Voodoo Labs Guitar Preamp (The Secret Bogner Preamp)

[@peterschaefer1665]

Time for amp manufacturers to wake up! There is a market for 1 rack space all tube guitar preamps. Sounds great Michael.

[@208414]

You've seen the Synergy stuff right?

[@peterschaefer1665]

@@208414 yes I have! Tried them. I kept the Synn 5050 power amp and sold the preamps. Too compressed and not enough wallop.

[@pastorkev777]

Check out Frenzel Amps, they have some wicked preamps. RnR Sound DP13 is what I plan on getting.

[@peterschaefer1665]

@@pastorkev777 yes the dp-13 looks great and is cheap but you just wont know what it will sound like. Unlike something that was made by Bogner, Marshall, or Mesa for example

[@wakjob961]

Rocktron tried, but they weren't selling. So they blew them out cheap early this year.

[@davemcafeeguitar]

This preamp sounds amazing, very thick with lots of girth and massive gain. Never knew it even existed until now. Blows the ADA MP-1 out of the water

[@EduardoSanMartinp]

nothing reach ADA,....

[@rangerdoc1029]

All I know of Voodoo Labs is that the Sparkle Drive is amazing.

[@ShawnTubbs]

I built a few of those into rigs back in the day for customers. I forgot how cool they sounded! Great vid Michael!

[@MrKenward777]

Whoa! That's pretty darn brown!! That intro was a deep brown gravy baby in the cradle of rock

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

I heard a really good VH II tone possibility in that VL pre amp! 😁

[@StreetsOfVancouverChannel]

hahahahaahahaha... perfect!

[@The_Lucky_Leo]

Oh how I miss these. Both my teacher and best friend in AP music theory had one, never will I forget this wonderful unit..only issues we're having them serviced by voodoo. You would not see your precious preamp for a while.

[@jeffyork3004]

Yeah - been wanting to score one of these for home recording. Thanks for driving up the price :)

[@washaconte3956]

I feel you, my amp was on 200, some dudes for view upload a video, i have to buy it on 500...

[@fullmetalsal]

Bogner has that signature compressed gain tone with chewey goodness that others don't have and makes Bogner stand out for their sig sound.

[@SolarWarden88]

should check out an ADA MP-1, while this is "chewey" the MP-1 is pure orgasmic "squishiness" lol. It has this characteristic to the gain channels, the compression and circuit design, that's still to this day a unique sound. Think cross between a JCM 900, Mark 4, and a Bogner mixed into one.

[@dimes3335]

Dude, I've owned two of these over the years ands stupidly sold them. I LOVED them!!!!

[@mattsguitarstudio9367]

Great demo! I've had one of these since '02. I have a feeling the one in this demo has the original tubes in it (Sovtek 12ax7wb), which are on the harsh side. This thing really responds to different tubes... put an old RCA in v2 and it will tame the gain just a bit, in a good way. A better tube in v1, like a Mullard cv4004, will make the clean channel a lot livelier. The yellow channel is magic, I always come back to it.

[@timp.9582]

Holy Jeff Spicoli....that's a great sounding preamp

[@PB-1]

The Yamaha TH100 is a really cool preamp too. I remember these and always wanted one. Voodoo lab is awesome. The Blues Saraceno demos were always so cool!

[@brpadington]

Bogner is the sound I always wanted out of my Marshalls.

[@pcbullets8726]

Sounds pretty good for the most part. Channel 3 has a lot of grease, love it!

[@JustinBryantdotcom]

I knew about the Hafler Triple Giant - but never knew about the Voodoo Labs. Sounds insane!

[@charlesrocks]

The Ground Control and GCX were staples in my rack for ages.

[@jimfromoh8944]

Fish definitely has that extra bit of sumptin sumptin, but it's pretty close.

[@brpadington]

The Fish sounds much better.

[@WyattWillis88]

So cool to see this right after Mr.Fidens tone talk soon as Josh said Reinholdt was involved in the preamp I was so curious what it sounded like thanks Michael you're the man bro!

[@BillMellow]

This is my favorite sounding preamp so far in this series. Sofa King good.

[@nicholastotoro7721]

As crazy as he is, he probably forgot he designed it and would say how great it sounded if he ever heard one LOL!

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

Reinhold crazy? Nah just extremely eccentric!😁

[@peterschaefer1665]

That DP 13 looks great and very cheap but the problem with off brand items is that you don't know what it will actually sound like. If Bogner designs it you know instantly...see what I'm saying?

