£600 Guitar Amp That Competes with £5000 Two Rock!

[@jjfalstaff]

I've had mine for 30+ years. It was offered and sold to me by my high school English teacher. It's phenomenal. Gigged with it for a long time, and it shows. Recently had it restored, new tubes etc. The original speaker finally gave up the ghost, so I put a Celestion Vintage 30 in it. It's still the best sounding amp I've ever heard. Super fat and punchy, but the main thing is a roundness that I never find in any other amps. The last big gig I played (98 or so), I used the gain channel with pretty much everything on 8 and a wah. That was it. We recorded that night with one mic into a 4 track, and it sounded fantastic on tape.

[@balderfanini]

I had a mate who gigged with one of these in the early 00's In a blues/rock band, with a few overdrive pedal's, one of them a TS-9 for sure. Still the best live sound I've ever heard.

[@mikite57]

I have a 1984 Concert, with one 12" Fender branded speaker that I may replace one of these days. It is a testament to Rivera's design work.

[@Tony-yp7ok]

I have one of these and gigged it for years, it’s a lovely versatile and reliable amp and as you say, takes pedals very well. It’s all turret board, point to point wiring which makes it easily repairable and eminently modifiable if that’s what you’re into. Definitely a sleeper amp.

[@redlespaul8139]

That Fender dirt sounds just like the crunch tones on Bryan Adams Reckless album. Particularly “it’s only love” I like it

[@TheStudioRats]

same era i guess. I wonder if they used one.

[@hybridjohn1]

Funny, I heard Brain Adams as well.

[@brennanaerts7820]

I was given one of these by a family friend in 2002 with the insistence that it was one of the best sounding fender amps ever made. I was young and like “whatever.” To this day, it is still one of my best sounding amps overall - maybe the best “sleeper” on the market. Sounds incredible with a Klon circuit in front especially.

[@VertexEffectsInc]

One of the best amps you can find and checks all the boutique boxes almost 40 years ago. Handwired, buffered effects loop, channel switching, and more! Paul Rivera is a genius!

[@thomasmoore3822]

I have one bought it new and has an ev in it so it weighs 72 lbs. sounds great but too heavy. Do you have any speakers you recommend to make it lighter..i have one 12 inch in mine.

[@michael_caz_nyc]

I have a 65 Princeton Reverb and it sounds glorious with my Suhr custom strat SSS = Lollar Dirty Blonde's. Fender "Cleans" are still the industry standard. Amp sounds fantastic guys.

[@stevenheath741]

Great to see your obvious delight in your Ancho Poblano strat

[@40WattPodcast]

I've owned a few of those Rivera era Fender amps - I had a Princeton Reverb II, Deluxe Reverb II, and a Twin Reverb II. Great amps and very overlooked because people don't seem to like Fender two channel amps.

[@jwright8838]

Loved the Jazz music interlude, James. Nice!

[@markmcmyn8967]

Me too!

[@Aja-nt]

Great amp. I gigged with one for a number of years. It was a big sound and it never ran out of volume... and that lead channel was typically fenderish ....but worked great with a few pedals in front of it.

[@TheJP3]

My first good amp!!! All the Rivera era stuff was very good.

[@fuzzedOut]

I literally just bought one of these this past week for a real good price. It sounds amazing!

[@TheStudioRats]

Nice one

[@Theweeze100]

Yes, these are and have been wonderful Fender amps. I think many of us have just gotten a little old and not as strong as we used to be. They’re a little tough to move around, but they sound awesome!

[@sseltrek1a2b]

they are "chunky"...casters are a necessity...

[@nedim_guitar]

The beard is starting to look good, Paul! Nice amp! You guys are helping us, the community, find a lot of different amps that we didn't necessarily know about.

[@cameronlesley2428]

It’s as good as my two rock says the bloke that says I don’t like 10” speaker. A great video and thank you gents .Rivera are amazing amps

[@odgeUK]

Been interested in these since Vertex Amplification ran a YT video on what great value they were, a year ago, but didn't pull the trigger yet. You'll blow up the market in the UK now! So thanks! :D

[@VertexEffectsInc]

Keep your eyes out, they come up for sale here still around around $600 USD still.

