NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Soundstorm
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NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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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.
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GAS KING
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Congrats! Glad you dig it. Bogner stuff is killer.

Ditching the GT1 must have been difficult.
Couldn't imagine selling mine.
Soundstorm
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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I wasn't happy about it. But I've got so much money tied up in other gear (I also play bass and drums), I can only afford one quality amp at a time (well, I always have my 60s blackface bassman, but I scored that for a whopping $80).

If you want Matamp tone, there is no other amp you can get but a Matamp. But every time I start amp hunting, all signs would point to the Shiva, but for whatever reason I'd end up getting something else.

As far as the Matamp goes, I didn't like the MV. I didn't like the fact that I had to run a fuzz with it if I wanted to get good tone at saner volume. And I wanted something extremely versatile, which the Matamp is not. But trust me, it was a hard decision, and NOTHING has the balls of a cranked Matamp.
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GAS KING
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

Post by GAS KING »

Word.

Now that I have the AOR, I wondering if I need the GT1 either. The cool factor of it is to the max, but its a bit hyped. Good amp, but not as legendary as they appear, IMO.

I really dig the Bogner Blue and Red pedals.
I can only imagine how thick and creamy the real amps are.

So the Shiva shall stay?
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Clint Taurus wrote:Congrats! Glad you dig it. Bogner stuff is killer.

Ditching the GT1 must have been difficult.
Couldn't imagine selling mine.


yeah thatd be a toughy
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Soundstorm
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Clint Taurus wrote:Word.

Now that I have the AOR, I wondering if I need the GT1 either. The cool factor of it is to the max, but its a bit hyped. Good amp, but not as legendary as they appear, IMO.

I really dig the Bogner Blue and Red pedals.
I can only imagine how thick and creamy the real amps are.

So the Shiva shall stay?


The Shiva does everything I've ever looked for in an amp. It reminds me a lot of the blue channel of the XTC, but the cleans (especially with the extra gain stage kicked in) are out of this world. It's definitely a keeper. I've been playing some older songs/riffs on it and they just sound so much better.
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Congrats! I love my fish, top notch stuff for sure.

HNAD!!
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GAS KING
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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How much gain does the shiva have?
Soundstorm
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Clint Taurus wrote:How much gain does the shiva have?


Well there's a mode switch that ups the gain and makes it more aggressive/modern sounding. Still very meaty but not my style at all. It can easily do metal tones though.
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Soundstorm
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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I prefer the normal mode, unboosted on the drive channel with channel vol at noon and gain at about 2 o clock. That gets you into Alice in Chains territory
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GAS KING
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

Post by GAS KING »

Oooooo. :love:

I'm going to research the now.

How's the clarity?
The bogner Red pedal can lack string to string clarity when it's breathing fire.
Soundstorm
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Re: NAD: 20th Anniversary Bogner Shiva.....first impressions

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Clint Taurus wrote:Oooooo. :love:

I'm going to research the now.

How's the clarity?
The bogner Red pedal can lack string to string clarity when it's breathing fire.


The clarity and thickness of the gain is its major selling point to me. As long as you're not diming the gain on modern mode with the channel vol all the way up and the EQ scooped. Ya know, stupid shit like that lol. Otherwise the clarity and punch is great, especially with the KT88s
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