R Ford and the red knob Twin amp?

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nickm57
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Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2008 6:00 am
Location: sydney australia

Re: R Ford and the red knob Twin amp?

Post by nickm57 »

Even though it is undoubtedly insured and serial numbers recorded, I can only guess that some conniving SOB would love to get his grubby hands on one.
More like cost of freight for international touring and the pain of setups at festivals.
RF was not a big name in the early 1990's, only able to fill a 450 seat venue in Australian Capital City at the time.

I think he aimed for a consistent cheap Hire rig. Hearing his Red twin sound was disappointing.
Tubetastic
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Re: R Ford and the red knob Twin amp?

Post by Tubetastic »

jaysg wrote:
stelligan wrote:I own a red knob Rivera era Super 60 head. I quite like the clean tone and with pedals on top. The OD channel - stank ass.......
Red knob and Rivera are mutually exclusive. Paul and I met when he was 19 and I was 16. It's immaterial to me, whether you like his amps or not...I like to keep thing accurate w/regard to his work. He was the director of marketing at Fender....not R&D.

For example, the only 'Rivera era' amp he takes credit for is the Super Champ. He and Ed Jahns seemed to have got into a pissing match over the rest of the II series. Paul's a decent guy, though not the TAG sort. Another example...he knew what was in the early 80's dumbles, but didn't copy them....all the worse for those amps, but he didn't want to copy them.


I thought Rivera was head of marketing and oversee-er of the R&D, too. And had left by 86 --- when the CBS control, changed?



The Red Knob model twin was : The Twin, 87 - 94 --- although it had Red Knobs when it came out, the later versions had Black Knobs and a Silver Grille. NB : There were some custom colors, too -- I rebuilt one into a Fender White Snakeskin cabinet. *ugh*

I liked the clean channel but hated the distortion channel. I saw Ford with one as a back-up, and his Dumble. Best guitar sound I've ever heard -- I hope it wasn't, The Twin!


I've also owned 3 of those Superchamps -- it was Rivera who Inpsired my interest in Amps through those minature beasts, Not sure why I ever sold any of them. And regret doing so.


I met Rivera in 1995. Nice guy, shame I caught him at a busy moment at a Trade show. :cry:
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FUCHSAUDIO
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Re: R Ford and the red knob Twin amp?

Post by FUCHSAUDIO »

Mark wrote: Looking at the circuit, I think something went wrong around the reverb stage and effects loop should only be engaged when something is plugged into the loop. I think you'd have to go through the O/D channel stage by stage to work out what to change and where.
The second channel could be stripped-down to a D-style, although not easily. The loop is bizarre (to say the least), the reverb and first preamp stages are the Fender staple circuits mostly. Man, look at all the LDR's ! My faves...lol. Been some time since I looked at one of these units. Last time I had one with toasted boards, and Fender actually replaced the chassis (back in the 80's, the amp was Ziggy Marley's). I will say the iron proved to be pretty good, on the one ODS mod I ever did to one of these (gut and replace).
Proud holder of US Patent # 7336165.
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