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cacheek
New member
What are your thoughts on Rivera amps, especially those in the 50ish watt range for taking pedals, fusion, and alt rock? What do the 55 and 50 watt newer heads (Fandango Quiana, etc.) usually run?
jimistheman
Active member
I have a Rivera KR7 that is built like a tank and super versatile. Great customer service as well!!!
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mjtripper
Member
My main amp is a k-tre combo with a k-tre head and 1x12 tac cab as a backup if that gives you an idea 
Great amps and a great company. The clean channels are great on all of them and then you just pick the overdrive/distortion flavor you want. The kr7 and k100 are probably the most versatile and I like the k-tre because it's a nmv clean that stays clean WAY up and is one of the best pedal platforms I've used. The gain side is british flavored and has just massive amounts of gain. Any specific model you are looking at?
Great amps and a great company. The clean channels are great on all of them and then you just pick the overdrive/distortion flavor you want. The kr7 and k100 are probably the most versatile and I like the k-tre because it's a nmv clean that stays clean WAY up and is one of the best pedal platforms I've used. The gain side is british flavored and has just massive amounts of gain. Any specific model you are looking at?
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thepedalmaster
New member
I played a a knuckle head and it sounded kill it had alot of different options for tones .
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Heritage Softail
New member
They make great gear but have zero marketing presence. If you buy new, you will lose your ass. Buy used.
Great gear.
Great gear.
Death by Uberschall
Active member
bigdaddyd
New member
I love them and they have all but killed my amp gas for at least a decade. I've had at least one Rivera for at least 10-15yrs at this point. My main two amps for awhile now have been a KHR55 and a Chris Duarte model. I used to own a R30 model. I am a huge Rivera fan.
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cacheek
New member
Lots of good comments. Awesome. Glad to know they're respected. I'm thinking about looking at a Rivera instead of a Fender.
Interested in the Pubster 25 head (not sure it'd have enough clean headroom, but only using for recording at home), the Quiana, and Fandango models. I'm playing fusion, progressive, and hard rock.
mjtripper":20egp8ji said:My main amp is a k-tre combo with a k-tre head and 1x12 tac cab as a backup if that gives you an idea
Interested in the Pubster 25 head (not sure it'd have enough clean headroom, but only using for recording at home), the Quiana, and Fandango models. I'm playing fusion, progressive, and hard rock.
Mudder
Active member
I would love to put together a rack of Rivera gear. But I played a Chubster about 10 years ago and it was a killer amp.
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polaris20
Member
For me, Rivera is the otherside of the Mesa coin. Solidly built, sound amazing. Just a different tonal direction.
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mjtripper
Member
cacheek":3rc6h42k said:Lots of good comments. Awesome. Glad to know they're respected. I'm thinking about looking at a Rivera instead of a Fender.
mjtripper":3rc6h42k said:My main amp is a k-tre combo with a k-tre head and 1x12 tac cab as a backup if that gives you an idea
Interested in the Pubster 25 head (not sure it'd have enough clean headroom, but only using for recording at home), the Quiana, and Fandango models. I'm playing fusion, progressive, and hard rock.
I would check out the quiana or fandango as most people I know who have had the pubster series move up to one of the bigger amps shortly just because you can get so many more tones out of them. The pubsters are nice but don't have nearly the feature set of the others. The quiana and fandango are very close to the same amp but differ in the power section so you could get either based on if you prefer el34 or 6l6 output tubes or if you prefer class a power look at the venus 6. Those three are probably the most versatile in the lineup with the kr100 just behind them. Most of the other amps have fewer features but target certain tones the others might not do as well such as the sedonas for acoustic, suprema for jazz, k-tre/kr7/venus 5 for metal, and clubster/pubster/chubster for price point. One thing they all share though is a great clean channel. I've never played a rivera, even the old ones, that didn't just have a great sounding clean.
Mudder
Active member
Rivera should have good cleans. He was a Fender guy before breaking free.
thiswaythatway
Well-known member
My thoughts are that I don't think about them much.
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Anonymous
Guest
Mudder":1i507w7b said:
My K-Tre (non reverb) has the best cleans out of a high gain amp I've ever heard. And I've owned Bogner, Diezel, Mesa, etc.
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2tallmusic
Member
My R55 is still/again my main amp. Perfect cleans as stated before, a perfect pedal basis if you are into fx.
Dave L
Well-known member
I have a Knucklehead K55, the first version without the high gain channel and reverb. Best cleans I´ve ever heard, and the lead channel is a very nice Marshall-ish tone from slight breakup up to cranked JCM800. It also has the best FX-loop you can imagine, and the tone controls have a very nice and big range. I´ll probably never replace it for clean and mid gain tones.
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James M.
New member
Mudder":v9mho4au said:
I've always been curious about Riveras myself. So, if the cleans are Fender-ish, what are the distortion tones based on? Is it Fenderish? Marshall?
Edit: Oops...looks like this question was just answered above!
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cacheek
New member
Is there a Rivera that is Mark IV or V ish? I can't dig the clean on a Mark IV or V but do kind of like the drive on it. Can the Rivera's thump? Maybe get a really good honky sound like say a Suhr Badger?
Anybody know what a used Fandango 55, Quiana 50, and Pubster Royale head runs?
Anybody know what a used Fandango 55, Quiana 50, and Pubster Royale head runs?
bonedarrell
Active member
My hidden guilty craving is a Quianna.....the dude from Taddy Porter gets a great tone from his!
Tonelover
Well-known member
I had a Venus 5 for a while. It was actually a very nice amp with great cleans and an aggressive amount of gain. But at about 40W Class A it could barely keep up with the band when we were playing loud so I had to get rid of it. I bought it new and got my butt kicked on resale after only about three months.
