nice for certain sounds, just not as versatile as the rest of the amp. I mean, don't get me wrong. Nice, even pick attack, but the overdrive just doesn't quite fill the sound like it should, unless your gain is absolutely cranked. So no subtlely there. But not a huge deal, either, because the clean channel, with the right amount of gain, can do what the crunch channel is supposed to do, and the lead channel, with the proper settings, can do it just as well.

Now. About that lead channel. It's remarkably versatile. You get a bright switch and a mid-shift switch, with a big gain circuit that has a 'punch' control that really is just a saturation switch. I have found my sound with the gain control at 12 o'clock and the punch on, treble and bass just a notch past twelve, mids scooped to 9 o'clock and switched. It's an awesome all purpose sound. But if you want, you can crank your mids and treble for a wicked classic rock sound. Gain can go pretty stinking heavy if you wish, and it's one of the few gain controls I've heard that clings to its tightness even when it's pushing the limits. Now I know that I think of that kind of heavy, distortion laden sound as metal, but you nu-metal or black/death metal types probably won't go for that. Metallica through Weezer through Brand New is all in the lead channel of this amp.

Furthermore, the lead channel cleans up remarkably well. It's not a problem to quickly shift back and forth between light, clean picking to heavy riffing, without changing settings. And the boost circuit on this works perfectly: it adds a boost to the midrange and a touch of gain that really helps solos and lead lines stand out. Again, the EQ here is versatile beyond belief. If you find yourself getting frustrated with it, just return everything to 12 o'clock and start from there. You'll be amazed at how it lets your tone shine through. No tone-crushing stuff here. Everything sounds exactly like it should - which is saying something.

Now - as for the built in effects. You get a delay line, which can switch bewteen an analog delay, tape echo, and a ducking delay, all of which are pretty nice. They don't pretend to be a total delay solution, but they really are nice, for those of us who don't want to mess with a ton of different delay pedals. And they're versatile, too. Bring the delay and repeat knobs up to about ten o'clock on analog, and the tails of chords will get an awesome, chorus-y shimmer. Or you can go all Brian May on it with some weird, long-delay echo.

Reverbs are pretty nice. You get a really good approximation of spring reverb, a standard plate reverb, and a hall variant. All very nice, but the spring 'verb is my favorite, because it's so similar to the real deal. My only beef is that heavy amounts of reverb don't play nice with the lead channel. It can get kind of muddy, but a little EQ tweaking can usually fix that. Or, alternately, mixing the delay and the reverb will work too. They're in parallel, so all kinds of ways of messing with it are possible.

And my favorite part? All of this is footswitchable, except the crunch switch on the clean channel, and odds are you won't use it anyway, so no big deal. Add a good chorus pedal, and this amp will be all the rig you need.

For clarification, I've used this amp with the aforementioned SG, an Epiphone Ultra-II that has Burstbuckers installed (now THERE was a fun day) a Fender American Strat that has a Hot Rails in the bridge position, an Ibanez Artcore with really hot custom pickups, and a Michael Kelly Vibe with very clean PAF Rockfields. I also pulled out the stock tubes - a combo of EHs, Groove Tubes, Rubies, and two unnamed Chinese tubes, and replaced them all with EH's, which boosted the overall gain a wee bit. So just keep that in mind. Build quality is good - very solid; I'd feel ok if it got dropped or hit.

Definitely a good buy for somebody who knows what they want, needs a lot of versatility, or just wants to ditch the pedalboard.

So I got this guy about 3 weeks ago, and after giving it a full once over, I officially have nothing bad to say about this amp. This amp will literally do everything you imagine. I run a tele and a gibson lp studio, both with duncans in them, through an effects chain that's so big I'm no longer proud of it. Clean channel sparkles, to me it sounds like the perfect medium between fender and vox cleans, but slightly compressed. Dirty channel will do everything from blues, to classic rock to full on metal. The midrange boost for both channels is a nice touch as well. Set the dirty channel gain to 1 or two o'clock, roll your guitar volume to 5 or 6, and you get the best rock tone you could ever ask for. The built in effects are the first effects in an amp I have ever seen that are both useable, and just plain practical. The tap tempo's a great feature, and the options of different delays and verbs are impressive. Everything's made easy via the four button footswitch. kudos bogner... kudos!

Forget about not getting that bite from a texas/californian am, two in one. Forget about people who say this amp cant do Metal, you got to remember this is not a pedal so don't treat it like one; remember this a tube amp with a nice compressed sound. Man this amp can be so versatile from hard rock to heavy metal from screming blues to acoustic like sounds you cant go wrong. It is a bogner you know... Not to mention 5 preamp tubes and 2 tube that came from heaven. The sounds are there all you gotta do is tweak it baby. Oh and don't be afraid. And if are one of those hating with the whole outsourcing dont rate an ampif you haven't tryed it and people please dont rate by a video try it in person. Oh and recording I give it 5 thumbs up experience the experience of Rock n' Roll. Turn it up and enjoy:)

Okay so let's make one thing clear, I have owned many many amps over a period of guitar playing of 9 years. This amp, in simple terms.. Is HANDS DOWN the MOST tone capable amp you will ever hear for the price.

The reason that this amp is not in the $3,000+ range is simply because it is made in China. NOT USA like most other Bogner amps. A very very good outsourcing strategy for the new Bogner/Line 6 duo. Who CARES if it is made in China, it sounds JUST AS GOOD as any Bogner I have played out of (maybe not as powerful, however, as the Ubershall or Ecstasy Classic)

To describe the sound this makes is almost impossible to write into words but I will try my best: The Mercury (RED) channel is so pure and warm that turning the gain up and playing an open chord (i.e. E MAJOR) every note can be heard and felt along with the natural overtones resonating from the guitar. This is a VERY clean, pure, bright (if you want it to be), sounding amp.

in a more simple comparison, for me, the sound I was looking for was the guitar tones was in bands such as Forever the Sickest Kids, A Day To Remember (homesick), or any heavy rock thick nasty clean guitar tones that you hear on any professional recording.

This amp was MADE for recording and is one of the best sounding amp I have put a mic in front of. With the open back cabinet makes it easy to get the overtones by throwing a mic back there..

Overall, 5 star amp. Buy it, you wont regret it. I PROMISE!!!