New Amp Day! Bogner Shiva

[Shiny_Surface]

My bad. I mean one just like it.

A 2002 Bogner Shiva EL34, non reverb, with the factory-installed Boost Channel Volume Control.

Oh okay, gotcha. That attached power cable kinda bugs me too. It's a little thing, but still...

Newer ones have a detachable power cord now. Kind of bugged me with my Uberschalls especially. At least with the Shiva I could coil up the cord and stuff it inside the open cavity in the back of the headshell.

 

[Les Zombie]

i tried a shiva a couple years ago and it was a cool amp, i would love to try it boosted with a od-9.

 

[stratotone]

I'm just curious Thump, what do you think of this vs a Mesa Stiletto?

 

[yngzaklynch]

Haven't played one is years but those are great amps from what I recall. Of all the amps I've onwed I wish I still had the XTC. Maybe oneday I will own a new one. Congrats

 

[TX6Strings]

See my avitar

Fantastic amp! Mine's the new version with the bright switches and the boost standard. If I want/need to kick it up a notch I used a Bodenham modded DS-1 and it'll get pretty hostile.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Really? Wow, that's interesting. I had a Legacy head for around 4 days. I couldn't get along with that amp at all, but I would like to try one again sometime.

I have the Shiva dialed in pretty good. With the bass knob all the way down, it's very "AM Radio" sounding (in other words, that really cuts all of the bass out of it.) You can hear the low mids sneaking in as you slowly turn that bass knob up. Today, I had the bass knob around 10-11:00 o'clock and it was sounding pretty good to me.

Hey Chris, did the Shiva sit well in your live mix when you gigged with it?

 

[Greazygeo]

Too grainy, dull and mushy feeling....bizarre fx loop. A friend of mine has one and I've played thru it and heard him thru it....he loves it. He boost his with pedals too. The clean is nice.

 

['63-Strat]

Too grainy, dull and mushy feeling....bizarre fx loop. A friend of mine has one and I've played thru it and heard him thru it....he loves it. He boost his with pedals too. The clean is nice.

Wait...so are you saying you don't like Bogner??!

 

[Greazygeo]

Too grainy, dull and mushy feeling....bizarre fx loop. A friend of mine has one and I've played thru it and heard him thru it....he loves it. He boost his with pedals too. The clean is nice.

Wait...so are you saying you don't like Bogner??!

No offense meant...

How's GIT doin??

 

[Copperhead]

I really like the cleans on the Shiva, too bad yours does not have the reverb, it's awesome.

 

[Greazygeo]

Too grainy, dull and mushy feeling...

Okay, I'll admit that i just finished playing around and I also felt it was too grainy, dull, and mushy feeling. However, earlier today and last night I didn't feel that way at all! LOL! I think it depends on my mood. But yeah, I wasn't digging it just now, but have been the other times.

To me the Shiva is like a better version of the XTC Blue channel. I've not played a Classic and guys say its different/ better. It could be....My friend loves his Shiva and has had it for quite awhile now. Strange amp.....

 

[RockStarNick]

Grainy, dull and mushy... Great ways to describe the shiva when the master volume is too low. When it's cranked, VERY responsive though.

That amp is super, super sensative to volume level.

 

[daver101]

I've been keeping this quiet, because I planned on trying to trick people with a "guess the amp" type of thread, but I'm too lazy to do that now. I traded "strungup" that awesome gold PRS McCarty Standard for his Bogner Shiva head (EL34, no reverb.) I've been wanting to spend some quality time with a Shiva for many years and now I have my chance. I think we all know "strungup" is a great guy. It was a pleasure trading with him!

Got it yesterday and promptly fired it up. Honestly, I was a bit disappointed. I don't require alot of distortion, but it had less than I expected. It also had this SUPER woofy and muddy low mid thing. The clean channel was also breaking up much earlier than I expected.

I opened up the amp and checked the bias. It's supposed to be around 33.9, but it was set at something like 55!?!?!?!?! It seems like the bias got off in shipping or something? Anyway, I set it properly, then headed out to band rehearsal. It sounded a million times better after the bias was set. The difference was unbelievable, actually. Much more distortion, clean channel stayed clean, low mid woofy mud was gone, etc...

The guys in the band loved it. It has a unique midrange voicing, which may take me a second to get used to. The jury is out on whether or not the tone will work for me, but I know one thing... The amp FEELS freaking killer!!! Stuff was just flowing out of my hotdog fingers last night. It was very enjoyable.

