How does Rivera and Soldano compare to Recto?

[Monsta-Tone]

Given that the Lucky 13 has more stages for the Reverb, it is basically the same circuit as the Hot Rod series once the mods have been done.
So, it is basically the same circuit as the SLO, with the exception of the DeYoung transformers and the extra 2 gain stages for the Reverb circuitry.

I asked Paul at Mercury about his transformers vs. DeYoung, and he said that they are as close as a clone can get.

I've never actually played an SLO, but from playing my amp and listening to many SLO recordings, I would say pretty **** close! It's super high gain with no mushy farty bass like some of the Rectos I've owned. I've had 3 of the 2 channel Rectos (2 Rev. F, and 1 Rev. G), and 2 Tremoverbs (1 with the fixed power cord and 1 with the removable one). The Lucky blows them all out of the water, hands down!

I would say that the Rectos had a little more gain, but nowhere near the level of clarity at any given volume.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Well I played an SLO 100 and Rivera Knucklehead Tre today. The SLO was very very sweet. The kind folks at Atlanta Discount Music kept the store open late and we had a proper band level demo time. Good service is hard to find in the Wal-Mart music store metality, so I must give props. The front loaded Soldano cab is magic, we cranked it up to 4 and stood a good full cable length away and just moving the gain from 3.5 to about 6.5 covered in a magical way Back in Black, Sweet Child O Mine, a more metal version of a few Zep tunes, Dokken, Scorpions. Freakin' awesome amp. Depth mod on the amp, it had good punch. If anyone slags an SLO for no low end, they don't have it up to real gig level. The amp thunders in a very articulate way. They only had a new SLO so it was $$$$. On to the Knucklehead.

Played it thru a Diezel 4x12. Surprisingly it had a very very good clean channel. A strat on clean ch. w/gain up a bit was awesome. A great bluesy tone, pull the mid cut and it really got a great SRV tone. It was better than the SLO to my surprise. The Rivera does not get due respect as a bluesy clean amp. Not a Matchless but really good. It was also up to about 4 on the master and very loud, like the acoustic guitars had rattling strings kinda loud.

The high gain was all of the good of a rectifier with less buzz and more bottom end. More of a modern voice than the SLO. The first and only time to ever got to crank a Knucklehead, only had ever hit little pubsters and other lower gain Riveras. To make the deal totally awesome, it was only $1000 in like new condition. I was really thinking the amp was new and the price was wrong. God smiles on the most undeserving people sometimes. I still have a hard time believing I have a Knucklehead Tre.....

Anyway, I think the Rivera Knucklehead has much better cleans than a recto, more of a hard core metal creature and it's just brutally voiced. You don't need to crank the gain past 5 to cover a beastly Metallica 'Sad But True'. For flexibility and being a wicked metal grinding amp, the Rivera is the best of the three. But... it is not a Rectifier. It is something else, and it is excellent at what it does but it will not take the place of my Rectifier. The SLO is a classic, but today for $3500, I passed and got the Knucklehead and an Eventide Time factor, still $2400 to the positive.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I've always wanted to try a Knucklehead. Looks pretty intriguing.

For $1,000, you almost can't go wrong!
What is the Tre model?

 

[Heritage Softail]

I've always wanted to try a Knucklehead. Looks pretty intriguing.

For $1,000, you almost can't go wrong!
What is the Tre model?

Being used it had no manual. Have not downloaded it yet.

It is a little bit like they were influenced by the success of the Soldano Lucky 13 and put a great tall clean channel with massive overdrive distortion voice. It also does a foundation control like the Soldano depth mod. The trick with this amp will be to find a good middle ground. So far, a classic rock tone can be found at 2 on gain 3 on master. As a no brainer any distortion flavor can be punched in the clean channel. It seems made exactly for that, and I like to be able to punch my fav rokbox anyway. It would be interesting to see how the Knucklehead compares to the 2010 Reborn Rec. Of course the Rec would have way more knobs and cool colored lights than the Knuck... :lol: :lol:

 

[TimeSignature]

Soldanos are typically tighter that Rectos. They have that high end sizzle of the rectos. The gain sounds more clearly defined.
The Rivera Knucklehead has a flubby bottom end but sounds MUCH more like a Mark series, nothing like a recto at all.

 

[droptrd]

How about the VH4 and the Herbert?

Well these are high gainers that are 2 to 3 Xs the price of a recto. The Deizels are jaw dropping good.

And I think the SLO and K-tre kill the recto on all counts.

 

[Heritage Softail]

How about the VH4 and the Herbert?

Well these are high gainers that are 2 to 3 Xs the price of a recto. The Deizels are jaw dropping good.

And I think the SLO and K-tre kill the recto on all counts.

The Knucklehead Tre was $1000 cash, used. Got a good deal. I hesitate to used words like destroy or blow away.... But I have felt comfortable selling off my Rectifier after having the Knuck T for a few weeks. Slightly different voicing than the Rec. You just get a massive clean ch and lots of low end. It can be dialed in for a dark heavy grind with head vibrating low end. It is not a Rec though, and if that tone is indespensable, keep the Rec. To me the Knuck has some of what I was hoping to see in the Reborn Rectifier. Boogie seems to have played it very safe with that update, and done almost nothing to the tone.

I would not say that the Rectifier sounds much at all like the SLO. Quite different, especially in volume knob roll offs, crunchy AC/DC, Motley tones, Les Paul neck pup for GNR tone. Just way way different amps. Two great amps but quite different IMO. They are so different you need to go play an SLO to get a feel for how great this amp is. I hear the same thing about the Mark IIC+. You just have to play one to feel it.

I don't think any amp out there destroys anything Mesa designed for the same type of music. You may want a different voicing, but Mesa is rock solid tone and reliability.