Jump to content

The Rivera Lounge - Welcome in!

Dave L

By Dave L
in Amps

Recommended Posts

  • Members
Sixtonoize Newbie

Sixtonoize

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Does anyone have the KR7/KR100 schematics?

I've got a KR7 and it's a killer, but I want to make Channel 2 and 3 a little more balanced - maybe make Channel 3 a little darker and 2 a little brighter.

 

Has anyone had luck with preamp tube swapping to correct the balance?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 months later...
  • Replies 1.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members
Dave L Newbie

Dave L

Posted
  • Author
  • Members
Posted
just picked up a Venus 5 head yesterday.


OMG. The best clean sound i've ever heard. The dirty channel is great too. I don't really care much for the retro look, but it's what's on the inside that counts, right?
;)



I think you

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
isvoid Newbie

isvoid

Posted
  • Members
Posted
just picked up a Venus 5 head yesterday.


OMG. The best clean sound i've ever heard. The dirty channel is great too. I don't really care much for the retro look, but it's what's on the inside that counts, right?
;)



I tried one about 3 weeks ago and your thoughts echo mine exactly, tho some peeps here may bristle at your reference to the gainier channel as "the dirty channel". :o

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
^zilla^ Newbie

^zilla^

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Well, I've had a chance to play around with it a bit this weekend.

 

Here are some initial impressions:

 

This is the first amp that i've ever played where i've been able to dial in my sound on both channels with all of the knobs between 11 o'clock and 1 o'clock. it's almost as if this amp was voiced based on the sound in my head :p

 

effects loop: I wish it was switchable. the send and return levels are nice - i can crank the output on the front panel up to get the power tubes going, but turn the efx loop levels down so i don't kill myself.

 

Did i mention that the clean channel is to die for? :D This amp makes me want to learn chicken pickin' riffs and get a semi-hollow and learn more jazz.

 

The built in reverb sounds great - dare i say that this is almost making me consider selling my G Major 2.

 

And now the not-so-good

 

i WISH this amp had midi like the knuckleheads. Rivera uses a proprietary (looks like a midi connector) footswitch. If i could figure out the pin-out then I can have the GM2's relay switching take care of channel switching and boost.

 

my last tube amp was a JCM 900 from the mid 90s. My old set up consists of a tube pre-amp and a solid state power amp. This set up was dead quiet. This amp has a background hiss to it, even on the clean channel, and even with nothing plugged into the inputs or effects loop. It's probably nothing that a noise suppressor couldn't handle, but it still kind of bugs me. I'm not sure if tube amps are supposed to be dead quiet or not. the good news is that the hiss doesn't get louder when i turn the gain up (note i haven't tried to see if the hiss gets louder when i turn the volume up - something to try later tonight).

 

As for the distortion: it won't do brutal metal. i don't think it was ever designed or intended to. get a ktre or one of the other nu metal amps if you want that.

 

The distortion is very harmonically rich and thick. It has rivera's trademark clarity, too. What i do find is that the bottom end seems to lose a bit of it's definition and is not as tight as other amps, but this might be the speaker cab that I'm playing through (marshall 1922 with G12T-75 speakers). One problem that I had with my old set up was a harsh ice-pick sound sometimes when you would stand in front of the speakers. That's non existent with this amp.

 

I'm going to try and record some tones sometime this week and post them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
^zilla^ Newbie

^zilla^

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I emailed Paul Jr. my cable question.

They do have a cable for sale on their web site, but for $70? c'mon. that cable is at MOST $15 in parts. Probably closer to $7 or 8. 8-pin DIN and two stereo 1/2" jacks with cable.

I'll eventually get around to getting a new cab. Maybe a boogie recto cab or equivalent (avatar? saxon?)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Livid Newbie

Livid

Posted
  • Members
Posted

:o
doesn't melt my butter, sorry, could be the mike, sounded kindy buzzy here



I'd have to agree that the single notes did sound rather buzzy. The chords on the other hands sounded great!

What volume was your amp on? I am told that cranking volume alleviates this?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
^zilla^ Newbie

^zilla^

Posted
  • Members
Posted

The master was set to about 11 o'clock, but i used the effects loop to bring the level down as much as possible.

 

This was recorded with a webcam about 4-5 feet in front of the speaker cab. you can still hear the strings on the guitar, so that gives you an idea of how loud it was. I'm going to mess around with the setting some more and try to get some more samples. I'll try rolling back the presence and treble a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Livid Newbie

Livid

Posted
  • Members
Posted

The master was set to about 11 o'clock, but i used the effects loop to bring the level down as much as possible.


This was recorded with a webcam about 4-5 feet in front of the speaker cab. you can still hear the strings on the guitar, so that gives you an idea of how loud it was. I'm going to mess around with the setting some more and try to get some more samples. I'll try rolling back the presence and treble a bit.

 

 

OK, I thought I was hearing audio from a mic. This is only my first week with a Rivera so I really don't know anything.

 

Maybe try letting up a little on the pre-amp gain and turning the master up more should help with the clarity at that volume. Or... you could just crank the living crap out of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
Micky Z Newbie

Micky Z

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I just picked up a Venus 6 2x12 combo, and I've read about people using the effects circuit to either boost or cut the overall volume. I'm curious - what do most people who own this type of amp do? I haven't yet decided how I want to go, but I'm curious if there is a trend in one direction or another. FWIW, I play classic rock using either a Gibson R9 or R4 or PRS Custom 24 or McCarty Soapbar, with very few (or no) in-line effects.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • Members
^zilla^ Newbie

^zilla^

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I'm going to try a few things this weekend.

 

1. efx loop at the mid-point, master set low

2. efx loop at the mid-point, master around 9-11 o'clock, input/output levels on g-major 2 set low.

3. vintage (10watt) mode

 

As for the gain, it was around the mid-point. i'll try rolling back a little bit and see what happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 1 month later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members
aaronandersenlv Newbie

aaronandersenlv

Posted
  • Members
Posted

I've got a very good condition TBR-1SL that was built to order for Mike McCready of Pearl Jam. I have the matching 2x12 cab as well, with custom made Rivera Celestions voiced to this head.
The amp is clean, in good shape and freshly re-tubed. I HATE to let this thing go but I'm looking for a smaller combo amp now. I also have the matching footswitch to go with it. Anyone interested, please write back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 2 weeks later...
  • Members
LatemLive Newbie

LatemLive

Posted
  • Members
Posted

Any KR-7 owners out here?? Trying to tame this head a little bit....anybody familiar with the power section of this amp. Ive tinkered with it a little....but it seems when I change any of the power options to anything other than "Full Power - Modern" it changes the voicing of the amp in a way that Im not to keen on. I just want to cut a little power and tame the volume a little. Right now I just use the FX loop as an attinuator...which is fine too. Just thought if I could get a handle on the power features...I would use them.

Also...any KR-7 owners running 6L6's? Just curious. Love this amp....just curious if swapping to 6L6's would take a little grain out of the high gain channels. They sound killer already....maybe I should just try some passive pups and see how that sounds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Go to topic listing
×
×
  • Create New...