15 posts
Hey guys, Stratman here.
I'm getting ready to go boutique...if you will.
In talking with Matt the other day, we were talking Bogner Shiva and that may be the route I go.
But on another board, there's a guy HAND BUILDING amps at great prices.
Talked to him by phone and even GP has done an article on him.
Check out the site...the prices are right if you're into vintage style amps.
Randy
http://www.tungstenamp.com/
Hey Randy.
I've had a Rivera Fandango for about 10 months now, and still in love with everything about it.
Check out the Rivera Site www.rivera.com
Hey Cin, my brotha'! :)
I know that site like the back of my hand.
Listened to and watched every damn video they got on that site.
Is that pathetic or what? ;D
Believe it or not...that's the other amp company I'm considering.
I'm looking at the Venus 3 and possibly, the Venus 6...both 1/12 versions.
Man, those amps sound great.
There's a music store in Montgomery, AL that has an almost new Fandango 1/12 for $1200.
It's the palomino color version.
Man, does that look and sound good! :)
Anyway, I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger, probably the 1st or 2nd week in August is when I'll have the money.
Can't friggin' wait!
I can't speak for the Shiva. I've heard clips but never played one. The Fandango, Quianna, and Venus series are all killer amps!
Randy, I've listened to every clip and vid on the Rivera site too. My price range is more in the Chubster area. But I'm telling you even the Clubsters sound really good. The 25 Doce' would suit me fine, but it's up around a grand so I'd probably just get a used Chubster instead. Jeff (Lt. Core) has one and LOVES it. It's only missing a couple features of the Fandango.
Yeah, I've played the Venus 3, Fandango, and Chubster.
Have heard a lot of good things about the Quiana.
It's about $2100 new I believe.
You're right, not a bad amp in the bunch.
Randy
If you're looking at Bogner and Rivera, be sure to take a look at BadCat. They're making some awesome stuff.
So already people have stopped talking about the Axe-FX as the next big thing? I mean, if you're thinking about going boutique, you might as well explore getting an Axe-FX with some decent clean amp instead.
Randy, how did the Chubster OD channel compare to the Fandango and Venus? Their page says the OD channel on the Chubster is voiced more vintage, and the Fandango is modern high gain. Did you play with the OD channels enough to get a feel for how different they are?
Jeff said a guy came up to him after a gig and said he "recognized the Rivera OD tone from out in the audience" because he had a Fandango.
Well, the 2 Venus amps are Class A.
They...ARE....SWEET! :)
Lower wattage also but you couldn't tell it.
The Fandango has more gain...but again....SWEET.
The Chubster is damn nice and more affordable for sure.
Still a great sounding amp yet more ROCK based, not for metal.
Yeah, the cleans are almost right there with Fender.
Good, clean, solid, great reverb...and ballsy.
The gain doesn't resemble Fender though and really remind you of a Marshall sound.
It really does many things well.
These amps are very flexible and have feature...ie...switches that other amps don't have.
Ninja, notch, etc....
You should go try them.
THey're built like tanks too and have a reputation for lasting forever.
Randy
I've never played any rivera but the Fandango. It has a high and low input, the high adds a bit more gain to the preamp stage, that's where you really get the high gain sound from, plus you have the mid scoop notch to play with, if you run low input->channel one, you get that classic british sound of bands like Led Zep, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple.
The clean channel dirties up nicely too, the mid scoop changes the character a fair bit as well. Half power switch at the back is another option.
The thing that I really love about this amp more than anything else though, is that all I have to do is plug it in and turn it on to get a great tone. ;D ;D ;D
Yeah, the Fandango is SO good at SO many tones it's hard to believe. While I had Lances amp here, I tried it with the strat, Satch, PRS, Wolfie... with all those VERY well thought out controls, it could do almost any tone you could imagine. That, in a 1x12 combo!! That, a screamer type solo pedal, and you are good to go for almost anything you could ever want if you have the guitar and pickups for the tone you are after.
The Fandango is an incredible amp, IMHO.
I have no doubt that the Shiva is great as well. And the Bad Cats. And the Venus. The Venus and Bad Cat seemed to be extremely sweet amps, no question, I just don't think they can be as brutal as the Fandango can.
And yes, I've seen used Chubsters for $800 so I really hoped it was a "Fandango Jr" of sorts. I can keep a pedal or two to push it to the places a Fandango can go IF it is.
Hey Cin,
I've heard that about Riveras.
That once you get one, the sound is so good that you use your effect less.
What do you think?
Congrats on getting that amp! :)
Randy
Before I brought the Fandango my signal chain went guitar -> compressor->Phase 90->Fulltone Fulldrive2->deluxe memory man ->Gate->amp.
Now it's just Guitar -> phase90 ->amp->effects loop/Deluxe Memory Man -> return.
And to be honest thats only for a couple of songs, 98% of the time it's just guitar->amp and one big ;D
I hear ya' man! :)
That Fandango is one LOUD ASS amp, huh?
Is it the 100 watt'r?
I love that Palomino color scheme too!
Enjoy!
Randy
55watts, loud enough to drown out the drummer :D
28 watts on vintage (half power)