Why is Nobody Talking About This Amp? 

Do you know of any other sleeper amps that are on par with the Fender Concert? Tell us in the comments!

My older brother bought a Concert back in the mid 80's and he passed it on to me recently. Thanks for the info.

Nice to see Paul Rivera getting some love on RU-vid, and to see him introduced to some of the younger guys. Been playing his amps for 10 years

Looks like all these amps have gone up a 1000 since this video was made. Good job!!

Just wanted to say THANKS for this one - It really helped me bond with my Concert II!

Mason, in the past you've described your own guitar playing as mediocre, or "mediocre at best." But in recent videos I would say you've proven yourself wrong. Your playing is so smooth and chill and you really know how to play for the effects, which is something not all of us are good at. I very much enjoy your playing style and the touch with which you approach the guitar. Keep up the sweet playing!

Dude, you're such a great reviewer. Always learn tons with your vids.

I had one back in 1983 and recently found a recording I made with that amp. The tone was incredible and I was using no pedals. I now have another one!

I'm glad you brought this up I have an 83 Rivera era Twin Reverb 2 its a 105 watt amp and it rocks , one amazing thing about this particular amp if you jump out the effects loop it kicks it up to 200 watts. I had my tech go completely through it and I really love this amp.

I purchased one of these and had it shipped 3,500km from the top of Australia (Brisbane) to Melbourne. It had a Jensen C12K in it and I am pretty sure (to my ear and with reference to this video) the amp had been heavily modded. A friend, who is a very well known guitarist in Australia and internationally ended up purchasing the amp from me and is getting the amp to its original specs with EVM12L speaker. I decided to purchase another Concert ii and drove to Sydney From Melbourne to pick it up. It came fitted with a vintage Weber California speaker but unfortunately still did not sound right to my ears. But after watching this video again, I replaced it with the Celestion G12H-100 and it really has made such a huge difference. It sparkles with a lovely glassy clean that is very easily shapeable with presence pot and pull-bright treble pot. The overdrive is smooth, punchy and compresses really nicely at even the low bedroom levels. The amp now cleans up very well too with the Celestion. I run a Suhr Shiba Drive + Hermida Zen drive through it and it handles those pedals very well on both channels. It is indeed a very versatile amp. Although this demo is excellent, it does not show the the mid-range pot pulled, which accentuates the gain and provides that Lukather lead tone. I also have a Prosonic and Twin 65 Reissue., however the Concert ii can do the job of both of those amps and is actually more versatile than the Prosonic, which unfortunately does not have a decent effects loop. I have to agree with my learned friend in this video; this amp is actually a very special piece of gear and has a unique tonal character which is extremely pleasing to the ear, especially when you turn it up to 5 or 6, although not necessary to achieve full luscious tone, as this video so demonstrates. If you can’t afford the EVM12L and do not wish to carry the burden of its weight, fit the Celestion G12H-100 (if you can find one) and you will not be disappointed. A stunning amplifier this be! Not many of them in Australia and they are starting to fetch good coin now. Winning score if you ever come across one and have the opportunity to purchase it. 🥇 🥇 🥇

Hey folks, to answer some of your concerns about your PR Concert Amp: I've owned my '84 Concert for 12yrs and restored it myself. I've spent a few hundred hours testing various connections, settings and speakers & configuations. So you all can understand better. I worked for Korg USA as an inhouse bench tech, mainly on Marshall & Vox amps and thier entire line of electronics. 1- Fender HQ should still be in Scottsdale,AZ. I've been there personally. You can call and ask questions. They will ask for your S/N and you can receive info on your particular gear and such. Plus, there is website that contains data sheets tor old Fender Amps, in particular the Paul Rivera Era Builds. 2. For the dude that said it's not special. You had no idea of what you had or did not know how to utilize it. 3. I find most stock Fender Speakers DO NOT do justice to any amp. For the dude that wants to swap out his heavy EV Spkr. I personally drive all my amps & cabs with Celestion. (The G12T Whiteback is crap and DOES NOT do any amp justice!!). For your Concert, and in general, any Ipswich, England made spkr, especially Vintage30 8/16ohm or the Black Back 75w8/16ohm Vintage are excellent. These are dark & darker tones that make the amp come alive. I drive a Twin12 Vintage Cab. Most Celestions are manufactured in China these days. They sound ok and will do the job. A 75w Greenback & 70th Anniversary Twin12 Cab will rock your world. 3. Driving this amp with either twin 8ohm or twin 16ohm definitely balances out the output amp section and opens up the tones and true power&sound. Or run a single 16ohm for less gain and more tone. 4. If I remember, Mason does not mention, if you loop/jump the Effects Loop, your db level increases significantly. 5. Me personally, on the overdrive/channel2, I back the Gain Volume down and use it as the Clean Channel. On the Clean/Channel1, I send Effects Directly in and CRANK IT UP! And if I want CRAZY TONE & VOLUME...PULL THE KNOB!!! This amp is called a "Concert" for some reason. In my opinion, that's because it's like having a concert in your living room and will fill most small venues w/o a PA. Load, Multi-tonal, Superb Features&Functions all while kickin ass and having fun!!!! Hope this helps all you Gearheads!

