Rivera Amps?

[picture_of_nectar]

I'm thinking of replacing my Fender Deluxe Reverb with a Rivera Fandango 55w amp.

Any thoughts?

http://www.rivera.com/products/fandango/fand212-55.php

I played one in a localy owned guitar shop and it sounded phenomenal.

Also condidering the Venus 3 15 watt, for a more affordable option.
http://www.rivera.com/products/venus/venus3.php

[picture_of_nectar]

Well, I pulled the trigger on the Rivera Venus 3. So far I love it! The Fandango is a cool Amp, but weighs about 20lbs more and costs and extra $500. It has two chanels with a foot switch which is nice, but I mostly add overdrive with my TS9 anyway. Basically it came down to not needing 55w and the Venus sounded better to me at low volume.
http://www.rivera.com/products/venus/venus3.php

This Amp is 15w with a switch in the back that drops the wattage to 7. This is nice because I mostly pay in the basement at night and this way I can practice without headphones and not wake up my wife. Any 7-15w practice amp i have played sounds like shit, but the Venus retains good tone even when in the "Vintage" 7w setting. My Fender Deluxe lost most of it's tone when played at the volumes I'm typically able to play at.

It can do a Marshall Crunch with a gain control, and either a Tweed or Fender Blackface crips tone with the pull Mid knob notch. Tons of tonal variety with this amp.

Only thing I would like is a foot switch for the gain boost...

Here is my rig:


-PRS Hollowbody II Spruce
-Garmopat moded Tomas Crown Crybaby Wah
-TS9 Silver
-Bi-Comp
-Mini-Chorus
-Keeley Maxon AD9 Delay
-Rivera Venus 3

I also have a seperate loop that goes out to->
-Korg Pitchblack Tuner
-Boss RC 20 Looper
-Roland AC-90 Amp

The Roland sounds awesome with my PRS Piezo system.

Oh, and that is a Taylor 614ce. I also have a Martin HD-16R LSH Dread.

[picture_of_nectar]

Thanks, I absolutely love the PRS.  It's a fine instrument and I'll never sell it. I scored it pretty cheap on craigslist from a guy who must have just kept it hanging on the wall as a showpiece, it was in perfect shape. The spruce adds a nice warm woody tone that just sings the blues when you touch it. I have to actually force myself away from a blues sound whenever I noodle around with it. I've been playing it for almopst 8 months and am still experimenting with the different tones it has, especially when you start playing with the Piezo. Now with this new amp the possibilities seem endless.

Perhaps I'll swap the pups like you did someday. Was it a big improvement over the stock PRS humbuckers?

I'm thinking about getting a G+L Legacy Strat with single coil pups just to add a little variety. For a while I was al dead set on duplicating Trey's tone, but the more I pick up strats the more I enjoy the clean crispness to them, apparently the Rivera sounds amazing with a Strat. I basically decided to really get that Trey tone you need a Languedoc anyway...maybe someday.

Also the Maxon Delay is really cool! I have been trying to stick with all Analog pedals. They just sound better with the PRS. I'm thinking about getting Keeleys foot pedals that allow you to modulate the delay time. I have a Boss DD7 also but have been letting my firend use it for a while now. He likes that you can tap the tempo out on it to set the delay time, but I'm not a big fan of the digital tone...I should play with it some more I guess.

I have the Ross on almost all the time, and use the TS9. I don't use the Chorus pedal much but it's kinda fun with country type tunes like Farmhouse.

All the pedals are true bypass except the TS9 and looper.

[Walker done done]

So you obviously like the Bi-Comp...is yours noisy?  I sent mine back to Mike b/c the Ross side was so friggin' loud/noisy (it both "popped" when I engaged it and created a lot of hiss/white noise when on) that I couldn't take it, so I returned it for an Orange Squeeze by itself (which is not noisy what-so-ever) and bought a 4-knob Keeley comp, which I very much like and is quiet as can be.  It's also nice to have those 4 knobs on the outside of the pedal for adjustments on the fly if need be.

[picture_of_nectar]

Yo Walker,
Yeah I'm pretty happy with the Bi-Comp. I keep the Ross on pretty much all the time. I guess it might "pop" a bit, but I'm not gigging, so it hasn't bothered me. I'll have to check and see later if it does or not. It adds some white noise, but sort of what you associate with adding gain. I like it. I really can't stand noise, even the hum of the amps power bothers me, so I guess my Bi-Comp is ok because I haven't noticed it adding much noise.

So, I decided to upgrade from the Venus to the Fandango, so I need to update that pic now.

The Fandango seemed so much more versitile in the long run at 55 watts, with 2 channels and footswitch. It's a crazy amp, there are so many tone options it's almost a little over the top. It's kind of like having 4 different amps. It's going to take me a while to dial in my favorite tone with the PRS, but I think I'll get get there. Seems impossible to get bored with the sounds this thing can produce.

I'd recomend checking one out.

Oh, I also decided to keep the Deluxe and loan it out to a friend who needs it more then I do.

[ColForbin]

Hey man,

Those Rivera amps rock, or at least the one I tried did.  Not sure if anyone here has heard of the jamband, Nero?  They aren't currently playing, (the bass player they had is a friend of mine and live here in PEI) but Dave Lauzon, their guitar player, was playing a Rivera for a while I believe, and he always sounds killer.  If you ever decide to sell the DR, let me know as I have a buddy who is constantly looking for a new amp and loves the Fender Deluxe Reverb.

Walker, does your Keeley comp pop when you turn it on?  And can anybody shed some light on why some comps are popping when turned on, and others not, and I mean comps of the same make.  Walker, you bi-comp pops, but apparently Picture's doesn't and a guitar buddy of mine has one, and his doesn't pop either....kind of strange.

Picture of nectar, nice setup man, looking forward to some pics of the fandango.  I almost went Rivera myself, but decided against it.

[picture_of_nectar]

The Rivera Fandango is pretty cool.

You can get a ton of different tones out of it. I dig having a crunch channel, provides sweet distortion.

The only thing I am not a fan of is the gain boost for both channels because ther is a huge volume jump, and there is no way to change the boost volume. So if I use them I have to volume down on the guitar right before popping the boost. I just don't use them much.

Other then that minor complaint I really dig the amp. I can get sweet feedback out of it at a really low volume which is nice for home.

[ColForbin]

The Rivera Fandango is pretty cool.

You can get a ton of different tones out of it. I dig having a crunch channel, provides sweet distortion.

The only thing I am not a fan of is the gain boost for both channels because ther is a huge volume jump, and there is no way to change the boost volume. So if I use them I have to volume down on the guitar right before popping the boost. I just don't use them much.

Other then that minor complaint I really dig the amp. I can get sweet feedback out of it at a really low volume which is nice for home.

That's one thing I love about my H&K head.  On my drive channel, I have options to use the boost, which like yours, is quite a bit louder than your normal volume.  But then there is this feature called "2nd volume".  Essentially there is a dial on the back of the amp and when I have rolled all the way to the right it's 1.5x the normal volume.  If I want less, I can have the knob rolled back some, and both of these are executed using the footswitch.  It's pretty cool.