Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Heh, there is a reason I've been pimping it for as many years as I have. Glad to hear you dig it as much as I do

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Heh, there is a reason I've been pimping it for as many years as I have. Glad to hear you dig it as much as I do

I wouldnt get one of those in Chile. I remember Man-in-Moon selling his cause it was impossible to upkeep even in No. Alabama, USA, IIRC.

 

[Diego]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

I was surprised at how good it sounded at low volumes too.
I've been toying all day with my gear trying to get anything that even resembles what I got from the Bogner.

I would have had more success by smashing my head into a wall.
I've even been considering just selling all my gear minus two guitars and seeing if I can raise something...
I won't stand still on this one, fellas.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

The first time I heard Bogner amps was in 1996, when I went to the original location in North Hollywood, Make'n'Music. Bogner's shop was in the back of it.

I was using good Marshalls and Fenders, then walked in and talked to a good salesman who claimed the Bogners kill every other amp. I took the bait, and plugged into an XTC, and it was like the world of tone I always imagined could be possible, but nobody pulled it off yet. That amp experience haunted me from 96-2001, when I sold off some amps and had the money to start looking.

I stumbled upon a Craigslist ad, where there was a mint 95 fully loaded white chassis XTC. The seller said he'd owned 4 XTC's at one point, and held off selling his best sounding one. I somehow talked him down to $2175, and snagged it. Later, I grabbed a used 412 and 212 cab.

10 years later, I've used it as my main amp in 3 bands, and I know it forward and backward. The early white chassis 101B's had all the features like 2 knob mixable FX loop, Class A, DI out, attenuator loop, 1/2 power, and the ability to assign each channel to a different cab. That means I can send the clean channel to an open back Fender type cab, and the blue and red channels to a 412.

It's quite simply the best amp I've ever owned or tried out.

As for finding these expensive amps in a situation of living in foreign countries, it would be best to wire the money to a forum friend who can score one as cheap as possible. Then, use a shipping company that goes by boat to Chile for around $75 shipped (I do this all the time). Fedex and UPS are WAY too expensive for heavy shipments.

 

[Diego]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

As for finding these expensive amps in a situation of living in foreign countries, it would be best to wire the money to a forum friend who can score one as cheap as possible. Then, use a shipping company that goes by boat to Chile for around $75 shipped (I do this all the time). Fedex and UPS are WAY too expensive for heavy shipments.

Yup. The only reasonable way man.

You wanna read something funny? Last night I dreamed that I sold all my stuff and I bought a Les Paul and a Shiva... with JOLLY as the intermediate man.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

10 years later, I've used it as my main amp in 3 bands, and I know it forward and backward. The early white chassis 101B's had all the features like 2 knob mixable FX loop, Class A, DI out, attenuator loop, 1/2 power, and the ability to assign each channel to a different cab. That means I can send the clean channel to an open back Fender type cab, and the blue and red channels to a 412.

It's quite simply the best amp I've ever owned or tried out.

Friggin hell dood... that would be awesome! The green channel on my Classic really likes my V30-loaded OS2X12 and the blue/red channels really like my G12-30-loaded Ubercab. Damn... that woud be awesome if I could run it like that. Would be nice if I could get the guys at Bogner to mod my XTC to do that.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

I won't stand still on this one, fellas.

Excellent! Once you go Bogner, you'll never go back!

 

[Nightburst]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Bogner is an amazing brand. Their amps always manage to sound better than others. In the band mix, on low volumes at home or in the studio.
If you put the right tubes in and bias properly the tone becomes addicting and you will be inspired to play all day or night long. Highly addicting! Thats why there's so much buzz over the amps and thats also why the price is up there.

I got lucky and scored a '94 white chassis xtc a couple of years ago and I'm lovin it. It has so many options it's crazy. Low to high gain, bright to bassy, tight or loose, even a plexi mode! I can scale it down from 120W to 60 to 30 or 5W. Very flexible amp, there's the entire history of Marshall to dial in by a tweak of the knobs.
And I also got the cabinet assigning. My dream rig would be to add another 2x12 with alnico speakers for the clean channel which sounds amazing already.
The buzz on the net is that the 6L6 Shiva cleans are even better! It must be heavenly because the ecstasy's clean channel is a direct copy (with a few tweaks of course) from a well known fender circuit.

I'm thinking that you would be very happy with a shiva Diego, you'll probably never buy another amp again. Better start saving up .

 

[Bludave]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

I love my Shiva.... The only thing I would have done differently is I would have bought a Head & cab. I have a 80W EL 34 with Reverb. It is truly a great sounding amp. Sometimes it lacks just a bit because it's not moving as much air as my other amp does.

 

[Diego]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

I love my Shiva.... The only thing I would have done differently is I would have bought a Head & cab. I have a 80W EL 34 with Reverb. It is truly a great sounding amp. Sometimes it lacks just a bit because it's not moving as much air as my other amp does.

Wait, no extra cab output on the combo Shiva?

That would be a bad one. I'd consider a Head & Cab too if that's it.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

With the weight of the combo being as heavy as it is (Bogner's cabs are the good stuff), you're better off with a head.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Wait, no extra cab output on the combo Shiva?

