So I ordered a brand new Shiva last night.................

[troublehead]

Earlier this week, I ordered a Hughes and Kettner Statesman Dual EL34. Turns out, the web info. was wrong and they are not available for a long time.........so I cancelled it. After a bit of debate, I ordered a new EL34 Shiva head with variable boost and reverb

I have always been intrigued by the Shiva and I love every clip I have heard. However, when I start reading the reviews, I get really confused. Some claim it is the mother of all hot rodded Marshalls/Plexis and others claim it is has the gain of a Fender. For example, here are a few of the actual conflicting words I have heard to describe the Shiva:

Thick and dark.................Bright, thin and brittle
Smooth gain..............gritty and grainy gain
Liquidy................................Stiff
Has gain to spare..................much less gain than a JCM800
Loves pedals........................hates pedals
Great Master.......................Needs to be cranked

I guess I will find out next week, but I don't know what to expect. Either there is alot of variation between individual amps or people just have different ears. But from every clip and video that I have seen, the Shiva has more than enough gain for me. I'm going through a bit of change and have been playing with alot less gain and also using my single coil strat most of the time. However, I want the amp to get heavy when I want it to. Not Engl or Diezel heavy, but something along the lines of COC or Down influenced stuff.

The good thing is that I have 30 days to feel the amp out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed

 

[messenger]

I've never played one but everything I've heard fits the first column of your descriptions, not the second.

 

[yngzaklynch]

Great rock amp with a nice clean channel. One of the best rock tones out there.

 

[strungup]

I've never played one but everything I've heard fits the first column of your descriptions, not the second.

I have one and agree with the first column except gain to spare.... It has plenty of gain for me but I can see guys wanting more. I don't hear the second column with my ears at all and I have had an older shiva and a new shiva.

 

[daveg62]

I've never played one but everything I've heard fits the first column of your descriptions, not the second.

I have one and agree with the first column except gain to spare.... It has plenty of gain for me but I can see guys wanting more. I don't hear the second column with my ears at all and I have had an older shiva and a new shiva.

Same here. I have the newer EL34 head. Where it lacks in gain it makes up for in tone, you will love it. I'm finding I like it with my BB preamp in front just to add that little bit of edge to it. I keep the gain on the amp at 3/4 and the gain on the BB very low. Wonderful clean channel.

 

[strungup]

I've never played one but everything I've heard fits the first column of your descriptions, not the second.

I have one and agree with the first column except gain to spare.... It has plenty of gain for me but I can see guys wanting more. I don't hear the second column with my ears at all and I have had an older shiva and a new shiva.

Same here. I have the newer EL34 head. Where it lacks in gain it makes up for in tone, you will love it. I'm finding I like it with my BB preamp in front just to add that little bit of edge to it. I keep the gain on the amp at 3/4 and the gain on the BB very low. Wonderful clean channel.

Ya it loves xotic pedals I use the BB preamp, RC boster , or the boost from the amp.... Three different flavors to spice it up a bit ........

 

['63-Strat]

The Shiva is a great amp, and its different enough from the XTC that I'd love to have one. Bogners don't work for everyone though, so I get where Chris is coming from. There's definitely a Marshall thing in there but it is its own thing.

 

[sebby123]

Ive heard many people say Bogners are very dark but cut through the mix well, never have played one so i could be wrong.
Last weekend i played a show here in san diego and the band befoe was using bogner shivas amazing sound wasnt to dark and cut through the mix very well so i guess i see the mixed reviews.

 

[Hacksaw]

I can see people saying both about this amp. The shiva was probably the best amp I have had for responding to preamp tubes and power tube changes. I got mine brittle by changing a few pre tubes, I put a jj pre tube in and it smoothed up really nicely.

One of the best classic rock amps I have had. people would actualy sit in front of the amp listening, I used v30's and it was really nice.

 

[billm408]

Love my 6L6 head and definitely side with your column on the left.
I do find the amp to be a bit dark, but not in a bad way. All Bogners have a low mid voicing. The cleans are deep, rich and complex although if you want a little break up, you'll need to throw a clean boost or dirt box on them. There's tons of headroom and you'll go deaf before you get much natural break up.

The gain channel is similar to the jcm800, but with more low end punch. Cuts through great and the adjustable boost for leads is great (wish the XTC had this feature).