[@lincognito4073]

Don't know if I'm seeing the KZbin effect or I don't know where to look, but on reverb the least expensive is a 1x12 for $700. Most are $900 to north of $1000 for Rivera-era models.

[@DBroce]

I own many Fender amps, but not a Concert. I love the idea of the 2x10. Keep going, I haven’t bought a Tone X yet, but you guys have sold me. Please do the Hiwatt next.

[@chrisoneill3075]

I have one and it is glorious, a klon on the clean channel is stunning

[@steveburroughs7343]

I had one of these back in the day, and remember it very fondly. Along with the original Fender Prosonic.

[@RodneyMcMinge]

How under rated is the pro sonic ? What a great amp. Out of that era of amps , that and the vox climax are absolute killers.

[@steveburroughs7343]

@@RodneyMcMinge i totally agree

[@RodneyMcMinge]

@@steveburroughs7343 I've wanted a prosonic for years. Now i'm too old to hump one around.

[@brandoncf100]

You guys this is my favorite amp. I think you’re thinking about it the wrong way. The lead channel should be thought of as the breakup channel. I never put the gain past 4. Usually 3.5. If you want throaty palm muting pull the mid and have at it. For leads just add a fuzz pedal on either channel. James get the Reverb fixed. It’s Fender Reverb. Sounds awesome. Throw a delay in the efx loop. It’s amazing

[@juul196]

Awesome video guys, these amps are more than great. You should have a look at the Prosonic as well. It deserves a video like this. A well-made amp 2x10'' that has a lot in common with this Concert 2. I hope you will if you can find one.

[@TheRealCAPerry]

It seems that it’s not unlike the configuration the Super Sonic 22 has. I’ve got one of the limited edition Gold/Black ones fitted with a Celestion Vintage 30 - lovely little thing (when I don’t have the Hot Cat fired up…)

[@sdfswords]

The gain is super tight and spacious.

[@1970Richiez]

Wow that sounds really good

[@garyhoffman1]

I have a Fender Machete that I bought for €700 when they were blowing them out after being discontinued. Amazing high headroom cleans and extremely flexible overdrive channel. I don’t feel the need for anything more.

[@Dang...]

Another unsung Fender hero amp is the 1993-1995 Concert (1X12). Unbelievably great sounding along the same lines as this one, but it has three channels, all of which sound excellent, even the two dirt channels. Some of the sweetest cleans ever. Truly one of the BEST sounding Fender amps ever.

[@TheGuitarBay]

God that clean channel sounds divine! Would've loved to hear a couple of low gain drives in front of it. I don't see any mics, was that through an Ox Box?

[@playlistforkids]

Amp sounds great! Especially the clean/break up tone around 4:53. Can you divulge what the rest of the signal chain is for the recorded tones (UA Ox? Two notes?)? The tones on this channel sound so much better than the close mic'ed stuff we get on other channels. Thanks so much.

[@truthfactreality6814]

Picked up a blackstar Jared james Nichols signature head this week. For £430. Wow. It’s absolutely killer!!!!

[@robertharmon9332]

It sounds fantastic!

[@TheStudioRats]

Its a smashing amp.

[@paulorr7471]

What I love about your playing Paul, is you play beautiful chords and licks. Not show off junk like some guitar players like to do. Perhaps you can do a side hustle teaching us some of those chord structures?

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Paul

[@GreatPlanet-c7o]

It sounds great.

[@emanuele6461]

Love the channel but wish we could hear noise levels of the amplifiers you test with drive settings/pedals.

[@ACOUSTITRON-mp6tc]

River Fender amps are the best ever.

[@RodneyMcMinge]

" Proper loud "...yes indeed, plus, it's " proper bloody heavy ". I owned one in the 80's. Unless you have a residency, this becomes a real monster to lug upstairs to a gig. If you can get one and not have to move it , the clean channel will reward you.

[@davidolsen9425]

Hi chaps. Great vid as always! I have a request (nothing to do with this vid actually!) after watching the livestream last night. Someone mentioned gated reverb and I wondered if James you could do a gated reverb for drums video, explaining, demonstrating and maybe playing along to a track? Keep up the great work. Best regards, Dave

[@TheStudioRats]

Noted.