That would be a bad one. I'd consider a Head & Cab too if that's it.

No, my 2x12 combo has 3 outputs (1 8ohm & 2 4ohm). You can run an additional cab if you want. But yes, Bogner's stuff is extremely heavy. It's worth its weight in gold though.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Don't wanna be the sourpuss, but theres always the reliability issues of a Bogner High octane machine that surface with disturbing regularity here and there on the web.

 

[speed2dirt]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Don't wanna be the sourpuss, but theres always the reliability issues of a Bogner High octane machine that surface with disturbing regularity here and there on the web.

No issues with mine and it's one of the older ones with the symbol serial number of the mid-90's, I believe. I haven't seen any reliability issues with the Shiva's listed here on the SD forums.

 

[That90'sGuy]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Don't wanna be the sourpuss, but theres always the reliability issues of a Bogner High octane machine that surface with disturbing regularity here and there on the web.

Where are these reliability issues you speak of? Bogners are f'n TANKS. They're built well with thick PCB boards and they run very well off of plain old Chinese tubes. I've had less problems with my Shiva than any number of other amps I've owned in over 10 years. If you want shaky Q.C. from an expensive amplifier, buy a Bad Cat... not a Bogner.

 

[MetalManiac]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Where are these reliability issues you speak of? Bogners are f'n TANKS. They're built well with thick PCB boards and they run very well off of plain old Chinese tubes. I've had less problems with my Shiva than any number of other amps I've owned in over 10 years. If you want shaky Q.C. from an expensive amplifier, buy a Bad Cat... not a Bogner.

I guess I just went fishing for bad reports and found a few. A couple here, and a couple there on The Marshall AMp forum. It wasnt a scientific study. Thanks for your input on this.Thats encouraging news. I want to like Bogner, but liike I said, I've heard they are very esoteric/complex and thus tempermental...kind of like an exotic overengineered German or Italian Sports car.

edit- i did find a report by Myles who has been here and has great knowledge of tubes and amps, and he thinks the Bogner is a fine reliable amp. I aint gonna argue with that. He debunked one of the issues with Bogner, or some bogners, that I remember reading about- a heat issue. In a nutshell, if i read his comments accurately, Bogner isnt a "mil Spec" amp, but its right up there close and Myles does not hesitate to say its a reliable amp that will last beyond our lifetimes, and again, if I read correctly, he rates it above amps like Soldano and Mesa in terms of build quality/reliability.

 

[Red_Label]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

I guess I just went fishing for bad reports and found a few. A couple here, and a couple there on The Marshall AMp forum. It wasnt a scientific study. Thanks for your input on this.Thats encouraging news. I want to like Bogner, but liike I said, I've heard they are very esoteric/complex and thus tempermental...kind of like an exotic overengineered German or Italian Sports car.

edit- i did find a report by Myles who has been here and has great knowledge of tubes and amps, and he thinks the Bogner is a fine reliable amp. I aint gonna argue with that. He debunked one of the issues with Bogner, or some bogners, that I remember reading about- a heat issue. In a nutshell, if i read his comments accurately, Bogner isnt a "mil Spec" amp, but its right up there close and Myles does not hesitate to say its a reliable amp that will last beyond our lifetimes, and again, if I read correctly, he rates it above amps like Soldano and Mesa in terms of build quality/reliability.

I've had two Bogners, my friend has had three, and his friend had a Shiva. That Shiva did have an issue this year and had to be sent to Bogner to be fixed. But no other Bogner in my area that I've ever heard of has had to be sent-in. I will say that the Shiva is a very hot-running amp, and that's because of its design. I'm not the biggest fan of "upside-down" amp chasis in a head. I want my heat-producing tubes sitting on top, especially in an amp that's running so hard (VERY high plate voltages in the Shiva). So I always ran a fan on the Shiva I had. The XTC is a normal head layout and seems to run a lot cooler. I usually run a fan on it too, but I've had several three hour playing sessions without running a fan on there and it was fine and didn't scare me like running a Shiva without a fan for three hours would.

As far as something branded with the Bogner name that may not be known as the most-reliable amps, I've seen plenty of funky over-heating stories where the Alchemist line of amps got hot and wouldn't switch right, loses volume, changes tone, etc. But I'm sure there are plenty of those amps that run just fine. I'd just be more wary about them.

 

[NT02]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

Love my Shiva, newer EL34 nr into a 2x12 with V30s. Just bought a 78 JMP 2204 that has that sound, thinking it would knock the Shiva out, but I was wrong. After much a/bing and recording, the Shiva holds up well. It's not the perfect Marshall tone, but what it does is special and more my thing. And the clean channel is awesome, best ever for me, and I have a 67 Fender Dual Showman to compare. The effects loop and adjustable boost on the dirt channel make this a versatile amp that can cover country to hard rock, and some metal with a pedal out front.

 

[papersoul]

Re: Tried a Bogner Shiva for the first time... (CC: Red_Label)

If you can, try the new 20th Shiva! Even better, find one with EL34s. I have the 20th with EL34s and it is the best amp I have owned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!