That was very comprehensive review-nicely done!

Absolutely love mine. A GREAT sounding clean channel. I rarely use the dirt channel, but it does have the ability to dial in some cool sounds. My brother left this amp to me when he passed and I’ll cherish it and use it for life. Always nice to see/hear appreciation for an amp I’ve thought highly of for decades. Great vid!

I had one back in 1985. It had wonderful cleans, and it made a great pedal platform, but I wanted an amp that would do what a Marshall does. In the end I sold the Concert and bought a used JCM800 2203 and 4x12. On paper, the Concert was arguably the better designed, more flexible amp. But I never had any regrets about replacing it with the 2203: single channel, no effects loop, but what a sound.

Owned the 2x10 version and gigged with it a long time ago. Pros - great clean channel, reverb and build quality. Cons - the second gain channel doesn't sound good at all to most. Weighs a ton and now PA systems have improved there's better options. To get the clean channel sounding great needs be at a volume where the neighbours will have broken in and killed you!

nice playing...nice to see someone giving this amp the love it deserves...

I've had a couple rivera-era Fender amps, including several concerts. They are fantastic. For some reason, every time Fender does something with a gain channel, it is disregarded. Red knob twin, prosonic, and machete come to mind as incredible Fender amps that are way underrated. Great vid and playing!

Nice amp and nice playing! jeez some of the comments in here. People need to chill and also appreciate that these videos take work!

I literally picked one of these up today and used it on stage tonight and was blown away! Then I see this video posted same day. That’s kinda cool!

I just bought an '82 Concert modified by Fuchs. Excited for it to come in!

I have a Fender Prosonic from 1997. Lizard Green. 3 Power Settings, Class A, Class A/B, and Solid State. Has a punchy clean channel and a high gain channel. 2 -10" speakers. Designed by Bruce Zinsky. (Very loud, blows away my Twin Reverb 65 Reissue)

Agree. This amp is a sleeper. I just got a EVM12l for it. Also, one of the best sounding reverb circuits in any fenders.

I have owned a 1983 Fender Concert Amplifier since like mid 1980s. I love it. It's a great gig amp. I bought it because it was lighter than a Randall Amp that I also owned.

I thoroughly loved the sound of this amp and especially the way you played through it.

I have one of these in the Oak cabinet with the EV speaker. Only made 100 of them. Great amp!!

I’ve had two 2-10 Concerts. Way heavy and the best spring reverb of any amp I’ve had!!

One of my faves is a Traynor YBA-1. All the power you could ever want, clean as a breath of Spring!

Ridiculous clarity. Love it!

i bought the '82 Concert amp with the 15" EV speaker 6 months ago. It sounded not very good and it was recenty serviced. So i took it to a good technician. He changed the clean channel to a twin-reverb setup (take one tube out and do some things with resistors and capacitors) The Drive channel is completely unusable.. but the technician changed the drive channel to Marshall plexi setup. Now i will never sell the amp! It is so unbelievable open and clear, very nice drive sounds. The concert is perfect for modifications. But do not expect this amp to sound good out of the box.

My 1983 Fender Concert has been my workhorse since 1986.

