The Rivera-Era Concert Project Part 1: Hearing How Bad the Stock Amp Sounds

[@mowdra]

My stock 1983 Fender Concert is one of my favorite sounding amps ever - and I have had quite a few.

[@glennweatherford8438]

I tried one of these back in 1983 at a Fender dealer. The gain just sounded bad, but I tried a Super Champ and what a difference. I ended up with two Super Champs. :)

[@thepicksman1]

Have to say that my Concert sounds nothing like this one. I’ve had it for over 30 years and always got great sounds out of both channels, especially with my old Strat. It takes pedals well too.

[@travgpeters1]

i think that clean sounds awesome

[@sasakojic8624]

The tone controls on channel two are placed before the distortion stage. This allows you to adjust the character of distortion to your taste, be it muddy or cutting or muffled. The manual sadly doesn't address this but you can clearly see it in the schematic.

[@tokenofdevotion]

Amp sounds amazing. Mason Marangella from Vertex Effects made a video about it and this amp is pretty much a cult workhorse

[@Geetarhed]

Fender concerts are great, had one in the 80s sensational.

[@Stelly669]

Magic amp

[@SteveGreen-qy7xb]

I have the 1983 Concert with 2 x 10 EVM’s. (As well as the Rivera era Princeton 2 and the Deluxe, all great amps) These amps all sound great…on both the clean and dirty channel, if you know how to set it up properly. As someone else mentioned earlier the secret for the gain channel is in the mid boost pulled out. A nice Fender clean tone and switchable gain channel that you can tweak to sound like anything you want (if you know how) More gain than you’ll ever need.

[@KallipolisCracks06]

These are amazing handwired amps maybe a dud with this one just started the vid but crazy title

[@blackrichard1029]

Nice to find this. Looking forward to watching the rest of the series. I purchased one of these about 20 years ago -- my first tube amp -- and it's still in my stable even if not used much (for obvious reasons).

[@AdamRobichaud]

Can jumper the tube driven effects loop to add another pre amp gain stage. Can use the effects loop volume on the rear as an attenuator. This amp is insanely loud, and sounds much better with the mid boost pulled. Channel 2 input is also much louder.

[@jerryking7772]

I have 4 x 10 Concert II and it's one of the best amps I've ever owned. You do have to know how to drive em but theyre fantastic. I have heard they all sound different but mine is great. You can also jump the effects loop to get a HUGE boost in power out of the amp usung the send and return volumes on the back.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I got a great deal on one bought unseen (I would never normally do that, except for the price of it. It’s too good). Do you mean you put a guitar cable into the send and the return at the same time? What goes missing if you do that… I mean what are the pros and cons? (Any other info advice you could offer will be appreciated) 👍

[@chucklakeridge7944]

I use that trick to drive the pre-amps, then turn down the signal going to the powertubes to take volume down.

[@larrybethune3909]

Oh please Psionic Audio, show me the way to get the nasty mid honk skanky sound out of the overdrive. You described it as square wavey. I agree. Harsh odd order harmonics abound! Subscribed!!!

[@ramon4545]

Mine sounds absolutely amazing I have my with a evm12L speaker it takes pedals amazing well has headroom for days and the 2nd channel in mine sounds similar to a Mesa Boogie

[@jordangibson695]

A major trick to getting a good sound out of the second channel is this: Never choke the amp too much with the master volume. People use that way too much. If you need a smaller amp, get a Princeton Reverb II or a Deluxe Reverb II. Some simple mods that help is to replace V1 with a 5751 and to remove those post CBS snubber caps on the preamp tubes.

[@mrshiney2]

I have a 1983 Rivera era Princeton Reverb II. Got it really cheap about 5 years ago. Had my amp guy Ben Fargen of Sacramento Ca. go through it and he really has it sounding good now. Mostly he had to work on that OD channel. Speaker choice has a lot to do with it too

[@williamkaylor1191]

i have one too, all original inside, but in a smaller cab with a 10". i installed an Eminence Copperhead i acquired years ago and it helped a lot. i'm curious as to what psionic does to improve this Concert.

