Anyone know much about Rivera amps?

[markmalin]

I played one of these last night for the first time and was really impressed with the tone. Just wondering how much they differ from the Dumble-style schematic? Was Rivera going for a Dumble tone? If anyone has any info or history, please chime in.

Mark.

[groovtubin]

I played one of these last night for the first time and was really impressed with the tone. Just wondering how much they differ from the Dumble-style schematic? Was Rivera going for a Dumble tone? If anyone has any info or history, please chime in.

Mark.

Paul is a KILLER engineer, if you`ve ever looked at a schematic of one of ""his"" amps, well HE AINT YER AVERAGE joe!!!! It looks NUTHI, an i mean NUTHIN like ordinary......people have asked me to mod them and such, my answer, NO WAY!

[phsyconoodler]

Rivera builds amps that suit his ideas.Some do sound great and others to my ears are sadly lacking.His extensive use of circuit boards is a let-down to me.I recently worked on a 1-15 rivera combo and was under-whelmed at the sound quality,not to mention it weighed as much as a Mack truck.
I find that the D'Lite style of amp with the right speakers is far superior to Rivera's amps.

[markmalin]

Rivera builds amps that suit his ideas.Some do sound great and others to my ears are sadly lacking.His extensive use of circuit boards is a let-down to me.I recently worked on a 1-15 rivera combo and was under-whelmed at the sound quality,not to mention it weighed as much as a Mack truck.
I find that the D'Lite style of amp with the right speakers is far superior to Rivera's amps.

I will admit they are really heavy. The 3 I played, new models I guess, were pretty impressive. Maybe smoother, or less "raw" than the D'Lite. The thing I liked was reverb -- phsyconoodler, I think I'm going to have to implement your reverb circuit in my D-22.

Interesting you should mention the speaker. If I had it to do over again I'd buy the Celestion rather than the Eminence...though one of the Riveras I played had an Eminence (different model) and it sounded fine. The other had a Celestion G12-75, which I know people on the forum have said they don't like, but it sounded pretty good in the Rivera.

Thanks for the input.

[jaysg]

Stick with separate heads and cabs...

He's got two main PCB's and the bulk of his amps use these common boards. I have a Rake, which is the same board for a Knucklehead, R30, R55, Rake Reverb, Quiana, etc. The Dumble experience has proven the truth that the slightest tweaks of components can result in significant differences. They also tend to be tweaked to spedific speakers, so guys who just have to change things, can create problems for themselves.

Richard Johnson (often found at 18watt.com) has a page or two of mods for Rivera amps on his website.

You can find some schematics at blue guitar.

[ampdoc1]

As Groovetubin said, these are not your average amp. Paul combines a lot of solid state control components with the tube circuitry. Not hard to work on if you have the schematic, but pretty complex to work through if you don't have it.
Sound-wise, one of my friends has been using a Rivera stereo head (now on his second one) for 15 years, and he can get pretty much any sound you want out of it. But a couple of other local players have tried them and weren't really satisfied. Unfortunately (for me) I think most amps sound about as good as the player using them.

ampdoc

[markmalin]

Unfortunately (for me) I think most amps sound about as good as the player using them.

ampdoc

I guess in some respects it comes down to that. Dare I say this... after playing the Rivera I thought "why did I build a D-clone? I should have just bought one of these!".... but then the other night I was playing the D and it was really sounding nice, so maybe it's me. I guess it would be interesting to bring my amp into this store and a/b them.

To be honest, the thing that struck me most was how solid it felt twiddling the knobs and such. My amp feels very solid because I chose nice pots, but even so, the Rivera had a more finished quality. Just a curious observation. Makes me want to understand why. Could all be in my head

Mark

[ampdoc1]

jaysg,

Do you have a web address for Richard Johnson? I never pass up an opportunity to save interesting or hard-to-find schematics.

ampdoc

[jaysg]

jaysg,

Do you have a web address for Richard Johnson? I never pass up an opportunity to save interesting or hard-to-find schematics.

ampdoc

Carp! It's been a while since I was there:
http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep= ... 218298&ck=

He's removed all his Rivera info for whatever reason.

http://blueguitar.org/schems.htm#Rivera

I do recall that Rivera's number one mod is to stick a pot in the back panel so that the 'Ninja Boost' (what was he thinking?) is variable. Paul set it for stage level use, not home use.