Rivera Clubster 25 Combo

Brand new 2005 clubster 25, 2 channel clean and dirty with a bright pull pot on clean side. Mid control on dirty side, but not on clean. Pretty good reverb. Very light about 30 lbs. which is why I sought it out. Power is good. Plenty loud for loud rock drummer, but can push it in a reasonable situation. Pretty new, only used in practice. My dream situation would have included tremolo, but the weight, 2 channels, etc. Pretty bitchen and feature loaded

Used with strats tele and P-90 music man. I play from Buck Ownes to hard rock. Good amp. At first I was disappointed because it had a funny boxy/nasally tone, which I heard again on RIvera's site on the Will Ray demo of the clubster 45, and thought it was just characteristic of rivera amps maybe. But it broke in little and maybe I lightened up a little and it is great for the weight. Reverb pretty good, good it has a good sized tank, but it does not make you go "oh shit" like fender reverb. I will say there is a great smooth breakup on the dirty side with complex harmonics, but enough clarity to cut through. If you can play a little you can bring the magic with this amp, but it doesn't stop you in your tracks with a single note or chord? Distortion again is good very rich harmonically, high gain boost is useable even. It does not have the kind of breakup you could roll on and off with your volume knob, it stays dirty on the dirty side, but that is whay you have 2 channels. With the 10" speaker and a luchbox that is louder than a deluxe reverb, you kind of have to say "close enough for Rock and Roll" and play the hell out. I recorded a track with it, and it held up very well in the recording. I love it in many ways, but playing my modern fender "the twin" on clean, or even the brighter smaller deluxe reissue I have had for 4 years, I cannot say the clean holds a candle, but in a mix, cranked, it sounds pretty damn good, and the distortion is more modern and developed than fender breakup or "the twin"'s high gain channel. I will say the clean has real good headroom.

Probably great. No standby switch, has a little crackle when idle for awhile

NO direct experience, but they seem like a company that prides themself on accessability.

Been playing 20 years, hobbyist, periods of weekly gigging in clubs. I own fender twin, modded princeton, bassman 50 silverface, groove tubes soul-o 50, handmade 12 watt class a amp, a couple otther and have owned 2 marshalls. If it were lost or stolen, I would eventually replace it, but might check out another makers offering for that lighter breakup. All things considered I prefer the clean headroom, its just I wish the dirty side got a touch cleaner at low gain, but I am being picky for all the advantages this amp offers. It is not a toy, but you have to crank it a couple times to open it up. I think it is a great amp all in all

I came close to buying this amp and went back twice before deciding to buy, in the end it was a bit different than what I expected. A future buy I'm sure.
Extra Compact 2 channel amp. 2-6v6, 2-12ax7 10" speaker.

I've been using Rivera amps for 10 years M100, M60, R55, I find these amps to be about as close as you can to having the best of both Marshall/Fender, in one amp.

Having said that, I find this amp to be a bit differrent.
Very impressive amp and very loud amp. I tried the Club 25 which comes with a 10 inch speaker, which I think is a nice match. My Experience with Rivera has been that the clean channel is very close to that Fender Sound. Channels 1 is abit of work for me in achiving that Marshall sound. The Club I find is tweeked more toward the Marshall sound on both channels. The clean is good but it is more of JTM sound or something like a turbo tweed sound. It just kept reminding me of a Marshall amp, played on the clean side. The Overdrive is very smooth and very musical. I think the override channels shines on this amp.

Giving past history, I'm sure this is a well built amp.

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Nice midrangey amp, versatile in its own right. I have a 1970 Fender Deluxe, this amp is not as clean as my deluxe. But it has its own thing going. This amp will roar, is well buit, loud and very portable.

This tube amp is one of a kind. Its two channels span a wide variety of sounds. Rivera means quality. Thats what Ive learned. It is 25 watts but it is really loud. For specific detailed info go to rivera.com

I have tried this amp with a strat as well as a les paul. Both sound incredable. It is perfect for a blues style, but not limited to that. Rivera amps are very sensitive knob turners. what i mean by that is if you turn the tone control knobs just a fraction you get a huge result. Unlike fender and marshall. This amp is very loud for its size and weight.

I have never had a Rivera amp give me a lick of problem. (I own 3)
They use the top of the line components and it shows. After owning numerous brands of amps and always being let down about one thing or another I now am completly satisfied with my tone.

Let me put it this way. They build their products to last forever and they do. But if you need to call them you can talk to Paul JR. if you want. They are that accesable. They do things right and are friendly, The way it should be. Class is the only word that I can Think of to describe them.

I have played guitar for 17 years. In the early days I went out and bought every brand of amp that was out there. Peavey, Marshall, Fender. I wish that I could have found this company sooner. I would have saved a lot of money. Now I am selling every amp that I own other than my rivera's. I'm sold and you will be to if you give them a try.

This is a new model, released in 2004 as the first really compact Rivera amp. It weighs 30 lbs only, somewhat lighter than a Blues Junior but with 25 tubewatts and 2 footswitchable fully independent channels. Channel 1 is 'british' with gain, master and boost, while channel 2 is 'american'i.e. fenderish and has a 'bright'switch but no 'mid'. The speaker is a 10" Rivera 'Vintage Gold' (probably a customized Celestion), and there's an external speaker output. Also an effect loop, footswitchable spring reverb and presence button. You can get virtually any sound out of this combo. I use it at home (no headphone jack, though) but the name implies it could handle a smaller venue.

I use this with strats (sss/hss), tellies (ss/hs), an LP and an ES 135. It handles single coils beautifully and humbuckers even better provided you don't boost the basses on a (neck) high output Classic '57 and strike heavy chords (remember, small cabinet with a ten-incher). The lead channel gets noisy when cranked up, but not much more than in other amps, and provides nice marshallesque tones, modern or vintage depending on EQ settings. Channel 2 is rather quiet at low volumes but produces a little hum above 5, which is when heavy chords get crunchy. Single notes will overdrive at 7/8 (wonderful sound)and distortion will appear at 9/10. The various clean tones are excellent and the amp is very loud for 25W.

I've had it for a month only, so far so good... As a rule it is better to have a back up for a tube amp, so you could buy 2 of these and they wouldn't weigh more than ONE Classic 50, but Rivera amps are well known for their reliability anyway.

The warranty is only one year, 3 months for speakers and tubes not covered. If the quality corresponds to their reputation, I shoudn't have to use it. The brand is imported to Europe by Music Store (Germany) so repairs should be done there though I live in France where Rivera is no longer imported. Paul Rivera and his staff answer the phone readily, but not e-mails.

I've been playing off and on for 40 years now, mostly blues, rock and some brazilian stuff. I own other amps, I have a Classic 50 for larger venues but I'll try the (miked) Clubster instead because of its astounding versatility. This is probably the finest amp I've owned since my first Bandmaster back in '66 and I'll recommend it to anyone who doesn't play stadiums for its awesome clean sound, its sturdiness and its incredible loudness/portability ratio.