[@RezaKhan2024]

Thanks. What are the Power tubes? 6L6?

[@colinhardy6396]

I’ve heard you refer to Paul Rivera a couple of times. I’ve been gigging a Rivera Fandango for years and love it. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on Rivera amps.

[@TheStudioRats]

Added!

[@twitcheyspleen]

Going to check on the dogs - classic!

[@thomasmoore3822]

What speaker is in it. Mine is extremely heavy with an EV i put in it when i bought it new. The original was too flubby so i replaced it.

[@ksharpe10]

I went and listened to your Bloomfield 2 rock, your Right a 2 Rock at a budget. Neat under the radar tone machine, supposedly there was some quality issues with these. But sound wise this is pretty close to that 2 Rock. Nice Demo.

[@TheStudioRats]

Thanks for listening.

[@ksharpe10]

@@TheStudioRats James really knows how to find real Deals it seems.

[@marekgitarzysta5193]

Nuno used Fender Brownfaces on Extreme's Waiting for the punchline - cranked. So you can get good distortion from Fenders. Just saying ;) And this is just one example

[@christianlacheze3323]

Bought one new in the mid ‘90s. Had to resell because it was too loud.

[@sseltrek1a2b]

think an attenuator would be a game changer for using this amp at home/recording (it needs to be cranked a bit)...

[@mikeblue385]

i bought one of those from robben ford. it had EV's in it. heavy as hell but it would slap a 100 watt marshall around. replacing that footswitch will cost half as much as the amp.

[@TheStudioRats]

woh thats awesome.

[@57ebartley]

Wow, that’s a cool amp.

[@deddiev1718]

River amps clean sounds tend to sound and feel a bit compressed. How does that concert seem

[@ckjjclan]

What mics did you have on it for the video? Dang that sounded so good!

[@steveymoon]

That Strat is lovely, Paul. What is it?

[@diderkamal1]

Would this be too loud for home use?

[@tymanngruter1808]

That old Fenders has a kind of mojo you can not resist, is it not?

[@steveymoon]

I just checked on Reverb and the cheapest one of these has just been price dropped from £1250 to £1100. Where did you get £600 from?

[@Warming0829]

I think Paul your guitar tuning is perfect Can you tell us your tip please?

[@EdBenji]

How is it any surprise that some old Fender amp would be as good as a Two Rock???? These boutique amps are just hype..

[@tomusic8887]

From now on it's price will go up fast ❤

[@anthonycosta2662]

That strat!!

[@YMESYDT]

If you like this, you might like the 90's '63 Vibroverb Reissue. Needs a speaker upgrade, but a very underrated amplifier!

[@matthewf1979]

You can almost pick up a Two Rock for how much the 63 Vibroverb reissue goes for. Yeah, it's a good amp, but you can do better for the price.

[@ksharpe10]

@@matthewf1979 On reverb they are about half the price of a 2 rock. under 2000.

[@christianlacheze3323]

On Reverb there is an original ‘63 (2x10)Vibroverb. Asking price is 20k

[@alanparkinson4568]

I had one of these back when they were new. The overdrive channel was rich and creamy and, boy oh boy, I regret getting rid of it. Could be that this one just needs serviced…?

[@richfiryn]

Every time I see one of these vids with you playin that Strat I start to drool. It's embarrassing!!

[@TheStudioRats]

Cheers Rich, I’m really getting into Strats again from my hiatus with teles.

[@richfiryn]

@@TheStudioRats you have a really great one there Paul. That Fender Concert amp has a lot of good tones in it too.

[@MadSonStudios]

man i love that strat..beautiful

[@hillsmith]

Sounds good to me, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.................

[@johnbuell8035]

I remember these from when I worked in a music shop back at this time. I got the Fender 30 from the same range/time, because I liked 6V6s, and 30 watts seemed a bit more gig-friendly for small bars and clubs. Great sound, but it was never quite loud enough to have any headroom with a drummer. Should have got the Concert.

