Early Rivera modded amp ??
Richard
treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
It's got a six position knob plugged into the [2] input on the reverb
channel, a master volume (on a DR!?) and the tremelo speed/depth knobs
are collapsed into a single "2-story" knob.
It's got Fane 80w speaker in it--and TONE FOR DAYS. I A/B'ed it all
day long against a very excellent '68 DR (with original AB763 circuit
and V30)--the modified DR absolutely killed the '68 DR. Hands down,
no question. Part of this is the Fane speaker, I think--such
sparkle!--but some of it sure seems to be the amp. I dimed the master
volume, and when I matched preamp volume, etc., with the '68 volume,
etc., the "Rivera" just blew the '68 away for tone and clarity. All
settings.
The amp's apparently been on a big stage sometime in the past 25
years; it's stencil-marked like equipment is for correct placement on
stage and onto equipment trucks.
Anybody know anything about early Rivera modded amps? How can I
verify this?
--
Disclaimer: This post simply contains some of my personal opinions.
ObURL: http://home.earthlink.net/~huddler Updated: 12/30/1999
Richard
> I received a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp yesterday with an expected
> treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
(Correcting a typo.)
Actually, this was an UNexpected treat. I wasn't expecting to find
what I found.
> [...rest of original post trimmed...it's easy to find...]
PraNa
of hearing about it and might even have some info on it.
http://www.rivera.com
Gary
In article <MPG.12e71af73...@news.earthlink.net>,
Charlie Escher
> I received a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp yesterday with an expected
> treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
>
> It's got a six position knob plugged into the [2] input on the reverb
> channel, a master volume (on a DR!?) and the tremelo speed/depth knobs
> are collapsed into a single "2-story" knob.
>
> It's got Fane 80w speaker in it--and TONE FOR DAYS. I A/B'ed it all
> day long against a very excellent '68 DR (with original AB763 circuit
> and V30)--the modified DR absolutely killed the '68 DR. Hands down,
> no question. Part of this is the Fane speaker, I think--such
> sparkle!--but some of it sure seems to be the amp. I dimed the master
> volume, and when I matched preamp volume, etc., with the '68 volume,
> etc., the "Rivera" just blew the '68 away for tone and clarity. All
> settings.
>
> The amp's apparently been on a big stage sometime in the past 25
> years; it's stencil-marked like equipment is for correct placement on
> stage and onto equipment trucks.
>
> Anybody know anything about early Rivera modded amps? How can I
> verify this?
Hi Richard,
I once worked on an amp very similar to what you described, although
it was a Princeton Reverb. That particular amp was actually pretty nasty
sounding, and the workmanship was less than what I expected from Rivera.
Most likely someone else had "improved" on Paul's work, or else he never
touched the amp in the first place. I cleaned up the hanging components,
etc., and got royally reamed by the customer for my efforts. It sounded
really good when I cleaned it up, but so it goes. I've stopped modding
Deluxes too, even though I feel that I can improve them a lot in the
headroom department.
Anyway, just go straight to the source. Rivera is quite well known
for his responsiveness. BTW, I've got a buddy with Fanes in his old (SF)
Pro Reverb, I prefer them to any Celestion for clean sounds personally.
regards,
Charlie E.
Mike Healy
>> treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
>
went to LA and hit the big time. He mutated my Super Reverb back in the early 70s,
putting it into a separate head, adding a pretty good master volume, and
building me a 4x12 cab. I'm still using that amp although it has gone through
further mutations by Jeff Snider.
I bought the Super originally from Audio Music and Paul told me that when they
got it in, he found a set of works in it. I guess we can figure out why the
previous owner had to sell the thing.
I think he moved to LA around 75 or 76.
Mike Healy
ЯеgюоюЛ mес
>I bought the Super originally from Audio Music and Paul told me that when they
>got it in, he found a set of works in it. I guess we can figure out why the
>previous owner had to sell the thing.
>
So THAT'S where I left the damned thing.
Hey, ....ahem... you still got em by any chance?
