Ok, first off the amp is in immaculate condition, I mean like new. I sold my Matamp GT1 earlier last week to fund a new amp so I'm pretty excited to test drive it. I let it warm up for awhile, plus in, start playing some chords....testing the different modes and boost functions and clean. And while it does sound really good, I'm not quite blown away like I thought I'd be. I started feeling a bit of seller's remorse for my old Matamp. And that's when I had my facepalm moment of the night: I look down and my guitar's volume is on 2 !! Doh! So I crank it up and holy mother of god. I had to start readjusting to tone right away, but that's the thing. It's so easy to dial in great tones with this amp. I don't have that urge to memorize where my previous settings were just in case I go off the charts with the tweaking.
My preferences so far are bright off, mode off, and shift off of the drive channel. I keep bright on the clean. Tone settings are constantly changing but so far for the drive they're sitting in the middle except for the bass which is cranked up (so used to my thunderous Matamp lowend). It really excels at any style of music you throw at it: Country, blues, hard rock, modern metal, doom, classic metal. This is all with my 78 Les Paul Custom, straight into the amp, into my Avatar Contemporary 4x12 loaded with Celestion G12K100s.
One of my favorite improvements on the 20th Anniv that differ from the others is the boost function on the clean channel. It doesn't bypass the tonestack, and actually adds an extra stage of gain. So imagine that awesome clean with some hair on it. Crank it up and it's actually been my favorite tone on the amp so far. Its like a NMV power tube overdrive sound at a saner level. I keep the bright switch off when doing this. All bright switches off and the treble and presence are actually backed off some. I've heard some folks complain about the darkness of the amp but once it's cranked to gigging volume it's a perfectly balanced sound, not harsh at all but nice and full. At the same time, this Shiva has the BEST master volume I've ever used on an amp. Crank it down to conversation levels, bump of the "excursion" knob on the back (basically like a resonance control), hit the bright switch and you've got massive tones at bedroom players' levels. I think it's so much easier to write when you're working with great tones.
As far as the feel goes, I've found it to be a very open and articulate sounds. All your notes come through and it sort of feels like playing a good Fender but with nice crunch. I think KT88s were a great choice for this amp and that they lend to that open feel, compared to the "compressed sound" i've heard some mention. I think the fact that I play with less gain than most people and prefer the master cranked up definitely helps open the amp up.
All in all, I couldn't be happier with this purchase. It's the best sounding, best feeling, amp I've owned in a long line of other great amps. I can't wait to play in a band context tomorrow!
If any Shiva owners want to chime in with recommendations I'm all ears.