My guitar teacher actually had this amp. As a 14yo guitar student playing through a 'real tube amp' was a great experience every time. By now I'm 31, my main amp is a Deluxe Reverb, but I still think about this nice Fender Concert Combo from time to time.

My daily driver for the past 25 years has been an ‘82 Princeton Reverb II. A lot of amps have come and gone in that time, but the PRII will be with me ‘til the end.

I own two of them which I picked up for $600 each. Best kept secret in vintage amps. Although these amps are often touted as a great modding platform, the only mods I have done to mine was to snip out the snubber caps on the preamp gain stages and use a 5751 tube on V1. I believe I also added a bias pot to one of them but it didn't seem necessary so I only did it on one. I also use it as a 60 watt bass amp which it really shines at as well. Great Stevie Ray Vaughn sounds. The complaint typically is that the gain channel doesn't sound like a Marshall...but you can get that with pedals easily. The drive has a charm all its own and there are whole internet chat rooms devoted to modifying it to make it sound like Eddie Van Halen or whatever. As is though it is great. It IS heavy, though. But otherwise a great amp. Prices are going up on these recently on the used market. $900 seems average now. Best kept secret in vintage amps is the entire early 1980's Rivera line of Fenders. They are the last Fender amps that are point to point wired without PC boards

Concert II and 75 are excellent chassis to mod amp efficiently. Ive done several these. It's easy to go D-style world and and remain their outside original. In these amps so much is already there. Just tonal tayloring. Their structure is strong and thus it is worth to enhance.

I bought my Concert top in 1985 and I still have it. Everything you say about this amp is true. In early 1984 I bought a Super Champ and I still have it. Both are superb amps.

I'm not a Fender amp guy, but I am impressed. This is now on my ever growing list of gear I need to get.

Yes, I owned a Fender dealership when these amps came out. This and the superchamp sounded great, better than later Fenders. MId boost sounded great. I had a Fender 75 modified with a footswitchable mid boost, sounded like a boogie. Fender was dumb to get rid of these amps after just a few years.

I have a concert and fender supersonic 22 , the supersonic sounds incredible up until I A / B it against the concert, absolute killer tone

I picked up a Super Champ and I'm loving it. It's not the Rivera circuit but it's awesome it loves pedals and in a small room it kicks ass. Thank you for your very informative and inspiring vid. Paul Rivera has actually been to my house in Simi Valley Ca. My roommate used to do photography vid and graphics for his site. Both Paul and JR came by. Great guys.

Hi with your tutorial videos I was able to go from no knowledge about pedals and signal chains to putting together my pedal board and getting it to sound great. Thank you for making these informative videos.

I have a 1983 Fender Concert “II” designed by Paul Rivera. It was the last PTP wired amp Fender ever built, IIRC. I chose this amp as a dedicated clean amp because it’s sort of like “half a Twin ” (not as heavy and less difficult to schlepp around to gigs, etc.)

I bought one four years ago for 750.00. I absolutely love it and use it every weekend gigging. Very reliable. Thanks for the vid it makes me appreciate this amp even more!

I'm a huge fender fan and as a musician myself of about 45 years i own a quit a few of fender's products i love the smooth creamy sound of my 65-fender twin reverb tube amp with my fender hand custom made Stratocaster just the glorious sound of the good old days i own solid state fender amps but there's something abought that sweet tube sound that takes me back to the days of long ago.

I had one for 15 years and it never let me down , recording , gigging and touring . Great clean and overdrive . Wish I’d never sold it when I needed the money for my second child’s pushchair and stuff

Tasty playing dude!

Yamaha G50 and G100 Mk2. Rivera worked on those back in the day.

I've had mine since about 91. It has always been an amazing amp. Many or most other Fender amp fans I know swear by the Princeton and Deluxe Reverbs, but those sound thin and plinky to me by comparison. The concert has always had some depth and balls to it. I had mine refurbished about 2 years ago to fix bad pots, switches, new speaker, and tubes. It's a totally new amp now and amazing. The gain channel is not perfect but it's not what I rely on for gain. That said, many years ago, I played one of my best gigs ever with nothing but a wah and the amp, and the gain, compression, and sustain were incredible. Came across on tape too without being micced, just a crowded bar with one mic in the middle. Love this amp.

