NAD! Bargain of the year!

DrJazzTap

I really had no intention of buying another amp. I'm due to move into my first home in less than a months time, but this was far too good to pass by.
Sadly the seller has motor neuron disease and is now selling off his gear very cheap. He put this on facebook yesterday and was only asking £200 for it, he was a lovely guy as well.
I was always intrigued by Rivera amps...it was either this or I was going to bid on a Speedtwin head at the next guitar auction, much to @ICBM dismay (I had one years ago and always felt I should give it a second chance). I had to drive 240 miles for this amp. I need to find a manual online, it has a lot of options and push pots etc. Initial impressions. The clean channel is really nice, I need to get to grips with the OD channel. But so far I'm very impressed. I think it's a BM60 2X12 20th anniversary.
 

newi123

I saw this but wasn't close enough, although closer than you!

Nice amp. Bet it weighs a ton..........

DrJazzTap

newi123 said:

I saw this but wasn't close enough, although closer than you!

Nice amp. Bet it weighs a ton..........

It's not as bad as I was expecting to be honest, slightly more than a blues deluxe.

FelineGuitars

I saw that and thought what a bargain!

ICBM

£200?!!

What a huge bargain!

Less than the Speed Twin would have cost you in repairs the first time it blew up, probably .

DrJazzTap

ICBM said:

£200?!!

What a huge bargain!

Less than the Speed Twin would have cost you in repairs the first time it blew up, probably .

Thanks I can't believe its the same price as a Boss Katana 50. I am probably going to sell my Blues deluxe when I move in. But the quality of the Rivera is obvious, it's clearly very well put together.

Aww they can't be that bad can they? Although I bow to your superior knowledge. I think they have a 50 watt head which has an estimate of 150-250. An then add on 24% and vat etc etc, it would still end up a lot more than the Rivera.

ICBM

DrJazzTap said:

Thanks I can't believe its the same price as a Boss Katana 50.

I could be wrong, but I think that even given how undervalued Riveras are in general, one of these has to be worth at least £500, and probably more.

DrJazzTap said:

Aww they can't be that bad can they? Although I bow to your superior knowledge. I think they have a 50 watt head which has an estimate of 150-250. An then add on 24% and vat etc etc, it would still end up a lot more than the Rivera. 

They can certainly fail in quite complicated and expensive ways... the main power amp PCB has a tendency to catch fire in various places .

DrJazzTap

ICBM said:

DrJazzTap said:

Thanks I can't believe its the same price as a Boss Katana 50.

I could be wrong, but I think that even given how undervalued Riveras are in general, one of these has to be worth at least £500, and probably more.

DrJazzTap said:

Aww they can't be that bad can they? Although I bow to your superior knowledge. I think they have a 50 watt head which has an estimate of 150-250. An then add on 24% and vat etc etc, it would still end up a lot more than the Rivera. 

They can certainly fail in quite complicated and expensive ways... the main power amp PCB has a tendency to catch fire in various places .

Thanks, I know that Richtone have a Chubster 45 for sale for £499. Any reason why Riveras are so undervalued? Is the lack of high gain or lack of a Mesa badge?  The seller said he bought the amp for £600 last year, so that has to be about right.

Eek glad I dodged a bullet on that one then!

ICBM

DrJazzTap said:

Any reason why Riveras are so undervalued? Is the lack of high gain or lack of a Mesa badge?

Several reasons I think.

Lack of a high-profile famous user roster - Robin Guthrie is the only person I've ever seen using one at 'rock star' level. (Apart from Nigel Kennedy, and that doesn't help .)

Not a very 'distinctive' sound - good at the 'one channel Fender, one channel Marshall' thing, but can you really identify what a Rivera amp sounds like on record?

'Ninja Boost'. Oh dear. Still, you can only see it if you look closely...

DrJazzTap

ICBM said:

DrJazzTap said:

Any reason why Riveras are so undervalued? Is the lack of high gain or lack of a Mesa badge?

Several reasons I think.

Lack of a high-profile famous user roster - Robin Guthrie is the only person I've ever seen using one at 'rock star' level. (Apart from Nigel Kennedy, and that doesn't help .)

Not a very 'distinctive' sound - good at the 'one channel Fender, one channel Marshall' thing, but can you really identify what a Rivera amp sounds like on record?

'Ninja Boost'. Oh dear. Still, you can only see it if you look closely...

I'm trying to find a manual at the moment, a lot of push knobs!! Notch, Gain 1, Gain 2. Ninja boost yes...and Slavemaster haha!

The only Rivera guy I can think of is Mick Thompson from Slipknot/Stonesour, but I have no idea what any of his songs are.

newi123

Didn't Prince use Rivera?

DrJazzTap

newi123 said:

Didn't Prince use Rivera?

Possibly I've seen photos of them on stage, I always thought he was a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker user.

normula1

Steve Lukather used them for a good while until they fell out over royalties

DiscoStu

200 squids?? That's practically theft!
I played a Rivera about 20 years ago and it was astonishingly good, with divine cleans. Couldn't afford it then, can't justify it now! But 200 squids though...

DrJazzTap

DiscoStu said:

200 squids?? That's practically theft!
I played a Rivera about 20 years ago and it was astonishingly good, with divine cleans. Couldn't afford it then, can't justify it now! But 200 squids though...

I have no need for this amp, that's the thing. I don't gig anymore. I just know that I like the Blues Deluxe, but it's not quite what I'm after. Something with a bit more gain (which granted isn't what the BD was designed for), this seems very tweakable. And I've been considering a chubster for a while. I was dreading the weight of it, but it's not Mesa or Fender Twin levels. I haven't weighed it yet, but it has two side handles. Slightly more than the Blues Deluxe.

I did feel bad for buying it at that price, but he just wanted it gone. If I hadn't have snapped it up, I'm sure somebody else would have straight after me.

DiscoStu

How about £210 plus postage? 

ICBM

DrJazzTap said:

I was dreading the weight of it, but it's not Mesa or Fender Twin levels. I haven't weighed it yet, but it has two side handles.

I always find this, and the size and balance, makes more difference than the outright weight - a compact, well-balanced amp is much easier to move than a large ungainly one with only a top handle, even if it’s actually heavier.

You could reduce the weight noticeably with a pair of neodymium speakers if necessary, and still have spent no more than you might get for the Blues Deluxe.