Bogner Shiva Combo

Rating 9 out of 10. Why a 9?, because it comes close to a black face fender clean but not quite. The gain on this monster is awe inspiring. It is the best gigging amp I 've had, and the best tube distortion amp I owned period. Other guitarists get very jealous!!!
In the other reviews people talk about this amp being unforgiving, yes thats true, if you hit that wrong note, everybody hears it, but it makes you a better palyer. This is the 112 el34 with verb. It costs tons, but it has been worth every penny, I 've had it for 8 months,(original owner-thats a first, I 've only have 70's fender amps) and its finally broken in, and it is now my tone.

Awe inspiring tone, like I said before, Best amp I've ever had! I play it with and old ce22 and a jv jap fender label strat (they really are killer!), a Gibson LP junior (1955 (p90s) reissue) and an EC fender with duncan 'lil 59s throughout. All good! Read the other reviews for settings, as I am still experimenting with the clean, on the dirty channel, I dime the distortion and 12-1 o'clock eq, presence is dimed always.

Amp is awesome, like the abrams M-1A1, never had a problem and thats 1-2 gigs every week since I got it!! I have extra tubes, but no backup, after reading reviews, I will get fuses. I don't use effects loop, I did once with a univibe and crybaby when I first got it, but quickly put them out front. They are the only effects I use. With a Fender I use two tube drivers (bk butler) to get the tone of the shiva!

I haven't yet dealt with Bogner, although I want to call them to thank them!

I have been playing for 16 years, this is a big boy amp. It is worth the price tag, played many amps before deciding to buy this-CARR, Dr.z, Marshall, orange, etc-- I tried them for weeks in differnet places, I got this after 10 minutes of play time. It eats orange amps and arshalls for breakfast. Oranges are all the rage now and this makes orange owners pissed. HA Ha! (I have seen it first hand after gigs )
If some one stole it, first, I would cry, then track them down and kill them, if the amp coudn't be found, I would buy another.

This is the second review I have written for this amp and have now owned it for about 7 years. The amp is a 2002 Bogner Shiva EL34 112. The amp is a combo that has 80 watts of EL34 power and one 12 inch celestion speaker in a closed back ported cab. There is a tube buffered effects loop and spring reverb. There are 2 channels that can be accessed ONLY by footswitch and a boost for channel 2, also accessed ONLY by footswitch. If you lose or forget to bring your footswitch you have a one channel amp. It does not have tons of features, but what it has is top quality stuff.

This amp has a very sweet tone. Tons of bottom, however it is never muddy sounding. The overdrive/distortion of channel 2 is very british. Like a Marshall. Channel 2 also has a boost that will add gain and a little volume to the sound. The clean channel is a great clean tone , very warm with tons of head room. Tonewise I am very happy. The only thing I am not totally happy with is the reverb, it is not a great reverb and steps one the tone when it is on. Luckily if you turn the reverb off it is no longer in the signal path. I would recommend getting one without reverb, and they are available that way.

This amp has not crashed on me in 7 years and shows no sign of breaking anytime in the near future. I have taken it to my repair guy to check out the effects loop and he was impressed with the quality of the amp (you have to buy a special cable for Bogner to use the effects loop, and the cable has small capacitors wired to the end of that are easy to break). I ended up gutting a cheap effects box and having the extra parts that are wired to the effects loop cable installed in the gutted box. The effects loop cable is a bad idea, but the up side is the effects loop sounds great, so I put up with it.

This is where the story gets kind of dark. Well I told you about the effect loop cable, right? You have to buy that from bogner, well whats the big deal, right? In order to buy one from bogner they require that you send them a ****ing money order because they don't take credit cards or checks! THAT'S RIGHT, THEY CAN'T ACCEPT CREDIT CARD PAYMENTS! FROM ANYBODY! Jesus Chr*st, I'm just a guitar player and I can accept credit card payments through ebay with paypal. So I dragged my *** down to the bank and stood in the damn line and paid $2 for the money order so I could get my effects cable that broke after a couple of years, and ended up paying a guy to gut my A/B box and wire the capacitors in so I could avoid buying another Bogner effects loop cable. About 5 years into owning this amp the footswitch buttons began to give out and my repair guy called Bogner to get more Shiva footswitch buttons, and guess what I ended up doing? You probably guessed it, I dragged my ass down to the bank again, and stood in the line again, and paid $2 again for a money order so I could buy my Bogner parts. You don't want to deal with Bogner Customer service

I like this amp! The newer Shivas now have an updated effects loop that doesn't have to have a special cable, and there are buttons to change channels and access the boost function, so if you don't have your footswitch you can still get to all of the sounds the amp offers. However you will have to deal at some point with Bogner customer service, so if your amp breaks and you want your amp fixed right away you better live in the San Frenando Valley and have a MONEY ORDER.

