Kiwi Posted January 29, 2014 Share Posted January 29, 2014 Are they really like Fenders on steroids? Or completely different? Just curious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Handwired Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 The one I used had two chanels one Fender sounding and the other Marshall sounding, doing both very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skankdelvar Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) Depends on the Rivera in question. The company started with versatility, drifted off towards hi-gain heads then swung back to 2 channel boutique combos again. The 'American' channel (Ch 2) does several shades of Fender from clean to dirty ending up with a monstrous yet defined roar if you plug into the high gain input and kick the Ninja boost on. So, yes, they can do Fender on Steroids. OTOH, the British Channel (Ch 1) does a nice take on Marshalls and you can even squeeze a pseudo Vox out of it. And funnily enough, here's mine... late 90's R55/12 Edited January 30, 2014 by skankdelvar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwi Posted January 30, 2014 Author Share Posted January 30, 2014 Marshall overdrive seems fairly easy to achieve...even with just a pedal. But they sound kind of flat to me. That bouncey, chimey Fender clean tone is pretty dynamic. When I've played through a twin in the past, the slightly compressed highs made me feel like I was interacting with the amp...it was so very far from flat sounding and I got a lot of satisfaction from giving the strat a decent spanking. But twins weigh a tonne and are too loud for my needs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) A guitarist friend has one hand-built by Paul Rivera himself. His guitars (all nice ones) sound great when he plays them through it. Couldn't tell you if it's very Fender-y or not. It is one of the heaviest guitar combos I've ever had the misfortune to try and carry though. Edited January 30, 2014 by BigRedX Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shizznit Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I had a Knucklehead K100 head years ago. Great sounding amps and I guess you could say they are like a steroid raging Fender! The tone is very similar to a Fender black face. They have more headroom than a Fender and certainly more power…they really like to be cranked! Next to other boutique amps that are more expensive it really holds it own. I would certainly recommend taking a look at a Rivera before considering a Diezel, Mesa etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RhysP Posted January 30, 2014 Share Posted January 30, 2014 I used to use a Rivera R30/12 & it was a superb amp - wish I'd never got rid of it. The "Fender" channel does the whole Fender/Fender on steroids thing really well, and the tone stack has a push/pull switch that alters the tone between "Tweed" & "Blackface" era amps so it's really versatile. Great spring reverb too. I used to use mine with a Gretsch 6120 & a Duo Jet & it was just awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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