Rivera Pubster 25 Combo

Effect's loop, two levels of overdrive...

Here is what I have to say: I did the same mod as below, changing out the overdrive tube for a 5751 valve, and it sounds wonderful now, sweet as sugar! So it you want a rock-solid clean amp, this mod is a way to go.

I actually broke a resistor & it took a while to figure it out. They wre nice when I called the hsop but it was out of warranty & up to the amp tech to figure out...

Nice enough personally but yes, no directions or schema?

I love it with the mod. It is still very solid & the quality of the components is great.

I wrote this review in addiction to my old one because i made a mod that can improve the sound of this amp and i suggest it to everybody firmly.
Change the tube in position V2 with a 5751 valve ( i've found a nos GE5751).
This mod can give you more clean headroom (this amp has very little clean headroom).
The distorsion seems more smooth too.
I've changed also the speaker to fix the problem of strange noise behind the real note in some position of guitar.

i asked for the manual.
They said, we can't put it on the web.
The manual it's only a yellow paper on top of the amp.
If anybody could send it to me by email i'll thank you.

Feel free to ask me anything about the mods or if you have interesting mods to suggest.

This is a review in addition to my old one about Pubster 25.
I've done some mods to my amp.
I don't mean you have to do it all the first two to fix the problem of strange noise under the real note of the guitar.
1)i've changed the speaker with a Celestion G10 Vintage.
2)i've changed the 6V6 EH with JJ electronic.

And the last but not least mod that i want to suggest firmly.
3)i've putted a NOS GE 5751 tube in V2 position to calm down the amp
now i've more clean headroom, and the amp react more when i turn down the volume pot of the guitar and has more dynamics.

I hope this review helps anybody to make the amp sound better.
Feel free to contact me if you made some other intersting mod or you want to talk about mine

6V6 based 2 channel amp that shares the EQ section. Has Reverb, extension speaker out, effects loop and a 10" speaker. I had this amp for about a month, decided not to keep it.

Has a great tone. Great amp for Classic Rock and Blues based music. The Reverb had a hiss past 5 that was pretty loud. Granted I would not have typically played the reverb that high anyway, but it is always worrisome when things don't work as well as you'd like. The boost channel sounded great. The clean wasn't pristine clean, though. Worked with my pedals well. Sounded good with Strats, teles and a Epi Sheraton. The amp also had some buzzing on certain notes, probably microphonic power tubes. I really liked the amp, but decided I may have to put too much $$ into it to get it to where I wanted it, and since the cleans weren't real clean I decided not to try (though maybe 12AT7's or some other pre-amp tubes would have worked well).

It seemed very well built and solid. No problems not already mentioned in the Sound section.

I contacted Rivera support via e-mail and phone. Very good support and very knowledgeable staff. I worked with a gentleman named Rich. Very helpful. I learned they do not have a manual for these amps, which I thought was a little odd. But, I got all the information I needed from them.

Great tone. The used amp I got (Ebay) had some issues and I finally decided I wouldn't try to make it "right". Overall, though, seems like a very good amp. I'd look at a Rivera amp again. But, probably only buy one again if I could buy it locally.

2006 model, specs have been listed previously.

Must say this though. for a "single" channel amp, its bloody versatile! The gain boost is basically a second channel in its own right to be honest :D

Any setting will provide a brilliant sound pretty much, for the first coupl of weeks i dont think i even moved the knobs away from their middle settings, it just sounded really good like that! The pots have quite a good range and enable you to dial in just about any sound you could want, from tweedy cleans to rectifier drives.

For myself, i tend to set the basic channel up so that its quite a full sound with just slightly scooped mids, it ends up sounding a lot like an early marshall depending on how the gain is set. Plug in a strat and youll sound like hendrix or SRV or a million other people, plug in an LP and say hello to the bluesbreakers :p

The gain boost is brilliant, it takes the plexi sound and shoves it forward 20 years to give a very JCM800 style drive that is perfect for all-manner of genres. Also, if youre into metal, an equaliser with the level up and scooped mids will push the amp into a great dimed rectifier sound.

At first, the range on the gain pots bugged me because theres not much range before things crunch up, however, roll off the volume on your guitar and it suddenly makes sense. This is an amp that you set up for your main rythm and lead sounds and then get the cleans from the guitar. Back off a bit and theres a lovely rich clean sound with plenty of harmonics and overtones, very very nice indeed :D

BTW, any concerns about a lack of volume arent necessary, ive gigged it un-micced with no problems. However, if youre really unsure, buy a mic. The tone this thing gives is worth the hassle :D

perfect so far, ive owned it for about a year with mainly home use but a fair few gigs and plenty of band jams without a single problem :)

They were great when i was asking them tech questions before i bought the amp, havent had to get in touch since :)

in a word, heavenly.

in three words, heavenly-but-evil.

why? because it can sound downright dirty when it wants to :p

The Pubster 25 I recently bought was used, tested on 10-28-2005. I play mostly jazz, some blues. There's a lead and clean channel, nice foot switch that uses a stereo cable to enable channel and reverb switching.

I haven't gigged with the amp yet, but I haev used it quite a bit in my home and at work (I teach guitar at a university).

I love the ease of use of the controls and the solid, tight build of the amp--it's a little tank!

Well, I must share a story here. When I first got the amp shipped to me (bought on eBay in January 2006), I plugged it in and played my 1980 Joe Pass and 1979 Guild Artist Award through it. I had a strange "sizzle" sound on the piches C#-F on the fourth through second strings. Just enough to drive a guy crazy. Took teh amp to a buddy who is really into tube amps and collectible guitars. He thought it was "easily fixable" but . . .an amp guy said I'd have to live with it--that it wasn't the tubes (they didn't seem microphonic to him). Bummer out completely by that point, I went to anotehr amp/guitat repair guy who found that the ax47 preamp tubes were rattling in their aluminum covers. We removed the covers and greatly reduced the sizzle, but it was still there. Meanwhile I had a email in to Rivera to give me some help on this. Rich at Rivera suggested I switch the two tubes (left one into the right socket, and vice versa). Presto chango! The sizzle sound is gone in the clean channel but stilll exists at a very low level on the 5th fret A/6th string. So I may play around with a new set of tubes.

It is a very quiet amp--no hiss at all in the clean channel. The speaker is very tight--the open E sixth string sings purely and cleanly on big fat Em9 chords.

Otherwise, for me the amp does everything I want. the reverb is very sweet. I can get a wide variety of tone in the clean channel for my jazz axes. And my Peavey van Halen axe just smokes in the lead channel with the gain.

Too soon to tell. I'll know in a few months, but I bought the amp based on reputation and reviews, as well as playing through a few in Pacific NW guitar shops. I own two SWR amps, which were also hand wired, so I think I'll be happy in the long run.

Well, the email replies took a while and I still haven't heard from them on my last email. They did not give me the info I request on local authorized repair shops as of yet and did not send me info on tubes that I requested. When I gave them my cell number, they tried calling once, but did not leave a call back number. Quite disappointing, since I'd read all this propaganda on Paul Rivera personally answering the phone and other baloney. Considering my background and connections in guitar world, I've had much better success with numerous other companies on gear and info.

I've been playing for 43 years. Had over 20 amps over the years have two SWR's (a California Blond and Black Widow--both solid amps), a Crate Limo (great little amp), a Roland CUBE 40 (at work), a Crate V15 (great blues/rock amp), and a Roland Micro Cube (my travelling practice amp). My "8" rating is based on expectation that things will eventually get straightened out and the fact that I love the tone that currently works through this amp. I'm tired of lifting big, heavy amps to get a clean sound nad this amp has potential.