I'm not sure of the year it was made in but the rear panel is unpainted and it is a serial sign model. its the 1x12. 2 channels, The best sounding effects loop ever, boost, footswitchable reverb. What else could you want?

This amp does everything i ask it to. Everything from heavy rock to zz top to robben ford to SRV strat tone to sparkling cleans to straight up jazz. Top 2 favorite dirty channels of all time (the other being the blue channel from the ecstacy), and best clean channel in an el-34 amp i've ever used. The loop is annoying until you get the hang of it but it sounds fantastic. I absolutely love the dirty channel on this amp. I never have to touch it. Everything straight up and you add and subtract gain with your hands. Extremely touch sensitive amp. Two thumbs way up.

I bought the thing used and it was beat up when i got it and it still has never failed me. Killer amp. Top notch PC board construction. I'm an electrical engineer and one look at this board will tell you how well built this amp is. Fantastic board assembly.

I've called before and talked to every employee there. All six of them, Even Reinhold himself! They're all extremely personable and helpful.

best amp I've ever used. If it were stolen, I would buy another one, hunt the guy down, steal it back, kill his dog, and use the new one as a back up. I had a Dr. Z before and wondered if i'd miss the point-to-point wiring and natural overdrive, but I've never looked back.

this amp was bought new in 2004 and is the el-34 1-12 combo version with reverb.Features a dedicated clean channel with gain,treble and bass controls and a dirty channel with gain,treble,mid,bass,and volume controls .I find the effects-loop to work okay but having to use a ducking cable to attenutate the signal for stomp boxes seems like an unnessesary feature of the design circuitry.Bogner could just as easily build the ducking circuitry into the loop itself as a switched feature.This amp has enough features for my applications and with the two dedicated channels a lot of sonic territory can be achieved.While it is true that this amps dirty channel does not have the massive pre-amp gain structure of say a 5150 or rectifier I find that this is a bonus because with a simple stomp box pedal (tube screamer,blues driver,red-snapper,whatever is your pedal of choice)a lot of different tone signatures can be achieved.Both channels take to overdrive pedals very well.The clean channel alone used with a simple overdrive pedal is capable of spanky country, warm blues,jazz, and rock flavors.The dirty channels works like a fine old JCM 800, (again not a very high gain preamp design) for those of you familair with this great sounding classic. Tone monsters and players who are accustomed to working with with medium gain marshall amps will appreciate its design.I own rectifers, 5150's, and several other Mark series Boogies and I bought this amp BECAUSE OF its gain design, it simply has a more mature spectrum of flavors to work with particularly for players who may need a great all in one combo package.This amp has seen a lot of gigs, everything from R&B,rock, blues and country, this amp delivers the goods and the power this thing delivers has never left me asking for more.

this amps clean textures can be any where from Fender-like clean to burnished vox type tones.Like I stated earlier, with a good ts-9 or similiar box, really warm tones ranging from real subtle to aggresive can be acheived on this channel alone. Reverb sounds are nice with a long natural sounding decay (a little bit sweeter and longer decay than any other amp I have used)In hindsight however I could just as easily lived without it. In louder playing environments reverb gets in the way of your basic tone and often just gets lost in the mix.This option costs over $300 and while it is as nice as any spring reverb design out there I personally don't miss it when it is not on. As a matter of fact,for those of you Shiva Combo owners wishing for an open back sound of say a fender, TAKE THE BACK OFF IT WORKS GREAT! I simply unplugged the reverb tank and unscrewed the back and bingo you now have an open back combo.Sounds good this way and the amps internal cabinet build is solid enough not to worry about the integrety or reliability.The Allman Bros.band actually used to do this with their marshall cabs back in the 70's for more open dispersion.Bogner owners please also heed this warning!DO not use the Electro-Harmonics version of the Svetlana EL-34 Power tube it will give you heartaches I promise.You must use the SED brand of Svetlana also called winged-C. In other words there is actually two tubes being produced under the name Svetlana, only use the SED/Winged C version it is the one in which Bogner has designed the amp around.This particualr little monsterof an amp will eat tubespretty quick primarily because it is producing somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 watts with only two output tubes.This amp is more akin to a fine sport car than say a drag-and-play amp and does require routine tube maintenance.On gigs I ususally use a Godin lgx-sa or Fender EC model Strat.It seems to accomodate all of my instruments pretty well however.THis amp is not noisy when used sensibly, obviously any and all electronic equipment has some inherent noise.THe higher the gain the more the noise floor will raise in any device.This amp is sheilded and designed to work well in the club and festival electrical environments I haveused it in.
This is one of my favorite amps,I will tell you however it is not the end-all of all amps.That type of equipment only exists in foolish minds.