Great playing and sound man!!!

I got a Fender Twin Reverb and of course it's badass

You mean they were $6-800 . Not now thanks to videos like this. Hahhaa

I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this model. Great video. Thanks

Just found your channel this evening. Subscribed!

I talked a buddy of mine into buying one of these. He thanks me pretty much weekly ha ha.

I have an '83 Twin Reverb II...Rivera era. It's like it was made for my Strat as the two together sound heavenly. It might weigh 75lbs. but I don't care, it has wheels.😂. This one is a keeper. As good as my De Ville sounds, the Twin II is unmatched, in my opinion.

I've been using a Rivera R55 since 95, later adding the Knucklehead to A/B the whole rig. Amazing amps, stopped gigging a lot and sold the Knucklehead. Kept my combo, and just love it, will never sell it because it gives me everything I need. I would love a Rivera era Fender combo though ! Great vid .

Absolutely, Paul made some extraordinary ampsband modes. As you pointed out, even his some of his Rivera models that incorporate elements of the twin are amazing too. A great buy if you can find used ones on the market, like the Rivera Chubster 40.

I had one and stupidly sold it. Tale as old as time. It had a really great clean sound, but I never really bonded with the overdrive channel. Mine came with the standard (non-upgrade) fender speaker, not the EV. I put an eminence swamp thang in it and it worked quite well. It was heavy to lug around and I felt like I was always getting yelled at to turn down, so I offloaded it. Definitely regret it now.

the Peavey Mace and Deuce are amazing fender / music man style amps. No one talks about them

I just recently pick up a Rivera Era 1982 Princeton Reverb 2 and loving it.

My cousin has one he has had it for over 20 years, I remember he said these Rivera era fender amps all rock.

I grew up playing these amps I had 2 of them I had them hooked up in stereo using a art sge rack incredible sounding These amps are great especially the combo

I had a Princeton Reverb II wish I still had it!

Thanks for great info so I can be in the know while on the lookout for used bargains!

Mine is part of the Fender Rivera era…. a Deluxe Reverb II (unique head) with a matching Fender 1x12 EVM 12L cab. The amp was modded in the 80’s by Lee Jackson, who worked with Paul Rivera at Fender on the designs for the whole series. A 5 position variable mid switch was added to mine by Lee, with some secret “mojo” circuitry that was hidden under globs of resin (I heard Dumble did this too to keep the magic secret). Lee told me that the mods were part of the original proposed design to Fender but, were simplified to meet production costs. I also had the Concert and Princeton Reverb II. These are great hand wired amps!

i bought one of those from robben ford. 2x10 model. he put EV's in it. i also had a fender 75. 1x12. which usually came as a 1x15. both loud as hell.

Mason, you’re killing me. I have a Comcert amp on watch that has been rebuilt at a good price and as soon as this video went up I got a notice that someone made an offer. Now the prices will skyrocket.

I first bought this amplifier in 1983 with the 4x10 configuration. I ran that with a matching 2x10 cabinet on the other side of the stage. I then bought a 2x10 model and purchased a Fender 4x10 extension cabinet. So for the larger shows, I would be running 120 watts into twelve 10 inch speakers. I also purchased 2 Twin Reverb 2s of this same era. One for me and one for my slide Guitarist at that time. After that, I bought a Rivera era Princeton. These amplifiers are quite loud and extremely robust in their build. I most definitely dig the clean channel more than the overdrive channel. One can go both ways with these amps. You could load it with Celestion Gold’s and break a window with an open A chord, or you can load it with 2 low watt 10s for early breakup and feedback on the clean channel. These amplifiers are truly an incredible value.

Back in 2015 I was privileged to see John Heussenstamm play a '52 Tele into a Fender Concert II (Paul Rivera model) and it was the sweetest sounding guitar amp that I've ever heard.

As a former design engineer, its the “space”between the notes t]hat make these amplifiers so dynamic. Mr. Rivera understood this technique very well.

