Reinhold Bogner, the principal designer at Bogner Amplification, had been designing and building amplifiers long before leaving Germany in 1989. Moving to Los Angeles he quickly gained the trust of many influential players including Steve Stevens, Dan Huff, Allan Holdsworth, Mike Landau and Steve Vai who sought out his skill at modifying and custom building their amps.
But it was overhauling and revitalizing Eddie Van Halen’s legendary 1968 Marshall® Plexi in 1992 that propelled Bogner to legendary status and inspired him to launch his own high-end amp company, Bogner Amplification. Acclaimed for their rich, robust tones, channel-switching sophistication and sonic versatility - Bogner amps have earned a maniacally devoted following among discerning guitarists such as Jerry Cantrell, Lyle Workman, Wes Borland, Chris DeGarmo, Keith Urban, Richie Sambora and many others.
Using only premium components - in tandem with a level of craftsmanship that can only be referred to as “artistry”- Bogner amplifiers more than deserve their exalted reputation. Ever the restless creator, Bogner brought those same priorities, standards and sensibilities to bear on the Spider Valve design. Each Spider Valve amp—the 112, 212 and HD100— combines the talent and experience of Bogner, arguably the tube world’s leading light, with the know-how and technological savvy of the world’s leader in modeling, Line 6.
There’s nothing like going right to the source to get the inside story. In this case, that would be our very own Darrell Smith – Line 6 amplifier product line manager.
You’ve got to be excited to be breaking new ground with tube amps...
Absolutely. Line 6 modeling changed the landscape for solid state amps - and now we’re doing it again for tube amps. So at this point, whatever you prefer, be it the lush complexity of a great tube amp, the transparency of a solid state amp, or the convenience of plugging a POD straight into a PA – you have access to the tonal range and flexibility of Line 6 modeling.
What was it was like designing these amps with Reinhold Bogner?
Reinhold brought a lot to the table. He has a tremendous working knowledge of vintage and modern amp designs, he's an inventor, a true craftsman, a brilliant engineer, and best of all he has a great set of ears. In an industry that cloaks itself in tube mojo and glowing magic, Reinhold is the real deal. His experience and craftsmanship are incredible - he very much deserves his legendary status. He was relentless in terms of tweaking and perfecting the feel and tone of the Spider Valve, and was fully involved with the design each step of the way. I think it’s really apparent in the results.
Any specific requirements or elements of his design that stood out for you?
It’s all the little things that add up to a great design. Bogner knows this and it led to everything from premium parts like Premium Celestion Vintage 30 speakers to boutique components such as Sprague Orange Drop and Wima capacitors in the tube section. He even specified which nuts and bolts to use. It all adds up.
Tell me about the selection and layout of the tubes?
The Line 6 modeler feeds a pair of 12AX7 preamp tubes. The first tube is set up as a cascading gain stage, with each stage contributing the harmonic complexity vintage amp players love. That feeds the master volume which hits the next 12AX7 configured as a phase splitter which is followed by Sovtek 5881WXT/6L6. There’s 2 6L6’s for 40 watts of class AB power in the combos and 4 6L6’s for 100 watts of class AB power in the head.
So the preamp and power amp tubes make for a complete tube amp as opposed to a “hybrid” amp that would use solid state for most of the amplification?
Exactly. This isn’t a hybrid that just uses a little 12AX7 preamp tube on the front end, or as part of a solid state power amp. It’s a full on tube amp – which gives you the complete tube amp experience, from the rich harmonics, to the feel and responsiveness of the power tubes.
Could you pair a POD with a Spider Valve?
It’s the perfect pair. We realize that some guys love running their POD in front of a tube amp so we went out of our way to make Spider Valve a tuned complement for a POD front end. To do so – you can plug the output of your POD into the power amp input jack on the back of the Spider Valve which lets you bypass the Spider Valve modeling but still use the tube amplification. It sounds awesome.
And the “flavor” of the tones in the general... similar to Spider III? Similar to a Bogner amp?
Neither really. The amp models cover the same names and styles as in a Spider III – you know, Clean, Crunch, Insane, etc. – but the tuning, voicing and experience is really unique to the Spider Valve design with particular emphasis on the mid-gain tones.
1992 that propelled Bogner to legendary status and inspired him to launch his own high-end amp company, Bogner Amplification. Acclaimed for their rich, robust tones, channel-switching sophistication and sonic versatility - Bogner amps have earned a maniacally devoted following among discerning guitarists such as Jerry Cantrell, Lyle Workman, Wes Borland, Chris DeGarmo, Keith Urban, Richie Sambora and many others.
