BEST SOLID STATE

Snags

Isn't the answer to the OP's question supposed to feature a Roland Blues Cube in the list somewhere, or is that all marketing puff?

samzadgan

ICBM said:

No, the red knob amps are not Rivera era!!! I’m not sure how this myth has come about.

They’re the first series from the new post-CBS Fender company and have nothing to do with Rivera at all.

(The red knob ‘The Twin’ is not the ‘Evil Twin’ either, but that’s another common mistake...)

The red knob solid state amps are like all modern Fender solid-state and most valve amps - they have a great clean sound and reverb, which takes *most* pedals quite well but can sound harsh with fuzz or hard distortion, and an overdrive channel which no-one ever uses .

Actually the distortion can be usable, but the red-knob ones are even less intuitive than most of the others - not helped by having some unfamiliar names/functions (eg ‘Limiter’), generally too much gain, and are very sensitive and interactive to dial in. You’ll probably never get a traditional valve-like overdrive out of one no matter what... but they can be ‘interesting’, if you like that sort of thing!

They’re also quite well-made and generally reliable, although beginning to show their age now. The most common fault is broken jacks, they use the notoriously brittle PCB ‘box’ jacks with a metal insert in the centre and a large thin metal nut.

I’ve read it in a few places where people talk highly about those red knob solid state amps and they put it down to “Rivera era”.

all I know is everyone I played sounded horrible...so I never understood the big deal about them. I didn’t think the clean was particularly great either...it sounded like most other solid state amps...granted others may be emulating the way fender sounds...but the fact that it didn’t take pedals and dirt I found unuseable rendered them useless.

ICBM

samzadgan said:

I’ve read it in a few places where people talk highly about those red knob solid state amps and they put it down to “Rivera era”.

It really is a pervasive myth that's very difficult to correct...

The *actual* Rivera-era solid-state amps are very different - for a start they don't have red knobs - and also sound very good. The models are the Studio Lead, Stage Lead (not to be confused with the later Stage, although that might be part of the problem), London, Montreux, Showman (a combo, unlike the valve ones - 200W!), Harvard and Yale... I think that's the lot.

Jalapeno

It's all right suggesting replacing valves mid gig, but most of us haven't a clue what we're doing, I'd even say it's dangerous.  

It's analogous to changing a busted string - for me that's a grab-the-other-guitar and sort-it-in-the-interval moment.

I always have something else as a standby, guitar and amp.

vasselmeyer

ICBM said:

samzadgan said:

I’ve read it in a few places where people talk highly about those red knob solid state amps and they put it down to “Rivera era”.

It really is a pervasive myth that's very difficult to correct...

The *actual* Rivera-era solid-state amps are very different - for a start they don't have red knobs - and also sound very good. The models are the Studio Lead, Stage Lead (not to be confused with the later Stage, although that might be part of the problem), London, Montreux, Showman (a combo, unlike the valve ones - 200W!), Harvard and Yale... I think that's the lot.

Not to derail the SS topic of the thread, but I once played through a Fender Concert, which I believe was a Rivera design, and it had a wonderful clean sound which I still think back on. It's a shame that the Rivera designs aren't more well-known.

Dave_Vader

Snags said:

Isn't the answer to the OP's question supposed to feature a Roland Blues Cube in the list somewhere, or is that all marketing puff?

Knackers to the Blues Cube, my old 1985 Cube 60 sounds bloody amazing though.
Cleans forever, and takes pedals beautifully. Even does lengthy feedback that doesn't sound like I stood on a cat.