[@dnhrage1]

Stock speaker?

[@Panthersfan89]

Someone had posted one on Facebook Marketplace a couple weeks ago for like $50-$75 unfortunately someone else got it. Story of mt life lol

[@circlemover]

Why do I sense, in this amp demo, both gents don't seem that enthusiastic as normal or was it the morning after effect?

[@stephend4674]

600 more like 900

[@addictedtogear]

Or you could say that your £5000 Two Rock sounds as bad as a £600 Guitar Amp depending on how you look at it LOL. Just kidding nice video. Cheers!

[@peterkelly8357]

I watched the first minute or so of the intro and thought "this is Tone X", fast forward a bit and the guys are talking about buying amps to put into Tone X

[@alanmcdonald6551]

Those amps are great but HEAVY....

[@bonedale]

My dog left the chat to chase the dog barking

[@OriginalDarkMark]

Didn't these run EVs? I seem to remember some tie-in with with the Rivera designed Fenders... Maybe. For definite though, all the caps in the circuit were filled with olive oil and Anthrax powder, which is why they were discontinued. They are lethal if they run for more than 26mins. Fine for short sets but not for lengthy recording sessions. With that in mind, I am willing to don my HazMat suit and remove this amp from your premises for the meagre fee of £6.

[@TheStudioRats]

That was genius, yes please come round for removal:

[@OriginalDarkMark]

Cash. Not cheques, cigarettes or sweets.

[@jjmatashi]

The Strat! The Strat! The Strat! What is it?

[@TheStudioRats]

It’s a CS Pablano Strat. Cheers

[@watkinscopicat]

folks, don’t buy modern mass produced amps, get a silverface Fender, this is my Ted talk.

[@pb25193]

Why is it better than black face? I have only played black face so I have no clue what's what

[@BeefNEggs057]

No Ted.

[@onevoiceinc]

..but... but.... he done made a Ted talk and e'rthing. (I have been seriously eyeballing one of those Fender Bassbreaker r30's. It's the Fender amp for people who absolutely hate Fender amps but are okay when they run across a Fender amp that sounds more like a Marshall than a Marshall.)

[@smoothassmooth]

I have a bass reaker 15 and it's great but they are hard and expensive to repair. You are right I tried a blues jr and it sucked at taking my pedals. In fact a cheap solid state did better than the blues jr.​@@onevoiceinc

[@Bcroom45]

@@pb25193its not better than blackface, it close to being as nice as a blackface except it’s substantially cheaper. Also still better than a reissue amp.

[@horstklein763]

This amo I played in 1985. I could Not get any nice tone Out of it. The AMP was Just unplayable.

[@kmichaelp4508]

I have owned many fenders over the years and always traded them off. Obviously I didn’t ever have one of those. Never got along with a twin. Too one trick pony.

[@csnide6702]

I've said this with so much cheaper gear--- sure, those high end guitars and amps are awesome BUT are those expensive pieces 5 to i0 times better...? because that is what they cost. !!!!!

[@JohnDaubSuperfan369]

A capable player can make any old amp sound like he wants to, regardless of price. But of course a person who thinks reliced guitars are cool also thinks the amount of money you spend on your gear makes a difference.

[@zjokka]

3:32 "as a pedal platform it's really lovely" simply means 'only the clean tones are acceptable' or 'it doesn't have any character' or 'I should have bought a Class D solid state amp"

[@TheStudioRats]

I couldnt dissagree more, to me a pedal platform should never be lack of character.

[@koda1960]

Lack of character in an amp is the death knell for all pedals.

[@yaniv-nos-tubes]

two rock got all their "ideas" from dumble amps.

[@justgetitdoneman]

anybody ever said Paul looks like a thin Bill Burr...

[@TheStudioRats]

And many other bald people too.

[@robertj1303]

Not a fan of Fender amps because I am not a fan of Jensen or Eminance speakers. I have had them and to me they are never as clear as I would like.😊

[@PartyCodeBand]

That is an amp to avoid! Can't polish a turd!

[@alanjackman2296]

Think I'll just stay with my vox

[@johnsmith-ug5tp]

haha Jazz