;-)
Don Evans
What you have sounds like the real deal, to me. I've still got a Super
Reverb that I had modified by Paul back when his shop wasn't much more than
a garage in La Canada (I don't know how to do the squiggley line over the
"n"). See if any of the controls are push pull, he had bright switch mods,
tone mods, and gain mods ... sorry if I'm stating the obvious. I
recently contacted the company about mine, and got great response, as I'm
sure you will too.
http://www.rivera.com
Best of luck and enjoy the amp ... he was doing great work.
Don
Richard wrote in message ...
>According to my newsreader, hud...@earthlink.net posted...
>> I received a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp yesterday with an expected
>> treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
>
Richard
> Hi Richard,
> What you have sounds like the real deal, to me. I've still got a Super
> Reverb that I had modified by Paul back when his shop wasn't much more than
> a garage in La Canada (I don't know how to do the squiggley line over the
> "n"). See if any of the controls are push pull, he had bright switch mods,
> tone mods, and gain mods ... sorry if I'm stating the obvious.
No, not obvious at all. :) Thanks very much for your help.
There are two pull pots on it: What is now the preamp volume has a
pull pot (which seems to clean it up some), and the treble control has
a pull on it which seems to be a bright switch.
Now to reveal myself as a complete amp goof: it seems like the three
power tubes are different than the 6L6s (?) in the '68 DR. Thinner
and taller.
The amp is somewhat noisy when cranked, but I did have it completely
dimed today for about 30 minutes. I can only say it's got a great
crunchy tone that holds up to both chords and lines really well. I
imagine the 80w "Anistropic Ferrite" Fane speaker has at least some
small role in that, however.
Next stupid question: It'd be nice to get the amp quieted down a bit.
It hums a bit too much to gig with (it's not a ground-sound hum). Am
I looking at a re-tube to accomplish this? I'd really love to use it-
-the amp's got a wonderful, wonderful sound to it.
The 6-position switch I mentioned seems to move from clarity in the
upper mids to this real fat loud end. I did all this with it dimed,
however; I think I'll turn it down and try it all again tomorrow.
Once I complete my (rather naive) inspection, I'll drop PER a note and
see if he's got anything to say about it.
mperr...@gmail.com
> I received a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp yesterday with an expected
> treat: it appears to have been modified by "P.E. Rivera" circa 1977.
>
> channel, a master volume (on a DR!?) and the tremelo speed/depth knobs
> are collapsed into a single "2-story" knob.
>
> It's got Fane 80w speaker in it--and TONE FOR DAYS. I A/B'ed it all
> day long against a very excellent '68 DR (with original AB763 circuit
> and V30)--the modified DR absolutely killed the '68 DR. Hands down,
> no question. Part of this is the Fane speaker, I think--such
> sparkle!--but some of it sure seems to be the amp. I dimed the master
> volume, and when I matched preamp volume, etc., with the '68 volume,
> etc., the "Rivera" just blew the '68 away for tone and clarity. All
> settings.
>
> The amp's apparently been on a big stage sometime in the past 25
> years; it's stencil-marked like equipment is for correct placement on
> stage and onto equipment trucks.
>
> Anybody know anything about early Rivera modded amps? How can I
> verify this?
>
> Disclaimer: This post simply contains some of my personal opinions.
> ObURL: http://home.earthlink.net/~huddler Updated: 12/30/1999
Seeing as it is nearly 17 years since your post, hopefully this makes it through to you! Do you still have your Deluxe Reverb? If so, would you be interested in selling it? Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Mike
55conv...@gmail.com
I have a silver face Deluxe Reverb that was modified by Rivera back in his Valley Arts Days. 6 way switch, pull boost, stacked tremolo, etc.
still has the Valley Arts Guitar sticker on the back panel. It is definitely a lot meaner than an original Deluxe.
I bought it quite a number of years ago and had no idea what it was. Glad I didn’t have it converted back to stock.
It has been 100% reliable since I’ve owned it. Actually, it has been my most reliable amp.
mark1...@gmail.com
Thanks.