NAD: Bogner Shiva 20th Anniversary

[peckhart]

Head with KT88s. Got it a few days ago and had some time to open it up last night. Only played through my Splawn 4x12 as my Bogner V30 4x12 is on our gear trailer.
Very cool amp. That Bogner grind is really addicting and makes me want to play AIC.
Not much I can add to what has been well documented about this amp. Great clean channel, but I don't play.much clean and haven't played with it much yet.
It can get pretty heavy with a big low end and thick saturation. Softer attack than I am used to. At times I love it and at other times I want it to track faster and harder. Its a trade off for sure.
Hoping to put it up against my other amps for more direct comparisons. I have 4 great amps at the moment and won't be able keep them all forever. I am loving the Mark IV I recently got as it is a different animal than the rest and has sounded great with the band. I'll likely weigh out the Shiva vs Helios. I have an unexplainable emotional attachment to my Splawn QR even though I rarely play it.

More fun with the Shiva later today.

 

[SpiderWars]

Cool, I've been eyeing a Shiva. It seems it covers the ground I tend to play most. But I've no idea if I'd prefer and old silver chassis NR or a 20th...seems like it's between those two (although they are allegedly quite a bit different in aggressiveness).

Did you try any boosts/ODs into it? If so how did it respond?

 

[peckhart]

Cool, I've been eyeing a Shiva. It seems it covers the ground I tend to play most. But I've no idea if I'd prefer and old silver chassis NR or a 20th...seems like it's between those two (although they are allegedly quite a bit different in aggressiveness).

Did you try any boosts/ODs into it? If so how did it respond?

I have a Cusack Screamer but it's not on my board at the moment. So I have not tried that. I don't feel the amp needs an external boost for any reason.
I know a lot of guys will set the amp with a little less gain and then use a boost to get the highest gain level they need. I've personally never been able to make that work. I like getting all the goods from the amp and backing off with guitar volume when I need to.

I will try it though. Cusack into the gain channel w/out the mode in.

 

[SavageRiffer]

Congratulations. It's one of my all-time favorite amps.

 

[SpiderWars]

Cool, I've been eyeing a Shiva. It seems it covers the ground I tend to play most. But I've no idea if I'd prefer and old silver chassis NR or a 20th...seems like it's between those two (although they are allegedly quite a bit different in aggressiveness).

Did you try any boosts/ODs into it? If so how did it respond?

I have a Cusack Screamer but it's not on my board at the moment. So I have not tried that. I don't feel the amp needs an external boost for any reason.
I know a lot of guys will set the amp with a little less gain and then use a boost to get the highest gain level they need. I've personally never been able to make that work. I like getting all the goods from the amp and backing off with guitar volume when I need to.

I will try it though. Cusack into the gain channel w/out the mode in.

Sweet. I do a little bit of both. I usually set my gain somewhere in the middle, boost for more, turn down for less...double boost for over-the-top.

 

[Gsxrbusa]

Congrats dude! I have one incoming next week. Can't wait to try it out.

 

[Crunchity]

Nice choice! HNAD!

 

[peckhart]

Cranked up the channel volume and backed off the Master so it wouldn't kill my cats. Seems tighter that way.
This thing is fun!
I had an EL34 20th XTC last year and while it could do more things I think I like the tone of the Shiva a little more. It's open and aggressive and has plenty of gain. My thing with the XTC was that I liked the Blue channel the most but felt like it wasn't as aggressive as I wanted. The red is a little more mean but it was too compressed. It could seem a bit boxy until it was cranked, but by then it was ripping heads off. I did get to run it really loud at an outdoor show last summer and it was an awesome experience.
Still have the curiosity to try the 6L6 version and a Classic.

 

[nevusofota]

Congrats! Also one of my favorite amps. It hits a bit harder if you disengage the mode and mid switches. Boosting also tightens the attack. What I like about the Shiva is that with experimentation you can pretty much get any tone.

 

[Valtyr]

Congrats. I have an earlier Shiva, great amps.

 

[Alex_S]

Cranked up the channel volume and backed off the Master so it wouldn't kill my cats. Seems tighter that way.

That's right. You can change feel and tone by adjusting both volumes massively. Don't forget to use excursion to compensate for your settings. Great amps! You will have a lot of fun with it...

 

[MetalHeadMike]

Congrats dude! I have one incoming next week. Can't wait to try it out.

Looks like I might get to try a Shiva then too

 

[Ejblives]

Nice