Anyone try an EL34 20th Shiva yet?

[PSGuitar]

I am interested but I find KT88s a bit too hi-fi. I like the snarl and thickness of EL34s.........

Curious who has tried one....

 

[se7en]

I'm with you on the snarl and thickness of 34's. I'm not much of a fan of 88's either...more bass and treble at the expense of an anemic midrange and they don't have as much dynamics either...I don't have have a 20th Shiva, but I'm going to put 34's/swap a resistor in my Twin Jet this week.

 

[RockStarNick]

I was a EL34 fan, thru and thru. But after getting this KT88 Shiva, I'm in no rush to get back to EL34s. I think the KT88 20th Shiva sounds massive.

That being said, I'm sure an EL34 version would rock.

 

[richedie]

I'd like to know. I have an Egnater Mod 50 and mostly do the Marshall tones, Plexi through high gain Marshall, to thick smooth lead tones. I was curious if the EL34 20th Shiva could replace my beloved Mod 50.

 

[Telefied]

I'd like to know. I have an Egnater Mod 50 and mostly do the Marshall tones, Plexi through high gain Marshall, to thick smooth lead tones. I was curious if the EL34 20th Shiva could replace my beloved Mod 50.

That is what the 20th anny Shiva did for me and Nick both moved from MOD 50s to 20th ann Shivas. Hell I went with the KT88s even. Richie based on the threads you and I jumped in on the Eggie forum you may need the EL34s to be happy in this amp. I can say that I have not played it or heard clips of it with EL34s. I CAN say that A/B'ing an older EL34 Shiva to the a KT88 20th anny version the chewy, gainy, thick tone of the KT88 20th destroys the EL34 older Shiva and it more unruly than the Ecstasy and I dug the 20th Anny Shiva more.

With that said Richie I still think you will have the hmmmmm what if it had EL34s question in your mind until you hear it. I think you were born with those tubes in your genes

 

[jlbaxe]

I went from an Egnater Mod50,100 and M4 into a Bogner 20th A Ecstasy and Bogner Cameron Uber and havent looked back.

 

[richedie]

I would guess the 20th Ann with the EL34s would be just as chewy and thick since power tubes do not cause as much differences as we think....at least until the amp is really cranked.

I have to say, I still love, love my Mod 50 and having options is always a good thing. I find the Mod 50 very chewy and thick as well. I like that I can go from clean to Plexi to high gain Marshall to a lead boost all from the footswitch. I know with the Shiva I would have to walk to the amp to kick it into the Plexi mode (that is on the Shiva, right?) How does the boost on the Shiva work? Does it act as a volume and gain boost? Is it after the preamp? If it hits the amp harder I doubt you get much of a volume boost so that is one thing I like about my VHT and Egnater...I have those options on the floorboard.

I am going to check out someone's 99 Bogner XTC soon and will report back.

 

[Telefied]

I would guess the 20th Ann with the EL34s would be just as chewy and thick since power tubes do not cause as much differences as we think....at least until the amp is really cranked.

I have to say, I still love, love my Mod 50 and having options is always a good thing. I find the Mod 50 very chewy and thick as well. I like that I can go from clean to Plexi to high gain Marshall to a lead boost all from the footswitch. I know with the Shiva I would have to walk to the amp to kick it into the Plexi mode (that is on the Shiva, right?) How does the boost on the Shiva work? Does it act as a volume and gain boost? Is it after the preamp? If it hits the amp harder I doubt you get much of a volume boost so that is one thing I like about my VHT and Egnater...I have those options on the floorboard.

I am going to check out someone's 99 Bogner XTC soon and will report back.

Yeah the boost to plexi is on the head not the floor though it is actually a hell of a boost. Nick can speak to this more since he has played with it longer than I have for sure. Richie you are correct about options though. If you need to switch into and out of more than two sounds on the floor and dont want to use pedals to get there the MOD 50 is hard if not impossible to beat IMO. That is why it was so hard for me to give up. I am just never in that type of a situation live when I need to get into that many variations of the tone in a single song.

If I could afford to keep both I would have.

 

[RockStarNick]

I would guess the 20th Ann with the EL34s would be just as chewy and thick since power tubes do not cause as much differences as we think....at least until the amp is really cranked.

