20th Anniversary Shiva 90-watt Tube Head - No Reverb Review

Underrated Bogner amp

Maybe it's because the Shiva has been part of Bogner's line up for so long, maybe the KT88's put some people off. For whatever reason, the 20th Anniversary Shiva doesn't seem to get the love like some of their other amps, like the Ecstasy or Helios models. The 20th Shiva is super versatile, much easier to dial in than the Ecstasy, and just sounds great no matter what guitar I plug… read more into it. The clean channel is outstanding - big & bold, with some nice sparkle. The gain channel has two modes (classic/modern). When I ordered mine, I asked Bogner to map the "mode" switch to the reverb button on the footswitch, in effect making this a 3-channel amp. The boost adds a preset amount of gain & has its own volume, so you can use it as just a slight gain boost, or as a full on lead boost to bump your volume as well. The Shiva 20th does medium & high gain equally well, with great clarity. If you haven't tried the 20th Shiva, you're missing out!

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20th Shiva is a beast

What a special beast this amplifier is! The gain channel has that distinctive Bogner sound- thick, chewy, alive, and responsive with a lot of bite. It has the most distinctive tone that I think I've ever played out of any amp, but sounding "different" doesn't mean a thing if it doesn't sound great and indeed it does sound so wonderfully fantastic. It will growl, spit, and punch… read more all while throwing out swirling harmonics that leave your jaw on the floor. Very addictive. The clean channel is beautiful and takes pedals better than many other single channel clean amps. Between the two channels, boosts for each channel, modern mode, bright switches, and shift mode, the possibilities are endless. You can do the pristine clean thing on channel one, click on an OD or hit the boost for bluesy breakup, hit channel two for classic rock, go into modern mode for modern hard rock (AIC anyone?), and hit the CH2 boost for your searing solos. Insane.

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This amp is awesome

Great amp. Lots of headroom but sounds full at lower volumes too. Clean, crisp, & shimmery on the clean channel a great distortion on the gain channel. It has minimal bells and whistles which is something I was really look for. Solid build I can't say enough good things about this amp

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Excellent Amp! Believe the hype!

When I look for a 2 channel amp I have 5 criteria's that must be met, clean sound, pedal platform, dirty sound, good loop, and master volume. This beast covers all of them beautifully! This beast sounds great at all volumes, better at gigging volumes, and can peal the paint if you would like it to, Clean sound - Amazing! Unbelievable head room. Just beautiful. Can add the boost… read more feature to add some grit. The boost puts you into JTM45 teritory. It really is a great channel. Without the boost you can get ear splitting volume while staying clean! Pedal platform - The clean channel takes overdrives exceptionally well. I have played many shows with just the clean channel and pedals!. The clean channel loves modulating pedals like chorus/phase/flange too! Anything from clean boost through distortion. Dirty sound - Bogner has it's own thing going on here. Don't expect a Triple Rec or JCM800 out of the box. Having said that, it's own thing happens to be a very, very good thing! Very thick sounding. You have a 3 band eq with presence and excursion (resonance) on the back, boost, mid scoop, and mode switch. The excursion has tons of low end. The mid shift scoops out the the mids as advertised. The mode boosts the mid-range adding quite a bit of gain. Very thick. It is also compressed quite a bit (can be a pro or con depending on your needs). The boost adds gain, but in a less compressed way. Maxing it out will compress it but in the middle is some great uncompressed gain tones. It is controlled with a separate volume so you could use it that way or set it at unity to just boost gain. Both work great. You can get old plexi type tones, bump up the presence and get old 200w Major type tones, or lots of gain gets you in modern territory. Lots of great sounding possibilities. And the gain channel loves TS pedals to goose the front end! FX loop - Just great. I keep my delay, lead boost pedal, and harmony pedal here. Love it. Best loop I've heard. Master volume - Just great. Wish all MV's worked like this. Bottom line is this is a great amp. Can cover many styles. Having gigged with it for 8 months, I couldn't be happier. Individual pedals keep their tones and each guitar (strat/tele/LP) shine through as well displaying their own character! I'm partial to green back 4x12 cabs but I did hear it through a Bogner 2x12 oversided which was amazing as well.

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If you could only have one amp on a deserted island....

Having collected a multitude of different amps over the years (Bad Cat, MB, 65 Amps, Orange, Bogner, etc), this version of the Shiva is the end point for me. The versatility is astounding. Channel 1 goes from Fender clean to Plexi bark with boost engaged. Clean headroom is enormous (and btw it takes OD pedals incredibly well). Channel 2 runs the gamut with the different… read more modes from classic Shiva Marshall-esque crunch to raging over-the-top gain. The voicing in all modes is just nailed right. Agree with the earlier feedback that although this can be a loud amp, the excursion control adds depth while playing at lower volumes. It just sounds good quiet and it sounds good loud. If you're like me and are tone-restless with amps, this will probably be your last stop. It's just that good.

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