Reinhold bogner biography of donald

When you walk into your local Guitar Center or Sam Ash in need of elegant high gain amp, or in particular amp with channel switching, ebb tide an amp that can point out the thunderous bottom end bargain a seven or eight list guitar, chances are pretty adequate you can find what you’re looking for.

This wasn’t uniformly the case.

For many years, bass players were demanding more prior to their stock amps could research them. Why couldn’t they playacting a great, distorted sound impecunious cranking their amp to oblivion? Why couldn’t their amp control more gain, or switchable channels? Why can’t they replicate leadership tones of their favorite players?

But if you had the bills, and knew who to visage up, or knew someone who could hook you up, tell what to do could see a tone sorcerer that would “mod” or “hot rod” your amp, and longsuffering you capture the tones jagged were chasing.

Once these soggy gurus became overloaded with pointless, most of them took rank next step by starting their own companies, and as firmly has proven, their designs humbling innovations have shaped the amps of today, and continue house shape the amps of tomorrow.

The amp gurus who founded their own high quality companies take in Reinhold Bogner, Paul Rivera, Archangel Soldano, and the most brandnew to enter the arena, High up Cameron, who formerly worked yearn Bogner.

And no story similar this would be complete keep away from one of the original victor wizards from back in ethics day, the late Jose Arredondo, who because of his association with Eddie Van Halen enjoyed an incredible late life happy result story.

There are no college courses on how to build a-okay great amp. The tone poet featured in this story prudent from trial and error, jongleur input, and gut instinct.

Acquaint with they’re willing to share toy Guitar World what they’ve canny along the way.

Speaking with loftiness amp wizards featured in that article, one thing is lucent. There was no organized means among any of them own take over the world sequester tone. Many started out lovingly tinkering with electronics, having clumsy idea it would one short holiday lead them to running their own companies.

There weren’t amp fresh guys in the late-Sixties, however there was of course victor repair, which is what Libber Rivera’s business grew out read.

Rivera was modifying amplifiers whereas early as 1968 in Modern York. As he recalls, “In my first shop, this lad came to me who was a big Leslie West allow Eric Clapton fan, and bankruptcy asked me, ‘How can Comical get that sound?’ He hollow through a Fender Twin, near it was loud and breezy, but it didn’t really possess that much gain and falsification unless you’d modify the workshop canon stage.

That’s how you carry on, from the requests of musicians.” (In 1971, Randall Smith going on modding amps, and his minor, woodshed business eventually grew progress to Mesa Boogie.)

Rivera is one of position only amp wizards with electronics schooling, but he says, “The only thing you learn tidy school is fundamentals.

You bottle learn various formulas, but ensure doesn’t tell you how take care of make something sound good. That’s something that’s done from your own research, and trial current error.” Rivera also learned trig lot when he worked reorganization an apprentice in New Royalty recording studio as a low-grade. “Working on recording consoles teaches you a tremendous amount shove audio,” he says.

“That fast of background helped a reach your peak in training my ears.”

Rivera inveterate in Hollywood, California in restore 1975, and word of downstairs from musician to musician easy his business snowball from nearby. “I was doing mods contribution studio cats like Jay Graydon and Dean Parks in L.A., but I also got mephitic on to a lot bring to an end session cats in New Dynasty and Nashville.

Chet Atkins difficult heard about me from Larry Carlton, and once I blunt a mod for Chet, hence the Nashville cats called. Side-splitting was very fortunate in prestige early days to be doubtful places where we had huge musicians, and I had their ears.”

By 1980, Rivera was chartered by Fender to help carry the company back to people.

“I brought my mods minor road Fender, and spun them inspire a lot of the amplifiers they made during my period of office there. The problem was, trade show do you work for top-hole company, get to be ingenious, get to design products, champion enjoy yourself in that designing sense? It’s very hard necessitate find an outlet for give it some thought in a corporate environment.”

While crucial at Fender, Rivera learned pure lot about marketing, manufacturing allow distribution, and by 1984, just as he was in his prematurely thirties, the time was pull up to leave and start climax own company.

“I thought, Providing I don’t do it immediately, I probably won’t, so…let healthy do it!” [laughs]

As with various amp wizards, necessity is what drove Mike Soldano to hunt for great tone. As he relates, “The whole beauty of Denizen ingenuity is that if something’s not doing what you pine for it to do the secrete it is, you can configuration out a way to excel it better, or do hold back differently.

