Bogner Shiva 210 Combo

WOW Great amp! but WHY in the world would they make a EFX loop for one channel and not both, also takes 3 cables to run the loop, next the boost is OK no real DB gain also the boost cuts out the mids. The Reverb is great

The best part is the tone pure and sweet both channels! I play PRS Custom 24, PRS McCarty, Fender Deluxe Tele, 54 Gibson Les Paul Custom, Ibanez Jem, Gretsch White Falcon, Gretsch Duo Jet etc... I know GREAT gear and have played alot of high end stuff. I put in the same tone as a Marshall Plexi and Soldano HR100. The 2x10 BIG lowend very warn sound 25 watt way to weak should be 40 watts EL84's hot warn tone that is the best I can say!!!

No Problems

NO need

I would NOT buy one again if broken or lost maybe the 2x12 Shiva

Bought this amp in 2001 in Chicago. Allways wanted a Boogie but when I got to the store the Boogie was too hard to figure out. I had a couple grand to spend so the salesman told me to play the Bogner. I bought it knid of reluctantly. It is my living room amp that I played along with DVDs. I played my 1969 Marshall 50W Plexi through 4 x 12 slant Marshall cab in the basement when I wanted to rock.

Recently I started messing with the Bogner. OMG! I am a plug and play guy. This is my first combo in 38 years of guitar playing. This amp makes all tones and is VERY simple. All the features a rea; player needs!

I play Santana, Duane Allman, Jeff Beck, Clapton, Led Zep. I love the harmonic distortion, great clean sound (better than a Twin) clean chords, meaty fat blues, Great sustain, great for slide.

It sits in my living room. Not had to change tubes in 5 years. Allways starts up.

One time after 5 years I Called to ask about extension cabnets> very helpful.

Play a 63 Strat, a REAL 59 Les Paul, a Santana 1. In fact the last one made. They all sound good through the Shiva. Did I say great sustain? Wow!

I choose it primarily because it is a plug and play, simple to find the tones, sounds like a tube amp should. I real player's amp.

If it were stolen, I would get a Shiva head and a 2 twelve closed bottom.

This is a Bogner Shiva EL34 version @ 80w power 2x10" (one celestion vintage and one modern). The amp is very versatile from clean to distortion built in California 2001. My style range from Classical Jazz Rock, Progressive Fusion Pop. Active Efx-loop tube buffered, reverb, gold foot switch, Fan speed control, closed back & ported.
Cleanly hand built.

My main guitar is a Fender Strat w/Seymour Duncan pick ups (Demon=bridge/'59=neck), I can get sounds from SRV to EVH, Lynch and most of the '70s to '80s and some of the '90s rockers etc. I feel it's more of a Medium/high gain a little on the dark side. Great sound though! very wide tone in performance and loud! 80w from two EL34 power tubes (high plate voltage) good reverb although I like my T.C.Electronic reverb a lot more! The Clean is great! kind of fender like, more of a Bogner Clean than Fender. The Distortion can very, if I turn on my Ibanez TS-9/808 in the clean channel I can get a great SRV tone with just a touch of distort. If I push the Clean Channel I can get a close AC/DC to Who and others from the '70s kind of plexi like. If I change to the Distortion side with the boost off, its kind of a mid-heavy Dist-tone very useful for the fusion types like Di Meola, with the boost off and the Tube Screamer on and single coils a great Yngwie Clean-Distort just an edge with clean gain. The Distortion Channel with the boost "on" and TS-9, makes the tone "Fatter" and more aggressive! If I want more of the EVH, Lynch, Vai, Satch tone, "very singing like" or "Vocal-like" this is my favorite set-up for Solos! If your a good player and know how to pull great tone from your guitar this is GREAT-AMP for you! If you relay on high gain to help push your notes rather than articulate, your flaws will come out!

Bogner has a good reputation for taking care of customers, there products are great, but anything can happen with any amplifier, I've left it on for days in the studio and it has never let me down for hunderds of sessions! Live is just the same as in the studio, "Reliability"! (I can gig with just the Shiva).

Bogner is very people friendly! There very busy just give them a chance. I've found Mark to be a great source for technical talk!
If you can't get a hold of Mr. Bogner.

I've own many amps, most of them from great companies, Soldano SLO's for almost 12yrs great amps but not nearly as "Organic"-"Woodlike" from your instrument, very aggressive and that's where it's heart is with "Hi-Fi cleans". Bogner XTC-Classic, it started as a 101b then up graded? The 101b had better clean ch. After the mod the Blue ch. so-so better! RED ch. more in your face but not as aggressive as the SLO(maybe because of the carbon comp resistors in my SLO's, special modification from Soldano)my Bogner Shiva covers both areas better for me. The Clean is so much better than my SLO's and my XTC-C! The Distortion is more "Raw" sounding giving more of a "Modified Marshall" tone which I like rather than the XTC-C refined smooth tone, but not a great tone. Overall a great amp!

EL34 Model with two 10" speakers. 2-channels with individual tone, gain and reverb controls. Master volume. Footswitch with channel, reverb and boost on hi-gain channel. Fan-cooled chassis. Effects loop (requires special cable).

