Strymon Riverside Is INCREDIBLE

[BSRIAudio]

I bought the Sunset because I wanted the various overdrives and stacking options and it works really well for boosting my amps in various ways or running quiet into a clean channel for late night playing. The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box.

Well I just got back home from the store. I had to go back and play the Sunset -- convinced that it could sound better. The first time, the guy at the store was dialing in the pedal for me. I wasn't digging the tones it was getting, then I dialed in the Riverside myself and ended up buying it. Today, it was back to the same setup; a cheap dual humbucker guitar and a Fender Hot Rod. The Sunset sounded better this time around on half of the settings. The Texas setting on A is to my liking, not the treble setting. On B, the Z setting was best. I didn't care for the other two settings that much.

What really made the difference was the A<->B switch. I think it was combining the Texas with the Z setting had a tighter kind of bass response; not so fuzzy. I was digging it a lot. It still has a flatter kind of feel to it than the Riverside, but what I noticed is that when you switch to a spongier feeling amp, it helps a lot. With Fender, notes give easily. They're very touch responsive. On an amp with a chewier feel, like this Blackstar Artist they had, it responded nicely.

Overall I think the Sunset has some great tones to offer. My preference is still for the Riverside, but to tell you the truth, I wouldn't mind owning both. In fact, maybe that's the genius of Strymon. Now I own 4 Strymon pedals. They have a brilliant way of making you want more of their stuff. I also upgraded my power supply from a daisy-chained Ojai to a Zuma... soooo much better man. I love the Zuma.

The 3-way bright switch on the Sunset is also a cool feature. The Hard clipping mode on B is a great high gain distortion into a clean amp. Then you can boost it with the Treble booster on A but dial in the amount of bass you want with the tone knob. Its a wonderfully flexible pedal that is the next generation of Fulldrive type effect IMO. All in one box to use with any amp and enough modes that something will work.

 

[ejecta]

The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box.

The Riverside is far from just a high gain pedal. That's a bunch of nonsense.

 

[BSRIAudio]

The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box.

The Riverside is far from just a high gain pedal. That's a bunch of nonsense.

And a high gain amp's gain channel can do a lot more than just high gain. Saying something about a pedal isn't inherently saying that's the only thing it does.

 

[SavageRiffer]

The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box.

The Riverside is far from just a high gain pedal. That's a bunch of nonsense.

To be fair, the term "high gain" is subjective. A lot of people still call the JCM800 a high gain amp though it's clearly in the low gain range by todays standards. The Riverside is capable of quite an amount of gain. It doesn't go into metal and brootz territory, but it can turn a pristine clean channel into a saturated lead channel. I think that's more like what he meant by that.

 

[ejecta]

The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box.

The Riverside is far from just a high gain pedal. That's a bunch of nonsense.

And a high gain amp's gain channel can do a lot more than just high gain. Saying something about a pedal isn't inherently saying that's the only thing it does.

"The Riverside is essentially supposed to be a high gain amp channel in a box."

Sure sounds like you are saying that very thing. It can do anything from a fairly cleanish boost on up to high gain.... it's not "essentially a high gain in a box"

 

[blackba]

the Riverside and sunset stirred up so many interesting comments on TGP, mostly related to the digital elements in them.

I would still like to try both. I find both have some really cool and clever features, but I doubt they will beat out my Kingsley pedals for what I want to do.

 

[SavageRiffer]

the Riverside and sunset stirred up so many interesting comments on TGP, mostly related to the digital elements in them.

I would still like to try both. I find both have some really cool and clever features, but I doubt they will beat out my Kingsley pedals for what I want to do.

It's digital and analog so I don't know what they're complaining about. I remember a few crazy threads erupting over JHS pedals.

 

[prodrigu]

I agree. I used mine for low gain, high gain (favorite) and boost (via external footswitch). Amazing pedal which does it all for me.