[@ThemFuzzyMonsters]

@@peterschaefer1665 Reputation!

[@peterschaefer1665]

@@ThemFuzzyMonsters Track Record°

[@peterschaefer1665]

@@ThemFuzzyMonsters Tonal Signature!!

[@JJDPROMEDIAPRODUCTION]

That Yellow and red channel sounds as good as any preamp I’ve heard..! Damn And to think, how times I’ve looked over them in the used bin in the 90s and 2000s ...

[@brownsfan7753]

Thanks for your always cool and entertaining demos!! That Cali is awesome!!

[@LeonTodd]

Came for the Voodoo Lab, stayed for that absolutely glorious filth out of the Fish

[@peterschaefer1665]

The difference isn't worth 3 times the cost

[@therealdealblues]

Always thought about buying one of these back in the day as an alternative to my ADA MP-1. Never knew Bogner had anything to do with it. Nice to hear a good demo of it after all these years so thanks for that! I decided to give Synergy a shot for now, and am using the Bogner Ecstasy with the Friedman BB/BE mostly. Playing around with them as a cab-less alternative live rig and/or silent recording rig, stereo out to 2 of those Torpedo Cab M's with the Power Amp Simulation like you did with your ADA MP-1. Throw a stereo delay and reverb into the effects loop and it makes for a pretty neat rig. Amazing what you can do these days.

[@DonGuillermoQuebec]

Don' t forget about the Lag Spitfire preamp , which was supposedly designed by Bogner in the 90's , had Bogner tube in it and sound freaking great

[@jeddak]

Had one. Loved it. If I had endless space, I would have kept it. Time marches on. Maybe I'll own one again one day.... :)

[@ian1eh944]

That sounds GREAT! I knew about this preamp, but never took the time to look into it......Thanks for posting! :)

[@JRP3music]

If there was a Mesa/Bogner preamp the world would melt!

[@edovinus]

Yes! Voodoo Labs had an mp3 of Blues Saraceno demoing this preamp on their website and he sounded spectacular on that recording. Same here.

[@pops71]

Wow, that preamp crushes. It doesn’t get fizzy either. Nice work as usual!

[@williampatterson5067]

Really you just have to use that suck ass word "Fizzy" you get a thumbs down for that stupid word alone.

[@pops71]

@@williampatterson5067 ok since you are the semantic police let’s see if this meets your standard: “The low end didn’t get loose or flubby (unless this is another word that is disallowed) and the high end remained pleasing even under Max gain.”

[@1truechamp46]

Sounded good, just the sound I like. You're right about the Bogner, sounded a little more.... So I looked it up, laughed at the price and now I've made myself forget about it

[@1truechamp46]

I bloody love this channel!

[@JohnSmith-ef2sx]

Really really nails brown sound.. Love it.

[@zbassillini]

It’s better than any high end pedal, for nailing the brown sound.

[@Burkhimself]

Sounds great like I thought it would. I really liked the yellow channel. You’re right about the clean....seems a little cold & stuff. Enjoyed it 👊🏻

[@b.scottfarthingsworth]

The Hafler Triple Giant has the same issue with the clean, but the yellow and green are killers

[@Burkhimself]

@@b.scottfarthingsworth I had a triple giant many years ago.....

[@RambleTone]

That’s definitely going for a fender clean in the green, sort of Deluxe Reverb, maybe a Twin. The yellow sounds like maybe a modified JCM800 or a 2000, the shift gives it that scooped Mesa Dual Rec sound. Red must be Bogner...

[@brianmonroney1059]

I used this preamp on the road for 9 years - with Mesa 2.90 and 1x12 cabs. Killer rig. Regret selling it when the gig ended...

[@JRP3music]

That is a crazy pre-amp. The Clean was awesome. I rather have more bass and dial it down, than have not enough, channel 2 and channel 3 sounded very good. This preamp is my cup of tea! I am listening through a Denon 7.1 receiver and Klipsch speakers sounds super huge.

[@WyattWillis88]

To my ears it always sound better when you crank the mids on almost all you demos. Can we some more mid love good sir?

[@craigcornell2752]

Good job as always man. Had to pick up your wos IR pack as soon as I finished watching. Great stuff!