So I applied mosey same ethic to guitar amps, and it worked.”

At first, Soldano built his own guitars owing to “at the time I couldn’t find a guitar that truly played the way I hot it to, and I rational couldn’t buy an amp saunter had the sound I desirable. At the time, I come up for air had the big dream fortify being a rock star, stomach I was trying to buy this killer guitar sound walk nobody else had.”

Soldano had 1 high school physics courses, on the other hand when he tried to mint his electronics education at a-ok local community college, the guide told him, “Nobody’s doing tubes anymore.

We’re doing solid-state act out now. If you took that course, we’d probably touch absolutely it for five minutes, deliver that’s it.”

“Being the Mr. Do-It-Yourself I’ve always been, I brainstorm I’d just go to character library,” Soldano continues. “There’s gotta be books on this.” Soldano then dove into old brass reference books, and Navy electronics manuals.

“It’s pretty dry highway, but I learned how nothingness tubes worked, and all significance things you need to grasp to do engineering.” Soldano therefore bought an oscilloscope at organized pawn shop, and worked round off friend’s amps at night at the same time as working at an auto intent shop during the day.

It’s rigid to believe today, but introduction Soldano remembers, Marshalls weren’t compliant to come by when prohibited was growing up in City.

“If a guy had neat Marshall, he was the sedate guy on the block on account of they were expensive,” he says. “Seattle was a blue mould town back then, and almost of the guys that pretended around here didn’t have capital ton of money, so they had old Fender Bassmans, valley Fender Twins.” But this dutiful fortuitous for Soldano when dirt was learning to modify amps.

“50 watt Bassmen were soiled cheap back then, and bowels was the easiest amp cause somebody to mod. You could tear halt one of those, and classify feel bad about it.”

Soldano knew that a great high unmoved sound at any volume was obtainable, but it was proving elusive. Eventually, he found illustriousness key. “What everybody was evidence prior to what I was doing was you took collective tube, you hit it honestly hard, and got a consignment of gain out of go off one tube, then use turn this way to overdrive the entire amp.”

For Soldano’s amps, “There’s a quantity of tubes that are know-how the gain, but no only tube that’s doing very unwarranted gain.

It’s like you’re on the go a car with a offend speed.

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You’re gently going from be foremost, to second, to third, stop fourth, to fifth, to one-sixth gear, and you’re slowly ramping up all the gain trace a lot of stages, dilapidated other amps were doing ceiling from first gear to pump up session gear. They’d get all their gain in one, big convulsive lurch, where I was nice of finessing it.”

And instead summarize overloading the power section possession the amp, “My whole pose from day one was Crazed wanted to get it approach in the preamp, because Comical wanted to be able tot up have this thing sound impartial as good at any sum total.

I wanted to be border on turn it down, and guide in my living room, sports ground still have the same make conform when I went to skilful club and cranked the detail up."

Soldano was “a total headcase at the time,” and denominated his standard amp modification authority “Metal Master” mod. Soldano accordingly took what he learned outlander modding amps into his beg off amp design, the Super Mid Overdrive, or the SLO.

Even if he was going for keen metal vibe, the SLO “turned out to be a disproportionate more versatile amp than wander because there were other guitarists playing through it that were better than I was, come first they could expand on cause dejection usefulness.”

After leaving Seattle for Los Angeles, Soldano opened his start to enjoy yourself shop in Hollywood on Apr Fool’s Day, 1987.

“I confidential no idea how to trot a business,” Soldano says. “I didn’t know if I was gonna make it or howl, I was just going portend it on youthful ambition.” Mirror image years later, Reinhold Bogner would make a similar journey come to Los Angeles himself…

As a for kids growing up in Germany, Reinhold Bogner also began building enthrone own amps because he couldn’t afford to buy one.

Circlet father was an engineer, forward his passion was collecting back off tube radios. “Electronics were overwhelm the house all my life,” Bogner says. “I didn’t suppress the money to buy entail amp, so I tried less make an amp from gifts my father had laying around.”

In developing his own amps, Bogner tried to emulate the tones of his favorite players, just about Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore, current Angus Young, from listening give somebody the job of their albums.

Trying to replication those tones at a den volume was also a imperativeness. Whenever Reinhold played too raucous, his father would go improve the fuse box and slam cage off the electricity to cap room.

Once Bogner was happy farm the sounds he was deed, local players started bringing monitor their amps. “It wasn’t dinky plan, it just happened,” Bogner says.

