Rivera Issues

[Uk Ant]

My sister has let me borrow her late boyfriends Rivera Quiana combo.
She thought it was a waste it just sittng around gathering dust.

Now last time I played through this I was highly impressed, but that was when I had a nasty Marshall Valvestate.

The thing I've found so far is that I can't just plug in wind everything up and it'll sound great, it doesn't. It's just not as smooth and as easier to find tone as the Ashdown. It's also very noisy (might be missing an earth somewhere).

Channel one is just far to fizzy wound all the way up.

Channel two sounds much better, especially for clean tones. I'm not a great fan of bridge humbuckers clean but this amp really does sound sweet.

I'm thinking that perhaps I may need to investigate the low gain input to see if that smooths the sound out a bit.

I know this amp can sound truelly great, but it seems to be taking a lot of fiddling to get it there.

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Rivera Issues

I find that with mine, with all the EQ knobs, just a little goes a long way. For instance I never run the bass much more that 3 on either channel. The mids around 4-7 and highs from 5-7 depending on the guitar and or pickups. And each control effect overall volume and each other tone. This was my biggest learning curve with this amp. You just dont need to crank things as much as you may have with other amps.Try turning them back and slowly work them up. Small adjustments make big changes so go slow. Hope that helps, that is a sweet little amp. Could be time for a retube too

 

[tone4days]

Re: Rivera Issues

put everything on 5 and go from there .. more pre and less post will give you more saturation ... less pre and more post will give you more clean headroom ...

also, check the rivera website and download the manual .. lots of good suggested settings in the book

i played a quiana weekend before last and really really liked it ...

dunno if the one you are playing needs new tubes or not either - worth thinkin about

good luck
t4d

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: Rivera Issues

Cheers for the advice, I've plugged in through the low gian input and it sounds less fizzy, I doubt it should need new tubes (but I have wondered if it does) as it has not had that much use in it's life.

One thing I have noticed is that it's showing up the age of my strings more than my Ashdown.

I'm toying with the idea of taking it to band practise so I can crank up the volume a bit and let it breath some.

Fundamentally it's allot more sensitive to what's plugged into it than the Ashdown, which is great in a way, but as it's not an amp I'm going to keep (or can aford to buy) it makes it a bit of a pain.

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Rivera Issues

Oh yeah , and watch that presence knob. I find more than half way is usually too much.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Rivera Issues

yup ... and same with the reverb ... anything more than about 2 or 3 is SPROINGY city .. too cartoonish .. you might want to back down the bass when you crank the gain to avoid mushiness on Ch 2 as is typical of a Fender-ish circuit ...

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Rivera Issues

Did not know that Rivera's had any other but issues??
Have tried alot of them!!
About one of the few amp brands I never could get a sound out of that I liked much!
Best was with a M60 head with a pair of old greenbacks.....but then my old Park just smoked it in standby...no contest..pretty good for a supposedly onetrick pony amp!
Dunno...they are like Mesa Boogies too me...to much tweak..too little gained by it!
Too nice, too flat, too polite???
Dunno how to say any other way!?!
Lol....runs for cover!

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Rivera Issues

Rid, I used to like you and what you had to say

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Rivera Issues

Well I worked in a store, we had Riveras everywhere...could not sell any of them, used to borrow them, try them, tweak them...in the end...they have not made a single amp I like...hehe well that is all there is to it, same with Mesa Boogie...not my taste either....
My cousin has my old Rake head...he finally blew it up 14 days ago...hehe as he said, I tried to find a good sound...and it blew up
He won't even bother repairing it...he is looking for something else now...and the Rake is going to a dumpster!

 

[kjrocks]

Re: Rivera Issues

Wow,I've never hear any talk like that. A whole store and not one good Rivera? Hey , to each his own . If it wasnt for the PT I wouldnt like you at all j/k

 

[J Moose]

Re: Rivera Issues

I've found that they DO like to be wound up a godo bit... get some power tube push happening.

Rivera's also seem to take a good bit longer to warm up then most other amps aside from real "old" Marshalls... at LEAST 5 minutes on standby! Takes maybe 30-40 minutes of hot time to really start cookin' with fire...

Might be worth swapping preamp tubes around too... I discovered that #4... reverb driver and "mixer" stage makes a WORLD of difference in my Rake Reverb!

Rid ~ Don't dumpster that Rake!!

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Rivera Issues

It is dumped
Sorry it is just not our taste at all...and he bought that amp 9 years ago now....
He was never happy with it.
Besides the output trannie and few other more expensive components blew up!
Not worth throwing any money at it.

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: Rivera Issues

I've tweaked the bass down, swapped inputs to low gain, switched to 'vintage' on the back. Starting to get there now

 

[sosomething]

Re: Rivera Issues

I only have experience with one Rivera - the Knucklehead II. I loved the cleans and hated everything about the OD. I tweaked the crap out of it, ran it hot, tried everything, and I found it incredibly mushy and undefined.

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: Rivera Issues

It must be said the cleans and the slightly driven sounds are superb, but when you crank it up it just doesn't work for me yet.

Just tried it along side my ashdown and the rivera is so far from the kind of tone I like or need for my band.

Now if I was in a blues band, playing a strat or a tele it would be just the thing.

 

[MVI]

Re: Rivera Issues

This is a very perculiar post to me, since I am on my fifth Rivera, and have never had any issues, or tone complaints about any of them. I started with an R30 in the late '80's, and still own an M60, and Clubster. I have found them extremely reliable, and great tone machines. One man's junk is another man's treasure.

 

[Vasshu the humanoid typhoon]

Re: Rivera Issues

We have a R55 at work...most flatsounding amp I ever had the displeasure to play on

 

[Uk Ant]

Re: Rivera Issues

I can't say the Quiano is flat sounding, but it's just not really working for me.

If I was playing in a blues band with a tele it would be the thing, but I'm not.