[@TavaresProject]

I can't believe how good the yellow channel sounds.... Wow

[@guitartricky]

Voodoo labs makes great pedals and stuff in general but I did not like this preamp very much at all. I bought because it sounded so good on the Blues Saraceno demo they used to promote it. Of course Blues could make a broom stick with a sting sound amazing. I thought this unit sounded thin and fuzzy and not very tube-like. I even tried swapping the tubes with some high end N.O.S. tubes and it sounded exactly the same. I own three Bogner amps (Ecstasy Classic, Shiva, Atma) that I love but this preamp doesn't sound like any of them at their worst. Maybe the issue was that I was trying to use it for direct recording and didn't run it through a tube power amp. Sounds pretty good here but I still hear that fizzy fuzzy sound I didn't like about it. Still awesome video as always!

[@paulcowart3174]

Well 800's in general can be pretty fizzy but there is easy fix for that Love mine So I'm good ❤️

[@steverherb]

@@paulcowart3174 What is the fix?

[@safedangerband]

Thanks for this. The clean isn’t the greatest but man the drive is really happening.

[@Jalliams]

Holy mackerel.. Fish all day! Credit to Voodoo though, great company.

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

Makes me want to go fishin! 🤪😁

[@ShuheiMatsumotoMusic]

that sounds GREAT

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

Lots of good sounds,, sounds like your enjoying it.

[@StreetsOfVancouverChannel]

Yet another fine and fierce video from the Salt n' Pepper Sultan of Sonic Sass... peace, bruh!

[@tonyvermeer7409]

This was on my shortlist of preamps back in 2003 when I was building a new rack live rig. I'm sure I would have been pleased with the Voodoo but I opted for a Peavey Rockmaster and sent it to be modded by Jerry Pinelli @ FJA Mods. Paired it with a VHT Two Ninety Two and TCE G-Major.

[@underground_man]

I bet that rig sounded sick! What are running now if you don’t mind me asking?

[@tonyvermeer7409]

@@underground_man Yes, it was killer. I replaced it with a 5150 III that I rackmounted and played live with for 7 years. Then I went back to my same Peavey pre and TCE GM2 with a MosValve 962. These days I mainly run that rig direct to PA using a vintage rackmount ADA Microcab. Getting lighter and older as the years go by.

[@underground_man]

@@tonyvermeer7409 I hear ya. I’ve gotten more into rack stuff lately, for me it’s about the security/durability and the streamlining effect it has on a live music setup. What brought you to rack gear?

[@tonyvermeer7409]

@@underground_man I have always been into the rack life. I removed my 5150 III head from the shell and rackmounted it too. I liked the flexibility to change up preamps and power and having all my FX in one unit. I'm back to playing my old stuff because I had it saved for a backup rig but we don't play all that much anymore. So I sold the 5150 and went back because it seemed a shame to let it lie around.

[@Danthehorse]

@@tonyvermeer7409 which FX unit did you use?

[@Benjammin117]

Great video as usual, thanks for the detune :) Happy Thanksgiving

[@toddjirikowic4077]

It’s interesting because I owned this preamp and the Hafler not realizing it was built by the same person. Bogner had his tone and it is very similar.

[@SaintLuminus]

Michael! You stated that the Voodoo Lab might be better than the Fish? And the Fish is in the room? oh my!!! :) lol

[@jamesflack8624]

For what it's worth, my personal preference was the Fish Brown Channel. However, without the comparison, I was on Reverb looking for the VooDoo pre... Nope. Nuthin' out there...

[@luisalextorres]

its crazy how different the tone change was when you swapped picks

[@indivisibleman]

Alright!! Stupid question time! What exactly is the difference between one of these (obviously cool) units and a really nice distortion/gain/dirt pedal?

[@zbassillini]

The newest pedals, let’s take bogner’s ubershall pedal … sound really good but there is a 5-10% feel / difference / organic vibe that you just get with tubes. Pedals are like 90 ish percent there. The way you strum and pick the strings, let’s say you soften up or strum hard… there’s a slight organic difference in the feel and response. That’s my 2 cents

[@ghur83]

You are right, the Fish sounds livelier than the VL, but for the price it's a steal! The Fish probably will cost around 2500-3000, while the VL around 400-500ish lol

[@dougwebb485]

Sounds great 👍🏻

[@thesoundpurist]

dirty sounds good! Wow, if I find second hand I jump on it and I sell another piece of gear

[@aliveandfilming2]

Should be called the Vooodoo Gain master

[@SlinkyT82]

Oooohhhh baby. Nice. Also, if you could just message me about this rare gear a few months before you demo it that's be greeeesaaaaat. 🤣 #whatwouldyousayyoudohere

[@JavyonVISION]

Sounds great! I never knew this existed.