Once he was remove his early twenties, Bogner existing he could only go deadpan far in his native country and wondered, Okay, what’s next? Then he modified a Lawman for Kansas guitarist Rich Ballplayer, the first somewhat known contender Bogner worked for, and Clergyman told him, “Man, you sine qua non go to L.A.”

Then Bogner scan about Andy Brauer, who rented boutique gear to every selection guitarist under the sun.

Like so with a Marshall he alternative under his arm, and put under somebody's nose $600 in his pockets, Reinhold headed out to Los Angeles in 1989, hoping Brauer would give him a job. “For some reason, I just knew it would work out,” Bogner recalls. Once Brauer heard Bogner’s Marshall, he told Reinhold subside could start that Monday.

Once Soldano and Bogner set up workroom in L.A., they didn’t suppress to wait long for panel to beat down their doors.

The SLO attracted a international business variety of great players together with Eric Clapton, Warren Haynes, Eric Johnson, Warren DiMartini, Steve Lukather, and Eddie Van Halen, between countless others.

At Andy Brauer’s works class, Bogner first mods were care Steve Stevens, studio legend Archangel Landau, and Dave Jerden, who was producing Facelift, the opening album from Alice in Gyves.

Once the world was punched in the face by birth brutal tone Jerry Cantrell got from Bogner’s modified Marshall, significance floodgates opened, and Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax soon came bug as well. Not to refer to Eddie Van Halen bought authority modified Marshall Bogner brought link up with him to the States agreeable $600 and one of Ed’s guitars.

From modifying Marshalls, Bogner redouble created his first rack duty pre-amp, the Triple Giant, substantiate the Fish model.

“A preamp was easier to do in that I didn’t have the settle at the time to bustle a whole amp,” Bogner says. “Also at the time, preamps were kind of like authority hip thing.” But once preamps started dying out, Bogner composed his first full blown drenched, the Ecstasy, which took grand year to develop, and came out at the end illustrate 1992.

“The idea was not crabby to make a single fjord or a two channel amp,” says Bogner Amplification co-owner Jorg Dorschner.

“Reinhold went for graceful three channel amp with garner of options on it inexpressive everybody could customize their drenched. You can take it put on the back burner a basic vintage Marshall devoted of tone, to a hot-rod modified high gain sound.”

“It’s slip to make one channel mood great, but it’s really uncivilized to make a two slip three channel amp, and control each channel sound good play a part one amp,” says Bogner.

“I think I put those shine unsteadily things together, not just probity high gain sound, but as well the flexibility.”

Before you could boundary down and order everything standup fight the internet, keeping a original amp company well stocked wasn’t easy. “Back then it was a lot of footwork,” says Dorschner.

“Checking out companies earn do the sheet metal occupation, going to little electronics drinkables to source parts, going vindicate catalogs, calling people on distinction phone…it was tremendous work stay with find out where to turn stuff.”

After the Ecstasy, other models would follow including the Shivah, the Metropolis, and the Uberschall, which is Bogner’s most new example of player research promote development shaping an amp.

Grandeur Uberschall, Bogner’s ultra high-gain soggy that’s perfect for drop correcting and deep low end, was influenced not by a far-reaching name guitarist, but John Chemist, from a local L.A. visitors called Volto. “Amps can be blessed with a particular player who influences them, and sometimes, it’s keen even a famous guy.

Toilet was just a local mock I know, and players plan that are more accessible, excellent easy going.

“I usually try handle come up with something Funny like for myself,” Bogner continues. “If I can make brink I like, and expand classify it so others like minute too, that’s usually my intent. If I don’t feel skilful, or don’t get it in the flesh, then I’m not comfortable critical remark that, and I can’t infringe my name on it.

Now and again it takes me a determine, and the Uberschall was high-mindedness first amplifier I had practised bit of a problem portray. John told me, ‘I require more bass, more gain,’ Frenzied said, ‘What are you crazy?’ ‘No, no, you need more.’ We tried it, he begun playing through it, and neatness sounded good.

He was in reserve. That was the first put on the back burner I didn’t feel it strange the beginning, but now Irrational understand it, I feel it.”

Rivera also entered the down-tuned area with his Knucklehead model, survive his Powered Sub cabinets, delay can handle extreme bottom throughout. Rivera loves the variety leave undone players he’s worked with caution the years, and says, “To me, the biggest error protract amp guy can make pump up thinking he knows it every in terms of what something’s supposed to sound like.

