Who's using Rivera?

Camstone

Camstone

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I'm in the market for a new amp and found a used Rivera Quiana 2x12 locally. Going to give it a test drive tomorrow afternoon. It belongs to a nightclub owner here in the town where I work. He claims to be a collector and has a bunch of boutique amps that he is liquidating including three Mesas, the Rivera and a Matchless.

Anyone got any feedback on this amp or on Riveras in general. I'm gigging in clubs, at church, and doing a fair amount of recording. The Rivera webpage looked like the Quiana is exactly what I'm looking for and the Harmony Central reviews are unanimously positive.

How would this compare to a Mesa?

Thanks!

 
I had a Rivera. It was built like a tank and had the weight to show for it. Very versatile, but ultimately not the sound I was looking for.

 
i have owned a bm60 head for quite a few years now. they are built very well as david mentioned. i don't know why he hates them (;-)).

on the m series, the lead channel is voiced like a marshall and the clean channel is voiced like a fender. there is a mid shift on the clean channel to cover blackface/tweed preferences. the lead channel has some shifts to change the gain structure quite bit.

they are very versatile amps and can cover a lot of territory. i use mine with an 80's cover band and have been very pleased with it over the years. you MUST make sure it has decent power tubes and that they are biased per rivera specs. this makes a huge difference with these amps. i don't know which footswitch comes with the quiana but the m series switch has a ton of options. the loop can be set as a boost and footswitched in and out as needed. the ninja boost is on there too as is the reverb, lead/rhythm and lead boost.

 
I've been using a Rivera Thirty Twelve combo for the last couple of years & I love it - best guitar amp I've ever had. Twin channel - one "Marshall-y" & one "Fender-y" plus a boost circuit for each channel. Very versatile, does all I need an amp to do. Great build quality & totally reliable - I'd recommend it to anyone.

 
astainback, a member here, has that same amp (quiana 2x12)... i'll tell him to contact you or post a message here.

 
Camstone,

Paul builds great amps. My favorite builder of two channel amps. The Quiana would be high on my list, except that as others have mentioned...you better be able to carry it.

Watch out for the new Venus 6 and Venus 3 (the supposed NEW Super Champ). The 3 hasn't been announced yet, but they will. Just talked to Paul last week.

 
"i have owned a bm60 head for quite a few years now. they are built very well as david mentioned. i don't know why he hates them (;-))."

LOL.... I hate everything and everyone. NO, seriously.

I don't do well with too many pull and push pots. Too many options for me.

 
I've got 2, an R55 1x12 and and KnuckleHead K100. I gig them ALOT and they never let me down.

They sound fantastic if you're after a better Marshall grind along side of a killer fender clean channel, and they are very sturdy (ie HEAVY AS HELL). I personally would never lug around a 2x12 /emoticons/default_cool.png might as well bring a (half)stack if you gonna carry some gear!!!

Most of the Mesa amps that I've tried have more gain and punch and still don't sound as good with a band FWIW.....

edit- I'll probably never need another amp....ever /emoticons/default_biggrin.png

 
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I use a r30-112 and a m60-112 regularly at gigs. the r30 is an awesome light weight 2 channel marshall-fender sound amp. My m60 is giving me fits right now and I think it needs a bias so its in the shop but I love rivera amps.

 
Thanks guys! That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I'm going to try it out tomorrow mid afternoon at the guy's club.

I think I can pick it up for $1K. Maroon tolex with cover and casters. He says it has a serial number of 13 and has maybe 20 hours total playing time on it.

I'll report back after I run it through it's paces.

 
Rhys said:
I've been using a Rivera Thirty Twelve combo for the last couple of years & I love it - best guitar amp I've ever had. Twin channel - one "Marshall-y" & one "Fender-y" plus a boost circuit for each channel. Very versatile, does all I need an amp to do. Great build quality & totally reliable - I'd recommend it to anyone.
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If I had spotted his thread before, I would have written those exact words.

