I picked these amps up quite some time apart, but I wanted to combine them here since it was a bit of a saga to get everything situated correctly.
First up, the hard one, a Bogner Uberschall Twin Jet.
This amp has a quad of KT88 power tubes, and while the lead channel is theoretically the same as the regular Uberschall, it lacks the clean channel, and instead has another gain channel. I expected this to be more of a two metal channels, similar to something like a VHT Pittbull CL or other amps with identical gain channels, but the Twin Jet’s rhythm channel is more of a crunch channel than anything else.
That said, I don’t actually get to find out myself because this amp was very poorly packed and as a result, severely damaged in shipping. All of the power amp tubes were completely shattered inside the head shell, broken glass was inside the amp itself, half of the preamp tubes were cracked while the others had their pins bent, and the lights that show which channel is selected appear to be knocked out of place. I opened this amp up, mostly to vacuum out the broken glass and see if it is salvageable - but it has some of the most extreme damage I’ve seen on an amp like this. There are capacitors with broken zip ties, disconnected from the PCB, the fiber cabling for the lights is knocked out of place, and broken glass all over the place inside.
This of course went to UPS shipping claims, but after just under 3 months of inaction, and me stuck in possession of this broken amp, the store manager of the GC that shipped this was able to refund me and have me drop it off at my local GC (originally, UPS had ruled they would pick it up from me, but never contacted me or arrived). In spite of the issues, I have to commend the GC who sent this (GC Warwick RI) for their handling of the situation. Still, I’m disappointed I won’t get to compare this Twin Jet, with its extra set of presence/depth controls and KT88 power section, to the EL34 Uberschall I also picked up.
This one I purchased on a bit of a whim, I had no idea what to expect from this one, and it’s kind of funny looking front control panel always put me off - it makes me think of some of the weirder 50’s era amps, and I figured the tones would be more like that, but I couldn’t resist the price.
After more research, and especially after it showed up and I played through it, I was very wrong. In 60s mode, it’s a Marshall type tone on the drive channel with a wonderful blend control for adding more brightness and trebly character. This channel can also switch to an 80s mode, which introduces more gain, although I found this mode to be a little bit underwhelming in comparison to some of my other modded Marshall type amps, but it’s still extremely usable if you need a bit more gain out of this channel.
The real highlight for me though, this has to be the absolute best clean channel I have ever played through, so far, on any amp. It sounds truly fantastic, very elastic, while staying full sounding and not too bassy. Even better, there are two bright switches, which can be flipped in different combinations to alter the tone even further and of course, add more snap.
There is also a spring reverb which sound fantastic, with a nice tail without getting too many reflections even on the gain channel, and that adds to it even more.
And last feature, there is also an adjustable boost feature, the amount of which can be set from a small knob on the rear panel. This boost can be turned on for either channel, and it adds a lot of flexibility - it’s a clean type boost, which can add a little bit more gain if you have the channel gains turned up, but not too much, and it’s not a huge volume spike either. Really well thought out and useful boost that adds some texture and cut to the tone without influencing it too much.
The only issue with this amp is that the footswitch has been inconsistent, at least on my example, and when I first plugged it in, caused the lights all over the amp to flicker and freak out. When the cable of the switch is twisted at the exact right angle, all works as intended - a very unique 5-button switch for an amp with only 2 channels, if that says something about the features of this amp. The footswitch also screws in to the back panel to secure it, very interesting idea, but the same screw in connector at the switch itself seems to be the downfall of this one, likely it got pulled, dropped, or perhaps even damaged in shipping (since the box came missing a huge chunk out of the side with the corner of the amp poking out… no bubble wrap… come on GC!). Still, it’s a keeper, even if just for that clean channel alone. I’d love to hear the ‘77 mode on the new GF45SL, especially since I didn’t love the 80s mode on this one, that might be just what it’s missing.
The last one, and the good news: an Uberschall EL34. This amp arrived in decent condition, and sounds just like you’d expect from an Uber - thick, full, and heavily saturated. It’s bassy without being overwhelming, and with some EQ tweaks can do the rectifier wall-of-sound tones, but a few other changes and it has a much tighter sounding low end good for more technical riffing. I’m really impressed, and it’s such a staple of studio sounds I’m sure I will get some great mileage out of this amp.
I don’t find the clean channel to be particularly amazing, but it’s definitely not bad either. It stays very clean even with the gain turned up, but you can get a little hair on it at max - I think I personally would prefer the Twin Jet here but oh well!