[@ctcards2636]

Wow ! I have not seen one of these in YEARS, I had a guitar player in my band back in the late 90s who owned one of these. He never used the dirty channel, so i had no idea what it sounded like until this video. Love these videos, starting to see a lot of amps ive owned or own and many that different musicians ive performed with thru out the years owned. Thanks again ! :-)

[@citizenk812]

I've owned one since 1984....clean channel is OK, and the boost never worked right even after factory service a couple of times. Way too expensive to repair.

[@mikeblue385]

funny. i had one of those i bought from robben ford. 2x10 model. he put EVs in it. i traded it for a blonde MK1. the concert is brutal. loud, in your face. i also had the fender 75. same deal. uncontrollable. good for outdoor stadium type gigs.

[@GaryArmstrongmacgh]

I bought one of these and played it to death in gigs. It still plays clean and wonderful as of 2024. Takes pedal effects wonderful. I'd never alter the amp. I'd seek to change the sound through pedals. Just my preference. Also, the distortion works very well on my amp. Very! You've got to pop out all the knobs on the distortion side. Want more? Buy a pedal of your choosing. Don't alter the amp. That's stupid. And throw 2x12 cabinet on it.

[@Damaral63]

I bought one of these in 1982 and it had a lot more gain than this on the lead channel. It wasn't very good sounding, though. I was heavily into blues and this amp didn't work for me. The repair was to replace it with a Vibrolux Reverb.

[@roberthurless4615]

My wife bought me one of those right after we got married. I had an EV 12M speaker installed. I thought it sounded pretty good, but it was very heavy and loud.

[@fusion5866]

My Concert II still has all the original preamp tubes. Planning to replace the power tubes with some NOS 6L6s as the Chinese tubes in the amp now are rather underwhelming.

[@cpfs936]

Curious as to why you didn't adjust the EQ on the overdrive channel. Would've been the first thing I'd reach for.

[@PsionicAudio]

Because a good amp sounds good with tone controls at noon. And the square wave clipping was a turd beyond polishing.

[@joesimon2018]

You have no idea how to dial in an amp.

[@grosebud4554]

Would this amp be a good cheaper replacement for a fender super? I know it’s clearly different but can I get to that territory?

[@larryrolando3542]

I'm really interested in this one, especially since we talked a week or so ago.

[@jimbomillard62]

Had one, modified the drive channel but still sounded bad. Clean channel sounded really good.

[@pneumatic00]

I'm not sure your experience, but I've never been able to run BASS on a Fender amp much above 4 without the amp going very muddy at higher volumes.

[@DoItYourselfMusician]

That sounds exactly my old '73 Super Reverb when you pushed it. The cleans were lovely but OD was just shite. Never figured out what was wrong with it.

[@dreamdiction]

My 72 Super Reverb was the same, Fenders were designed to be clean, even with overdrive pedals I needed to turn the amp treble down so far than the plectrum attack disappeared.

[@richardwhitehead4684]

I bought a concert II brand new in ‘83 and the dirty channel sounded like shit from day one. Clean channel was nice, tho. That’s all I ever used. It had an effects loop, which wasn’t common at the time. It made a nice enough pedal platform. But still, that dirty channel was capable of producing some of the most unpleasant amp sounds to ever come out of a fender (or any) amp. Unfortunately, I left this amp at a friend’s house and when I went to retrieve it he claimed he wasn’t sure where it went. Yeah right. So unless he miraculously ‘finds’ my amp, it’s not a problem I’ll be dealing with. Too bad, I’ve read others have had success tweaking that channel. I’ll be following this project for sentimental reasons.

[@TwangThang57]

The Gain knob appears to be what is labeled as Lead Level on my PRII. It only works when the lead pot is pulled out and adjusts the amount of gain from that circuit. On my amp, that gain is derived from half of the 12ax7 in V2. i personally don't know anyone who pulls out the pots and uses the overdrive on those amps. Great amps, just don't pull out the pots!

[@justinthomas7222]

I'm working my way through a pair of 75s right now...