Amazing amps. I have had several Mesas, and the Rivera eats them for lunch (unless you play Limp Bizkit stuff /emoticons/default_cool.png ).

To me, Rivera is the Hamer of amps.

(Edited for zpelyn')

 
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When I get the money, a Rivera amp will be my next purchase. I was totally floored when I tried them out. I think you'll be impressed.

 
Funny this thread came up. I dusted off my Quiana 2x12 for a rehearsal last night. (My normal gear was in the trailer & I just couldn't bring myself to unpack/repack.)

Anyhoo...Rivera's are very well built, versatile, loud & heavy to boot. Plus they look sexy as all git out.

I've had a love hate affair with this particular amp over the years. They tend to be pretty picky about the tubes you run in them. There's a few fan pages on the net that describe which toobz tend to sound better in them. I need to sit down & follow some of their suggestions one o' these days.

Here's my #1 gripe with this amp. This particular Quiana will sound like utter shite to my ears one night and then the next, it's my dream amp again. But I will say this, it sits in a band mix very well. Fortunately, last night we were getting along together.

Gripe #2: Doesn't seem to jive with my P90 guitars very well.

Over & above that, they're good dependable amps. /emoticons/default_cool.png

 
tombo said:
Watch out for the new Venus 6 and Venus 3 (the supposed NEW Super Champ). The 3 hasn't been announced yet, but they will. Just talked to Paul last week.
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I thought they launched the Pubster (and Clubster) as "the NEW Super Champ" a couple of years back. Not that it was, nothing beats the Super Champ /emoticons/default_biggrin.png(just kidding as proud SC owner).

This is how they chose to market those amps. But I guess every trick is re-usable.... /emoticons/default_cool.png

"Rivera Amplifiers are legendary for not only the best tone on the planet, but also for rugged construction and a long life. This tradition continues in the latest additions to our growing family: Introducing the Rivera Pubster and Clubster series. Compact and lightweight, yet big on tone, the all-tube amplifiers in this remarkable new series will please amateurs and pros alike.

Paul Rivera designed the now-collectible Super Champ® for Fender in the early 80s, and now the Rivera Pubster and Clubster series delivers the tone and versatility that will create new legends in the 21st Century."

 
I own the Quiana 2x12" with the vintage style cabinet (amp mounted to back of cabinet.. like the Fender hotrod deluxe).

I really like the amp. I can dial in pretty much any sound I want.

I run channel 2 (American channel) clean (no breakup) with the mid notch push/pull pulled for the Fender blackface sound. I run channel 1 (British) slightly over driven and use the boost to get more gain.

I am using a delay, chorus, and tremolo through the effects loop. I use a wah and fuzz before the amp.

I am getting all of my gain from the amp now.. even though I love my gain pedals. The tubescreamer is awesome on this amp.

I would consider buying it. I have tried out some different Mesa amps.. and i wasn't a big fan. They were good, but thin sounding to me by comparison.

 
Just got back from trying out the Rivera. Really liked the clean channel, but couldn't achieve full erection on the lead channel. Don't know if it was bad tubes or bias or what, but I couldn't get the dirty channel dialed in even after sitting there and playing around with it on the stage of his closed nightclub for 45 minutes. The distortion was just not "butter" like. I passed.

There's a used Rivera Fandango 100 212 at Emerald City Guitars in Seattle owned by my buddy Jay "Soul Proprieter" Boone. I'll go give that one a whirl. He wants more $$$ than the Quiana, but I just want to hear one of these things sing.

Look what else Jay happens to have on hand:

Burstage

 
you nailed perfectly the trouble I am having with my m60. distortion is not "marshall" like it is voiced at all (to my ears anyway)so the reason its in the shop. I have read bias is very critical as is tube selection so I'll let the amp dude fix it/tweak it/mod it/whatever it takes.

 
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