Goldfinger 4k Review
Favio Cassidy
Just picked up a new amp. A Bogner Goldfinger 45. This thing has rocked my world. I was floored the minute I started playing it. 2 channels, Clean and OD. But, so much more than just that. Foot-switchable separate boost on each channel, Reverb and 2 EFX loops. One normal EFX loop for time-based EFX and a unique, 'pre-input' EFX loop which you can run normal distortion, fuzz wah etc pedals through. This Pre-EFX loop goes before the input, so it's like having a switchable loop for your OD effects or just a straight, clean guitar signal hitting the input with no pedals in line. Sweet!
The clean channel is freakin' amazing. HUGE sounding channel than goes from a Fendery clean to a nice OD, but stays incredibly articulate. The OD channel has a '69/'80s switch that runs like a smokin' Plexi to an even more Hot-rodded JCM800 tone. With three OD preamp controls and OD master for dialing in just the right amount of gain and timbre, tons of sounds on tap. The '69 Plexi setting is my Nirvana. Damn, it sounds utterly amazing. Add to that all the boosts and EFX loops, it's like a 5 channel amp.
I finally got the matching tall 2x12 oversize cab for the Goldfinger. Loaded with a Celestion G12H30 & Greenback. The love affair continues. This is the best amp I have ever played. I got more compliments last night than I have ever got on my tone.
IMHO, Bogner Goldfingers are one of the best two-channel amps made. The reason I own a Bogner Goldfinger 45 was because of this post Steve Snider called: Bogner Goldfinger -- what a monster amp. So after all the rave reviews, I bought the current version of the Goldfinger 45. And, as many people have raved about, it's a great amp.
That said, I wasn't hearing the real beefy, yet clear tone that Steve was getting, and I noticed he has a slightly different model - an early model. So, I started looking around for an early-model Goldfinger 45 and found one. Steve helped me verify it was an early version close in serial number to his, so I bought it online.
As you see in the video below, I still have the two 2x12. As mentioned on this board, vintage 30's are not the best fit for the Goldfinger 45, so I just bought two 15watt Celection Blues, one 25watt Greenback, and a 30watt G12h 70th Anniversary to replace the vintage 30s, which is what I'm now using.
So, here's my results on the Bogner Goldfinger 45 shootout. The early model 45 has significant increase in gain and clarity. Furthermore, the deep switch really does what it says; it add some beef to the tone (hence the "deep" switch name). To me, the early model 45 has more gain in the regular 69 mode than the current model 45 does in the 80 mode dimed with the FX gain boost dimed. I was quite surprised by the difference. I really don't like the 80's mode in the early model; it seems muddy compared to the Loud 69 mode; however, the Loud 69 mode sounds killer so there's no need for the 80's mode anyway. In addition, I found the boost level on the early model can be boosted much higher/louder. The clean channels sounded almost identical. When I A/B'd them, I couldn't tell much if any difference.
Below is a shootout video between the new version and original version of the Bogner Goldfinger 45. Sorry for the non-pro mic'd shootout. I didn't bring the right cable to hookup my DI to my laptop, so I had to use my video camera.
I have to agree with Steve on his analysis/opinion, that the original 45's Loud 69 mode is "worth the price of admission." So, I'm now using just the early-model 45. My perfect two-channel amp search is over. If you can find an early model 45, buy it and never....ever.... sell it.
Hello Clever People! Welcome to my first video on my reviews of the James Bond film franchise. Leading up to No Time To Die in November, I will be reviewing all 24 James Bond movies. In this video, I review the first three, all starring Sean Connery, all in the cheesy 60s movie style that made these films iconic. Click the video below to check out the review!
It's 1.66:1 aspect intact and AVC encode keeping rogue DNR levels down to a minimum, Connery's third outing bursts with colour and detail. Auric tells us how much he loves the colour of gold - and, with this transfer, it is very easy to agree with him. The image feels warm and its burnished commodity, on show often, positively gleams. I guarantee that you won't have seen Shirley Eaton's lacquered body look quite so ravishing as it does here - that golden sheen is marvellously reproduced.
A thin veil of grain is ever-present, and visual depth is great, albeit compromised in certain scenes by the over-abundance of matte-shots and edge enhancement, which although still there, is less of an issue than it once was. Haloing is nowhere near as distracting as it was previously.
