MusicRadar

The front panel features classy oxblood control knobs on a gold anodised chassis

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• Review

Small but perfectly formed, the Duende is a very portable 1 x 12 combo, though there's enough weight on that single carry handle to remind you it's not your average practice amp.

Bogners are always sharply styled and the Duende is no exception - the cabinet is assembled and finished to a very high standard with neat vinyl work, especially on the rear panel cut-outs.

The aluminium chassis is typical Bogner, covered inside and out in a rich gold-anodised finish which co-ordinates nicely with the dark red 'gas cooker' knobs on the front panel and the tough straw-coloured speaker grille.

Inside the chassis, most of the Duende's components are held on a large main PCB, with two smaller boards for the rear panel stuff and the primary mains protection that all Bogners feature. The main PCB's layout indicates the preamp valve sockets may have been originally intended to be directly soldered to it, however they're bolted to the chassis and connected by short flying leads, as are the power valves and the front panel controls for reliability and easy servicing.

The Duende is a proper two-channel design, with some typical Bogner twists: channel A is a low-gain affair intended for clean rhythm through to mild crunch distortion and features gain, treble, bass and volume controls, with a pull bright switch on the gain knob.

Channel B has just two controls - gain and volume - with a lot more gain on tap and a pull boost on the volume knob. Then there's a master EQ which affects both channels, with two knobs labelled 'air' and 'body' governing overall treble and bass response, so Channel B isn't completely EQ-less.

There's a spring reverb with separate level controls for each channel, and a built-in tremolo with controls for speed and depth. You can use either channel on its own or both at the same time - this is done either through the supplied three-button footswitch, which also toggles the tremolo effect, or from a handy rotary switch on the rear panel.

The tremolo can also be toggled on or off from a switch on the depth control, so unlike some amps, you aren't reliant on a footswitch to access all the functions. The Duende's rear panel also includes a simple series effects loop and a handy line out socket - though sadly there's only one speaker jack and no means of switching impedance. The mains socket neatly incorporates the mains switch - the single toggle on the front panel is a standby, letting you mute the amp while keeping it powered up.

In use

Perhaps one easy way to understand what this amp can do is to think of it as the ultimate supercharged tweed Deluxe. Channel A's gain range is perfectly judged and takes our standard Strat's single-coil pickups from punchy clean, through a very addictive chime effect to a mild, touch-sensitive distortion with the gain control at maximum - great for chilling blues solos.