Fender Rivera era Concert II

[jonhart]

What do you think of this amp ? Does it get a good drive tone at lower volumes ? My friend is looking at one. He wants something versatile to use for small as well as larger gigs. He found a 210 model on Craigslist for $500, however, the reverb doesn't work. Is that still a good price ?

 

[BiggerJohn]

Some guys like these things, some don't. Last of the PTP wired Fenders. Most think the gain channel sucks. Clean channel is a bit dull and lifeless.

fixing the broken reverb is probably not too difficult.

 

[jhundt]

they can be made to sound very good indeed, but they may be disappointing in stock condition.

I have a similar amp - the Rivera-era Princeton Reverb II - which I modified substantially, and which is now the best-sounding amp I have ever owned. Almost all the modifications were about removing superfluous parts, and changing some Rivera changes back to Leo Fender specs.

 

[BiggerJohn]

they can be made to sound very good indeed, but they may be disappointing in stock condition.

I have a similar amp - the Rivera-era Princeton Reverb II - which I modified substantially, and which is now the best-sounding amp I have ever owned. Almost all the modifications were about removing superfluous parts, and changing some Rivera changes back to Leo Fender specs.

I agree, with substantial mods (not involving drills, jack hammers or chainsaws), these amps can be improved. However, then you have the basic cost of the amp plus the cost of all the mods. May as well buy a SF or BF.

Those amps have a lot of caps hooked between plate and cathode of the 12AX7s to kill the high frequency gain and stabilize the amp. the layout inside is a rat's nest like the worst of the SF era. Long leads, too long, running all over the place. That lets parts inside talk to each other, where you really don't want them talking to each other, which leads to the possibility of instability and oscillation. High gain makes it worse. Those caps kill the high end and make the amp dull. Cleaning them up and re-configuring the circuit to get it to sound better is a lot of work. If you know what you are doing and can do it yourself, then it's your own time invested. If you use a tech, it will be a few hours of bench time. These amps are not for the color-by numbers crowd who know just enough to be dangerous, and have no test equipment. having just a DVM does not count and is a joke.

frankly I think amp good techs should charge as much hourly as auto mechanics, as their labor is similarly skilled.

 

[Ed Storer]

I had one of the Concert II 2x10 amps. Great Fender clean and decendt reverb, but not much else. The boost was a problem and I had it fixed. Wish I had saved that money, the boost sounded awful to my ears.

A '69 Super Reverb was in the stable at the same time; the concert was only 4 or 5 pounds lighter, so I let it go.

 

[morgansofas]

I have just bought a Concert II 2x10 with the EV speakers in it. Had Tung Sol power tubes fitted and a Tung Sol 12AX7 in V1. So far, I'm enjoying it, using the clean mostly.

No comparison I know, but I AB'd it against my USA HRD that has a Celestion Mesa C90 Black shadow speaker and the Concert easily won, in terms of clarity, clear bass and powerful low mids. I normally use a Boss ME70 with my HRD, but since getting the Concert, I'm going naked! It's so heavy though, with those massive magnets on the EV speakers!

 

[SamClemons]

I have a Deluxe Reverb II. Very happy. Amp suits me fine. I think the II series are some of the best buys out there. I had a SF DR before, the II does everything the SF did and more.

 

[lioncommandking]

Jonhart the other day I googled Fender Concert II and a video popped up that I did on Youtube a few years ago. You can try that or go to Youtube and type in Concert II. I also did the drive channel but never turned it to full gain as I don't play with a lot of drive/distortion anyway. It was a hurried video I did for someone on the Fender Forum so the guitar is a little out. But you can still hear the tone of the amp before I had it blackfaced. I can't post the link because the computer I am using browser is no longer supported by Youtube. So I can't pull it up.

 

[morgansofas]

If I were buying the Concert II with a dodgy reverb, I would take the opportunity to change it to a short tank, as, to me it seems that anything over 2 sounds like my amp got swallowed into a long tunnel!

 

[lioncommandking]

Morgansofas I noticed you bought your amp with EV's in it. I think these amps originally came with EVs as standard speakers, unfortunately when I bought mine they were replaced with some sort of Peavey speaker (I think they were Scorpions), and made the amp sound very dull. I used a Weber 10f150T and a Fender Blue Frame alnico for those videos, but since changed to 1 Weber Michigan and 1 Weber Cali. The amp now sounds huge and wonderful. By the way, the reverb on these amps does tend to be very deep and cavernous.

 

[morgansofas]

Hi lioncommand king,
I think the EVs were optional factory upgrades, from what I've read on Ampwares, as the extension cabs offered with EVs were the 'deluxe' models. I believe that on e the whole, they were usually Fender Eminence, but I'm not sure.
Sounds like you have a winning combination with the speakers! A fair bit lighter than the EVs too, I suspect, which contribute 11kg (nearly 25lbs!). The huge sound relies partly on putting it on the floor, as opposed to a stand, I find. Some tilt legs would be nice...

 

[Pete W]

Honestly I would pass on this one.
They were extremely hard to sell when new due to the lifeless clean channel and the distortion at best sounded like a mosquito in heat and I don't mean hot weather.
Used we couldn't even give them away.

The money you would have to spend to improve this amp would greatly exceed what you could sell it for if you decided you didn't like it.