Skip to main content
Music Radar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Artist news
  • Guitar Amps
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Drums
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • "Worst rap album in history"
  • Superbooth 2025
  • Eilish vs Radiohead
  • 95k+ free music samples

Recommended reading

Plini poses with his modded Strandberg Boden signature model in a tent, hours before playing Bristol's ArcTanGent Festival 2024.
Artists “I sent this to Strandberg to get the wiring done and when they sent it back they included this”: Plini shows us his modded signature Strandberg Boden – but what’s that hiding in the tremolo springs?
ENGL EP635 Fireball IR Pedal: This fire engine red preamp pedal presents two channels, heaps of features, monster gain.
Guitars “The EP635 delivers the unmistakable high-gain aggression and clarity that Engl fans love”: Engl packs its iconic Fireball head into a compact dual-channel stompbox with onboard noise gate and IR support
A still of Joe Bonamassa playing his 64 Greenburst Strat as he demos his new signature Seymour Duncan pickup set. Bonamassa wears a ballcap and a black hoodie.
Artists “The ‘gray bottoms’ have a little more high output – they have a punchier sound to them”: Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan put pre-CBS tones on the menu with “Greenburst” Stratocaster pickup set
Fortin Meshuggah Pedal: this preamp/distortion pedal puts the signature high-gain drive tones of Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström.
Guitars “For guitarists who crave an unrelenting, aggressive tone that stands out in any mix”: The Fortin Meshuggah head is the amp every metal player wants – now you can get its crushing tones in a pedal
JHS Pedals NOTADÜMBLË: the new DIY pedal kit from the Kansas stompbox company requires no soldering, is keenly priced, and promises two channels of tone inspired by the holy grail tube amps favoured by the likes of Joe Bonamassa.
Guitars “A half-million dollars of tone at your feet”: Nail the sound of a holy grail tube amp with a pedal you made yourself – JHS Pedals unveils the NOTADÜMBLË solderless DIY kit
Chase Bliss Brothers AM
Guitars “Instead of labouring over a perfect recreation, we decided to make an expanded counterpart”: Chase Bliss teams up with Mike Piera for Analog Man collab based on the legendary King Of Tone
Revv D25 Joey Landreth Edition: the new signature take on the feature-packed tube combo is offered in gold and black finishes and is fitted with a Celestion G12H-75 Creamback driver.
Guitars “It showcases a straightforward single-channel layout ideal for both clean tones and mild breakup tones”: Revv Amplification and Joey Landreth join forces for a signature take on the D25 tube combo with onboard virtual cabs/IRs
  1. Guitars
  2. Guitar Pedals

NAMM 2015 guitar diary: Bogner on tone

News
By Editor, Jamie Dickson ( Guitarist ) published 24 January 2015

Renowned amp and effect desioner on his new pedals and breaking into pickups

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Oxford fuzz

Oxford fuzz

NAMM 2015: Reinhold Bogner is one of the most talented, and colourful, figures in amp and effects design.

From boutique tone monsters such as his formidable Uberschall amp to high-quality, intelligently designed drive pedals, he's a big fish in the pond of tone.

We swung by the Bogner stand to find him chatting with top guitarists such as 'King of the Strat' virtuoso Thomas Blug and Phil X, Bon Jovi's touring guitarist.

New trio

With a trio of new effects to show off we asked Reinhold what they're all about - and learned why he's now started making pickups. But first let's hear about those pedals.

"So basically, the Oxford is a fuzz and the Lyndhurst is a compressor. Those two have Rupert Neve designed transformers, so they all have transformers in the audio path. The Oxford fuzz can go from almost like a mild, dark overdrive to super-crazy fuzz between the switches," Reinhold explains.

"I call it something like a silicon magneto fuzz because the transformer is a big part of how it distorts. There is no Germanium in there - because that stuff is just too temperamental: it sounds great when it sounds great. But it can be all over the place and not really stable, so it didn't make much sense for me to make a product that's sometimes [tonally unstable]."

