grimmchaos
Well-known member
I love mine... might top my 101B for favorite amps. Just a satisfying amp to play through for my ear. Blake captures it well in his video.
Bxlxaxkxe
Amp ho
It’s really quite different from my limited experience. I a/b’d the snorkler and my very early 20th shiva yesterday. Single notes: shiva is fatter and thicker. Snorkler is more sharp (like an 800). Shiva is a fatter, thicker, saggier feeling amp in general where the Snorkler is sharper, more up front and more aggressive. The shiva is such a fun amp to play and just feels incredible for anything short of aggressive metal/rock. It’s like a Marshall that was modded to be more soulful where the Snorkler is a Marshall that was modded to be aggressive and cutting
the4thlast1
Well-known member
Cool, I’m hoping that it is its own thing all together and has more clarity in the lowend.
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braintheory
Well-known member
Imo it does tick those boxes
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braintheory
Well-known member
I agree with most of that, but can get my Snorkler to be pretty thick too. The main thing for me is the Snorkler sounds to me pretty organic, raw (thankfully) and the Shiva 20thA, while it’s nowhere near as processed sounding like an Engl or anything, imo at least was to me was closer to that side of the spectrum when I compared it to a Helios and Cameron modded Marshall I had at the time sounding a lot more organic/real comparatively. The Shiva 20thA when I AB’ed I felt was a bit muted or dead (in response) when compared with those amps. For that reason I actually interpret it as a less soulful sound, but maybe it’s just semantic differences in describing sounds
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braintheory
Well-known member
Total apples vs oranges. I’m a huge recto fan. For my taste I think it still will rank higher for me, but I think I enjoy this amp similarly well in its own way and will have to see long term as I live with it more
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braintheory
Well-known member
Yeah a lot that description matches this Snorkler to me, but I didn’t find the Shiva 20th to be much like this amp and certainly at least very different in feel/response and rawness/organic-ness is tone quality, but they do both have the signature Bogner low mid chewy quality going on. To me the Snorkler has it best of any Bogner I’ve tried so far
I will say if you want a very deep low end you may not like this amp, but I don’t find the low end lacking for most styles outside modern metal. Overall the Shiva 20th could be quite aggressive, but found its powerchords overall sounded smoother and flatter to me when I AB’ed it with a Helios, Telos and Cameron Jose modded Marshall I had at the time, but of course that was some steep competition for the amp to be compared with
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braintheory
Well-known member
This smokes the JJ from my experience playing those. The JJ iirc had deeper low end and headroom from its 100w powersection, but otherwise this amp outclassed it to me in almost every other way I can think of
Bxlxaxkxe
Amp ho
Yes they should do a 100w Snorkler in the near future just for the extra sonic footprint. It’s not a small sounding amp, but I wouldn’t call it big sounding. The amp itself is physically tiny too I just noticed when I took the back off yesterday
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braintheory
Well-known member
Yeah it’s a small amp and weighs somewhere in the mid 30’s iirc. A 100w version would be cool, but for 50w it’s pretty good imo. It sounds bigger than many modded 50w Marshall’s I had and got 498 for PV when I measured. I’d think maybe the 50w plays well to its midrange and chewiness. My Caveman is also 50w
I like also that the bias pot is external. All amps should be that way
hellzington
Well-known member
Agreed. It’s not “big” but it’s “thick.” (There’s a joke in there somewhere…) I would describe it as “notched” or “pre-mixed.” It sits perfectly in a hard rock mix, kind of like the AFD100 does.
Bxlxaxkxe
Amp ho
I could totally see some magic being lost in a 100w version. Or it could just be a monster. Reality is …like most of these situations, it would probably just end up being its own thing
Bxlxaxkxe
Amp ho
Was looking forward to finding that out today and then practice gets canceled ?
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braintheory
Well-known member
It would definitely intrigue me. The 100w Bogner blue board modded ‘85 JCM800 2203 I had sounded bigger with deeper, more extended lows, but a decent amount of my other 100w amps sounded bigger still and I like the tone and feel more of this Snorkler. It’s more growly, rich, chewy and feels greasier. I just love this Snorkler and have been playing around with some different vintage tubes and bias settings
Bxlxaxkxe
Amp ho
Haven’t even messed with tubes yet. Land on anything in particular? I’ll dive in once I get some more time. Honestly I’ve barely had time to play this since I got it. Definitely still getting familiar. Noticed today that having the fx loop on with the gate about halfway sounded different in a cool way
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braintheory
Well-known member
For powertubes I liked Siemens, but the Mullard XF2's were also good, didn't like the Sylvania 6CA7's. I'd probably like my RFT and '50's Bugle Boy's even more, but not sure if they can handle it's PV. The very best would be my '50's metal base EL34's made in Holland, but again would be a little scared if they can handle it. I haven't messed with preamp tubes yet, but have a feeling I'll like most either my Siemens E83CC, '50's Bugle Boys or '50's Tungsram's, maybe also '50's Fivre. Yeah with loop on you can get it to sound quite good at very low levels. When boosted with my Klon it gives me one of my favorite, most unique grindy, chewy sounds I've had so far
peterc52
Well-known member
how does one get ahold of someone at bogner?
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pickslide
Member
Can an Ecstacy (101b) get pretty close to the sound of the snorkler?
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braintheory
Well-known member
Not to me. I found it smoother, more polite, more modern leaning, and capable of more saturation maybe on the red ch. The Snorkler seems more raw, gritty, in your face/upfront/less background-y, midrange-y and chewier. Both have the signature low mid chewy Bogner sound, but the Snorkler has it most of any Bogner I've tried. The XTC would though sound bigger with more extended lows and headroom from its stronger power section and I believe higher plate voltage along with it. The Snorkler also has a stickier feel that is still liquid, while the 101B's feel were more just liquid and smooth from what I remember of them. I find the Snorkler's feel I think a bit more connected, but both have great feel as does the early Uber's, hate the feel of the UU
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pickslide
Member
Totally understand that. I had a 3534 and really liked it, but missed that Marshall bite so I sold it and got a 76 Superlead which scratches that itch nicely.