Because of the design of this amp you absolutely must ( listen carefully Bogner Owners) carry an extra set of Power tubes AND an extra fuse ( this amp fuses the output section separetly so when a tube shorts unexpectedly the fuse will usually always blow as well)
A tool kit with some output tubes ( el-34 SED TYPE) and some fuses of the proper value is a damn good idea for any tube amp owner taking his wares ON THE JOB to make money. Even the best of tubes will unexpectedly short-out leaving you stranded if you aren't prepared. If you are not comfortable with changing tubes and doing routine maintenece I would suggest you look elsewhere, these amps will not perform well if not maintained I promise you you will just be wasting your money.This is NOT a kids amp. If you are looking for quick plug and play with massive overdrive/bedroom level tones, forget and leave it, this will not be your ticket.

I spoke to Shawn a few times,once concerning a defective reverb tank,I sent them the defective one and they returned a new one no problem. You must keep your warranty documentation in tact if you are the original owner.
I've only dealt with them on a couple of occasions, they were courtous enough and solved my issues to satisfaction.
On another occasion my amp shorted a tube and burned a screen resistor< Shawn sent me the part ASAP. He was happy I could do the repair without shipping the amp back, I was happy he got me the part withoutany heartache
Overall the support has been good and I feel this support is necessary for an amp of this caliber and price

I have been playing for over thirty years both in a professional capacity and as a casual week-end player.I own scads of amps. I am not a collector or anything but I do appreciate fine tube gear. I own several Mesas,some Rivera amps,and old JCM 800, even some Peavey stuff all of them offer their own particular flavor and personality and I can coax good tones out of all of them. Rememeber the old adage: A poor crafsman blames his tools. Don't be fooled into thinking that any amp or guitar is going to make you great.A great player will always be good regardless of what he plays through.IT is just a tool

To be honest when I first got the amp I was ho-hum about it, nothing earth-shattering or ground breaking for this guy.But this is one of those pieces of equipment that the more you understand its subtle nature and nuances you will then be rewarded and thoroughly satisfied.
I would purchase this amp or a similar Bogner product again, It's good stuff and for me has added a new twist to the other types of amp designs I have used in the past and after all isn't that what your quest for tone is all about?

Your Basic 2 channel amp. Very DYNAMIC and extremely RESPONSIVE
For a purist like me this is all you need......ok maybe a nice chorus pedal or a fulltone for perfection!!!

I use a PRS CE-22 and a Tom Anderson strat - unbelievable sounds with both, anything from blues/jazz/funk/country/rock - no noise except maybe the fan at low volumes - I HAVE NOT been playing for 20-30 years like some of the other reviewers on this post but I'd like to thank you for all of your posts because when I bought this amp it was a wake up call for me to improve my playing. I've been playing for about 7 years and since this I bought this amp I enrolled in a jazz program at NEC, joined 2 bands and will be going to Berklee in a year. That aside THIS AMP WILL HIGHLIGHT EVERY NOTE INTENTIONAL OR NOT.

No Problems

I don't know, I bought it used.

I've played, fender, marshall, mesa, carr, engl, rivera, crate, nothing compares!!

2002demo-model(so it was new), EL34, 1x12" celestion classic 80, reverb model
versatile? when is an amp versatile? I know from experience that a one channel amp has to do one sound, but very good! and a two channel has to do two thins very good... it is the soundflavour one has for ones own.
nuff features for what I expect from an amp, the 'right' amount of power
in comparison to my marble clubreverb (dutch boutique amp, sounds crazy but this is a real beauty and it sounds suuuuuper!) the reverb really sucks! bot the dry sound is so complex that verb is very unnessessary.

after owning tons of guitars (PRS sas, ce22, LP custom, gretsch, all type fenders-yuck!! I think fender guitars lack tone!!,...), well I come a long way in search for THE AXE, I bumped on a 1977 limited edition gibson LP junior special with REAL P90's. I love the thing since I first saw it! And since then every other axe I owned had to give in...
sold em all, except for the ones I am emotionally attached to-not sonically!

so this is my setup: shiva-junior (heritage cherry,mmmmmm)

