Bogner Helios JB45 30-watt Tube Amplifier Head Reviews
Inspired by the unforgettable blues and rock tones of the 1960s, the Bogner Helios JB45 30-watt amplifier head marks a thoroughly modern reimagining of the tube amplifier’s golden age. This amplifier’s quartet of preamp tubes and two TAD KT66 power tubes fuel the Helios JB45 with dynamic overdrive bite and singing saturation, resulting in three distinct channel voicings: The plexi/tweed throwback bark of the Green channel, the full-bodied crunch of the Purple channel, and a Red channel that clones the Purple channel with a supercharged gain boost. A straightforward and intuitive global 3-band EQ, Presence knob, and two of Bogner’s signature “Schizo” voicing controls make it a breeze to dial in your dream tone from old-school blues rock bark to arena-ready sonics. You also get a superb set of channel-specific voicing switches to further tweak your tone. Cap it all off with a powerful series effects loop, a 2-position Variac switch, and a 3-position switch to voice your power amp, and the Bogner Helios JB45 represents a perfect marriage of classic tube amp tones and Bogner’s cutting-edge modern engineering.
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Highest Rated Reviews
Bogner does it again....
To start off, I am sure I am biased as a Bogner fan. Own a Shiva, XTC 101B, XTC 3534 50w, and Goldfinger SL. I also own some Friedmans and Mesa Boogies. Love them all, but particularly like the Bogner voicing over the years.
This JB45 sounded intriguing as a mid-powered, retro kind of concept and it delivers. It does the 60's Marshall thing in spades but has versatility well beyond that. The green voice is super versatile, it will do the usual Bogner clean (which is underated) and then morph into chime and vintage breakup tones. The purple and red voices are capable of all kinds of gain spectrum but excel in the mid gain areas. The Brown mode is super addictive! On all voices, the Schizo knob adds more depth/mid-low end as you go clockwise. Great for variations and different pickups. It's kind of like a 3D tone knob.
Lots of other tonal variations on the back of the amp with the variac and mode switches. You can get lost in it, in a good way, and it's impossible to make the amp sound anything but great. I am still settling in to what I want to optimize live, and the journey has been really fun.
Can't recommend enough, especially if you are looking for something a little off the beaten path!
