Bogner Shiva 2x12

This is a 2000 Bogner Shiva with reverb and 6L6 power tubes. The amp has 2 channels + a boost which adds about 6 decibles of gain to the drive channel. There is an effects loop which will not work with standard cables and Bogner cuts the cable to suit the type of effects you will be using it with. The amp has every useful feature you could have with none of the stupid fluff you often find in modern amps. If this amp doesn't have enough power for you then you are going to be totally deaf if you are not already.

I am using this amp with a variety of guitars but here goes the main list. A Carvin TL60 with Duncan Pickups (Jazz(n) and Custom Custom (b) is my main guitar for my Fusion group and for club dates. A mexican Fender Strat with a Carvin Bolt Neck and EMGs (SA-SA-85) is my blues machine and jazz gigs are done with either a Heritage Golden Eagle or an Ibanez Pat Metheny PM20. In all cases this is the greatest amplifier I have ever heard. The clean is so full, clear, and three diminsional it makes you want to play. It is an extreamly touch sensitive amp but never makes that "boink" sound on the plain strings that most dynamic amps make without use of a compressor. The overdrive is just simply the best I have ever heard. To give you an idea of what I was looking for in an amp let me say that my two favorite tones would be the clean that Lee Ritenour gets on Stolen Moments and the overdrive that Scott Henderson gets on the Vital Tech Tones. This amp gets both but is actually better even in a live setting with no effects. I was going to buy the C.A.E. OD100 but this amp is actually more toneful in both channels and the reverb makes old Fender reverbs sound very harsh and awful as it is so smooth and just too perfect.

Built really damn good although this makes the weight a pain in the ass (89 lbs and all of it). I have only had it for 8 days (or 7 shows whatever means more) so it's true durability is still untested. My only and I mean only complaint about this amp is the fact that they use cheap chinese preamp tubes which have a tendancy to go microphonic. I replaced the preamp tubes with Sovtek AX7lps tubes and the amp actually got quad diminsional.

Upon purchasing the amp I was put in contact with Shawn in regaurds to the effects loop and he was very nice and courteous.

I have been playing for 27 years and am a full time musician. I can not concieve playing through anything else on a gig or recording of any importance for the rest of my days. I tried all the Bogner line as well as the C.A.E. OD100 and by far liked the 6L6 Shiva Combo best. While the Estacy is probably capable of getting more sounds the sound did not seem to be of the same body and complexity of the Shiva and the EL34 Shivas just sounded to me like a really incredible Marshall. The 6L6 version had more headroom, tonal complexity and sensitivity than the others with a Clean like the idealized Twin and a overdrive that is somewhere between a Dumble and a C.A.E. OD100. Perfect is just not a good enough description. I have owned Matchless, Super Reverb, Super Champ, Bassman, Vibroluxe, Hot Rod Deville and Deluxe, JCM 800 and 900, Mesa Boogie MKIV, DC3, DC 5, polytone, Jazz Chorus, and Evans and have never heard anything in the same catagory as this beast.

Everything you could ever want and nothing you will never use.

I use this guitar with a Carvin TL60 with Duncans (jazz&Custom Custom)for fusion, rock, and clubdates, a Warmoth hollow strat with a Carvin neck and EMG sa-sa-85 for blues, and either a Heritage Golden Eagle or Ibanez Pat Metheny PM20 for Jazz. This amp is not just good at everything to but to date I would say it has the best clean and best overdriven tone I have ever heard.

On the first gig it got a microphonic ax7a tube but I always carry spares and fixed it on the break. On the whole I would say it built like a brick shithouse and will probably outlast me (as I don't know how many times I will be able to lift it.

When I bought the amp I personally talked to Reignhold Bogner and he asked me obout what effects I was going to use so they could custom cout my effects loop buffer. Pretty cool

I have been playing for 27 years and am a full time musician. In my life I have owned Fender HotRods, Super Champs, Bassman, Twins, Marshalls, Matchless, Boogies, Rolands, Polytones, and Evans amplification. For the last 4 years I have used the Fender Hotrod Deville 4x10 as I found it far superior to my Mesa Mark IV and my Matchless Chieftain (which are both thankfully gone). I had played Riveras, Electroplex, Dr.Z, and even Dumbles and really thought my Hot Rod was at least respectable and with a little processing just as good. All of this changed when I plugged into a Bogner Shiva 1x12 with 6L6 tubes 5 months ago and knew what "the tone" is all about. I slowly sold alot of my stuff to get my hands on one. When I was getting close Music Arts Enterprises in Ft. Lauderdale FL had just recieved a shipment of 7 Bogners so I could try them all out. The Estacy was just like a perfect Boogie but to my ears not that special unless you think Steve Via has a good tone. The Metropolis sounded like a Dr. Z which is not a tone I relish but a straight blues player might like it. I played through 4 Shivas and did not like the EL34 equipped ones as they sounded like great Marshalls but for $2300 it would be cheaper to buy a Vintage Marshall. When I plugged into the 2X12 6L6 shiva I felt the kind of excitement that you feel after blissful sex. The tone is so three diminsional and just perfect. Clean it sounds like the idealized Twin (personally I have never heard many Twins I like but I have heard stories) with so much body and depth without being boomy. Overdriven it really lets your personallity come through. I love Scott Henderson and play alot like him and suddenly I was sounding alot like him with perhaps a better tone while my good friend is a huge Scofield diciple and he sounded alot like Scofield through it. The point is it really sounds like what your hands tell it to. It is a dead ringer for a Dumble overdriven and I know that is saying alot. Before I bought this amp I would have thought that spending $2300 on an amp was asinine but after this purchase I dont think I could play anything else. My only gripe is that it weighs just over 90lbs and that is a lot to put in and out of the trunk.