NAD - Rivera Knuckehead II

[zeegler]

Just picked up this beast.

To start with, the clean channel on this thing is absolutely amazing. By far the best clean channel on any high gain amp I've ever tried. The gain channel is hugely versatile, and sounds almost halfway between a Marshall and a Mesa Rectifier. Lot's of gain on tap, and so many options with the pull knobs on the EQ knobs. The pull boost on the bass knob supplies an absolutely ungodly amount of low end. It's actually kinda silly. It's also a very loud amp. Loud, but extremely quiet. I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow. Maybe I'll take the day off so I can spend some time getting to know the amp.

[straycat]

Great amps good score!
I missed out on one last year and still kicking myself.
Cleans are awesome indeed.

[zeegler]

These are apparently quite tricky to dial in. There are almost too many parameters to adjust, and the tone controls have a very wide sweep, so they actually dramatically affect the tone. The Focus control is especially cool. It basically takes the tone from loose, bottom biased vintage type stuff, and progressively tightens up until you're in super tight, aggressive modern metal territory.

I'm surprised that you don't hear more about these amps considering what it can do. I'm really liking it.

[Frigo89]

more love for this on GAB! haha

Very cool amp, I would love to play a Rivera

[leftykingv2]

Very nice! My buddy has had one of those for a while and he loves it. I've played it quite a few times and it's a great amp with a lot of tonal options.

[markD]

congrats!!! I have been a loyal rivera player for 23 years. I, too, am surprised that more guys don't use them - they are awesome amps!!

[zeegler]

Here's a quick clip.

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=12585709

[Hellbat]

Sounds thick!