U
ubermetaldood
Banned
New member
I'm on the fence between these two amps and need some advice real quick. I love the Shiva 20th but am infatuated with the Goldfinger 90 at this point. There is not a 90 around here to play but there is a 45. The Goldfinger 45 is terrific, but not exactly what I'm looking for. It's very versatile but I don't think 6V6's will do it for me as I prefer the sound of bigger tubes. I've been playing it a lot to try and get a feel for what the 90 might sound like, but I'm at a loss at this point. There aren't any good quality sound clips of the 90 around except I think one or two. The first one is just some rhythm stuff and doesn't showcase the lead sound, and I think the guy is using active pickups in the other short video. The rest of the videos have a lot of background noise and clipping from the camera mic.
Anyway, I was thinking about the versatility and classic EL34 tone of the Goldfinger. Plus, it has power options which is very useful for me since I play a lot in home and studio and rarely live. The Shiva 20th, surprisingly, sounds awesome at lower volumes. The thing is that I do like KT88's, but am kind of stuck on EL34's mostly, so I was thinking about ordering the 20th with EL34's so I would have the option of going back to KT88's if I wanted to.
On the other hand, even though I'm not much on pedals, I do keep two overdrive pedals so I can color my sound a bit differently. One gives me more of the Marshall crunch and the other is more Dumblesque for smoother tones. That said, whenever I plug pedals into the 20th KT88 Shiva, it still pretty much sounds like the 20th KT88 Shiva. I had an standard EL34 Shiva before and different pedals would give me a bit more tonal variation. For instance, I could get more of a Mesa Boogie type sound or Dumble'ish tone if I wanted to using different overdrives. However, I didn't keep the regular Shiva because I wanted a bit more versatility and amp distortion. I have no idea how a 20th Shiva with EL34's would react with pedals.
In any case, I think they're both great amps and I'm having a real hard time deciding. By the way, I play mostly a lot of Satch, Maiden, Eric Johnson, Metallica, Scorpions, and some blues... occasionally classical. Any advice you can give would be helpful in my decision. Thanks.
Anyway, I was thinking about the versatility and classic EL34 tone of the Goldfinger. Plus, it has power options which is very useful for me since I play a lot in home and studio and rarely live. The Shiva 20th, surprisingly, sounds awesome at lower volumes. The thing is that I do like KT88's, but am kind of stuck on EL34's mostly, so I was thinking about ordering the 20th with EL34's so I would have the option of going back to KT88's if I wanted to.
On the other hand, even though I'm not much on pedals, I do keep two overdrive pedals so I can color my sound a bit differently. One gives me more of the Marshall crunch and the other is more Dumblesque for smoother tones. That said, whenever I plug pedals into the 20th KT88 Shiva, it still pretty much sounds like the 20th KT88 Shiva. I had an standard EL34 Shiva before and different pedals would give me a bit more tonal variation. For instance, I could get more of a Mesa Boogie type sound or Dumble'ish tone if I wanted to using different overdrives. However, I didn't keep the regular Shiva because I wanted a bit more versatility and amp distortion. I have no idea how a 20th Shiva with EL34's would react with pedals.
In any case, I think they're both great amps and I'm having a real hard time deciding. By the way, I play mostly a lot of Satch, Maiden, Eric Johnson, Metallica, Scorpions, and some blues... occasionally classical. Any advice you can give would be helpful in my decision. Thanks.