I have to say, I still love, love my Mod 50 and having options is always a good thing. I find the Mod 50 very chewy and thick as well. I like that I can go from clean to Plexi to high gain Marshall to a lead boost all from the footswitch. I know with the Shiva I would have to walk to the amp to kick it into the Plexi mode (that is on the Shiva, right?) How does the boost on the Shiva work? Does it act as a volume and gain boost? Is it after the preamp? If it hits the amp harder I doubt you get much of a volume boost so that is one thing I like about my VHT and Egnater...I have those options on the floorboard.

I am going to check out someone's 99 Bogner XTC soon and will report back.

The "boost" is really like a 3rd channel, with a pre-determined distortion-increase, and a user-set volume increase. It really is like it's own channel with it's own volume.

 

[PSGuitar]

Well I only really need 2-3 sounds per song - clean, rhythm and lead. So the Shiva has a boost on the head for the Plexi tones and another solo boost? For example.....I could use the Pplexi sound for a song and then kick in the solo boost? How are you guys boosting for leads with this amp? I guess you could use an EQ in the loop or Tube Screamer up front.
Where in the chain is this boost, after the preamp so it can be heard when using as a lead boost?

OR....is there only one boost to use as either a solo boost or clean boost to get the plexi tones. Maybe an older XTC would be more my thing because I'd have three channels.

Tele....when I think chewy, gainy, thick tone.....I think EL34.

 

[Telefied]

Tele....when I think chewy, gainy, thick tone.....I think EL34.

Me too actually. Funny I picked an amp with KT88s then eh? haha

 

[se7en]

I put 34's in my KT88 loaded Twin Jet and it really kills now...I like it a lot better than 88's. I'm sure the KT88 Shiva rocks, but if I got one it would be with 34's.

 

[richedie]

se7en, I agree. I would get the EL34 version. But, after listening to lots of clips I am starting to wonder if I would like the 90s Ecstacies better. Reinhold said that over time guys wanted more and more gain to the point where the tone became smaller and squashed, so he created the Classic. But, the older XTC amps were less gainy and sound really rich and creamy to me. A buddy has one down in Philly. I'll be checking it out soon!

 

[se7en]

se7en, I agree. I would get the EL34 version. But, after listening to lots of clips I am starting to wonder if I would like the 90s Ecstacies better. Reinhold said that over time guys wanted more and more gain to the point where the tone became smaller and squashed, so he created the Classic. But, the older XTC amps were less gainy and sound really rich and creamy to me. A buddy has one down in Philly. I'll be checking it out soon!

Yeah, but you can clip the red channel mod that is piggybacked on newer XTC's and have the original sound, too. You should be good with older XTC's, but I would advise against the white chassis models with cabinet switching (Reinhold stopped making these as this feature was a bit of a tone suck). Good luck - the XTC is an incredible experience.

 

[richedie]

se7en, I agree. I would get the EL34 version. But, after listening to lots of clips I am starting to wonder if I would like the 90s Ecstacies better. Reinhold said that over time guys wanted more and more gain to the point where the tone became smaller and squashed, so he created the Classic. But, the older XTC amps were less gainy and sound really rich and creamy to me. A buddy has one down in Philly. I'll be checking it out soon!

Yeah, but you can clip the red channel mod that is piggybacked on newer XTC's and have the original sound, too. You should be good with older XTC's, but I would advise against the white chassis models with cabinet switching (Reinhold stopped making these as this feature was a bit of a tone suck). Good luck - the XTC is an incredible experience.

But getting a newer one would be expensive. LOL I think finding an older late 90s XTC would be better. I wonder how heavy the XTC is. I might pass if it is up around 70 lbs. I am done carrying beasts around anymore.

 

[se7en]

se7en, I agree. I would get the EL34 version. But, after listening to lots of clips I am starting to wonder if I would like the 90s Ecstacies better. Reinhold said that over time guys wanted more and more gain to the point where the tone became smaller and squashed, so he created the Classic. But, the older XTC amps were less gainy and sound really rich and creamy to me. A buddy has one down in Philly. I'll be checking it out soon!

Yeah, but you can clip the red channel mod that is piggybacked on newer XTC's and have the original sound, too. You should be good with older XTC's, but I would advise against the white chassis models with cabinet switching (Reinhold stopped making these as this feature was a bit of a tone suck). Good luck - the XTC is an incredible experience.

But getting a newer one would be expensive. LOL I think finding an older late 90s XTC would be better. I wonder how heavy the XTC is. I might pass if it is up around 70 lbs. I am done carrying beasts around anymore.

53 lbs.

 

[richedie]

NICE! For a 100 watt head? Wow. I picked up a Randall RM100 that was over 70lbs. Maybe the modular thing had to do with the weight.