The Bogner Burnley distortion pedal has been around for a few years but I was recently introduced to it on ‘That Pedal Show’ from February 2018. I ordered one immediately.
I’ve put it through its paces here’s a quick review.
Why Choose the Bogner Burnley Over all the Others?
It’s the unique silky smooth distortion that puts this pedal above the rest. That coupled with the Rupert Neve designed transformer which I’m convinced accounts for some of the silky distortion character this pedal delivers. Let’s not underestimate Mr Bogner’s indisputable contribution either. Together they’ve created a wondrous thing.
This is not a rough edged distortion at all. It’s harmonically rich with plenty of gain as you’d expect but at the same time it’s more refined and polished.
In The Studio
I tried it first to beef up the choruses on a fast-tempo guitar-pop track using regular power chords (no thirds) then doubled it higher up on the neck to produce a L-R pair. Superb results. Next I put a treble booster in front of it to see if I could affect the top end grit. The pedal took it well. Then I tried some lead fills with a humbucker and got some seriously sizzling, sustaining tones oozing with character.
Amp Choices
As many before me have ascertained, the Bogner Burnley works very well with bright cap/switch amps. Brett Kingman certainly got a great tone out of the Burnley into a Fender Super-Sonic. Check out his video here: Bogner: Burnley Distortion – Demo – Brett Kingman. For me though, on the track I demoed it on, the Marshall Plexi Reissue 1987X with some dialled in grit worked very well indeed. I even ran it in front of the Le Clean preamp pedal with a slight crunch into a power amp which felt good too but settled on the Marshall in the end.
Fat/Tight Switch
The Fat/Tight toggle switch is very effective and plays well with the Gain and Level knobs. A lot of great sounds to discover in this pedal. In tight mode it’s lean and focused, in fat mode the harmonics kick in with full frequency.
Any Negatives?
Not really but the so-called ‘Jewel Light’ that reacts to your playing dynamics I could have lived without. Nevertheless it does make it ‘pretty’ but it feels a bit gimmicky to me. Does it perhaps have a purpose that has evaded me?
Summary
Mr Bogner certainly knows how to create a great sounding, versatile distortion pedal that shines on both chordal riffs and single note runs. There’s plenty of variation available with the dials and switches and the custom transformer wraps everything in a liquid sheen. This pedal just stands out above the rest and is reasonably priced too.
Check out the videos below to hear the Bogner Burnley in action.
Other mooselander links:
Softube Console 1 Mk2 with REAPER review