[@jordanwilkinson7368]

I had a Princeton Reverb ii, and I thought it sounded killer. Taste is subjective.

[@joesimon2018]

This guy has no idea how to dial in an amp at all. Sad

[@dangitdan9938]

Sounds like it just needs SD-1 going into it! 🤘🏻😎🤘🏻 Found one of these local I’m interested in getting but I really want a vintage Pro Reverb.

[@Stelly669]

My boss me25 into mine is magic

[@rexieb3]

I like the sort of Steve Miller Band sparklie distortion sound of the amp. But if one is into the heavey ACDC overdrive sound like a Marshall amp then this is not the best amp.

[@fossilmatic]

I played in a band with a friend who had one of these. He also had a 70s hard tail Strat. The combination was like someone throwing their keys on a sheet of corrugated iron.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

🤣

[@joeinterrante7873]

Anyone have experience with the deluxe version

[@utmotrix]

Interested in the cab replacement. Did you have to have a custom size built or is it the same size as another Fender model?...thx

[@grosebud4554]

How much would you charge to have this work done? Or if you don’t want to do it could I buy the schematic from you to pay a tech to do the mods

[@Mark70609]

I had one of these and felt the same about it. I wanted my Fender like clean and Marshall like distortion. The mid boost on these amps should be switchable, it works were with single notes but not so good for chords. The amp sounds good clean, not much gain on tap. My old Concert sounded like, I liked the 4 x 10” model more than the 1 x 12” my amp had or the 2 x 10” model.

[@DangerNoodle-yw8yt]

These amps were never intended to offer Marshall distortion. If anything they were designed to compete with Boogies - at least in the sense that Paul Rivera was attempting to offer his Stage III and IV modifications in a mass produced amp. Admittedly he didn't get all the way there and there might have been reasons for that.

[@stevenvandemsky7290]

This is exactly how these 80s Rivera Concerts are supposed to sound. They all have this broken square wave fuzz sound. One of the worst sounds ever 😂

[@galeliyalevi]

Wow, this is so much like my already traded away Fender75. Great Reverb, non usable crunch or lead.

[@goodun2974]

I bought a Rivera-era Vibrolux Reverb with the pull-boost from a pawnshop some twenty+ years ago; I wasn't impressed with it sonically but I flipped it for 3 times what I paid, so....

[@dave_d_i_a_l]

Thx for these videos sir. I have a later model 92-93’ pr224 concert which is kind of a PCB take on this one I believe. I love it dearly although I’m sure it is a tech nightmare to work on. I hope you get one on your shop bench eventually so I can be more educated on it…. Again, Love your work. Thanks very much for your knowledge, it’s well received and appreciated on my end.

[@luthiervandros]

I prefer the Zinky fenders tone’s.

[@johnmiller9219]

that crackle i cant tell if your mic is peaking or the amp is peaking

[@PsionicAudio]

That was the amp

[@voxpathfinder15r]

Very cool. I almost bought one of these a couple years back in the 4x10 format. But never got around to trying it out. Probably for the better since these guys are 60 watts with probably a useless master volume - so punishingly loud.

[@michaelnewell3823]

Hi Lyle, love your videos. You definitely have your act together on amps. I hate to always be so negative but this amp sounds like absolute shite mate. Hopefully you can fix it and get to sound half decent. I have to be honest, I have a 1965 Fender Bandmaster amp and it's just ok. I was never overly thrilled with sound of this amp. I have a Fender 1993 Blues DeVille 4x10 amp and it doesn't sound bad but I have to say, Fender amps in general are not my favourite cup of tea. They do that surf thing really well and to me that's it. It's just that I have two Ceriatone HRM amps and one of Nik's JTM 45 Bluesbreaker amps and I'll pay his price any day over buying a Fender. It's just that there are a plethora of amp builders today that leave Fender in the dust. Well at least I can say one thing about Fender amps, at least the ones I have personally owned have never broken down on me or had any valve issues. I just never overly enthralled by Fender amps. But this amp by one of their top builders sounds like absolute shite considering. I have to say one thing, your amp assessments and knowledge are unparalleled. Why is though, that all of the so called amp experts like Zinky and Rivera screw up Fender amps? Just my 2 cents.