Page 1 of 4
Page 1 of 4
Lyndhurst compressor

Lyndhurst compressor

"We had something like this at the show last year but we never came out with it and in fact we've totally redesigned it now. It was a lot of work, but it's kind of new territory to do a compressor. So this is kind of a compressor with a Rupert Neve transformer in it.

"It's flexible but we also try to keep it somewhat simple so there's an automatic mode where you can get rid of [some of the more sophisticated controls] and just have three knobs and EQ, so you can dial in a sound really quickly.

"But if you want to get more surgical about it, with the attack and release and so on then you have a second layer of controls. But a lot of people don't even know how to set up a two-knob compressor. So we made it so it works for both.

Page 2 of 4
Page 2 of 4
La Grange drive pedal

La Grange drive pedal

"And then there's the La Grange pedal, which we also we showed last year but we totally weren't happy with it so we've now spent much more time on it and this is along the lines our earlier Ecstasy and Uberschall pedals.

"Kind of amp-based pedals. Well, this one is Marshall-esque. That's why it's gold, you know. The name is from the ZZ Top song. So it gets you all those kinds of sounds, from bluesy to harder stuff. It has quite a bit of gain if you want it to.

"There's a cool feature on the back where you can plug in a low-impedance volume pedal. It doesn't really go through it, it just needs two cables. And you can control the gain with the foot control, so that is cool - that's new.

Three characters

"And then there's three different characters of sound. One is tighter, one is more open, one is full. And then this is kind of the channel - you now like on a Plexi you have a bright channel and a bass channel?

"So you can get the brighter, tighter sounds over here and then fatter tones and anything in between. It has a presence, a variac, similar to features seen on other pedals.

"There is an overall gain and then there is a boost control which is separate boosting - that's the white knob and that's why it's kind of marked like it's another thing to kick in the volume for the solo."

Page 3 of 4
Page 3 of 4
Bogner PAF-style pickups

Bogner PAF-style pickups

"This first line of pickups is like PAF-style: very open and on the lower side output-wise so they're very open and let you hear the guitar.

"There's not too much colour - what you hear acoustically from the guitar you want to hear amplified and let the amp do the rest. So they're very touch-sensitive and open-sounding.

"There's two different magnets in the neck and bridge pickups: AlNiCo V in the bridge and AlNiCo III here in huge neck. This is the first set we're putting out but we we'll get some other ones too. It's a new thing for us, you know?"

Page 4 of 4
Page 4 of 4
Jamie Dickson
Jamie Dickson
Social Links Navigation

Jamie Dickson is Editor-in-Chief of Guitarist magazine, Britain's best-selling and longest-running monthly for guitar players. He started his career at the Daily Telegraph in London, where his first assignment was interviewing blue-eyed soul legend Robert Palmer, going on to become a full-time author on music, writing for benchmark references such as 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Dorling Kindersley's How To Play Guitar Step By Step. He joined Guitarist in 2011 and since then it has been his privilege to interview everyone from B.B. King to St. Vincent for Guitarist's readers, while sharing insights into scores of historic guitars, from Rory Gallagher's '61 Strat to the first Martin D-28 ever made.

