# Rivera Knucklehead Tre vs. Bogner Uberschall



## Adam Of Angels (Jan 30, 2009)

Alright guys, I'm about to buy one of these two amps, mainly because I've found sweet deals on both of them. I really don't know which one would suit me better though. I have some experience with the Uberschall and know that it sounds badass, but I haven't played the Rivera, even though I've heard enough from it to know it kicks ass as well.

I play a lot of melodic stuff (more guitar and melody oriented than a lot of my influences) and my main influences are: In Flames, Sonata Arctica, Opeth (clean stuff), Eric Johnson (clean stuff and lead), Dark Tranquillity, Emperor + a lot of random black metal

I'm looking for thick, heavy, but clear distortion, and heavenly sounding cleans. My playing is pretty well articulated, so being able to hear my phrasing is useful.

I'll be putting an Ibanez RG-1570 with BKP's as my main axe through this.

Any thoughts, opinions, or advice would be amazing!


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## Randy (Jan 30, 2009)

I know it's a TOTAL overgeneralization, but the Uberschall favors the more "extreme" bands you listed *In Flames, Emperor*, while the Knucklehead is heavy as hell but cleans up a little more for the proggies and the Eric Johnson stuff. Tough call.

I'd favor the Tre, but just for versatility's sake.


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## drenzium (Jan 30, 2009)

Just pick one. You dont know what they sound like and you have a 50&#37; chance you'll like it. Thats pretty much all you can do, lol. I dont really agree with blind buys, as countless people know on this forum already, but if you must have one of these two then buy one.


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## Stitch (Jan 30, 2009)

Ask Crucified; he's definitely owned an uberschall and its entirely possible he owned a knucklehead at one point.


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## 7StringofAblicK (Jan 30, 2009)

The Tre' rules

I have one

It's got amazing cleans and brutal distortion; a nice mix and very versatile.


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## trippled (Jan 31, 2009)

Well I never heard the uberschall but I did hear the knucklehead
tre.
The tre felt abit too much extreme to my taste actually, it could 
be the fact that I prefer rivera's with 6L6's than with el34's, but I
actually liked the fandango so I dont know..
From what Ive heard the uberschall should be really warm sounding
and is much more what I'd desire from my amp in terms of rythm tone,
the tre sounds really articulate and has alot of low end and sounds amazing 
overall, but it really lacks that warmth I gotta have in my amp.
Ithink you should go to the rivera site and listen to the samples by jim root
playing on the tre, it really gives you a great idea of the amp's voicing.
You can also check the stone sour samples on the bogner site which to
me sounds amazing, I can't really tell if it gives you a good idea of the amp's
voicing since I never played the bogner, but the tre sounds pretty much like
on the rivera site.
Personally, I think the uberschall should be my choice out of these two, 
but it's only a personal preference, rivera does great stuff - enough said, my 
knucklehead reverb with 6L6's should be here in 2-3 months from now (-:


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## The Honorable (Jan 31, 2009)

PM DiezelMonster. He swore by Ubers for a long time and now has a K Tre. He'll be able to help you out for sure.


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## zimbloth (Jan 31, 2009)

I like the Rivera more but they're both nice.


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## Piledriver (Jan 31, 2009)

I would go with the Rivera-much nicer for me at least.
Beautiful cleans and pretty brutal kind of distortion
I think youll enjoy it


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## trippled (Jan 31, 2009)

Wow, I didnt know rivera has so many fans on the forum (-:
Mine is on the way..



The Honorable said:


> PM DiezelMonster. He swore by Ubers for a long time and now has a K Tre. He'll be able to help you out for sure.



It will actually be interesting if he posted he's comment here,
I always wondered how rivera compares tp bogner in terms of
build quality and such and how the bogner's voicing sounds compared
to the rivera.


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## 7StringofAblicK (Jan 31, 2009)

also, the Riveras are built to last nuclear war. The transformers are GIGANTIC; strong metal is used on cornders; the soldering/tube sockets inside are top knotch; and overall the amp just feels unnecessarily sturdy. Big props to mr.rivera - it does after all have like space or air craft-quality parts in it.


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## DiezelMonster (Feb 2, 2009)

Okay so I'm posting here

I had a REV 1 Uberschall that was modified by Mark Cameron, the amp was incredible, but the loop was useless for me, and there was no second master and I didn't want to get the amp modified, the Amp sounded AMAZING on high gain settings, and if it were a brighter amp and those two features (loop/2nd master) were there and working I would have kept it no questions asked! the thing was ungodly and I loved every minute of it.
The amp was built like a monster and took alot of abuse more than my Powerball ever could!

The K-Tre was a nice amp, the cleans were amazing which is where the Uber lacked as well, although I got them useable on the uber. But they were exactly what I wanted in a Clean channel, really loud without breakup for band settings, but stayed really warm.
It could have been the guitars I use (USA Washburn and Dean Dime guitars) as they are dark guitars, but this amp was FAT FAT FAT, the high gain channel was nice with super strats and non mahogany bodied guitars but I found there wasnt enough definition in the tone and it got way too farty at louder volumes, the K-tre was also built well, and was heavy for how small the head was, but it just wasn't for me, the loop worked great but also no second master, as the "boost" function just adds more gain and saturates the tone and makes it fatter and less defined.

My experiences with both amps makes me wish I had my Uber back, but I'm getting something better that will suit my needs and THEN SOME! and it will be 100&#37; more overbuilt than any amp on the market, but at a cost!

anyhow that's all I got.

both amps are sold.

C


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## Randy (Feb 2, 2009)

And you're getting...?