I have an 80s Rivera Super Champ

I had one in the 80s / 90s. I had heard they were designed by Rivera but that’s about all I knew. But i knew it sounded great , esp. that Fender clean. Played it for most of my 9 years of professional gigging 2-3 nights a week with no cover. After all that abuse it looked like hell. I sold it to a good friend and he brought it back to life and it looked brand new and sounded better than ever. Kinda regretted it after that but I’m glad it’s in good hands with a good player.

I’ve got a Fender Deluxe Reverb II I bought new 39 years ago. I had no idea I was getting a Rivera amp at the time I was just excited I was getting my very first Fender Reverb amp and it is one awesome amp let me tell you. Nothing like old school 🇺🇸😎

I've owned one of these amps since around '91. The mid-80s was a terrible period for tube manufacturing-- US production had ended and Russian and Chinese tubes of the period were awful-- not just bad-sounding, but they were unstable and would self-oscillate. To make this amp manufacturable with the tubes of the era, most of the preamp stages (and I think the power stage as well, I'm speaking from decades-ago memory) had caps dropped to ground from the plates. That helped the stability of the stage at the expense of rolling off everything above about 4k, so it was not exactly lively sounding! : ) Now that we have better tubes, those caps are no longer needed; and the most important mod you can make to this amp is to remove them-- especially for the clean sound. The amp in this video sounds like that mod has been done already, but if you buy on the used market there is no guarantee. It's a very simple mod, and knowledgeable amp techs can figure this out by listening and looking at the schematic. Maybe it has even become common knowledge among a certain set, not sure.

You could buy these for relatively cheap. I bought a Twin II for 600.00 and made a few small changes to sort 'black face' the clean channel. It's *KILLER*. Now that this video is out, I expect those days are soon gone. Please do *NOT* do a video on Rivera amps. I'm enjoying buying from everyone's lack of interest.

Nicely done. I've looked at these across the years, and kept determining that I just did not need that much power ... that and a SF Twin, BF Showman, two BF Super Reverbs, a '62 Brownface Bandmaster and an original Blues Deluxe! Out of rooms!

I had a Concert 60 in about 1986 or so. Stunningly good tones. Then it got stolen at a gig. That left a hole in my heart.

I hear plenty of people talking about the Rivera Fender amps on music forums. Players know about them. More videos like this and the price will start going up, dang it. The Twin II is equally good, if not extremely heavy. All the Rivera Fender amps are great. Same with the Fender red knob amps (which are *NOT* Rivera made amps)

The irony of making this video to tout how much bang/buck this amp has knowing full well this video will drive up the price everywhere now Also,; You'll always get great things for cheaper when they don't say, "Fender." Fender is also great, but rarely if ever cheap or what you refer to as bang for buck

Great video. I just bought mine for 5 bills from an older gentleman. He even included some tungsol 6l6s. This thing sounds awesome. Might change out the Oxford speaker. The drive channel take some tweaking but can sound pretty good.

I really enjoyed your playing and the tone is awesome.

Curious as to how similar this sounds to the new Rivera Stage IV amp. I haven't seen many videos of that but know it (obviously) takes a lot of Paul's design ideas from the early Fender mods he did in the 70's and 80's for session guitarists. This sounds incredible.

Ed Jahns designed the Fender Concert (II) amp. Not Paul Rivera. It was created under Rivera's tenure at Fender, and he usually gets credit for the design, but it's Ed Jahn's work. Jahn also designed the 1980-81 blackface Fender 75, Pre-Rivera. Paul Rivera made huge contributions while there at Fender, and I'll always be grateful to him for updating the Fender line. I bought my Concert brand new in 1983, just after it was released. Rivera did have a lot to do with some of the other II's, though. Another correction is that the highly-coveted lighted footswitch was not bundled with any of the, "II" amps. When I bought mine at Guitar Center store #1 on Sunset Blvd, it was an extra $75. Kind of a joke as they are so easy to build. The Concert II used to be the best bargain in the used market. Used to be. I'm glad I hung onto mine. With the EV-12, it's heavy as sin. Makes a great mod platform. I mean it. It ROCKS!