Just spent another 30 minutes or so with it today and yep, it sounds pretty cool. Nice amp for sure.

What does everyone else think about the Shiva?

This is a 2002 model that has the factory "adjustable boost mod" and possibly a factory mod to make the effects loop work without that goofy weird cable. I haven't confirmed the effects loop stuff yet, though.

Chris

Don't get rid of it until we have a SLAB!!!!!

 

[TX6Strings]

Grainy, dull and mushy... Great ways to describe the shiva when the master volume is too low. When it's cranked, VERY responsive though.

That amp is super, super sensative to volume level.

This is very true. I find the Shiva sounds best with both the MV and channel volume at least at noon.

 

[Copperhead]

Awesome!
If that Tele had a maple board it would have been gone!

 

[TX6Strings]

What kind of speakers are you running in that Marshall cab? It could be your prob. Everybody on TGP says V30s are the sweat speakers with the Shiva.

 

[amiller]

Congrats on the Shiva. I tend to agree with everyone about Bogners having a dominate low mid tone. I've got an XTC and my one complaint about it is the low mid tone is a bit much. The XTC if by far my favorite amp though...it would be nice if the low mid center was voiced a tad higher.

 

[ejecta]

Also, I'm a little bummed that the loop won't work with my pedals. I plan to gig without anything in the loop, so I guess I'm okay there. But that does bug me. Guess I should try the weird cables, sending the amp to Bogner for the mod, or using my Intellifex from now on.

This wont help you much but the newer Shiva's have two loop sends, one is for use with pedals and they also have some brite switches which I found helped it cut a touch more and get a bit moer classic. It also has the detachable power cable. If you dont really bond with this particular one you might want to at least try a newer one.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ShivaHDRV/

Sweetwater is carrying them now so maybe you get one from them to try it out and only lose shipping if you send it back and be able to compair the two heads.

Or try and find a used one after the revision.

 

[Shiny_Surface]

Congrats on the Shiva. I tend to agree with everyone about Bogners having a dominate low mid tone. I've got an XTC and my one complaint about it is the low mid tone is a bit much. The XTC if by far my favorite amp though...it would be nice if the low mid center was voiced a tad higher.

Oh yeah, there's no doubt about that! The Bogner "voice" to me is the thick low mids. The guys that don't like that would most likely call that "mud" and the guys that do dig it would call it "thick, woody tone." I hear the same thing in most Mesa/Boogie amps.

I'm kinda stuck in the middle. There is a point where it's too much for me. The Uberschall was that way. It was just too much for ME. In one sitting, the Shiva is that way too. In the next sitting, the Shiva sounds great. lol...

Here's what I want to happen... I want to absolutely love the Shiva and use it religiously for a while. That's the goal. I have no doubt this amp can sound awesome with a band. I remember watching those "Rockstar" shows (INXS and SuperNova) and thinking that guitar player dudes tone was just incredible EVERY NIGHT. He uses a Shiva. The other guitarist in my band (Jim - "hmj" on here) saw a local band where one of the guys used a Shiva and he said it was one of the best live tones he's heard.

I need to try rearranging my music room to where things sound good in it.

Also, I'm a little bummed that the loop won't work with my pedals. I plan to gig without anything in the loop, so I guess I'm okay there. But that does bug me. Guess I should try the weird cables, sending the amp to Bogner for the mod, or using my Intellifex from now on.

The Shiva should come alive at gig volumes, but you may not be as inspired by it when playing it at home that's for sure.

If you have the old style effects loop, you should still be able to use a typical dd pedal (I used a Boss RV-3) as long as you use the special send cable that you can get (or used to able to get) at most Bogner dealers.

If I can find mine I'll let you know and send it to you, I probably still have it sitting around somewhere.

 

[ejecta]

This wont help you much but the newer Shiva's have two loop sends, one is for use with pedals and they also have some brite switches which I found helped it cut a touch more and get a bit moer classic. It also has the detachable power cable. If you dont really bond with this particular one you might want to at least try a newer one.

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ShivaHDRV/

Sweetwater is carrying them now so maybe you get one from them to try it out and only lose shipping if you send it back and be able to compair the two heads.

Or try and find a used one after the revision.

Thanks! Yeah, I've read about the new versions. I'd have to be 100% sure this is a keeper before I sold it and tried to get a new one, though, and I'm nowhere near that point yet!

Also, I'd be happy to take the cheapest possible route to get my pedals to work in the loop. If making that cable actually works well, I could easily do that myself and it would satisfy me. Know what I mean?

Absolutely!