In the opinion on many, the best 2-channel switching amp made. Great clean, great crunch. Quiet operation, mine is the newer model with a 2-speed fan that can be switched off for recording silence. The closed-back cab helps in keeping the sound going in one direction in a p.a. situation. The sounds are inspirational. The gain channel is so smooth, and can be set up for a very clean overdrive to a very high, but not over the top gain setting.

Listen to both the EL-34 and the 6L6 version if you can, they each have a different character. I like both, in a perfect world, I would choose the clean 6L6 and the gain EL-34, but both are wonderful in their own way.

The amp also sounds good at both low and high volume levels. Every amp has a sweet spot, but the Shiva loses less tone than most at low volume levels.

It responds well to either single coil or humbuckers. I use a PRS with coil taps (Vintage Jazz and HFS) and each setting is usable.

Not owned long enough to rate, but seemes very solidly built. Has very robust circuit board instead of point-to-point wiring. That can be good or bad depending on your point of view. I feel it will hold up for a reasonably long time, longer than I will probably play.

A minor issue when I brought it home was a little chassis buzzing. I opened up the speaker cab and tightened all the speaker mounts and it went away.

One quick call was returned the next day.

I've been playing for nearly 30 years. I haven't had a whole lot of amps, but did a lot of comparison shopping for this one. I replaced a small Rivera amp with this, the Rivera being a very versatile good sounding amp. I feel this may be the last amp I'll ever need. It is versatile, very musical and just inspiring to play through. It is a bit heavy at about 80 lbs., but that is the only drawback. I love it.

After careful side by side testing, the Shiva, IMHO "does" seem to shine with "single-coils". I have tested many LP's & PRS's (all solid bodies) & most people agree that the Shiva really sparkles with that killer old Fender. One point which may be a downside to sloppy players is that the amp "will" emphasize your errors. No cheesy Boogie crunch to hide behind here. Oh yeah, & if you just can't wait to try your "Boss MT-2 Metal Zone" in a Shiva (god forbid) don't even bother. The crunch channel does not seem to take kindly to effects, which makes me happy, some may not like this. However, "analog" choruses & delays sound ridiculously perfect on the clean channel. Truly a guitar "players" amplifier !!

(see prior review for further gloating)

I called them to dig about how many 2X10's were made before mine & I felt like I was talking to a old guitar playing buddy. Absolutley unequalled in this deparment !!

I wanted to write this follow up after having the Shiva for about a year & giving it a good road test. It has performed "flawlessly" in every situation & it just gets better every time I turn it on. I have
accidentally left it on for days at my studio !! I walked in & plugged in my Nocaster..not even the slightest hint of any problem. The amp is "dead" quiet even with vintage single coils !! It has been used approximatley 3-5 nights a week in all different situations & the Shiva has always been more then ready to go. It is hard to imagine that this amp could get any better, but it just continues to grow & sound even more amazing as time goes bye. I'll write another update
when I have to replace a tube. I am sure it will be sometime in the next 5 years or so...LOL...

This is a super rare Bogner Shiva 2x10 closed back combo
with reverb & 6L6's delivering 65 watts to two 10 inch
staggered Celestions. Purchased from Alpha Audio Works in Connecticut. (Andy is the man!!)

The front panel left to right: input jack, channel one controls (volume 1, bass, treble), channel 2 controls (gain 2, bass, middle, treble, channel 2 indicator LED, volume 2), master controls (volume, presence), green jewel light, single three position switch (off-standby-play).

The back panel left to right: power cord (permanently attached), main fuse, fan speed switch (high/low), two FX loop jacks (send, return), HT fuse, three speaker jacks (16, 8, 8 ohms), two reverb level controls (channel 1, channel 2), two boost amp jacks (in, out), two foot switch jacks (reverb, channel select/boost on-off). Each pair of jacks for boost, FX loop and foot switch are vertically arranged.

The included foot switch has three switches each with a different color LED. Buttons/LEDs left to right: SELECT, REVERB, BOOST. The foot switch cable has two jacks on the end--one mono (reverb) and one stereo (channel select/boost on-off).

Both the front panel and foot switch are gold anodized aluminum with easy to read black lettering. The rear panel is brushed steel.

The "ULTIMATE" gigging amp!!

Extremely simple, but even more effective!

63' Fender Vibroverb meets Dumble Overdrive.
& then some. The sound of God at your fingertips.

Incredible design & attention to detail although
not well road tested. However, I can't imagine a
higher quality product or overall design.

I haven't spoke with Bogner yet but their
reputation precedes them.

Over a 2 year period I tested every amp I could
find in my search for the Holy Grail. Nothing was
anywhere near the Shiva in overall performance
& "TONE". This amp eats Matchless, Mesa, Budda
& Z's for a light snack. I tried them all. I
would love to comment further, but there are
not enough superlatives & adjectives for me to
make you understand how superior this amp is
to everything else. Bottom Line.....My quest
for the Holy Grail is finally over. I can die
in peace now. WOW. Truly amazing. Thank you Bogner!