Thoughts on the Rift Americana

dazzajl

Winny_Pooh said:

It looks beautiful! Having already played the vyse you refer too, what speaker did you choose for this over a blue and why? 

It’s a WGS G12A Alnico Speaker and I know this because I just looked on the Rift website. 

I knew exactly what I wanted from this amp but being a simpleton in these matters, my instructions to Chris were the opposite of detailed and technical. This speaker is less efficient and a little warmer sounding to my ears than the Blue. So what I have now is a little more power from the amp and a little less volume from the speaker. 

In my mind, that will make the Rift a little more usable with a band but who knows when I’ll find out if that’s the case??

russpm

Lovely amp that mate

Zoolooter

Now that’s a real stunner in Mr Rift’s grey tweed.

TheMarlin

Crikey, what a beauty!

Tele37

I really wish there were some proper demos of the Americana and how the reverb sounds. There’s an Andertons video but it is completely useless.

TheMarlin

Tele37 said:

I really wish there were some proper demos of the Americana and how the reverb sounds. There’s an Andertons video but it is completely useless.

You’re welcome to come to High Wycombe and take one for a test drive for yourself.  Can throw in a decent cuppa and a Jaffa cake!

dazzajl

Tele37 said:

I really wish there were some proper demos of the Americana and how the reverb sounds. There’s an Andertons video but it is completely useless.

That video is worse than useless, it completely misrepresents the amp and gives totally the wrong impression of what it’s about. 

Tele37

So, tell me about the amp guys? A higher powered 5e3 with reverb? Can the reverb get drippy at the front of the note, or is it more subtle and in the background?

Thanks @TheMarlin ; , I might just take you up on that

dazzajl

 That particular amp sat at Marlins was made to retain all the gnarliness and aggression of a hot 5e3 but also be that little bit more manageable than the gorgeous one trick pony the original circuit is. So within that context the reverb has to be used in balance with that character. It’s not going to give you that big sparkly and dripping clean that the black panel amps will. It’s definitely a biiiiig sound verb though and not just a nod in the background. 

You definitely need to go and play it. It’s so responsive and alive it sometimes feels like it almost sounds the notes before you’ve actually played them. 

Tele37

dazzajl said:

 That particular amp sat at Marlins was made to retain all the gnarliness and aggression of a hot 5e3 but also be that little bit more manageable than the gorgeous one trick pony the original circuit is. So within that context the reverb has to be used in balance with that character. It’s not going to give you that big sparkly and dripping clean that the black panel amps will. It’s definitely a biiiiig sound verb though and not just a nod in the background. 

You definitely need to go and play it. It’s so responsive and alive it sometimes feels like it almost sounds the notes before you’ve actually played them. 

Great to hear this detailed breakdown, thanks @dazzajl !

twangydave

Tele37 said:

I really wish there were some proper demos of the Americana and how the reverb sounds. There’s an Andertons video but it is completely useless.

I own an Americana, and I love it to bits. When Andertons stopped selling Rift Amps I bought the last unit they had, which was an Americana that had been used as a demo unit in the 'High End' room, so it may even have been the one in the original video!

I can confirm what the others have said, that the video is not even close to being a fair representation of the amp, but I wouldn't be too quick to apportion blame to Andertons, because the 'magic' of the Americana is very difficult to capture on video, as it lives very much in the visceral and physical space as much as it does in the aural one. While Andertons undoubtedly made mistakes with their coverage, (they didn't seem to know much about the circuit, didn't explain how the volume controls interact, didn't use both inputs, didn't make full use of the EQ section or the reverb etc) you really have to be in the room with the Americana to appreciate what it 'does'. When people are using words like 'rich', 'woody' 'complex' and 'organic' when describing food or wine or amp tone, it's really a signal that their senses are experiencing something they like and appreciate, but they're not really able to verbalize what's going on. So I'll give it a shot...

The first thing you notice, is that for a relatively small box, it's an absolute room filler, there's clearly a massive amount of skill and experience gone into both the cabinet design and the amp design itself to produce such a wide and three-dimensional sound stage from a small combo. As others have said, there's a really quick initial response to your playing which gets the sparkling notes out of the speaker and up into the air and then a thicker, meaty mid range and bass that follows those initial notes. There's a sense of harmonic structure to the sound that you just don't get with cheaper amps where the sound stage seems to have been 'flattened' and the notes are 'mushed' together.

