se7en
Active member
I figured I'd post some thoughts.
Ok, 20th Shiva: (=C= 6550's)...Has that JCM 800 vibe - focused crunch. Great feel, tight and aggressive for chords and a singing, fluid lead tone with 'Shift' engaged. The amp has a nice mid boost and sizzle in this mode. With Shift out, it does your classic tones better and the feel and response are more relaxed if that makes any sense. Gets closer to a Marshall in this mode. You can really get the power section cooking with the MV control of the Shiva. The mode switch cuts some mids and the bass gets deeper...gives you a nice thump if you want more of a metal tone. Clean channel is full and has a nice chime.
20th Ecstasy: (EL34's) Once again the feel is extraordinarly good. The gain channels are thick, with a wider midrange 'Q', compared to the Shiva. You can definitely hear a plexi sound layered under the chewy gain structure. It's maybe a bit more compressed than the Shiva on the red channel, but significantly more open than the 101b...tighter, too. Blue channel is more open than the Shiva. The amp opens up nicely with some volume once the power section gets going. The bright switches go a long ways toward dialing your sound with a LP style guitar...Brighter guitars don't need 'em, but the switches work well here, too. Plexi mode has a more focused crunch and in class A mode, sounds incredibly warm...great for classic rock and clean tones. The excursion controls work best for me on 'M', but on Loose can get a deeper low end and a more elastic lead tone. Not deep like an Uber, more balanced and refined/classy I'd say...more rock'n roll. The Tight excursion gets you closer to a Marshall, with more high mids. With plexi engaged or in vintage mode, you'll get closer to a Marshall as well. 'Old' style will give a more compressed tone, closer to a 101b. The clean is close to the Shiva. I think I prefer the Shiva for pristine cleans with chime and the XTC clean for broken up cleans...well the Shiva doesn't do this.
I wish the Shiva had an FX loop switch on the footswitch, could get a gritty clean on Ch.1 and had a separate boost for the clean channel. But, I can work around it. Both amps cover a lot of ground as is.
Ok, 20th Shiva: (=C= 6550's)...Has that JCM 800 vibe - focused crunch. Great feel, tight and aggressive for chords and a singing, fluid lead tone with 'Shift' engaged. The amp has a nice mid boost and sizzle in this mode. With Shift out, it does your classic tones better and the feel and response are more relaxed if that makes any sense. Gets closer to a Marshall in this mode. You can really get the power section cooking with the MV control of the Shiva. The mode switch cuts some mids and the bass gets deeper...gives you a nice thump if you want more of a metal tone. Clean channel is full and has a nice chime.
20th Ecstasy: (EL34's) Once again the feel is extraordinarly good. The gain channels are thick, with a wider midrange 'Q', compared to the Shiva. You can definitely hear a plexi sound layered under the chewy gain structure. It's maybe a bit more compressed than the Shiva on the red channel, but significantly more open than the 101b...tighter, too. Blue channel is more open than the Shiva. The amp opens up nicely with some volume once the power section gets going. The bright switches go a long ways toward dialing your sound with a LP style guitar...Brighter guitars don't need 'em, but the switches work well here, too. Plexi mode has a more focused crunch and in class A mode, sounds incredibly warm...great for classic rock and clean tones. The excursion controls work best for me on 'M', but on Loose can get a deeper low end and a more elastic lead tone. Not deep like an Uber, more balanced and refined/classy I'd say...more rock'n roll. The Tight excursion gets you closer to a Marshall, with more high mids. With plexi engaged or in vintage mode, you'll get closer to a Marshall as well. 'Old' style will give a more compressed tone, closer to a 101b. The clean is close to the Shiva. I think I prefer the Shiva for pristine cleans with chime and the XTC clean for broken up cleans...well the Shiva doesn't do this.
I wish the Shiva had an FX loop switch on the footswitch, could get a gritty clean on Ch.1 and had a separate boost for the clean channel. But, I can work around it. Both amps cover a lot of ground as is.
