Carol- Ann for metal? how is the Rivera Ktre ?

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The Rivera Knucklehead Tre is reviewed and discussed in the "Amplifier Reviews" section. The initial review is a few years old, but comments have been added over time including this year.
 
The Riveras are real sleepers, I´ve had a few and have played most of them. Fairly expensive new, but awesome buys on the used market. Very solid construction.

As for the Tre specifically, it´s a very aggressive head with a ridiculous amount of gain available and a huge and punchy low end. A very modern amp in that regard. Riveras tend to sit well in a mix but can sound a bit harsh or fizzy on their own once you get the gain up, but that´s by design and something you either like or don´t. They also need to be loud, at around 3.5 on the master they all wake up and sound like they´re supposed to - and by that point you´re well beyond bedroom levels. They all have one of the best clean channels available anywhere, which is a very nice bonus and a real selling point. For my 80s-90s taste the regular three-channel Knucklehead Reverb is plenty modern enough, and the Tre is a bit too much for me with all that gain and bass.
 
K-Tre...i owned one for a couple of years. Cleans are some of the best... gain is very cool, but that low end was just too flubby and loose for me. i even contacted and talked with Paul Jr (great guy), he gave me specs to mod it to tighten the low end... it helped but I still couldn't jive with it. just my opinion. (tube rolled endlessly with that amp, even SED Wing Cs couldn't help it.) if the low end could be more pronounced and tighter i would put it up there with the best.
 
The k-tre is a great amp, I had a head and combo for a long time. The only reason I sold them was I got into building my own amps.
 
I didn't like the knucklehead. Like dude said it was fizzy as hell. Worse than the 6505 and idk just wasn't brutal enough for me but I never played it in a mix with a band so idk. That might change things.
 
I had a Rivera TBR 1SL, very cool amp that is a 60/60w per side rack beast. You can run any octal tube in it I believe, although I had 34s in it. It was previously owned by Jason Bieler of Saigon Kick. Best clean channel of any high gain amp I've had, although my 2C+ is close. Very Marshally. PTP wiring, great customer service. They also made a 120/120w version too. Riveras are underrated imo. My drummer owns that amp now.
 
dude try to find a fuchs viper or manits.

seriously underrated amps. andy builds a mean dumble ish amp but he is just a great builder period. his high gain amps get no love but they are amazing. joel from killswitch uses or used a viper a some point, so did zach from shinedown and troy from evanescence.
 
Carol Ann Triptik 2 is killer, yes for metal but not fizzy scooped metal. I had the prototype and recorded a song with it and it was insanely good.

I have yet to hear a Rivera that did it for me.
 
Carol Ann's Triptik is definitely capable of metal (and a lot more). It's been replaced now with the Triptik 2, which I haven't played personally, but has some cool features like auto-biasing and will let you run a lot of different tube options. The Tucana series might work for metal too, but the Triptik is definitely first choice.
 
I own a Triptik and love it but I don't think you would be happy with it if you bought it just for metal (especially like mentioned above if you wanted a really scooped more "modern" sound). I haven't tried the Triptik2 but I'm sure like all Alan's amps it kicks ass.
 
^That's probably a good way to think of it. The Triptik can do metal, but I wouldn't buy it for metal - I'd buy it because it's a great amp.
 
maddnotez":1pf33lim said:
I didn't like the knucklehead. Like dude said it was fizzy as hell. Worse than the 6505 and idk just wasn't brutal enough for me but I never played it in a mix with a band so idk. That might change things.
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They sound best with LOTS of volume--the Tre is an absurdly loud amp--and a boost to tighten up the low end.

I prefer the KR-series amps, which are more versatile and, save for the KR7, no more expensive on the used market.
 
The triptik 2 actual has a much broader gain range and ability to get aggression out of the amp. WAY more gain than the old triptik. The cleans sounds are also amazing. I have the 1st Triptik made and the Triptik2 is better.


xzacx":3dzyf68h said:
^That's probably a good way to think of it. The Triptik can do metal, but I wouldn't buy it for metal - I'd buy it because it's a great amp.
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I love most of the Carol Ann amps and have owned a bunch of them over the years. I haven't heard the new Triptik 2, but had the Triptik 50 & TripR. They will do metal just fine, but lack the squish/sizzle/fuzz that you get with the Bogner/Diezel/Mesa amps. That is a bonus is every other type of music for the most part, but a little bit of a negative for palm muting metal. IMO

I am interested in the the Triptik 2 though :)
 
The K-Tre is a great "layering" amp for recording. On its own it can get fatiguing but it blends well with Boogies, Diezels and probably many more.
 
The Triptik clean is one of the best. I liked the drive at home but didnt quite cut it live for me but Im sure others dig it.I would like to try the T2. I would really like to try the latest Tucana as I think I would dig that more but probably less metal sounding
 
i had rivera tbr-1 and carol ann OD2r
not sure either were metal amps

best for metal i've played:

mesa mark III coliseum
cameron atomica
diezel herbert
vht cl100
uberschall
 
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