The positive effects of all this is a bit like playing with delay, where you feel you have time to move to your next notes without the sound collapsing and falling apart. So a lot of what the amp triggers in you is a response to its physical stimuli, and capturing this, particularly on the cheaper microphones that come with video cameras, is always going to be difficult. It's no easier than trying to capture how it feels when your trousers are flapping in front of a massive bass amp! Youtube creators know this, that's why they run all their audio into DAWs, and then use all the studio engineering tricks of compression and multi-tracking to try to convey a better sense of the 'live' sound of the amp that they are testing. If you simply put a video camera in front of any amp then the truth is usually revealed that the majority of guitar amplifiers sound very similar if they are recorded in that way. The 'magic' is often only heard if you're in the room with the amp or something special has been added in post-production, or a monster musician is doing the demo!

Hence, looking at Youtube comments, you routinely see people commenting on videos of expensive amps and saying 'My Katana sounds better than that!', and others saying that the video is not a fair representation of the amp. Ultimately, when you buy a very high quality, small club amp like the Americana, it needs to be appraised in the environment that it was created for, that's where the 'lightning in a bottle' comes into play. I guarantee that in that environment, the Americana will bring the 'magic' every time. But you pays your money and you takes your choice. 

As regards the reverb, I think that's an easier job for the less talented guitarist (me!) to demo, and I'm happy to help with that, so I did do a video this morning with the aforementioned little video camera plonked in front of the amp. Hope it gives you a flavour of the reverb at least! Video is unlisted but the link works OK for me, let me know if you have any trouble.

Tele37

@twangydave Thank you so much for your insight and the video - so useful and helpful

TheMarlin

twangydave said:

Tele37 said:

I really wish there were some proper demos of the Americana and how the reverb sounds. There’s an Andertons video but it is completely useless.

I own an Americana, and I love it to bits. When Andertons stopped selling Rift Amps I bought the last unit they had, which was an Americana that had been used as a demo unit in the 'High End' room, so it may even have been the one in the original video!

I can confirm what the others have said, that the video is not even close to being a fair representation of the amp, but I wouldn't be too quick to apportion blame to Andertons, because the 'magic' of the Americana is very difficult to capture on video, as it lives very much in the visceral and physical space as much as it does in the aural one. While Andertons undoubtedly made mistakes with their coverage, (they didn't seem to know much about the circuit, didn't explain how the volume controls interact, didn't use both inputs, didn't make full use of the EQ section or the reverb etc) you really have to be in the room with the Americana to appreciate what it 'does'. When people are using words like 'rich', 'woody' 'complex' and 'organic' when describing food or wine or amp tone, it's really a signal that their senses are experiencing something they like and appreciate, but they're not really able to verbalize what's going on. So I'll give it a shot...

The first thing you notice, is that for a relatively small box, it's an absolute room filler, there's clearly a massive amount of skill and experience gone into both the cabinet design and the amp design itself to produce such a wide and three-dimensional sound stage from a small combo. As others have said, there's a really quick initial response to your playing which gets the sparkling notes out of the speaker and up into the air and then a thicker, meaty mid range and bass that follows those initial notes. There's a sense of harmonic structure to the sound that you just don't get with cheaper amps where the sound stage seems to have been 'flattened' and the notes are 'mushed' together.

The positive effects of all this is a bit like playing with delay, where you feel you have time to move to your next notes without the sound collapsing and falling apart. So a lot of what the amp triggers in you is a response to its physical stimuli, and capturing this, particularly on the cheaper microphones that come with video cameras, is always going to be difficult. It's no easier than trying to capture how it feels when your trousers are flapping in front of a massive bass amp! Youtube creators know this, that's why they run all their audio into DAWs, and then use all the studio engineering tricks of compression and multi-tracking to try to convey a better sense of the 'live' sound of the amp that they are testing. If you simply put a video camera in front of any amp then the truth is usually revealed that the majority of guitar amplifiers sound very similar if they are recorded in that way. The 'magic' is often only heard if you're in the room with the amp or something special has been added in post-production, or a monster musician is doing the demo!

Hence, looking at Youtube comments, you routinely see people commenting on videos of expensive amps and saying 'My Katana sounds better than that!', and others saying that the video is not a fair representation of the amp. Ultimately, when you buy a very high quality, small club amp like the Americana, it needs to be appraised in the environment that it was created for, that's where the 'lightning in a bottle' comes into play. I guarantee that in that environment, the Americana will bring the 'magic' every time. But you pays your money and you takes your choice. 

As regards the reverb, I think that's an easier job for the less talented guitarist (me!) to demo, and I'm happy to help with that, so I did do a video this morning with the aforementioned little video camera plonked in front of the amp. Hope it gives you a flavour of the reverb at least! Video is unlisted but the link works OK for me, let me know if you have any trouble.

Best comment on this forum this year. 

Wazmeister

@twangydave brilliant write up mate