Detail is excellent. Faces have a greater degree of texture than before, as does the material of clothing and close-up views of gadgets, dashboards, metal tables with red-lasers burning through them, maps and models and roads littered with unconscious soldiers. Look at the grass on the golf course for a clear example of how much more delineated this hi-def image is. Hair and straw also seem to offer more separation than before. Backgrounds are more stable and slightly clearer, too, with the forested hills behind Goldfinger's Swiss plant and the trees around the golf course standing a little prouder now.
The print is good shape, too, although that little frame jump when Oddjob turns the corner in the Lincoln Continental is still there for all to see. Thus, Goldfinger gets a major thumbs-up from me. The film looks incredible - it is full of colour, clarity and a liveliness that the SD Ultimate Edition hinted-at but couldn't present with anywhere near as much confidence. A very strong 8 out of 10.
This US disc of Goldfinger that I reviewed previously came equipped with its original mono track as well as the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track that is now fitted as standard. But the release found in this UK box set ditches the original mono.
Separation is fine across the front and there is a degree of spatial depth to the mix, but this still isn't a design that places much demand on wraparound immersion other than in a couple of the more elaborate sequences. But what the lossless 5.1 mix does manage to do is inject vitality and aggression into the film. John Barry's score naturally benefits from the greater volume, orchestral and vocal timbres and the sheer warmth of its instrumentation.
We have weighty commentary tracks - a vast-ranging and participant-filled one that has been culled from many archived documentaries, and a solo effort from Guy Hamilton. Both are splendidly anecdote-stuffed and packed with detail about the production, the shooting, the characters and the actors who bring them to life, the score, the stunts and the transition from book to screen and, naturally, the cultural impact of the third Bond movie. I enjoyed both, though, understandably, there is much overlap - something that inevitably plagues the featurettes and documentaries, too. But this is how all the Bond discs shape up and everything just about engulfs you in good-natured nostalgia - so there is little to complain about with such exhaustive material.
The Making Of Goldfinger is a familiar 26-minute look at how the creative team sought to meet public expectations of a new Bond adventure, what the challenges were with regards to vehicles, stunts, risqu names, laser-beams, villains who couldn't speak a word of English, title songs and production design. The usual roster of faces crop up - Hamilton, Connery, Blackman, Maibaum, Llewellyn, Stears, Adams etc - and there is plenty of on-set footage, promotional fooling-around, casting auditions and tongue-in-cheek praise and admiration. I'm sure that most of you reading this have already seen these features before - you know the style and it is a winning one.
On Tour With The Aston Martin lasts for 12-minutes - and who wouldn't want much longer in that baby! - as the history of the car and its iconic celebrity status is chronicled. There is vintage footage - some glorious old ad-campaigns - and we see the esteem in which the legendary vehicle is held, with its regular fawn-fests around the exhibition and collector's circuits.
Vintage Material gathers together some old screen-tests for Theodore Bikel and Tito Vandis, who auditioned for Goldfinger, a short Bond promo from 1963 and the Honor Blackman Open-Ended Interview which looks quite poor and was used by TV networks as promo material for the movie.
The Image Database houses the requisite galleries of behind-the-scenes, promotional stills, set designs and poster-art that we have come to expect. But you will have to set some serious time aside to go through it all. To compliment this, we also have original TV and Radio Spots, the theatrical trailer, and an audio interview with Sean Connery about the imminent arrival of the movie.
Goldfinger is a class act, through and through. If you are like me, then you've bought probably every version of it that has been released. And, also like me, you are going to have to do it all over again because the digital facelift that the film has received is worth every penny. The film has stood the test of time, existing in a bubble of infinite cool that makes it enjoyable, dynamic, engrossing and downright vital for each new generation. Its own inherent repeatability is beyond reproach - you certainly couldn't return again and again to the likes of Tomorrow Never Dies, Octopussy or A View To A Kill with as much passion, could you? So, like a comfy old slipper, Goldfinger wraps around you with eager-to-please satisfaction and, although it is not a movie about which you can say you see something new each time, its big moments still deliver a frisson, its ribald dialogue still raises an eyebrow and its totally unabashed sense of entertainment is without equal.
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