Hey everyone, I wanted to start a thread about an amp that is very special and likely isn't very well known. I'm lucky enough to own a prototype/custom Bogner amplifier that was used on the recordings of City of Evil, Self Titled, and Diamonds In The Rough. It may have been used on some other Avenged things as well, but I can't entirely say. If you have any questions about this amp, please ask away.
I bought this amp earlier this year from Fred Archambault, who engineered Waking the Fallen, City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Diamonds In The Rough, and Nightmare. Fred told me that this amp was blended with an Uberschall (and possibly other amps depending on the period) to get a lot of the tones on their records. This amp has 2 sisters. One is the original which is owned by Reinhold Bogner and is kept at Bogner's shop in North Hollywood, and the other is owned by producer Mudrock, who produced Waking The Fallen and City of Evil. Fred sold it because he primarily uses a Kemper in the studio now, and he knew that I would take good care of it. This amp was used on almost everything that Fred has worked on up until this point, including Atreyu, Alice Cooper, Nonpoint, and many more.
Here's the story of this amp that I've concluded after talking to Fred and Reinhold Bogner:
This amp is often referred to as the "Caveman" although if you google Bogner Caveman, you'll see a completely different amp. Bogner came out with an official Caveman for a short period of time before discontinuing it. However, this amp may predate that one and is entirely different. It's nicknamed the "Caveman" because the original amp that Reinhold made had hieroglyphs and symbols on the control panel of the amp rather than traditional letters and clear markings. The amp was a one off that Reinhold made and sat in Bogner's shop. Bogner would allow some record producers and their teams to borrow some of the amps at the shop to use on records, this one being one of them. Apparently, this thing was used a lot and was always being borrowed, which prompted Mudrock to request his own to be made. The problem was, Reinhold didn't really remember how he made the original amp, which is why it took a while for Mudrock to get his own. Bogner pretty much had to reverse engineer it, which gives some slight electrical variances to the other 2 made. Mudrock eventually received his around the time of City of Evil. Fred's came slightly later, or possibly a similar time, when he was at Bogner's shop and noticed the amp's chasis on the bench. When Fred asked Reinhold what it was, he told him and offered to him when it was completed.
Fred thinks that this amp was Bogner's version of a Dumble amp, although that isn't confirmed. Sonically the qualities that stick out the most to me are the unique gain structure, unique midrange, and unique attack this amp has. There's only one channel, it's a relatively primitive amp in terms of features. The amp doesn't really get clean, at about 9 o'clock it's already a bit distorted and lightly crunchy. To get high gain that I like, I set it around 3 o'clock. No one knows how many watts it is, Reinhold guesses about 140. The serial number on the back is "Mudrock 2 for Fred".
Apparently, Rick Rubin's team would borrow this amp and it was the main tone on Slipknot's Vol. 3 record.
Hope this all made some sense. Again, please ask anything you'd like to know about it.
I bought this amp earlier this year from Fred Archambault, who engineered Waking the Fallen, City of Evil, Avenged Sevenfold, Diamonds In The Rough, and Nightmare. Fred told me that this amp was blended with an Uberschall (and possibly other amps depending on the period) to get a lot of the tones on their records. This amp has 2 sisters. One is the original which is owned by Reinhold Bogner and is kept at Bogner's shop in North Hollywood, and the other is owned by producer Mudrock, who produced Waking The Fallen and City of Evil. Fred sold it because he primarily uses a Kemper in the studio now, and he knew that I would take good care of it. This amp was used on almost everything that Fred has worked on up until this point, including Atreyu, Alice Cooper, Nonpoint, and many more.
Here's the story of this amp that I've concluded after talking to Fred and Reinhold Bogner:
This amp is often referred to as the "Caveman" although if you google Bogner Caveman, you'll see a completely different amp. Bogner came out with an official Caveman for a short period of time before discontinuing it. However, this amp may predate that one and is entirely different. It's nicknamed the "Caveman" because the original amp that Reinhold made had hieroglyphs and symbols on the control panel of the amp rather than traditional letters and clear markings. The amp was a one off that Reinhold made and sat in Bogner's shop. Bogner would allow some record producers and their teams to borrow some of the amps at the shop to use on records, this one being one of them. Apparently, this thing was used a lot and was always being borrowed, which prompted Mudrock to request his own to be made. The problem was, Reinhold didn't really remember how he made the original amp, which is why it took a while for Mudrock to get his own. Bogner pretty much had to reverse engineer it, which gives some slight electrical variances to the other 2 made. Mudrock eventually received his around the time of City of Evil. Fred's came slightly later, or possibly a similar time, when he was at Bogner's shop and noticed the amp's chasis on the bench. When Fred asked Reinhold what it was, he told him and offered to him when it was completed.
Fred thinks that this amp was Bogner's version of a Dumble amp, although that isn't confirmed. Sonically the qualities that stick out the most to me are the unique gain structure, unique midrange, and unique attack this amp has. There's only one channel, it's a relatively primitive amp in terms of features. The amp doesn't really get clean, at about 9 o'clock it's already a bit distorted and lightly crunchy. To get high gain that I like, I set it around 3 o'clock. No one knows how many watts it is, Reinhold guesses about 140. The serial number on the back is "Mudrock 2 for Fred".
Apparently, Rick Rubin's team would borrow this amp and it was the main tone on Slipknot's Vol. 3 record.
Hope this all made some sense. Again, please ask anything you'd like to know about it.
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