The only thing I'll say is that the Shiva shines best at gig levels. The gain channel can be a bit fizzy at bedroom volume. Oh yeah... the amp loves pedals!!

Great amp- good luck.

 

[troublehead]

Thanks for all the comments. Hearing these things give me hope

 

[Strat+Marshall]

Thick and dark.................Bright, thin and brittle
Smooth gain..............gritty and grainy gain
Liquidy................................Stiff
Has gain to spare..................much less gain than a JCM800
Loves pedals........................hates pedals
Great Master.......................Needs to be cranked

It also has way more gain than any stock single channel JCM800, so the comment about it having less gain isn't right at all. I'm guessing someone that doesn't really know how a JCM800 sounds made that comment. Then again, they may have been referring to a dual channel JCM800? I have no experience with those.

2 Channel 800s can get pretty saturated. I could see someone saying they have more gain than a shiva.

 

[AmpliFIRE]

do you still have the Fargen?

 

[gibson5413]

I have tried the Shiva and liked it. Rafael Moreira from the Rockstar Supernova house band used the Shiva and it sounded great. Kind of a dumb show but Rafael is a great guitar player with really good tone:

 

[FourT6and2]

I have tried the Shiva and liked it. Rafael Moreira from the Rockstar Supernova house band used the Shiva and it sounded great. Kind of a dumb show but Rafael is a great guitar player with really good tone:

While I see a Bogner cabinet there, I don't see a Shiva. I do, however, see either Matchless or Bad Cat's.

I've never owned a Shiva, but I've played them many times. One of my favorite clean tones, ever, out of the EL34/Reverb version, besides a Vox AC30. The gain channel won't get into modern, high-gain tones. But, it does get heavy enough for most rock, modern rock, alternative, classic heavy metal, and etc.

As someone else said, while the amp is indeed dark, mellow, and thick (like most Bogners), it can get a bit harsh if the treble/presence is turned up high enough. EQ the amp right, and it will sound fantastic.

If you can, go find a dealer in your area and play one...or maybe a forum member in your area owns one you could try.

 

[TX6Strings]

I'm with Chris on this one...depending upon how you dial the Shiva in, it can fall into column 1 or 2.

I had the newer model for three months and for me what the amp lacks the most is bottom end. It can do rock, but nothing more modern than 70’s stuff. You have to crank both the MV and CV well past noon for it to start sounding good and at that point the volume is useless for gigs or band practice.

When you talk about pedals with the Shiva you have to be careful in what you say. The clean channel will take pedals well but if you’re trying to boost the dirty channel into something more modern all you’ll do is compress it more and it’ll fuzz out. That said I never got to try any of the exotics with it

It can sound a bit like a plexi but then again you’ve got to crank the snot out of it like a plexi.

The problem with going off of those adjectives is that they very from person to person. It really is an amp you’ll either love or just won’t jive with.

 

[strungup]

It really is an amp you’ll either love or just won’t jive with.

For what I read for reviews on the shiva plus owning two of them I think this sums it up very well

 

[daveg62]

Well I only have the BB preamp exotic pedal but I think you guys are probably right about pushing channel 2 on the amp. I can pretty much set the gain at noon on the BB when I use it with my Mesa Mark III but with the Shiva it would sound like crap set that way. I have to cut the gain way back to almost off with the Shiva, but it does just give me enough xtra gain on the Shiva to make it sound good, better than without it to my ears. Kind of takes some of the darkness out of the amp and gives it a brighter gain that I like. Also sounds good on the clean channel.

 

[troublehead]

I had the newer model for three months and for me what the amp lacks the most is bottom end. It can do rock, but nothing more modern than 70’s stuff. You have to crank both the MV and CV well past noon for it to start sounding good and at that point the volume is useless for gigs or band practice.

If this is the case, then how do you explain this clip ? Not being an ass or doubting you.......but I'm just confused Especially 5:00 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv6HfKmwZRQ

 

[Hacksaw]

While I see a Bogner cabinet there, I don't see a Shiva. I do, however, see either Matchless or Bad Cat's.

I can confirm, Rafeal did use Shiva's. He pushed the amps with outboard gear on the show. The Shiva's where used for leads. The amps were auctioned on ebay after the contest was completed. The amps were leased from Bogner if I remember right.