UberMetalDood
New member
I have been playing the hell out of the Shiva EL34, Shiva 20th Anniversary, Ecstasy 101b, Goldfinger 45, and Uberschall Twin Jet for the last couple of weeks. I took home the Shiva, and now have an Ecstasy on the way which I'm going to exchange for a Shiva 20th Anniversary. It was some bouncing around, but I wanted to make sure I got the amps that I really want to keep. I compared every aspect of them that I could and will tell you pretty much all you need to know about them.
First of all, I want to get this one out of the way because I was most disappointed with the Uberschall Twin Jet. I prefer the Uberschall rev blue over the Twin Jet. First of all, the clean channel is not really a clean channel. It sounds weak and sterile, and doesn't even sound remotely good until you get near full-blown gain. The 2nd channel sounded equally unimpressive. The only way it started to sound decent was when I cranked the volume loud enough to anger Guitar Center employees. I played it through a 4x12 with V30's which I used for every other amp. This is just my opinion and I'm not really trying to say that it's a sucky amp. I just didn't care for it at all.
The Goldfinger is an awesome amp. Even though it has a hint of harshness in the distortion, it's a really good kind of thing. First of all, there are a ton of tonal options on the Goldfinger and it all starts off with amazing, chimey cleans. It's very responsive. It has reverb which of course sounds awesome. There are also a couple of knobs, namely the 69 setting which yeilds a great sounding distortion. It doesn't get more distorted than the Shiva so you have to use pedals to do metal or shred. It's not exactly a metal amp, but I used a tube screamer to boost it and was able to get some pretty good classic tones for metal. There is a lot more than meets the eye because it has power scaling which also can be used to sculpt the sound. This amp is freaking awesome.
The Shiva just never gets old. The cleans are very Fender-like, but a bit darker. I like to leave the bright switch on both channels. The distortion is punchy but a bit hazy so it sounds smooth and beautiful with medium gain and very liquid in high gain. There is a bit of bounce or maybe stiffness in its attack, but sounds a bit bubbly in alternate picked solo lines. It took me a little experimenting to find the sweet spots for three kinds of tone - home, band practice, and really loud. It can stay clean very loud, but I have to run my clean volume kind of low when the master is high. Interestingly, it has a subtle effect when you either use the master high and the channel volume low or the master low and the channel volume high. It growls like a JCM800, but a bit smoother. You can run EL34 types or even KT88's which I'm very interested in doing. You CAN even use 6L6, but I was told that it would sound crappy. The Shiva has a prominent midrange and an active EQ that lets you dial a lot of it out if you want. I should also mention that the FX loop is OUTSTANDING.
Then we have the Ecstasy which is one tweaked out amp. LOTS of features and tricks. It's complicated not only by switches but how everything interacts. It reminds me of a Mark V. Despite the complexity, it's basically 3 sounds - Fender cleans, plexi crunch, and hotrodded Marshall overdrive. However, it takes all three up a notch. The clean channel is a little more compressed than the Shiva, but a little bit janglier. The clean channel kind of reminds me of a Vibrolux and I want to say that the Shiva cleans sound a little bigger, but I might even prefer the Ecstasy cleans a little bit. The Ecstasy has a blue channel (plexi) that sounds very open and does all kinds of great sounds. It has one of the nicest blues tones I have heard. It doesn't get very gainy but loves overdrives and boosts. The red channel is where it's at for soloing. It falls just short of liquid saturation, at least not until it's cranked, but has plenty of gain for those who have decent technique.
It's more compressed than the blue channel but has a lot of harmonic complexity. Like the Shiva, it's a very unforgiving amp. However, it MAKES you want to play with less distortion. The red channel sounds to me like the Shiva gain channel with the boost engaged and a tube screamer. Using my Maxon OD820, my Shiva sounds very much like the Ecstasy red channel.
There is a great deal more about the Ecstasy, but I don't have time to talk about it here. It's super expensive, but I personally think they raised the bar high with the Ecstasy. It's an incredible sounding amp in every aspect.
Then last but not least is the Shiva 20th Anniversary. It sounds so, so good that it makes you wonder if it's somehow helping your playing. It's actually very hard to make it sound bad. It's not nearly as unforgiving as the Shiva or Ecstasy. Everything sounds so clear even when you've got it boosted on maximum, modern overdrive. You can really appreciate the KT88 qualities.
In a way, it's more versatile than the Shiva because it has an additional mode ("modern") and a lot more gain. However, it has that kind of sound which you can get used to very fast. The Shiva, in a way, kind of has a subtle versatility because you can use pedals and get a lot of sounds from it. You can't get away with that on the 20th Anniversary because it still sounds like a 20th anniversary with pretty much any kind of overdrive. It's very clear and bell-like. In plexi mode, it can sound a lot like a Marshall Vintage Modern, but better. Like I said, with the exception of the Twin Jet, Bogner raises the bar big time. It has the kind of tone that can haunt your dreams. I want one so bad it actually hurts.
