Rivera Clubster 25 Combo

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I would reserve ratings of 10 for the really high end stuff or vintage masterpieces, but if you???re looking for some really great tone, build quality, and versatility in a very affordable and portable package, I don???t think you can do much better than the Clubster. The clean channel is really two channels in one???if you pull the bright switch you have the classic Blackface Fender tone, as loud as a Deluxe Reverb in a much tidier package (30 pounds!). Most of my guitars are single coil Fenders, so I don???t typically want or need things that bright. I tend to use the clean channel without the bright switch pulled, which I would compare more to the bigger rounder clean tones of a 6L6 Fender ??? very rich and sweet. The amp comes with a nice footswitch for reverb and channel switching. The Lead channel has a full tone stack and of course a British style vibe. It can stay clean fairly loud for a warmer, jazzier tone, or you can crank the gain and get some wicked overdrive that is very Santana like. It also has a boost switch on the lead channel to get you into pretty insane levels of distortion, if that???s your thing. The nice aspect about it is you can get completely saturated tones at whisper volumes, so the Clubster actually makes a really nice bedroom amp as well being great for gigs and studio use. On the subject of gigging, many people are put off by the 10 inch speaker, and to be honest I was wary at first too. However, let me tell you that this is the biggest, loudest 1x10 I have ever heard, totally gig worthy. The stock speaker Rivera had specially built by Eminence and it does an awesome job with both the Fender cleans and British overdrive. And if that???s not enough volume, the Clubster has an extension speaker jack that can be used with or without the internal speaker activated, so you can run all kinds of cabinet configurations that will give you more than enough swat. I play in a band and have never had the volume above five, and that???s usually with my guitar volume turned way down. I guess the last thing under the subject of sound would be the reverb. No, it is not tube driven or as sweet as a vintage Fender, but it is pretty damn good and I think would be more than serviceable for anyone other than a surf fanatic.

I have called Rivera at least three times, at first to talk about the differences between the Clubster and Pubster when I was trying to decide what to buy, and every time a knowledgeable, helpful person has answered the phone.

Again, if you???re looking for the ultimate grab and go amp for jams and gigs, or just want a really killer, versatile amp for the home or recording studio, the Clubster is mighty hard to beat at this price point. They can be had regularly in the $600 range used, and I really don???t know of any other amps that can compete with that, especially in the under 40 pound fighting weight category.

Already Documented. Versatile 2 channels. 1 Fenderish 1 Marshallish

ONE BIG IF!! Played at a low volume this is great but the 10" speaker doesn't cut it. I play a Gibson 336 and the bottom end is totally blown out.

Defeats the purpose of the small combo with big sound.

Great sound... wrong speaker. That's why the DOCE came out.

It works at low volumes but at higher volumes ... speaker farts out.

Too pricey in UK and initially I was blown away until I gigged with it.

2 channels dirty and clean. Ch 1 is Marshall like with lots of available gain. Ch 2 is Fender like. Plenty powerful. Compact and lightweight. Great amp for small clubs.

Using this amp with a Strat with Texas style Rio Grande pickups. Clean channel is excellent, the best sounding channel on this amp by far in my opinion. Very vintage Fender like tones. The Drive channel I did not particularily like. High gain settings were very over the top and grainy. Mid gain and low gain settings were better but took a lot of tweaking to get useable sounds. Boost was just too much for me so I never use it, quite muddy. 10" speaker has it's limitations. Reverb was nice though. Needs to be cranked to sound it's best. I give a 9 for Clean channel and only 6 for Drive channel.

Seems very well built. Solid construction. Made of plywood. Reverb tank crapped out on me after about 6 hours of use.

Rivera customer service was excellent. Called them up and told them my reverb tank failed. They immediately asked for my shipping address and shipped out a new reverb tank and cables. They did not even ask me for the serial number for warranty coverage purposes. They just asked where I bought it.I recieved my replacement tank in a week. Top notch service.

Very capable small club amp. I had heard good things about Rivera amps, and heard a friend play a Rivera 30 Twelve. I decided to get the smaller amp with the 10" speaker. This turned out to be a mistake. This amp comes in a model with a 12" speaker that probably sounds better. Had I been able to get one with the 12 incher I may have kept it. Would buy another Rivera amp but would get a higher end one with a 12" or 2-12" speakers.