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## 7 Strings of Hate (Feb 2, 2009)

DiezelMonster said:


> My experiences with both amps makes me wish I had my Uber back, but I'm getting something better that will suit my needs and THEN SOME! and it will be 100% more overbuilt than any amp on the market, but at a cost!
> C



a.....diezel perhapse, mr.diezel monster ?


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## DiezelMonster (Feb 2, 2009)

Nope I had a Diezel and while I liked it, I could not justify the cost vs the build quality, if I lived in Germany where Diezel's are like Mesas then it's a no brainer but I don't.

I'm getting this the Fortin Meathead







The amp has been announced but the prototype is not finished yet, mine will look a little different, but that has not been worked out 100&#37; yet, and it will also be voiced exactly how I want it. 6 channels, and all the features you could ever want in a high gain head. it's actually 3 amps in 1 and built about 1 hour away from me.

Mike has been a VERY cool guy in the process and he has given me alot of gut shots of the amp prior to all the wiring. I can tell you from the amps he builds and the pics he's sent this is probably one of the most overbuilt amps I've ever encountered. 

It's going to make me happy for a long time!~

C


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## march (Feb 3, 2009)

pretty cool stuff

Fortin Amps

they got a nice sounds/samples section


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## TMM (Feb 3, 2009)

Everyone really thinks the Tre is on a level playing field / better than an Uberschall? I know the construction is rock-solid, but I really didn't like it at all when I tried it out. I was playing my KxK through it into a V30-loaded Randall cab, and it sounded like a high-quality amp that had had the life sucked out of it... had the 3D sort of sound, but it was lifeless, with no real dynamics, where the 2 Uberschalls I've played just have an incredible singing midrange and were very touch responsive.

Again, this could just be my KxK being very picky about which amps it sounds good through, but I wasn't impressed at all with the Tre. I'd take the Uberschall hands down anyday.


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## FortinAmps (Feb 5, 2009)

DiezelMonster said:


> Nope I had a Diezel and while I liked it, I could not justify the cost vs the build quality, if I lived in Germany where Diezel's are like Mesas then it's a no brainer but I don't.
> 
> I'm getting this the Fortin Meathead
> 
> ...



Hey Chris,
Start clearing your schedule, it's almost done. 
I'll have a BONES that you can check out as well. 

Haha, the Dio icon is funny. 

Cheers,
Mike



march said:


> pretty cool stuff
> 
> Fortin Amps
> 
> they got a nice sounds/samples section



Merci for the kind words. As new product is released, press release will be issued as well as all the product info uploaded to the website. 

Cheers,
Mike


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## CentaurPorn (Feb 5, 2009)

hmmm Listening to those sound clips now. Very impressed. Built in Canada...hmmm It appears that I am in Canada..and in the Market for a new head having just sold the Mark IV...ruh roh...


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## Apophis (Feb 5, 2009)

so many pots to tweak  I like how it looks and sounds


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## DiezelMonster (Feb 6, 2009)

I don't think my schedule could be any clearer! I'm free until this time next year!, I'll just have to check with the lady hahahahaha

C




FortinAmps said:


> Hey Chris,
> Start clearing your schedule, it's almost done.
> I'll have a BONES that you can check out as well.
> 
> ...


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## Harry (Feb 6, 2009)

DiezelMonster said:


> Nope I had a Diezel and while I liked it, I could not justify the cost vs the build quality, if I lived in Germany where Diezel's are like Mesas then it's a no brainer but I don't.
> 
> I'm getting this the Fortin Meathead
> 
> ...




Woly crap!


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## neroceasar (Feb 6, 2009)

Well i can tell you that both amps have a whole lot of gain. but the gain on the the bogner is opposite the rivera. The bogner has a very dry aka: "big grain" character and the rivera is Highly saturated aka: "fine grain" both great and heavey as hell amps.


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## 7slinger (Feb 6, 2009)

say anybody know how long the K tre has been in it's current state? There is a guy selling one locally and he says it's a 2006 model, should there be any difference between that and the current model?

also he says he has KT88s in it, does that fly as far as bias goes?


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## DiezelMonster (Feb 8, 2009)

I'm positive it's been in the current state since 2006.

early K-Tre's had orange and red LED's instead of the current blue.

C


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## sepherus (Feb 8, 2009)

I have a friend who's guitarist in his band (indie/prog stuff) plays 2 K-Tres in stereo through a vintage Music Man 412 and some other old cab I can never remember (logo removed) with some strange 80s Gibson thing. They always sound really really good. He even dropped one and broke off a knob and the knob still works. I was impressed with that.


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## ChrisPcritter (Feb 11, 2009)

My KHR could handle the KT88's I'm sure. I got some of the first KT77's that eurotubes got in and the current ran twice what the EL34's do. It biased those down 30ma to the appropriate 40ma per tube from 68ma...


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## Callum (Dec 5, 2013)

Where's the good deal your getting, I'm looking for an Uberschall but I can't get any good deals in Australia?


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## Chris_ONiP (Dec 5, 2013)

Callum said:


> Where's the good deal your getting, I'm looking for an Uberschall but I can't get any good deals in Australia?



Nice necrobump dude..

River Music in Windsor, Sydney gets Bogner gear in pretty regularly


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## HeHasTheJazzHands (Dec 5, 2013)

Callum said:


> Where's the good deal your getting, I'm looking for an Uberschall but I can't get any good deals in Australia?



In the past, almost 5 years ago, in the US.


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## JoshuaVonFlash (Dec 5, 2013)

Chris_ONiP said:


> Nice necrobump dude..
> 
> River Music in Windsor, Sydney gets Bogner gear in pretty regularly


He's new here.


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## JoshuaVonFlash (Dec 5, 2013)

Callum said:


> Where's the good deal your getting, I'm looking for an Uberschall but I can't get any good deals in Australia?


Welcome to SSO dude


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