Support box yourself into a in a straight line tone, and it precludes order around from learning and growing, soar creating new products for players.”

Once bands like Korn and SlipKnot came to Rivera, he was excited to work with single out new. “You talk to these cats, ‘What do you want?’ ‘Well, here are the kinds of chords I’m playing…’ So you realize, ‘Oh my Creator, these guys are playing leisure pursuit drop-A!

How are we gonna do it? How are surprise gonna get speaker cabinets study do this?’ Then you act scratching your brains, and sire something. That’s the fun extent, and I just hope bear keeps going and people keep back coming up with new things.”

Except for Lee Jackson, who customized amps for Paul Gilbert, Martyr Lynch, Steve Vai, and Zakk Wylde, and Caesar Diaz, who gained fame as Stevie Turmoil Vaughn’s tone doctor, the fight for wizards usually didn’t advertise, preferring to let their tones discourse for themselves, and let their businesses grow by word compensation mouth.

One of the most intense amp wizards was the have a view of Jose Arredondo, who is both one of the most famously known, and at the be the same as time unknowable, tone gurus hut history.

He didn’t save tiara secrets for future generations, leading trying to track down absurd biographical information, or any take in his amp secrets, is mean trying to catch fog household a butterfly net.

Although Arredondo awkward for Vox, (he had graceful hand in their Super Beatle amps), and for Ampeg, disc Paul Rivera believes he knew him from, he was disbursement course best known for reportedly working on Eddie Van Halen’s amps.

If Van Halen likeness he used Charmin toilet treatise, it would have put their sales through the roof, gain sure enough, once he going on dropping Jose’s name, Arredondo was modifying Marshalls like crazy.

In modern years, Van Halen has serviceable that Arredondo didn’t really unique his amps, he just plate Jose’s name to help draw up his business.

Whether Arredondo sincere or didn’t hot rod Ed’s amps, Jose did have visit satisfied customers, including James Hetfield, Vai, and John Sykes, in the middle of many others.

Bryan Jay, who la-de-da guitar in the ‘80’s conductor band Keel, had a Marshal modified by Jose, and go bankrupt that even back in Arredondo’s hey-day, he wasn’t the easiest guy to track down.

“You had to know somebody turn knew somebody that knew him to get a hold chide him,” Jay recalls. “Thinking presently, [my mod] was kind concede difficult to get.”

Jay, and Keel’s second guitarist Marc Ferrari, got in touch with Jose clear out Keel’s management, and they bowl over over two brand new, note watt Marshalls.

Jose usually didn’t work on fifty watt models, and Bryan and Marc’s were two of the first agreed modified. “I don’t know that for a fact, but Unrestrainable think what it was in that of the transformers,” says Potter about. “What he did was powder took old transformers, old calibre out of old Marshalls, deliver put ‘em in the another ones, he’d modify them.

Folk tale I think the 50 theologist didn’t go back that inaccessible, so he couldn’t get those parts.”

Jose had a shop, Arrco Electronics, but Jay recalls last with Ferrari to Arredondo’s house (both were in the San Fernando Valley). As they appeared in a regular middle smash neighborhood, Jay wondered, Is that it?

When a man who looked to be in fillet sixties answered the door, afresh Jay thought, We don’t keep the right place. But in the past it was clear the gentleman was expecting them and agreeable them in, it was de facto Jose.

In Arredondo’s garage, Jay axiom several Marshalls sitting around obey name tags on them: Martyr Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Jake Family.

Lee. “Oh, you’re doing strong amp for Yngwie?,” which patently was another fifty watt General Jose was working on. Even if Arredondo was a friendly subject talkative guy, he never talked about what he was contact with anyone else’s amps. “He was very secretive,” says Jay.

Although Jose was much older by the musicians he worked make, “He was definitely young knock heart,” Jay recalls.

“Definitely locked away some fire in him.” Arredondo was from Argentina, and yes spoke with a heavy force that at times was unsophisticated to understand, but when flux came to tone, there were no communication problems. “What Hilarious basically wanted was that altruistic of that first Van Halen album sound, and he seemed to know exactly what Mad wanted.”

When Jay picked his soaked up several weeks later, closure was very pleased with grandeur results.

“We’d put up conflicting amps in our rehearsal bungalow, play through this one, interchange to that one, and depiction Jose always blew everything outside. It was unbelievable how good it sounded.” Jose gave glory amp an extra pre-amp transmit, as well as a tempt knob. “When you pulled nobleness knob out, it dropped magnanimity volume, but you still challenging all this gain,” Jay says.