Bought this amp in 2005 right after they came out. Paid around $750 (US). Wanted versitilty in the smallest package possible. This just might have been the ticket. Really clean for blues and jazz. Distortion for singing blues and rock solos. Power is perfect for any and all venues. Anything louder just makes it harder on the FOH guy. Like that it uses 6V6s rather than the thinner sounding EL84s. Note that there is no manual for this amp. Just a little 2-sided sheet that lists a few suggested settings. A real manual would be nice.

This amp has fantastic range of tones from ultra clean country/Fender to screaming over-the-top pedal-type distortion. I use this mainly for Blues and primarily use the clean channel at around 3-5. If used in a low-volume venue I'll run it aroun 2 1/2-3 and use a clean boost pedal to hit the preamp a little harder for solos. At 4-6 (without pedals) you can get nice clean rhythm work with the volume backed off and an incredible smooth breakup for solos with the guitar wide open.
I use this amp with a variety of guitars and pickups- Lindsy Fralin strat P/Us- standard Gibson HBs- G&L ASAT sounds great no matter what.
Except for the speaker. 10" just doesn't do it. Amp came with a 10" Rivera 'Special Design'. This speaker had a LOT of cone-cry and horrible 'farting out' at low frequencies. I replaced it with a Celestion Tube 10 which got rid of the cone cry but still suffers from the farting out. One has to be very careful setting up EQ and take great care how hard you hit the low notes. Pretty much useless for Jazz- a pity. I've used this with a Bandmaster cabinet loaded with 2 12" Celestions. Incredible. Wish I had held out for the Doce which is the same amp with a 12". Am having a custom 12" cabinet constructed as I type.
I've experienced no noise related issues and none of the "crackling at idle" that others have reported. Gave this a 7. With a 12" or 2 x 12" I'd rate it an 11. But then one loses the convenience of the small package- which is the primary reason I first looked at and bought this amp.

This amp failed be early on. Was playing a '70s rock show using both channels. Time for my Big Blistering Over-The-Top Screaming Solo I hit the button for the dirty channel and NOTHING. Absolute silence. Contacted Rivera and they suggested re-checking tubes, etc. And nothing. Sent it back and they found they had a bad run of resistors or something. Got it back and no problems until a week ago. The reverb stopped working. It's going back to Rivera next week.

My experience with customer support was somewhere in the middle as to what other reviewers have experienced. Took a few calls to make contact. E-Mail correspondence was hit & miss. The warranty repair for the channel switching was quick. They've changed their website so its a little hard to find contact info. Didn't use an authorized repair center on the Channel Switching issue. I may his time. We'll see what Mr. Rivera has to say.

Been playing professionally and semi-professionally for around 40 years. Mostly Blues and Rhythm&Blues (Stax style soul). I have a variety of amps. I buy and keep. I still have my very first amp-60W Silvertone 2 x 12. Got a 63 Bandmaster, a couple of old 60s VOX Cambridge Reverbs, an 80s Laney 30W head, a Carvin Nomad 112, and an early silverface Champ. If lost or stolen I'd probably take the insurance money and get a Headstrong Lil King 112.
Love- Clean channel tone, tone, tone.
Hate- the 10" speaker and the distortion channel. It's way too over-the-top. It's usable but requires way too much tweaking to get a usable tone for my style. Is good for the occasional rock or Yardbirds tribute however.
Comparison- went specifically looking for an all-tube channel switching amp in the smallest package possible. This is all I found.
I do wish it had a tamer overdrive channel. I like being able to get a good, REALLY distorted sound but it would be nice if it would emulated the clean channel "pumped up".

Basically the same as previously mentioned.

Great versitility of sound. Awesome on clean channel and great reverb. The amp comes with some quick start setting for the ability to get into it pretty quickly and is a good starting point to find out the variety of the amp.

It has a great sound from a small box!!!

Haven't had to go there yet.

Haven't had to go there... but i bought it from a great dealer with whom i have had great experience and i trust them completly.