First of all, I want to get this one out of the way because I was most disappointed with the Uberschall Twin Jet. I prefer the Uberschall rev blue over the Twin Jet. First of all, the clean channel is not really a clean channel. It sounds weak and sterile, and doesn't even sound remotely good until you get near full-blown gain. The 2nd channel sounded equally unimpressive. The only way it started to sound decent was when I cranked the volume loud enough to anger Guitar Center employees. I played it through a 4x12 with V30's which I used for every other amp. This is just my opinion and I'm not really trying to say that it's a sucky amp. I just didn't care for it at all.
The Goldfinger is an awesome amp. Even though it has a hint of harshness in the distortion, it's a really good kind of thing. First of all, there are a ton of tonal options on the Goldfinger and it all starts off with amazing, chimey cleans. It's very responsive. It has reverb which of course sounds awesome. There are also a couple of knobs, namely the 69 setting which yeilds a great sounding distortion. It doesn't get more distorted than the Shiva so you have to use pedals to do metal or shred. It's not exactly a metal amp, but I used a tube screamer to boost it and was able to get some pretty good classic tones for metal. There is a lot more than meets the eye because it has power scaling which also can be used to sculpt the sound. This amp is freaking awesome.
The Shiva just never gets old. The cleans are very Fender-like, but a bit darker. I like to leave the bright switch on both channels. The distortion is punchy but a bit hazy so it sounds smooth and beautiful with medium gain and very liquid in high gain. There is a bit of bounce or maybe stiffness in its attack, but sounds a bit bubbly in alternate picked solo lines. It took me a little experimenting to find the sweet spots for three kinds of tone - home, band practice, and really loud. It can stay clean very loud, but I have to run my clean volume kind of low when the master is high. Interestingly, it has a subtle effect when you either use the master high and the channel volume low or the master low and the channel volume high. It growls like a JCM800, but a bit smoother. You can run EL34 types or even KT88's which I'm very interested in doing. You CAN even use 6L6, but I was told that it would sound crappy. The Shiva has a prominent midrange and an active EQ that lets you dial a lot of it out if you want. I should also mention that the FX loop is OUTSTANDING.
Then we have the Ecstasy which is one tweaked out amp. LOTS of features and tricks. It's complicated not only by switches but how everything interacts. It reminds me of a Mark V. Despite the complexity, it's basically 3 sounds - Fender cleans, plexi crunch, and hotrodded Marshall overdrive. However, it takes all three up a notch. The clean channel is a little more compressed than the Shiva, but a little bit janglier. The clean channel kind of reminds me of a Vibrolux and I want to say that the Shiva cleans sound a little bigger, but I might even prefer the Ecstasy cleans a little bit. The Ecstasy has a blue channel (plexi) that sounds very open and does all kinds of great sounds. It has one of the nicest blues tones I have heard. It doesn't get very gainy but loves overdrives and boosts. The red channel is where it's at for soloing. It falls just short of liquid saturation, at least not until it's cranked, but has plenty of gain for those who have decent technique.
It's more compressed than the blue channel but has a lot of harmonic complexity. Like the Shiva, it's a very unforgiving amp. However, it MAKES you want to play with less distortion. The red channel sounds to me like the Shiva gain channel with the boost engaged and a tube screamer. Using my Maxon OD820, my Shiva sounds very much like the Ecstasy red channel.
There is a great deal more about the Ecstasy, but I don't have time to talk about it here. It's super expensive, but I personally think they raised the bar high with the Ecstasy. It's an incredible sounding amp in every aspect.
Then last but not least is the Shiva 20th Anniversary. It sounds so, so good that it makes you wonder if it's somehow helping your playing. It's actually very hard to make it sound bad. It's not nearly as unforgiving as the Shiva or Ecstasy. Everything sounds so clear even when you've got it boosted on maximum, modern overdrive. You can really appreciate the KT88 qualities.
In a way, it's more versatile than the Shiva because it has an additional mode ("modern") and a lot more gain. However, it has that kind of sound which you can get used to very fast. The Shiva, in a way, kind of has a subtle versatility because you can use pedals and get a lot of sounds from it. You can't get away with that on the 20th Anniversary because it still sounds like a 20th anniversary with pretty much any kind of overdrive. It's very clear and bell-like. In plexi mode, it can sound a lot like a Marshall Vintage Modern, but better. Like I said, with the exception of the Twin Jet, Bogner raises the bar big time. It has the kind of tone that can haunt your dreams. I want one so bad it actually hurts.
pcorn:
