Seconds after plugging in the La Grange I was hearing all the sounds I'd been looking for. It blends very well with the pokey midrange of the Swart but I think would be even better through a Fender Twin. A Japan-made JTM45 in a box with controls for Volume and Drive. It has controls for Volume and Drive, responds well to dynamics and can take a hotter input when preceded by a boost. This NAMM starring delight is obviously to a large degree a novelty sort of pedal, but now one entirely without merits. A vintage-voiced Marshall distortion pedal that sounds organic and not too colored in a way where you can engage it and feel like you’re just using the 2nd channel of your amp.

This Chinese stompbox sounds like a dying Marshall that is turned up all the way with tubes that are fighting to produce a blissful dirty tone. It captures the essence of playing through a cranked amp. Next, we have the Volume, Tone, and (all the way to the right) Gain knobs, which all work as you would expect. But in between the Tone and Gain, the La Grange features a unique Channel Blend knob, which is where we begin to see the true versatility of the pedal. Essentially, this knob works as a mix control that simulates the two channels of a 4 input 67-69 Plexi; turn all the way to the left for the brighter, boosted "T" channel, all the way to the right for the more subdued "B" channel, or any combination in between. Better yet, leave it a 50/50 for an equal mix of both, not unlike using a jumper cable on a real Plexi (a common technique used to link both channels). While in the other Bogner pedals the Boost can only be engaged when the main drive is on the La Grange works differently by have both parts of the circuit be completely independent. So now it is really easy to get a wider range of tones from just one pedal. Use the boost function to slightly dirty you clean sound, use the drive section as your main rhythm and then turn both on to get to your saturated and sustaining lead tone that will pop through the mix. Here's what Bogner say about the La GrangeI have acquired 13 of these to-date, and have the following 10 still under pretty intense active consideration : It has a 12AX7 tube inside of it to give you the “real deal” kind of distortion. This pedal sounds really rich and beefy with a lot of range for you to play with in the mids department. The tonal shaping options can be a bit excessive at first but with this remarkable unit you can really go from boomy to scooped mid distortion and anything in between. All the sizzle and spice and everything you love about Plexis in a cool looking pedal. The Preamp and Master gain act like they would on your favorite old British amp and give you a lot of different options for gain staging. This is also Andy from ProGuitarShop’s favorite Plexi-in-a-Pedal!

A two-channel Plexi pedal with a clean boost on one side and a Marshall JTM45 emulation on the other, using transistors to mimic the character of the tubes. Each channel features its own footswitch, and a toggle switch lets you place the boost before or after the overdrive. A tone knob, placed in the overdrive circuit, lets you tweak the signal EQ to your liking. I haven't tried the expression pedal input but I can imagine this being very useful especially if you're playing a wide variety of styles. This offers a sufficiently differentiated feature set to the BE-OD Deluxe to be a viable solution for many - it is a fairly large pedal though - as is he Friedman equivalent. That has individual Presence controls (mini) and Tightness toggle-switches, while the LPD variant has 2 modes per channel, and additional internal bright switch per channel. This overdrive pedal utilizes a multistage distortion circuit that helps it feel and sound like a real tube amp. It is handmade in England and has true bypass for extra signal clarity in your rig. A pedal with a bit of a saggy distortion that really nails the Turned Up To 11 Marshall sound. The Mid Selector really helps define how present the guitar is in the mix and can get you from 70’s crunch a la’ Free or Led Zeppelin to Metallica or Megadeth scooped mid metal!Further "research" into solving said problems revealed the pedal wasn't truly bypassed. I had guitarfeak fix the issue (footswitch changed). In fact That Pedal Show and Brett Kingman kind of jointly introduced me to and persuaded me to get my first Bogner - the Burnley Distortion - I believe I acquired that at a very similar time to my original variety of Suhr Riot. I decided to go for the Bubinga enclosure edition as I felt it was such a fantastic visual representation of its organic harmonic and resonant tonal profile (which somehow called to mind the natural resonance of wood!) - no doubt helped in some significant part by the onboard Rupert Neve Transformer. This pedal adds to the Plexi-style three typical controls (Gain, Level and Tone) a Damping knob that tightens the low end, allowing, when necessary, the achievement of a less flabby, more focused tone.

The La Grange pedal is powered by a standard 9V battery or 9VDC regulated power supply. Reinhold’s advanced circuitry internally elevates the voltage to a substantially higher level. The higher voltage provides a greater dynamic range which closely resembles the feel of a real amplifier; therefore running the pedal above 9VDC will not improve dynamics and even can damage the circuit, therefore only use a regulated 9VDC power supply! The Bogner La Grange is equipped with 5 control knobs, allowing players to shape their ideal sound. There is a Boost control, which lets players adjust the volume level of the independent Boost function, as well as a footswitch for engaging the boost for added volume. The Volume knob enhances the pedal's overall projection, whilst the Tone control adjusts the colouration of the effect and the Gain increases the overall intensity of the effect. The Channel Blend knob alters the mix of the two different channels, which simulate those of a 67-69 plexi amplifier. Fine Tune Your Sound With 4 Switches A stompbox rendition of channel 1 of the company’s Small Box, a compact Plexi-style amp. More nuanced and classic sounding than the popular Friedman BE Overdrive, the Smallbox features six controls, just like its big brother amp: Level, Gain and four EQ knobs: Bass, Mid, Treble and Presence. A toggle switch on the side panel changes the effect’s gain structure, delivering an extra push for a more in-your-face, high-gain Plexi tone.

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This things cleans up really well with the guitar volume knob and there's a huge about of volume and gain on tap with the Boost circuit engaged, which I found great for solos and actually gives that early Angus lead sound. I actually really like the new enclosure designs - in particular the fact that they're more compact. That design cannot however accommodate a Bubinga Faceplate in the same way the previous model did - so surely that options has passed - but on balance - the ergonomics of the new series are a definite improvement all-round - I feel they look more modern and more sleek overall.. Now out of production (replaced by the Deluxe version), this was one of the most popular pedals in this category. It sounds fat and warm with a nice vintage sounding low end that’s not really tight but still has plenty of definition.