Anyone ever play this Rivera?

I have had, and gigged, two of those back in the day. Plugged them into 4x12 cabs. I really liked them.

Rivera cleans are the best that I have ever played and versatile as all hell. The gain channel takes some dialing in and volume to get there. To me, they are live stage volume amps. At least to get what I wanted from the gain channel. Would buy another.

Great build quality as well.
 
Paul Rivera is a legend for good reason. The amps he designed for Fender fetch goooood money. I had The Rivera designed Princeton Reverb II and that little sucker could knock down a brick wall. I ran my Les Paul XR-1 with stock Dirty Fingers pickups through that amp and it nailed Priest tones like on their Unleashed in the East live album.



Then there's Rivera's amps under his own name. Tone mo-sheens! I'd be proud to own one of their amps.

 
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Great clean channels but the dirty channels don’t work for me. Get too mushy, too fast. The OG Knuckleheads from the 90’s had a decent dirty channel but still paled compared to an actual Marshall.
 
skoora said:
Great clean channels but the dirty channels don’t work for me. Get too mushy, too fast. The OG Knuckleheads from the 90’s had a decent dirty channel but still paled compared to an actual Marshall.
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my experience with the TBR-1 i owned.
i used it exclusively as a 60 wps el-34 stereo power amp.

i traded it in at this used gear dealer way back when for a mesa 395, and when he plugged in his guitar with a hot EMG pickup test the rivera, the dirt channel sounded great!
i also played some other riveras like the bonehead with los lobotomy subs, knucklehead V1 and sedona. not really for me but others made them sound great.
 
Some of the M series from the late 80’s can sound decent for dirt but I’ve never had a Rivera after the 90’s sound good to me on the dirty channel.
 
skoora said:
Great clean channels but the dirty channels don’t work for me. Get too mushy, too fast. The OG Knuckleheads from the 90’s had a decent dirty channel but still paled compared to an actual Marshall.
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Agreed. If I owned a Rivera amp, I'd take it to Dave Friedman let him work his magic on it.
 
skoora said:
Great clean channels but the dirty channels don’t work for me. Get too mushy, too fast. The OG Knuckleheads from the 90’s had a decent dirty channel but still paled compared to an actual Marshall.
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Same.. had a Knucklehead - it was decent (amazing cleans and middle channel), but the dirty channel was like a looser, saggier/sloppier recto. Keep in mind, that head was designed to be used with Lukes rack stuff, so I'm sure that factored in.

Good luck to the OP
 
I have the R100 (100 Watt 2x12) which is the R30's big brother. I would say I have a love/hate relationship with this amp. The clean tones are the absolute best I have heard from an EL34 amp, it will rival any Fender. The so called "British" channel is a bit problematic. I find it very "stiff" and "thuddy" and requires some tinkering to get the sound I want. But I DO get the sound I want. I keep the gain low, like 3-4 on the dial, I goose the front end with an OD pedal of my choice and I keep a Boss GE-7 in the effects loop. I would say if you are getting a good deal on the R30 and need a smaller amp for gigs, go for it.
 
Idk about that model but my Royale Recording has the best clean and lead tones EVER. The lead is so thick and tight, without ever losing definition, no matter how much gain you have, etc. the lead on mine is said to be modeled closer to the Original Knucklehead on the lead channel. Idk but I haven't found an amp that beats it for me.
 
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