I have been playing for 17 years and have been looking to down size from my big fender amps for a while. I play a '52 Tele re-issue, standard les paul, and Maton EM325. I have tryed a heap of small amps in my attempts to "down-size" (fender hot rods, mesa, marshall combos, laney...) and for its size i cannot recommend the rivera enough!! Great clean sound for acoustic work, awsome tone for the tele, and enough distortion to keep me happy with the Gibson.

Get out there and try one!!!

25 W @ 1x10 speaker combo
2x6V6GT tubes in there
2 channels :
'dirty' with vol ( preamp gain ), b/m/t eq, master
bass pot is push pull for extra gain boost.
'clean' with vol, b/t eq
bass pot is push pull for bright.
reverb and presence.
i use this amp for practice and ( small to normal sized ) club live gigs and the power is enough. of course you could always mic it as you can do with any other amp for bigger gigs. big plus for weight/portability.
some times makes you wonder how some other 15-30W combos weight like a ton...
features are ok, nothing fancy or missing. i would like to see though a standby switch ( you get that at the 45W version, i cant think it would be that expensive, but you have to make people buy the 45-er dont you... ) and footswitchable gain boost. in a better world the boost would be leveled with non boost master so you can add gain without becoming louder. its not a serious deficit though.

I play rock ( clasic-style mostly, some 80's rock when in the mood :D ), blues, some funk, jazz influences. i use a gibson LP St.
although i love clean sounds this amp locks me on the dirty ch. dont get me wrong here. the clean channel is pretty good especially on the bright side. you can really funk that amp ( yes even with an LP, turn the guitar pots a bit down, bridge p'up tone @ 2-3, and you get JB and co.), play some sharp jazz or blues. its an amp that gives credit to your guitar, meaning you get to hear what you plug in. you wont make a LP sound like a fender or viceversa. unlike most other amps out there esp on this price cat you can hear when you change the tone on your guitar pots, or use other kind of guitars.
on the dirty side now you can get a !wide! variety of gain lvls. i think it is important to stress that aspect as many of the amps i have used just play on about three lvls and you dont get to tune the sound you have in your head. starting with really low lvl - almost clean - for string-attack-break blues, the sound breaks really harmonically as you add gain. you meet sounds from bbking, jlhooker, howlingW. etc. at about 4,5 you already have enough gain to play 'gentle' rock. after 7/8 ( without boost ) you slowly enter the 80's high gain sounds. boosting the preamp gives more than enough gain to play even heavy metal but its not my music.
the distortion has a character meaning you wont get all the kinds of sounds you ever dreamed of, and its a rather modern kind of gain i would say. trying to discribe the gain with words i would say in the beginning (low g) you get more 'waves' rather than spread cream ( think of zztop @ 3hombres, golden earing etc.) while at high gain the sound is pretty homogeneous. if that means anything i found it hard to find a better sounding combo even at 3-400e more.
EQ is working pretty well, act as a volume pot at each freq adding to the versatily of the sound. like a fine tuning of freq gain. enough bass to play along the bass player :D . impressing for a 10 incher. reverb and presence are good. nothing spectacular ( no 'wow effect' there :P ) but add / round up a very well conceived quality-sound-rather-than-thousands-of-features-based combo. i would say very high quality, esp on the dirty side.

i havent had any problems with it, so i guess i could say its as reliable as a tuber can be. it seems pretty steady and sturdy.

no problems so i wouldnt know about service. i live in germany and although its not 'the' amp brand ( M,F,MB etc ) it wasnt hard to find a store with it. ( so i can plug in ).

i hadnt noticed but i been already playing about 20 years now. ( damn :D ) started with clasic guitar for 5-6 years, at 15 or so i got me an gibson LP and a hybrid combo. changed 3 amps till now ( this is the 3rd ). i did get to hear enough amps before sticking to this one. on the price cat i was willing to give till about 1k. maybe some more for something special. i thought of getting the 45W version but i didnt like it being so noisy at low volumes making it difficult to practice at night@home. i like playing late @ night :P.
so do i recommend this amp ? yes, definitely deserves a check before getting a small combo.
its not the cheapest low watt combo you can get but it deserves every cent ( i guess i wouldnt have bought it if i didnt think so ), i wouldnt be surprised if the same sound would come from a much more expensive combo.

Brand new stock. 2 channel 1 x10' 25 watts.

Use with Gibson 336 and Fernandes Vintage Strat with Bill Lawrence P/Ups.

