Rivera TBR-2M Head

This is one of the best amps I've heard. I bought it on name alone and am quite happy I did. It doesn't have any effects built in but what real head does? The few extra features it does have are awesome such as the Pickup Compensation. You can use this to add or reduce gain to one or both channels. Say you use a super hot bridge pickup for leads and a not so hot neck for clean you can set the clean channel with a boost to dial up the signal. Also has a footswitchable effects loop and reverb.

This thing sounds tits. It can pretty much emulate any sound you could want from a head. I heard a friend playing though a vintage marshall head and wanted the same sound so I came home and played with mine for a few minutes and had that tone. There are loads of settings and adjustments so you have to have some paitence with it but it's worth it in the long run.

This think is a tank. It weighs 62 pounds outside of a rack and feels even heavier. Mine has the original tubes in it which I believe are from the mid to late 80s so that should tell you something. It's built solid and I wouldn't even think about a backup (not that I could find another one of these if I wanted).

When I got this it didn't come with a footswitch so I called Rivera and they were super cool. They had a footswitch custom made for me because they don't make anything that uses the same switch anymore. Rivera is a boutique company so they can deal one-on-one with people. There isn't even an e-mail address on their site; just a phone number.

I've been playing for about 3 years but was a drummer for a long time before that and have heard my share of crappy guitar tone. This thing is the balls. If you can find one I suggest you at least play it and if within reason buy it. It's one of those amps that was made well and will stand the test of time. I doubt I'll ever need another head.

160 watts per side (stereo). Eight (!) GE NOS 6550 power tubes. Two discrete channels, designed as clean 1 with more gain & clean 2 with less gain. I bought the amp directly from Paul Rivera Jr. as a NOS amp straight from the factory. It had been sitting at the shop for 15 years and was never sold to a dealer. Talk about MINT condition! I purchased the amp as my main clean amp and to serve as the "brain" of my rack based guitar system. I use channel 1 as a clean channel with a very dark EQ. This allows a piano like comping style with plucked chords - makes the guitars sound more like keys. This channel a bit of tweaking to avoid preamp overdrive, but it can be done. The PCOMP control is extremely useful and a great feature. Channel 2 is a no brainer clean channel and I set the EQ brighter than channel 1. Think traditional Black Face Fender Twin. There are so many controls on the amp the tonal possibilities are endless. The overdrive is of the preamp variety, thus very "Boogie". This amp has headroom for days, clean and LOUD! The front end buffered mono effects loop is the bomb, especially for compression. I also needed a post preamp stereo effects loop, which this amp has. After the FX send, I split the signal with an active A/B box and run into two Rocktron RSB-18 rack switchers. Each loop has mirrored analog pedals for true stereo processing. All the boxes are time based effects (chorusing, delays, flanging, leslie simulation & phasing). I don't run any boost devices post preamp. The stereo loop is very quiet and results are stunning! I rate the amp a 8 because it's only two channel and the distortion is very 80's (preamp distortion). A third channel would have added another point, but I'm sure the amp would have been SO complicated that no one would want to use it. As far as the distortion, I don't use it so I don't care. Oh, and did I say it was built LIKE A TANK with twin cooling fans? You can heat a small room with this puppy once the amp is taken off standby!

I use mostly Gibsons with humbuckers, various Les Pauls and semi hollow models. Gretsch & Rick also. The amp is perfect for loud and clean rhythm playing, which is my application. Mostly original pop rock stuff. Only the fans are noisy, the amp is very quiet. Endless EQ & gain options. Need to tweak channel one quite a bit for great clean and pushed clean sounds, but it can be accomplished. There is tons of headroom in the power section so it's difficult to make channel 2 (traditional clean) distort. Channel 1 distortion like I mentioned before is very "Boogie" like from preamp tubes. I rate the amp an 8 because there are so many controls and tonal possibilities that it takes some time to dial in exactly what you need.

Amp is built extremely rugged. It's never failed, although I don't road it. Very heavy duty construction. Should last virtually forever.

I talk directly with Paul Rivera Jr. when I need support. Rivera no longer makes this amp line, so no warranty was available. My personal tech can fix anything, so it's not an issue. Rate this catagory an 8 because Paul is a busy guy, I can't always get hold of him from the jump.

I've been playing for 25 years and own other vintage Marshall & Vox amps along with three custom shop Fender amps. If my Rivera were stolen I would not pursue another because the model is very rare. I wouldn't be able to find one! I pursued this amp because of the intended application. Two channels of clean with a high headroom power section. Versatile loop features. Extensive EQ facilities. The standard model TBR-2 would have been a slightly better amp choice due to less compression in the preamp circuitry, but I could not locate that exact model. Overall the rig is perfect for the application. Would not consider anything else.