I play emo-ish stuff (if I have to give it a name/style)
so I play sweet music, nice melodies, and real hard shit in the mix.

the amp is not noisy, but my original P90's are, so....you know the setup gives a buzz, but I actually like it. I look at it this way: there are people who like old harleys, and others like japanese perfection...I prefer the old harley (but mine-shiva- won't ever break down like an old harley)

it sounds like nothing else! no clean super reverb sound.. go figure..some down this review compare it to a super, well a super has 4x10 speakers and this has only 1x12, I mean come on people, have you ever heard a super??? I don't think so!!!
and the lead channel is no marshall (yuck!) , boogie , or any other sound.
In other words.. this thing has a sound of it's own!

the sweet spot is when MV= 9 o'clock, lead and clean vol 2 O'clock.
it has to me the right volume, and the right break-up on the clean channel.

In my quest for tone I had a lot of amps, actually I had em all nearly. My last amp was a vibro king, gooood sound but no headroom and therefor tooo heavy for what it produces.

But there is one thing that is unique with the shiva: everytime, and I mean EVERY TIME I turn it on I am amazed by the way it sounds... It sounds soooo gooood!!! And if I feel that way since the three years I have it, I don't think that feeling will ever go away. And if you would know me in person, you would have to agree that this amp has got to have something special.

the distortion is perfect, never heard anything better coming out of any amp. So I sold all my stomp boxes (tubeman, DM4,...)
The only thing I use to get a totally dif'rent sound is a TS9.
But in my opinion every guitarist has to have a TS9, it is a must-have!!! you ain't a player if you don't have a TS9, except if you 've never tried one ofcourse...

lifetime warranty, what else is there to say???
good on you, Reinhold! way to go dude.......

I am from Europe so I don't connect myself to others tha TUBE AMP SERVICE (Yves Pexters' shop)
he has an allovereurope reputation on servicing amps.

playing for over 18 years, never done covers-allways my own stuff (don't ask me to play this song or that song, I might only know a few licks )
If it were stolen or lost...damn what a horrible image!... I'd go for the same one in a second, I f I have the money at the time... otherwise I will start saving up my money for the day I CAN buy one again, and in the mean time play only on my clubreverb.
I love everysinglething about it: looks great, finish is superbe and the sound is priceless!! uncompareable... nothing comes even close

it izz what it izz, but it izz perrrfect, take it from a real tonefreak like me!

My advise is: if you have the cash, try one..you'll buy it immediatly
but if you don't have the money and do not want to sell anything that's close at heart... don't even think about plugging your axe in a shiva, because you'll be miserable until the day you FORCE yourself to buy it because of mental problems.

This review is an update originally posted on 2/12/05

I've had the Shiva 1x12 combo with extension cabinet for alomost a year. I still run my PRS Singlecut and McCarty, Strat, and even a bajo-sexto from Candelas music in California.

The Shiva has performed wonderfully, but I have learned that I may be needing some extra headroom for my cleans. We have been upgrading our sound system and the amp was beginning to get lost in the mix. I truned the up the volume, as a result, the amp begins to break up. Yea, its natural but I really need a clean tone with no break up. Since the Shiva is 60 watts, I may be needing more wattage with more headroom......say about 100 watts.

The issue can be resolved, in my part, by having a monitor on stage for me......but my hearing may suffer by having a loud mix. Still I prefer my tone coming from the speaker/cabinet, rather than a monitor mix.

No problems....!

Still a great little (heavy) amp, I just need more wattage. I'm thinking about the Mesa/Boogie F-100 head. 100/60 watts, good cleans and the distortion is a bit thicker a creamier than the Bogner.

2 channel amp with seperate tone controls for each channel, including reverb. The 2 channels share the same presence control. There is a boost switch for the overdrive channel and the amp has a GREAT sounding effects loop, it suprises me that I havn't read that in more reviews of this amplifier. The amp is the 80 watt EL34 version. I play everything from Blues to Metal and dabble with Jazz and I can get a great tone from this amp for Any style of music. Oh, and that 80 watts is really, really loud for a club.