Use in blues context either with drums and bass or with acoustic guitarist and harmonica player.

Great size.

With stock valves (EH) sounds very good. Played a gig in a small club (400) mic'd up. Clean channel on 6 and lead channel pre at 8 and master 6 and was loud enough although a little extra headroom on the clean channel would have been nice. (would probably benefit by playing through a 4x12)

Sounded amazing! I've used boogie, Vox, Fender etc.

For the size this is the best sounding amp I've heard..

Since my last gig I have replaced the 6v6 valves with JJs .... even better tone!

Rivera amps are supposed to be very reliable. Built like a tank

I'm giving this a 10 for cobined sound and portability.

My 2004 Clubster is standard stock. I use it at home and gigs. I play mostly jazz. The two channels produce a very nice tone.

Shadow AZ48 pickups on two different guitars. Also, an Ibanez Joe Pass guitar with its standard pickup. All sound great.

This is where the worms come out of the can. I bought the amp used on EBay. Right out of the packing, the amp had problems with an irritating sizzle sound produced on the pitches C# to F on teh 3rd and 2nd strings. Took the amp to 3 different tech folks, they couldn't figure out the problem.

I replaced the ampa dn preamp tubes with NOS/JAN tubes (inlcuding 5751s in teh preamp section) and voila, the amp then worked like a charm.

I called Rivera 4 times when I first got the amp. No answer. No reply to my phone message until I emailed and said I was disappointed in the poor customer suport. They then promptly replied and recommended I switch the preamp tubes to fix the dirty sound (it didn't work). After all I read at various www sites about how helpful Rovera is over the phone, I was bummed out to have had such a porr experience with them.

I;m thinking about seliing it, for the right price. I'd stopped using tube amps a long time ago even though I love the tonal quality.

Okay , this is a 25 watt all tube , 1 x 10" 2 channel amp with Reverb.
This amp also has a serial effects loop, 2 gain stages on the gain channel,reverb and presence, line out .I paid $899.US. I think I may have bought it for $799. but I live in Canada and did not want to miss the chance at this one. I was shopping for a hi gain combo amp. I had asked a dealer for Marshall here in town to order the dsl 40 watt combo at 1300.ca pl tx ,but he did'nt , too bad ,lost the sale. Because of this I went to reread the Harmony feedback on the amp. The more I read the worse the feedback got. So I rethought the whole thing. At the time used only a Fender 1 x 12 Blues reissue tweed 40 watt tube. Very nice ,but I wanted more gain, Marshall,Mesa/boogie,like and was looking at a tube pedal or maybe an amp.I decided to go with the amp to get the benefits of A/Bing the amps and also the advantage of a more flexible/unique sound. Plus another amp allows me to take either one to practice or let one of the other band mates use either one for a specific song or show. More money but better usage in buying an amp.It has litterally blown me away. Not often I buy something without hearing it, especially an amp at this price. But , the reveiws I have read, the video samples I saw and heard through the guitar mags where outstanding. The salesman at the website was very helpful. I told him my gear set up and he informed me this is right up the alley I want to go. The concern was can I get a Marshall ish /mes boogie gain sound,the answer to those who wanna know. Yes, that and more, way more if you want. Now for 25 watts, it's way louder than you think it will be. I never go past 5 on either channel. Even then it's loud and I play in a band with two other guitar players , a drummer and a bass player. For a ten " it's got a huge sound, Very nice clean, not Fender clean but very good.Do not think the clean is second rate. To be a Fender clean you need to be Fender. This is a great clean and depending on what pick ups and gtr and pedals , the clean is a very nice rythmn sound as well,very nice. I started this amp on the floor for the full bass as it's designed to work on the floor if you want a full bass sound. It was awsome,almost too much that I found it too much bass. I stood back , realized that this amp has huge balls and a major projection.All the other band mates though it was a 12" and 40 watt amp.Really. I have ended up using a stand and tweaked a sound I like quite easily. It can be put on the floor, but not needed for a full bass sound.The effects loop I don't really use, I have been keeping it simple. But it works and works well. The reverb is not Fender reverb but is a nice reverb, 1 - 2 is nice 3 - 5 plus becomes dick dale ish. I have it on 2 - 3 on average. Quite good, keeps me from using too many effects. The footswitch is solid, kinda cool. The amp has two channels, gain and clean. The gain has a pull out knob on the bass that becomes the higher gain setting. So far I use only the first gain stage on the gain channel.Occasionnaly I will use the other gain. I use a MXR 10 band EQ for boost and gain if needed , so I really don't need access to the other gain channel on the footswitch but it would be nice. This may be the only fault of the amp. If that's a fault .The clean has a "brite" pull out on the treble switch . Don't use it at all. This amp rocks, it's hand built,excellent tone, excellent projection,compact,loud enough and hey it's easy to carry with one hand. Built very well , you can fel the quality . I very happy I passed on the Marshall, it's a step into the higher quality gear, wow.

