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my first choice any day over the R55.
I used the clean channel for everything (including pedals for lead tones, etc) and only used the dirty channel for a Marshall rhythm tone and nothing else. The clean channel was worth it all by itself. There was also a very nice reverb and a preamp boost. Quite a small cabinet compared to other 1x12 combos. Original speaker was a Celestion Seventy80. I tried a V30 but put the original back, as it suited the amp better.
But I'm not a Rivera expert, just owned one quite happily for some time.
Reckless, can you elaborate a bit on why you thought the Fandango was so great?
I never really used the dirty channel but I loved that amp overall.
That and I wouldn't be seen dead with an amp marked 'Ninja Boost' on the front...
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
Ignoring the later Venus's etc (which I think are just name changes, apart from probably a few tweaks, the feature set etc is the same )
IMO, they are wonderful amps, I see the Fandango/Quiana as the flagships - the R series before them as the 1st editions of those amps with the F/Q being the evolution of the R series.
Chubster/Pubster are the budget range (but still amazing amps)
Fandango is definitely a hugely underrated amp - massively versatile and built like a brick shithouse - overspecced transformers, military grade components..
One of the best High gain amps I have ever owned and only the VHT 100cl came close for gain tones (very different sounds though)
don't know if I would own one again as I have left my metal days behind and went more rock, it was way to high gain and modern sounding for that but did have the best clean channel I have ever heard from a high gain head.
I did go down the solid state route and bought a Blues Cube but had a poor experience with it as it packed up after three gigs so I'm back to using the Rivera with a Fender Blues De Luxe as a back up amp.
Hope this helps.
All great amps, I’d gladly take any of them back but the drive channel on the R30 was deffo the one for me
I recall surprising a lot of people at a gearfest with just how loud and non-boxy such a little thing could sound.
As soon as I turn it on it starts redplating the powertubes
I tried swapping out the power tubes in the rivera for some others that are known to be good and it did the same thing.
Then I took the power tubes from the rivera and tested them in a marshall and they worked fine.
Setting the bias does not seem to make any difference...