Bogner La Grange Overdrive Pedal
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Bogner La Grange Overdrive Pedal

Bogner LaGrange Top View.jpg

First off you have the essentials. Tune in the ‘volume’ and ‘gain’ stages to find the perfect amount of dirt and pepper it liberally with one of the widest sweeping one-pot tone controls I’ve come across. From here the La Grange smokes every other plexi-based pedal for options. Just like in real life, you have the option of blending faithful representations of two channels of the 4-input, ‘67/’68 era JCM800. I found the sweet spot around 12 o’clock as the 1-2 punch of both colours really made my ‘72 Tele sing. Kicking on the ‘boost’ switch offers absolute transparency and sheer volume, sending searing hot signal into the front of my amp.

 

The real crowning glory of the pedal is the 4 switches across the top row. The low, medium and high gain switch means you can go from Tom Petty to Jimmy Page to Kerry King at the drop of a hat and on top of that, flick on a generous portion of ‘presence’ to send some high mids sailing through the mix. The variac control is one of the more interesting features as it slaps on a tonne of compression adding some glistening harmonics that, while quite pretty, seemed to me to be a ‘sometimes food’. The real cherry on the cake though is the subtlest three-way switch on-board. You have a choice between tight and focused, wide and loose or ‘a little of both’ in the structure switch and this is really where you get to tie your tone up in ribbons. Its almost the pedal equivalent of getting a recording mastered; after you’ve dialed in all the other options you pick the way it comes across to the listener. A really nice touch that sets this pedal apart from the myriad of other stompboxes that pay homage to the once and future king of guitar amplification.

 

It doesn’t end there though. California’s nest German imports have gone to great lengths to make this a premium package. The whole thing is built on double sided, gold-plated circuit boards with German WIMA and Japanese Nichicon capacitors, gold plated relays, the smoothest Carling switches and more that only the truly fastidious solder soldier need know about. If you’re running it off a 9v battery, the LEDs ash as you approach critical power and you have the added option of using an external expression pedal to ease on or off the gain – something very few competitors have on offer.

 

It is clear in every inch of the Bogner La Grange Overdrive that the guys behind the design are in love with one of history’s most recorded drive sounds. They’ve gone to great lengths to honour the myth in all it’s glory and have honestly left no stone unturned. Like Knights of the Round Table kneeling before Excalibur, they have done a great service to their king and have created a pedal that proudly takes its place in the hall of great tone. 

 

For more details on the range of Bogner products, visit egm.net.au.