[@atomichaser]

sounds good!!..id love for u to demo a rocktron voodu valve...i can nice warm tones out of it ,,but id like to see ur opinion...maybe gsp 2101 too

[@PhilipJoyceMusician]

I know 80’s preamps are more your jam but in the spirit of single rack space units I’d love to hear your thoughts and hear you run a Mesa formula pre though it’s paces... IMO it’s the red headed step child of the Mesa preamp lineup, I think it gets unfairly overlooked. But it’s got a killer clean channel and 2 very mark inspired drive channels.

[@b.scottfarthingsworth]

Michael - I own the Hafler Triple Giant, but almost bought the Voodoo Labs without ever hearing it because I called Trace to mod my Hafler to Fish specs - and he said "why don't you just buy the Voodoo Labs preamp?" Of course we all want a Bogner Fish and they're as rare as hen's teeth. I was even on the waiting list for the reissue at Rudy's Music Stop NYC, in case someone backed out of the sold out pre-order. Got the call, had no money. SO!! What is the unmentioned BOGNER DESIGNED PREAMP? argh you keep us hanging you clever dawg

[@DANTHETUBEMAN]

That triple giant brown channel is vary VH-1 sound.

[@These_go_to_eleven_1959]

I think the VL pre sounds great but then again what do i know i think VH II is the best sound ever?

[@Dejoblue]

That bright knob gives it a nice blatty blat thump. me likey Mikey :)

[@denissullivan5723]

Hi Michael. I really like your channel and your videos. I'm wondering if you can help me. I am a hobbyist. Here is the gear I have: Tascam DP-SD24, Art Pro MPA II, (2) SM-57's and a Lewitt LCT-240. I think this is a pretty solid setup, but I just can't get the sound I am looking for. SO, I am hoping you can take us through a detailed setup in a video and show us start to finish how you mic a cab, the complete signal path of the microphone to the interface and any eq's (etc) you might use to make everything sound as clean as you do (by clean, I mean that while the guitar may be overdriven/distorted, there is still definition, character and clarity to the sound (hope that makes sense)). I just can't seem to get definition I am looking for and make it sound good/the way I want it to. I'm hoping if you did an instructional video I might learn and figure out what I am doing wrong. Any help would be really appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[@AngusClarkGTR]

All about that yellow channel.

[@Locoandchooch]

I’d like to hear it with a cab, just say’n I don’t know about my peers, but, I still get down with rack gear. However I gig with head and cab only.

[@AnAmericanGuitarist]

I want to hear all amp demos through a a cab with a mic. That is what the amp sounds like. If it doesn't pass that test then I am not interested. I still prefer recording that way. Nothing recorded direct sounds as authentic to me, especially when you listen to the recording in a vehicle. Everything is great if it stays in the virtual world, but when I buy a new CD I can tell in my truck if it's IRs or other digital stuff vs a mic in front of a speaker. The real thing has more tonal depth, even in 2020 in my opinion.

[@bucknasty69]

@@AnAmericanGuitarist You’re totally right. A lot of the newer stuff recorded digitally lacks that low/low mid thump, and definition in the high end.

[@yellokrab]

The Fish seems to have more of everything, wow. That was unfair, maybe even cruel.

[@hyperbolekid]

Sounds great Michael. Is that a JB in the bridge on the Cali? I think I remember you swapping them from the originals that came w the Cali at one time.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Yeah. The neck is the Friedman Classic, the bridge is an old JB.

[@youscreamiscream]

Okay, I've owned 5 of these...just in sold off two of three. M4/Synergy CRUSHES the Voodoo Labs

[@BigHairyGuitars]

What modules do you like?

[@ondrejholiencin8555]

I know the question wasn’t for me but I really like the Metroplex and SLO. I’m a huge fan of the Salvation Audio preamps as well.

[@RavenMadd9]

thank you brother mmmm

[@jcw5007]

Fish sounds a little more hi-fi... Happy Thanksgiving all!

[@Caged63Man]

Sounds like my ss Marshall Valvestate VS265 amp, that everyone pisses on, but in a fix and dont want to lug around the Marshall 800 and 4X12, reallt sounds great in a band mix!

[@sherbuel]

good luck to find one, only 300/400 were made..i have one (lucky i am) , sound killer ! btw you can put some 12AY7 to calm down the gain ..