I use a Gibson LP with Duncan Alnico II'S, a stock PRS McCarty, A Warmoth Strat with Kinman's, and a Warmoth Tele with a JB in the bridge and a Duncan single coil in the neck. Let me start by saying that I've owned this amp for a year now, I wanted to beable to give good info about the amp so I waited to submit a review. The clean channel has a lot more low end than one would expect from a EL34 amp. The cab is ported so that helps, but the sound is very clear, full, and loud if you need it to be. It will distort if dimed and the guy's at Bogner told me that's there favorite setting for the clean channel, but it sounds a bit harsh to me. To each his own and I won't try to compare it to another amp because that's a matter of opinion as well. The distortion channel has a great rock vibe to it when the gain is turned all the way up or you could tone it down for great blues and country tones. With the boost engaged there is a lot more gain introduced and the low end is extended significantly. Anyone who say's that this amp can't do heavy music, needs to play this amp again, the ground work for a great heavy tone is all there, it just needs to be manipulated. Try a Fulltone or other high quality box to push the front end, you'll get gain. Do not plug a cheap pedal into this amp, it will exploit any weaknesses in your rig, which is a good thing. You can even hear the frequency loss when the reverb is turned on, so I leave it off at all times. The loop is the best I've used, great tone and clarity.

When I go to a gig with this amp I don't worry about anything, and that's with the thing bouncing around in the back of a New York City taxi! Needless to say I travel without a backup.

I've been on the phone with these guy's for up to a half hour talking about tone and amps. Bogner is a very helpful and friendly company that will return phone calls every time.

I've been playing for about 15 years now. I've owned lot's of good and bad amps. I think you gotta go through both to find what you like. My other amps are a 50 watt Marshall Silver Jubilee and a Mesa Trem-O-Verb 2X12. I played lot's of other amps before I bought the Bogner and for me it came down to how well the amp does everything that it does. Let me explain. There are Matchless and Bad Cat amps that have better clean tones, maybe. There are Diesel's and VHT's that have better distortion, maybe. It's a matter of opinion, but I've yet to see an amp that has a clean and distortion channel as solid and usable as this amp in one package. Yeah it's expensive and the combo's weigh a ton, but the tone is worth it.

Features: 8
2003 EL-34 based Model, two channel tones - clean, overdrive and a extra boost function. at the back there are separate reverb controls per channel. all foot-switchable. for a proper use of the effect loop you need a special cable because of a different routing.
sounds light to medium crunch/overdrive, boost overdrive.( no shred or metal )
I play old school funk/dance/soul and fusion-jazz.
use in bars, small clubs and venues.

Sound Quality: 7
I use 2 Fender Strats, one with a rosewood and the other (a Custom Shop)with a maple board, pickups are 2 John Suhr's and 1 SD alnico2 at the bridge. It suits all of my musical styles. Great clean quality tone, plenty of power, I do have some comments on the overdrive/boost channel though. the gain voicing is focussed towards a 70's marshall sound which is ok, thick and warm with enough lows and highs.
two things what I am missing :
- more gain for modern rock sounds, the boost function helps a little bit it is balanced out well, however at a certain point the sustain stops, so you will need a extra distortion/overdrive pedal.
- open sound, I miss the air old Fender amps have, it could be the
frequency of the celestion classic 80 speaker, Bogner advises
to try to change to a Vintage 30 but I
am not sure if this will help.

Reliability: 9
so far no problems, only tried it a couple of gigs in different situations.
the cooler fan produces little noise.

Customer Support: N/A
so far I have not had to call for any help. No opinion.

I play for about 27 years, owned a lot of tube amps and effect gear and
fender/gibson guitars over the years.
the last recent gig I used my Custom Audio SE preamp, Carvin poweramp, G-Major and Marshall 1936 again and I was completely satisfied.
The Bogner is easy to transport and fast to set-up although it is pretty heavy, I use it with a flight-case.
However it is not as versatile as my rack-gear.
It is high priced here in Europe and I have to admit I find the amp a little bit disappointing for what it offers for that price.
I think i would not buy it again.

EL-34 Model...........Two channels, 1x12 ported cab. Mine has the reverb.

I've been playing for more than 30 years.............But how cares?! I have a wall of amps new and vintage. I use 1965 to 69 Fender Super Reverb for live blues. Old Univox for studio blues. Vintage Fender Twin for jazz and a Carvin 33(modded) for small gigs and everything else. Mathless.........Got'um! Mesa.........Got'um! Marshall...........Got'um! I hear player everywhere I go talking about "that perfect amp"..........If you've hauled more than one amp to a gig you know why! One amp that does it all! I found it!!! The Bogner Shiva 1x12 combo!! When the amp came in I could'nt stop playing..........The tone is so rich, full and warm! "Huge low end" I am so happy with this amp I just can't stand it. I have already started selling my wall-o-amps on ebay! Get'um gotta here!! Nothing I have never played compares to this amp! I LOVE IT........... Blues and Jazz players the search has ended! Bogner Shiva...........

No problems......................

Never had to use them.............

Overall.....................I LOVE IT!!