I've got a pair of Rivera era Super Champs that are phenomenal little amps. I've toured with one for over 20 years and they are incredibly road worthy. I've loaded both up with 50s RCA blackplate tubes which the amps absolutely love. I've had one of them converted to a head that I can take out and run with different speakers and cabs and it's extraordinary how that 18 watts can drive 12" speakers. My tech loves working on them and he's always blown away with what they can produce. That Concert sounds lovely. That series were the last of the Fender point to point amps if I'm not mistaken. Some of the best amps made in the 'middle' era.

Had one in the '80s.... Never thrilled me but I was relatively new at electric guitar...saw David Lindley playing acoustic, electric, sad and slide solo...blew my mind...he had two Fenders and a stereo chorus. Loved the sound so I got a red knob Champ to sound like that (hah!) ...with the aid of a Midiverb....In the 90s got sick of chorus like everyone else but lucked into a '66 Pro Reverb and a Butler Tube Driver, got better at guitar and love my amp unconditionally to this day! Still have the red knob Champ and use it when I don't want to lug around or risk the Pro....it has a really good clean sound but again the Rivera dirt is too much to thrill me so I use the tube driver into clean. Tried a mod on the red knob for more subtlety but nah. Fine in a pinch.

Why isn't anyone talking about the fender pro sonic amp? That was fenders most boutique amp.

He looks like that Comedian,Jack Black😅. I'll keep my Fender 68 twin....

Lucky for me I discovered the Rivera Fender amps about 5-6 years ago. My initial search was for a Rivera Fender Princeton Reverb iI or a Rivera Fender Superchamp but even then most of them were $900-1000+ and hard to find. Luckily I decided to go ahead and buy a Rivera Fender Concert II off Reverb. I paid about $850 for it but mine was in amazing condition (I think I am 3rd owner-guy I bought it from said he was second owner and bought it from original owner who he said had parked it in garage or closet under a cover. The grill is near mint still bright and silver in color, no rust or tarnish on any of the screws or chrome corner pieces, and as a bonus it came with its original two button footswitch. Mine is circa 1983, and came with its original 12 inch EV speaker and its original spring reverb tank. They did make some with 2 10inch speakers. And it is LOUD (60w of tube goodness) but also its a heavy beast-think solid wood cabinet-at least 60lbs. You can mount rolling casters on its bottom (holes are there from factory for them) but mine looks like it never had them and I have it sitting on a nice roll around 2 level cart on bottom shelf about 4 inches off ground-so I can easily move it around the house-top shelf is there for other storage or I could put a small second amp on top-just never have so far. I am a hobby player so it will not be traveling-it would be a heavy beast to gig with (casters and a strong backed roadie would be useful in that scenario.) And thankfully, in current era loadboxes/power attenuators are widely available, reliable, and affordable as the Concert II is so loud that unless your wife and neighbors are deaf or you live miles from anybody (out in the sticks) you can certainly use this amp for quiet home practice or in a home studio. I will never sell mine.

Wow, Mason! Wonderful video, hands down! What a surprise with MJ’s Human Nature reference! As always, excellent job!

How does Rivera era Fenders compare to Rivera amps?

But Does It Chug ??

Great video!!! Now I'm looking all over for a superchamp ii.

Thanks for the video, Mason. Great rundown on the Rivera era Fender Concert. I watched your video last week and surprisingly found a used one in my area for $700.00. I picked it up a few days ago and I'm having a great time with it. While 60 watts is more than I'll use, it sounds great at lower volumes too. I'm loving hand-wired amps and am thinking of building a Tweed Super 5F4.

Looks like all the early 80s Fender amps are going for $2k on avg (4 days after the video).

"Best bang for your Buck...", Umm, maybe up until this video was seen by Concert Amp owners.

Though I have a few great vintage amps, my 84’ Concert has been my #1 workhorse gigging and touring amp since I bought it in the mid 80’s. It’s been everywhere with me.

Ahh, finally someone’s giving some Concert love! I bought mine at a garage sale from a fellow who used to work with Willie Nelson when he worked in radio in Vancouver, Washington. It had sat in his garage for at least 25 years, after a recap it became my main amp.

I will stick with my 1966 Super Reverb, 1972 Twin Reverb and 1966 Gibson Minuteman GA 20-RVT

You would be hard pressed to find one of those Concerts for under 800 now and after this video you won't be able to find them for that.

beautiful playing mason.

beautiful tone! thanks for the tip...