[@michaelnewell3823]

@@JC-kv1vn hi , I am not saying that their amps are total shite or anything, but like I said earlier, I own a Blackface Bandmaster amp. It's strictly a one trick pony. When it comes to amps, I have had my share of valve problems and just plain amp problems. My biggest problem was that I bought a Mesa Boogie Tremoverb 2x12 combo back in the day. I had bought the amp, but like Rhett Schull on KZbin said, he just could never get into anything Mesa Boogie put out. Now I had my Tremoverb modded by Voodoo amps in New York and the amp was much more useable then. I also had two adjustable bias posts installed in it because Mesa makes their amps without bias control which by the way sucks big time. The problem with Mesa amps is that when they go south, good luck getting someone to repair them. And by the way Gibson has just bought the company Mesa Boogie. It's just for my money, like Ceriatone amps are point to point wired just as the old amps in the 60's and there is just nothing but fantastic tone. I don't know if you have seen the guys of this amp called the HRM Dumble clone by Ceriatone but this amp kills. Now my Fender Bandmaster couldn't hold a candle to this one mate.

[@BeesWaxMinder]

I heard these were highly regarded 🤷‍♂️

[@Stelly669]

Wow it's a valve amp as well rivera screwed that up I'm glad I've only got same year solid state fender Princeton chorus it actually has exactly same overdrive sound . Ya neck pickup changes into a keyboards bad sounds

[@faultlessguitarsandamps1116]

The overdrive channel sounds just like Bachman Turner Overdrive . Haha

[@stevencancel1727]

Geez, rather take a 2002 fender deluxe reverb reissue, plug a blues driver into the normal channel into a pair of 1979 celestion branded 65's in open back mmmm this sounds pretty good!

[@russellesimonetta9071]

Sounds like a cheap fuzz drive. Clean channel sounds good!

[@bgoumas]

No criticism hear, just want to know why you feel this amp sound like shit. Definitely not my favorite sounding dirty channel sound but everyone’s opinion seems so violently negative if this sound. Just looking to be educated it anyone wants to humor me lol

[@PsionicAudio]

Splatty square wave distortion with weird transients and grainy note decay. Like a pedal with a dying battery.

[@bgoumas]

@@PsionicAudio okay cool, I’m not totally sure what all those words mean exactly haha but I think I’ve got some ideas of what you’re talking about. Thanks, I’ll subscribe and stay up to date with this guy

[@bgoumas]

@@PsionicAudio oh one other thing, what would you say is a fair price for one of these? Removing your own feeings of how much you’d pay for one? Does 800 sound reasonable?

[@Stelly669]

Creamy warm spongy magical mine is

[@joesimon2018]

All I did with mine was clip out the snubber caps and add 5751 tube to V1. Replaced the speaker with a no-name 70 watt Jensen-ish ceramic. Sounds great now. Knowing how to EQ it is critical. It IS a 60 watt amp so you WILL have to crank it to get a SRV sound. Forget about turning the master volume down. BTW people who play overdrive sounds with the reverb on are idiots. This isn't up for debate.

[@canaan_perry]

Well...to this day Fender drive channels are still not really known as being great. The SuperSonic might be an exception where they got it right.

[@Stelly669]

Bud ! There is a magic setting on that amp and it's so fkn hard to dial in its like micro mm,s if ya get it pour super glue on shafts

[@michaelcantinieri7890]

Replace the tubes

[@Tonetwisters]

I played through one several years ago, and it was awful. Don't know if it was tubes or speakers or what; but it was toneless.

[@goodun2974]

This amp sounds like it has a ghost note following it whenever you play with gain/distortion.

[@joesimon2018]

That the reverb this idiot forgot to turn down when playing overdrive

[@benperry490]

I thought their concert series were all solid-state amps? sounds like one

[@peterburi2727]

Jeez...sounds like flatulence in a paper bag.