The magazine for serious players image
The magazine for serious players
Subscribe and save today!
More Info
Read more
Plini poses with his modded Strandberg Boden signature model in a tent, hours before playing Bristol's ArcTanGent Festival 2024.
“I sent this to Strandberg to get the wiring done and when they sent it back they included this”: Plini shows us his modded signature Strandberg Boden – but what’s that hiding in the tremolo springs?
ENGL EP635 Fireball IR Pedal: This fire engine red preamp pedal presents two channels, heaps of features, monster gain.
“The EP635 delivers the unmistakable high-gain aggression and clarity that Engl fans love”: Engl packs its iconic Fireball head into a compact dual-channel stompbox with onboard noise gate and IR support
A still of Joe Bonamassa playing his 64 Greenburst Strat as he demos his new signature Seymour Duncan pickup set. Bonamassa wears a ballcap and a black hoodie.
“The ‘gray bottoms’ have a little more high output – they have a punchier sound to them”: Joe Bonamassa and Seymour Duncan put pre-CBS tones on the menu with “Greenburst” Stratocaster pickup set
Fortin Meshuggah Pedal: this preamp/distortion pedal puts the signature high-gain drive tones of Fredrik Thordendal and Mårten Hagström.
“For guitarists who crave an unrelenting, aggressive tone that stands out in any mix”: The Fortin Meshuggah head is the amp every metal player wants – now you can get its crushing tones in a pedal
JHS Pedals NOTADÜMBLË: the new DIY pedal kit from the Kansas stompbox company requires no soldering, is keenly priced, and promises two channels of tone inspired by the holy grail tube amps favoured by the likes of Joe Bonamassa.
“A half-million dollars of tone at your feet”: Nail the sound of a holy grail tube amp with a pedal you made yourself – JHS Pedals unveils the NOTADÜMBLË solderless DIY kit
Chase Bliss Brothers AM
“Instead of labouring over a perfect recreation, we decided to make an expanded counterpart”: Chase Bliss teams up with Mike Piera for Analog Man collab based on the legendary King Of Tone
Latest in Guitar Pedals
Fortin Fourteen Dual Boost Overdrive: the new tricked-out green stompbox from Mike Fortin packs two Tube Screamer OD flavours in one housing and is packed with features.
“Each of the three modes represents a milestone in pedal history”: Fortin triples down on modded-TS tones with the Fourteen – an boost/overdrive pedal representing the “apex of Mike Fortin’s modification philosophy”
Brad Paisley wears a white cowboy hat, burgundy jacket black jeans and cowboy boots as he sits with his new Fender Lost Telecaster from the Custom Shop.
“I like the real thing that happens when you dig in a little bit and the amp starts to cry for mercy”: Is the compressor pedal a country guitar essential? Brad Paisley doesn’t think so – and here’s why
Polyend Mess
“Not another multi-effect for your dentist,” but Polyend’s Mess looks like an FX sequencing powerhouse that you can really get your teeth into
ThorpyFX Hanami
“We were able to up the gain and the volume on tap way past the levels we would normally get”: ThorpyFX’s Hanami fuzz pedal is packing NOS germanium, dynamic, and blooming lovely
JHS Pedals NOTADÜMBLË: the new DIY pedal kit from the Kansas stompbox company requires no soldering, is keenly priced, and promises two channels of tone inspired by the holy grail tube amps favoured by the likes of Joe Bonamassa.
“A half-million dollars of tone at your feet”: Nail the sound of a holy grail tube amp with a pedal you made yourself – JHS Pedals unveils the NOTADÜMBLË solderless DIY kit
Catalinbread Wake Chorus/Octaver: this blue-green stompbox combines a chorus with an octave down effect running in parallel, which you can blend into your guitar signal and make it sound bigger.
“An additive chorus effect that plays well as an ‘always-on’ tonal thickener with a twist”: Don’t sleep on Catalinbread’s Wake if you’re looking for dream pop tones on your pedalboard
Latest in News
Frank Zappa in a top hat
"Window or aisle, how would you like to return home?": Dweezil Zappa on how his dad ran his band
Bruce Springsteen performs during the first night of 'The Land of Hopes and Dreams' tour at Co-op Live on May 14, 2025 in Manchester, England
“In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict”: Springsteen issues rallying cry against Trump at Manchester gig
microlab mk3
Arturia upgrades its MicroLab MIDI keyboard with new keybed, sustain input and USB-C - and slashes the price
Dire Straits Brothers In Arms
"Everybody was going 'Does anybody know how to work this thing?'”: How Guy Fletcher and a classic ‘80s synth became Dire Straits’ secret weapon on Brothers In Arms, and helped to turn it into one of the biggest albums of the decade
Fortin Fourteen Dual Boost Overdrive: the new tricked-out green stompbox from Mike Fortin packs two Tube Screamer OD flavours in one housing and is packed with features.
“Each of the three modes represents a milestone in pedal history”: Fortin triples down on modded-TS tones with the Fourteen – an boost/overdrive pedal representing the “apex of Mike Fortin’s modification philosophy”
Andy Bell and Liam Gallagher 2005
“I’m in and I’m really looking forward to it”: First non-Gallagher member confirmed for Oasis reunion line up

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...