bikerdude2
Well-known member
Any comparisons tone wise? Really interested in the gain channels.
Bogner Atma vs Shiva
- Thread starter bikerdude2
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Rdodson
Well-known member
The ATMA is a really cool, surprisingly loud little tone machine. The sounds out of it are fantastic. I think I have an old video somewhere running through the range of tones.
I found the ATMA to be quite stiff. That was my only real issue with it. Sounded great. The Shiva (I've had 2 of the 20th Anniversary versions but never really used the extra gain "mode") is like a perfected JCM800 with a beautiful clean channel. But a very beastly amp.
If you want portability, there is no comparison. The ATMA all day. If you don't care, get the Shiva. The Shiva is extremely fun to play and not stiff at all.
I found the ATMA to be quite stiff. That was my only real issue with it. Sounded great. The Shiva (I've had 2 of the 20th Anniversary versions but never really used the extra gain "mode") is like a perfected JCM800 with a beautiful clean channel. But a very beastly amp.
If you want portability, there is no comparison. The ATMA all day. If you don't care, get the Shiva. The Shiva is extremely fun to play and not stiff at all.
bikerdude2
Well-known member
I currently have the Atma. It died on me. Going to send it in to be looked at. So I figured I would consider other options. I love how the Atma has such a small footprint for gigs on my Bogner cube..it just worries me now. Thanks for the reply. Sounds like the Shiva is up my ally for what I need.
Shiva (no 20th) isn’t small amp and need some volume for good tones. It has big bold clean channel and low-mid dominant bogner crunch channel. But those channels doesn’t link soundwise like those on Atma. There is more gain and sound possibilities but lacking big iron EL34 sound like Shiva.
I have played few live shows with Shiva with my trash/death band and pushed with OD it sounded like fat boosted 800.
I have played few live shows with Shiva with my trash/death band and pushed with OD it sounded like fat boosted 800.
For the 4 years before the pandemic, I was gigging in a classic rock cover band with an Atma--probably 120 gigs and numerous rehearsals and my Atma never gave me one second of trouble. I bought a Shiva on 3 different occasions (a 6L6 model and two EL34 models) and I sold them and went back to the Atma.
The clean channel on the Shiva is really great but the gain channel just seemed too wooly somehow and I could never get the cut I wanted. I really wanted to like the Shiva and maybe I didn't set the channel volume vs the overall master correctly- but for me, the Atma won.
Part of it is the small size and weight of the Atma as I'm carrying a small PA too and I play in small dive bars where an 80 watt amp is overkill.
I preferred my Atma over the 3534 I had-but that was partly due to the noise of the 3534's loop and the 3534's foot switch.
The clean channel on the Shiva is really great but the gain channel just seemed too wooly somehow and I could never get the cut I wanted. I really wanted to like the Shiva and maybe I didn't set the channel volume vs the overall master correctly- but for me, the Atma won.
Part of it is the small size and weight of the Atma as I'm carrying a small PA too and I play in small dive bars where an 80 watt amp is overkill.
I preferred my Atma over the 3534 I had-but that was partly due to the noise of the 3534's loop and the 3534's foot switch.
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Ventura
Well-known member
I've got both - kinda...
I have the Atma Combo
And the 20th Sheevs (KT88) loaded
Both - IMHO - are very different amps. Both for tones and for playability. I've not had a problem with reliability on either - at all whatsoever - so it's purely a toss up between functionality and tonal preference. The Shiva - ain't no small thang, even the combo - it's a beast. The stock versus 88 loaded 20thA are vastly different beasts too. I love my 20th. Atma?? I've plugged into my Atma combo and literally see 4 hours of playing whiz by. I can't recall the number of variable settings one can conjure with all the different switches and modes, but if it were purely for "versatility of tone"?? Atma. Atma head - with cab - so that it'd be easier to use something like a CaptorX to access a host of kickass IRs for recording (not that you can't do that with the combo, it's just easier with a head on its own).
Atma covers more territory and has a broad zone.
Shiva covers its own territory by kicking ass in that zone.
Atma is a ridiculously fun amp! So many tones inside. The simple clean channel is brilliant.
Blackface to Tweed with bits of blond and brown in between.
The lead channel? Which one? 70s with a tube rectifier for crunch or 80s and SS for wicked
modern gain. And the boost adds that extra midrange chewiness that Bogner makes you think of.
Then you still have 60s mode which is a blast with a Strat.
It's also got the biggest baddest lunchbox amp tranny I've ever seen!
Blackface to Tweed with bits of blond and brown in between.
The lead channel? Which one? 70s with a tube rectifier for crunch or 80s and SS for wicked
modern gain. And the boost adds that extra midrange chewiness that Bogner makes you think of.
Then you still have 60s mode which is a blast with a Strat.
It's also got the biggest baddest lunchbox amp tranny I've ever seen!