It has all of the Twin DNA but because of the era they tried to put some gain in the amp. There is also a presence control. Great cleans, awesome reverb, and decent gain. Like all Twins, they are fantastic pedal platforms. For a while, no one wanted to touch these amps you could find them cheap. All of a sudden they became a "collectible" amp because it was Kurt Cobain's preferred studio amp. They are great sounding amps if you can find a good deal grab one. However, I personally would not pay collector's prices for one.
I got mine used for $650-with new power tubes, bias, and tech once-over included. I thought that was fair. My amp was a back line rental, but it’s in pretty good shape.
That is a steal they are going for $900+ these days. They take to boost very well, I would also check it out with some classic ground-to-diode distortion, MXR D+, DOD 250 or an old Tan ROSS Distortion if you can find one at a good price. With the right stomp those amps do metal and hard rock really nice.
I've used both a Twin II and Deluxe II, and both were exceptional amps with excellent cleans ideal for any gain pedals.
i had a red knob twin which is similar in some ways. big, loud, and heavy. those rivera amps are pretty sweet all around though
The red knob era of Fender is often overlooks and forgotten. A lot of great amps came out of Fender at that time.
I am having trouble getting a distorted/breakup tone at lower volumes-even with a pedal or two. You have to have the guitar volume high enough to drive the pedal and then you’re too loud on the amp. I need to mess around with the second channel some more though. Maybe that will do it.
Not just overlooked...there is a lot of active hate out there. I don't get it.