Review of the Rivera Knucklehead Guitar Amp

By: Brandon Drury

I've owned my Rivera Knucklehead since 1998. It's a small part
of my guitar amp collection which consists of more than 5 amps.
I'll tell you how the Rivera Knucklehead performs both on stage
and in the studio.

Not surprising, Rivera is owned by some guy named Paul Rivera. I
guess it's a little surprising that his name is Paul, but that's
about it. While I hate to spread rumors about facts I don't
know, this is press, and that's that the press is all about. The
rumor on the street is that Paul Rivera worked for both Marshall
and Fender for years modifying guitar amplifiers for the rock
stars that could afford to have them modified. If this is true,
it will explain a lot about the Rivera Knucklehead.

The Rivera Knucklehead is a 100 watt, all tube, 2 - channel
guitar head. Each channel has a gain boost. Both channel
switching and the gain boosts can be controlled by the
footswitch. As with every 100 watt head, this thing is
ferociously loud. It contains an effects loop with control of
input and output for effects and whatnot. The Knucklehead uses 5
12ax7 tubes for the preamps and 4 EL 34 power tubes. Each
channel contains tone controls and a Focus and a Presence knob
are global, which means they effect both channels. It would have
been nice to have a spring reverb on the Rivera. That's the only
feature that it's lacking.

American Channel (Clean Channel) First off, I must say that the
clean channel isn't so much like a clean channel, necessarily.
It's more like a Fender channel. I mean that if you crank up the
gain on the clean channel, you will have a very distorted sound
in the way that a Fender distorts. This sound is not going to be
what you want for metal in most cases, although it might pull
off an Iron Maiden type of sound. Turning the "Ninja Boost" off
and backing the gain down brings you back down into Fender
territory. It's not an exact clone of the Fender sound,
necessarily. The tubes used are not typically found in Fenders
and even if you had the same tubes, the Fender sound is quite
different from amp to amp. You have tremendous options in your
tone. I mean TREMENDOUS!!! You have the typical bass, mids, and
treble. By pulling out the treble pot you engage the "bright
boost" and when you pull out the mids you engage the "mid
scoop". The tone controls are the most sensitive that I've ever
seen on a guitar amplifier. In fact, the tone knobs can be too
sensitive.

Plugging a strat or tele gives you the real deal tone. It's
pretty much a Fender amplifier. Plugging a Les Paul or PRS is a
different ball game. The tones are absurd on this channel. You
should be able to get anything you want out of this Fender side
that you would expect a Fender to do. This amp is very sensitive
to different guitars and it's tone will change more drastically
than other amps.

Distortion Channel (Marshall Channel) Alright, I called this
side of the amp the Marshall channel. The tone is not exactly a
Marshall. I own a 1971 Marshall Super Lead. It's sound is quite
a bit different than what you hear in the Rivera. I wouldn't say
the tone is necessarily better or worse, but different. When you
get to this caliber of guitar amplifiers, they are all good,
it's just a matter or preference.

The distortion channel has a gain boost, bass, mids, and treble.
Once again, these tone controls are as sensitive as you will
ever find in a guitar amp. It's stupid how much control you have
over your tone. This amp has too much gain, if you want too much
gain. With a Les Paul, I don't think I've put the gain past 12 O
Clock, ever. You would not believe how different this amp sounds
when you take the mids to 0 and then up to 10. It's a night and
day difference. With the gain boost turned off, this thing feels
like a good medium to low gain distorted amplifier. As I said,
choosing the right guitar and tone settings can be time
consuming, but getting whatever you want is a possibility. It's
worth trying all your guitars with this amp. There will be some
that obviously shine more than others. In this setting, it's no
problem at all pulling off tones such as AC/DC and other 70s
tones. I'd probably go with my 1971 Superlead first for this
application though, just because of the tone differences, but I
could make a guitar player looking for that tone very happy as
well.

When you engage the gain boost, this thing is all out death. I'm
talking deathmetal death, if that's what you are looking for. In
my opinion turning up the gain to a stupid amount, cranking the
lows and highs, and scooping out all the mids is tremendous
overkill. I'd say it's unusable. The kid down the street may
totally love it, though. I guess that's the great thing about
this amp. You can make the sound too thin or too thick....too
bright or too dull. It's up to your playing, your guitar, and
your tone settings.

With the gain boost on and the all settings on 7, this amp is a
full blown rock machine The tones inside this amp are
impressive. You will find a sound that you like. It just takes
some time to find that perfect combination. This takes more time
than a Marshall does. Sometimes the mids on 5 are too much when
the lows are on 6. But lowering the lows down to 5 might require
a little more mids, for example. I'm saying that the tone
controls are high dependent on each other.

This amp would always be my first choice playing out live. It's
a mammoth sound if I want and gives me 4 great sounds with the
footswitch. Going from mega gain to dirty clean is just a step
away. Going from pretty clean to low gain distortion is also
just a click away. I'd say it's one of the best live amps you
can buy.

In the studio.... well, this thing gets used on just about every
project I do. I haven't found a project that it didn't work well
on. I've recorded country, rock, and death metal with this amp
and every single one of them was very happy with it.

In conclusion, I wouldn't change a thing about the Rivera. It is
worth every penny.

About the author:
Brandon Drury's site, recordingreview.com has links to all sorts
of free recording
software.

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