[@vikramjitbanerjeetuki]

That thing beat the Fish,wow🙄

[@cecilmusick8629]

Anyone notice that Michael always does the Billy Bob/ Carl from Sling Blade mouth while playing? ;-)

[@thurmanjuan]

Great playin’ and nice Bellinger shirt! Did you adjust the E string on the fly? Floyd Rose blocked? Also, I’m pro Fish. PS- Happy Thanksgiving.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Hi Thurman! Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah, I have my Floyd blocked so I can easily retune to Eb or E or Drop D. I miss the bar though!

[@SnappyJCM800]

You should do a video of making the most versatile rack rig using Michaels gear since he apparently has everything haha

[@johnstitt2615]

And the cradle !!!!

[@CDRtanto]

awesome Dude.....

[@jordandedomusic]

So, what’s the “other” Bogner preamp??

[@tjmaclean]

The Fish is the winnah!

[@shorerocks]

I can only second Michaels shamelyess plug for his cab IRs. I got everything from Ownhammer to Celestion Plus, and work for years with a Torpedo LIVE. Great as they all are, they were never right for me. Now I got a top 5 of BHP cab IRs that I use exclusively. Just sayin'.

[@ChrisvonChamier]

Juicy tone

[@chickenbeek]

godamn it. it thought released a preamp for 2020 or something >D

[@Nightdare]

Isn't it about time for a Soldano X-99

[@Dcbois]

Maybe I missed you saying it. Are there preamp tubes in the voodoo labs preamp?

[@billahler7728]

I miss playing the guitar. Especially through a big cranked amp.

[@pastorkev777]

My suggestion may have caught some headway, if not it was good timing.

[@paulsdino]

I wouldn't say it sounds bad .i would say it sounds too fat / loose for me . The bass response is too undefined and the treble is on the fuzzy side for my tastes . I did play a modified Fish preamp a few times that was more to my liking .

[@ianfurqueron5850]

So brown someone needs to check their shorts. One question - how do you have the Floyd set up on that guitar so that you can tune down to dropped D without it throwing everything out of tune?

[@paulcowart3174]

Doo Doo Brown huh ? 😂

[@ericb4351]

Only one way. It’s obviously blocked for dive only use

[@Jay-sy5yf]

For the algo

[@vincenzoerriquenz2356]

Which pick gauge you prefer over the Dunlop Tortex .60mm you ditched while playing? Thank you!

[@BigHairyGuitars]

I constantly switch between Dunlop Orange, yellow, , green and Jazz 3, depending on what kinda tone or music I’m playing. When I’m doing a demo, I’ll usually use the last pick I was using. If I need to play speedy lines I’ll usually go Jazz3

[@vincenzoerriquenz2356]

@@BigHairyGuitars thank you, I thought I was the only One Who hasn' t Just a pick gauge that uses exstensively, I personally switch between Tortex and Nylon .60, .73, .88 and 1mm!

[@6nosis]

If you guys haven’t tried Prime Tone dunlops… I just love ‘em. Such crazy tone, I go from .75- 2.5! JusTin Sane is my name..

[@steverherb]

ADA has reissued their famous MP-1 preamp in a simple pedal format. Check it out.

[@VelhosNovos]

I didnt know. What pedal?

[@steverherb]

@@VelhosNovos The name of this model is MP-1-CHANNEL and it sells for about $399.

[@VelhosNovos]

@@steverherb Thanks.

[@itsjohnnymillion]

Do you think you might profile this for the Kemper? I’d buy it.

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Yep bighairyprofiles.com/item/bhp-vl-pre

[@itsjohnnymillion]

@@BigHairyGuitars Purchased! Thanks. :-)

[@rhjernigan]

Im lost does guitar plug into pre-amp then to amp? How big of amp do i need???

[@DerekHundik]

9:03 whats the song ? Great sound

[@BigHairyGuitars]

Thanks. That's just me making stuff up.

[@DerekHundik]

@@BigHairyGuitars it reminds me this kzbin.info/www/bejne/iGOsY6CBlJiSpNU

[@atiredblue]

I can’t seem to find one anywhere? Did they make 4 of them or recall them?

[@sherbuel]

less than 400 were made...hard to find one..

[@sbmarshall]

I want one !!! so bad

[@middle_pickup]

This thing sounds kind of amazing. How have I missed these preamp things? The cab sim outputs sound trash to me, but the setup with the JCM 800 sounded awesome. Is there a way to get that quality without an amp to use as a power amp? Maybe go out without the cab sim into an IR in your DAW? Please do more of these preamp videos. I gotta learn about these things.