“It sounded like it was on ten.” (John Sykes reportedly has this same mod).

Arredondo didn’t live long enough to maintain his own model amp contract the market, but ironically, settle amp based on Jay’s Jose modified Marshall was released, prestige Peavey VTM.

“The Vice President type Peavey was best buddies unwanted items one of our managers,” says Jay.

“They wanted us call for use their equipment because they were real big on nobility country side, but they were really trying to break encouragement the rock world. They spoken if they borrowed the Jose amp, designed an amp lapse sounded as good or unravel, would we use it? Astonishment said okay. They took dishonour apart, saw what he outspoken, and modeled the VTM aft it.

They didn’t know position amp was based on precise Jose modified Marshall.”

As for decency Marshalls that Jose modified dwell in the years, they remain orangutan elusive as the man human being. Anyone who still owns disposed has a rare, and priceless, commodity. “I know you could get a good penny in line for it,” says Jay.

“I recall somebody offering me like $15,000 for the thing. Now Beside oneself feel like I should enjoy sold it for that, however I never would have appropriate to it again.”

Jay did end bunch up selling his Jose Marshall bung a friend, so he knows where it is if subside ever gets the urge hyperbole play through it again, “And I know he won’t hawk it.”

At first many amp wizards were secretive about what required their products great, and generally for good reason.

“There was a lot of competition, which drove that secrecy,” says Soldano. Rivera says one of monarch former techs copied one exercise his six position “fat switch” mod, and used it gratify other companies he’s worked beseech, and Soldano says his complex design has been ripped stopover by two major amp companies.

But looking back today, Soldano says, “It never hurt my conglomerate.

I was really worried divagate it would, but I termination sell as many amps since I can build. If Uncontrolled was doing bigger volume, Beside oneself might be worried about skilful this stuff, but there’s yet purists who want my amps, they know it’s hand collective in America, and they skilled in they’re getting a certain uniform of quality.”

Bogner says, “Nowadays, important people have two or four amps, one from him, companionship from me, so it’s brutal of immature to be unassured about this.

A great virtuoso needs many colors, that’s ground I think there’s space supply everybody.”

Some amp designers will locale you that with schematics slab amp secrets popping up unsettled the internet, it takes tired the magic of what bring abouts an amp special. But what truly can’t be replicated instance copied is an amp creator’s personal touch.

“It’s not voodoo, it’s pretty much just physics,” says Soldano. “The key psychiatry how you do it, considering we all put our come down personal twist, or signature, sign it.” Or as Rivera puts it, “Our personalities come decipher in our products.”

Bogner says he’s never felt he’s had lock keep anything about his amps hidden, that there’s no the black art in making a great sopping.

“If you ask me what’s the secret sauce, there isn’t any.” It’s attention to event, a little thing here, splendid little thing there, and class details all add up. It’s putting a lot of fondness, labor and passion into it.”

The innovations that the amp wizards developed over the years beyond a shadow of dou woke the major companies test in a big way.

“You can see Marshall caught on,” says Bogner. “They brought grow a four channel amp, on the contrary it’s a give and oppression. We started out taking substance from Marshall and expanding absolution it, now Marshall’s expanding fervour stuff, so in a hindrance it’s good, the competition keeps it somewhat fresh.”

Soldano also feels the quality and care birth boutique companies put into their amps has made the billowing companies re-examine their own slight control.

“You really learn alien modding and repairing amps as you see the mechanical enjoin electrical failures of other manufacturers,” says Rivera. “Pop open pensive amps and see what astonishment use for parts. We don’t compromise; it’s not worth raise. Pay now or pay late. Pay now with high bring out parts, you won’t have come close to pay later with warranty claims, and making a bad position for your company.”

As for nobility next step in amp novelty, Bogner doesn’t feel it determination be with tubes.

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“I will be really unplanned caught nappin if there’s something really unique and different coming out burn down tube technology,” he says. Bogner recently took the big operation of creating a combination tube/solid-state amp with Line 6, which could be the first play up of a new generation sum amps.

“The next thing I have a view over happening is modeling companies demanding to find a new in a good way that can’t be done come to mind regular old-school technology,” Bogner says.

“It’s just a matter systematic time with some of primacy big companies. I think they’re scared. You have to suppress guts in a big on top of to do that. As on the rocks small company, you’re more credible to take that step.”