Okay , the distortion is really amazing. Nice , what I was hearing in my head. The nice mellow, or crunch, or smack in the head and lead . Depends where i dial it in. The clean will break up if turned up past 5ish 6 ish , depending on how hard you smack the strings.Or it will break up sooner depending on the pick up and settings of the mid /treble settings and the hitting of the strings. Rememeber it is a tube amp, if your'e new to tubes it's like they breath. This amp has life. I play anything from Audioslave, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Stones, Bowie,Tradigically hip,Foo Fighters,Travelingwilburys, blues,rock, I 'm all over the place.My previous set up was a boss distortionn pedal, a Keeley mod blues driver (excellent pedal by the way), and compresion, eq , phaser, chorus, delay, wah tremolo. Not in that order butI used them to get the tone I was looking for. Not needd with this amp, it sound that good. I use Seymour duncan alnicco II set bridge and neck in my Tele and Seymour Alnico II in the bridge and the Seymour Duncan Jazz in the neck of my Epiphone Les Paul.
NOw I have moded the pots and the capacitors but that won't take anything from thisamp. I don't need much more of the pedal stuff.I now only use a Line 6 delay , a crybaby wah I moded, and a boss noise suppressor, maily for the tuner out. My tone is very good. I tell you this amp stands alone. I play lead so I v bring the pedals mentioned for flavour, they are not needed for tone.Again wow.

When I got it the effect loop di dnot work very well , power drops etc. I called the SDealer where I purchased it and they helped me along. They have never heard that happen before. I checked the tubes pushed them in. all good, they nmay have wiggled loose during shipping.This is pro level gear, I would use it live , I have not done a show with it yet because we are working on other stuff no. In other words, no shows coming up yet. We just did four previoius to my purchase. It has been about 6 weeks, it gets better the more I use it and get to know it. No issues. Again , wow.

I called and asked a few basic questions , they were great. I actually talked to Paul Rivera jnr. His dad was the man behind many great Fender amps. Teh warrnaty is htree years, cool. There is no warrnaty dealer here. There is not much more than Fender, Peavey ,Line 6 and Marshall here. Period.

So,I actually had my Fender reissue for sale, just because I 'm not using it as I thought I would. I will keep it, it's nice , but two of the Rivera would be cool.Simple set up , two gtrs and the wah, delay, boss noise suppressor,tuner,that's it. It's light , sounds good, has all the tone,nice tight sound,tube tone, cleans up nice when I roll back on either channel. Great amp, you get the idea I like it !
I tried the vox ac 30 , marshall dsl 40 watt, plus others. This is the one .A boutique hand wired amp is the cats meow. I will not go backwards . My next amp will more than likeley be a Rivera ifI ever by another amp.

Man, this amp is kicking. Read www.Rivera.com for all the specs.

This amp sounds as though it costs a thousand dollars. The clean channel gets loud enough with little break up, no problem. When breakup does occur, it is smooth and sweet, a blues players dream. Because of all of the pull knobs this amp is very versatile. You can go from a light overdrive to full on distortion in seconds. Great sounding channels...I play everything from blues to hardcore as well as jazz. This amp suits them all.

Just got the amp today...It is good so far. Evidentally, one of the power amp tubes had a default in the shop, but I got new Groove Tubes out of the deal, so its all gravy baby.

Have not dealt with them, but if the build of their amp represents them, then I am sure they are good with this also.

This amp is amazing. I've been playing guitar for 8 years and this is the amp to end all amps. This is the tone I have been looking for. Great amp at a great price.