Rivera RockCrusher Power Attenuator and Load Box
Built for silent recording, this power attenuator and load box from Rivera is an essential ingredient to recording superior tone.
Overall User Ratings (based on 4 ratings)
Submitted September 29, 2014 by a customer from hotmail.com in Kailua, HI
"Rivera Rock Crusher "
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Running a Rivera Tre Knucklehead Amp and can only put hammer down once or twice a week.... Until i got the Rockcrusher. Built like a tank like all Rivera products i can put on Studio setting in living room and crank up Tre as loud as she'll go and keep tubes glowing getting fifth gear tone at conversation levels. Awesome in every way
Musical Background:
Newb
Musical Style:
Metal
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Submitted October 20, 2015 by Lee Cusano in Grand Bay, AL
"Why You Need The Rivera RockCrusher"
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zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Because of the RockCrusher my sound has been enhanced for everything from Jimi Hendrix to the Blues. I still many times use my overdrive (Boss Blues Driver) and I still like to use my newest compressor (MXR Dyna Comp).
The bottom line is this; the Rivera RockCrusher gives you the ability to take advantage of your power tubes at home and not just your pre-amp tubes in my opinion.
Because I am able to distort my power tubes I love the enhanced quality I get in my chord playing when I'm thumping out some Lazy Lester, John Lee Hooker, etc. And my lead tone sounds great too.
Now that I own the Rock Crusher I won't be afraid to buy a 30 watt amp for my home playing. If you want to sound like a pro you got to have the tools of the trade. Thank you zZounds!
Musical Background:
I started playing guitar at 13, I owned a Gibson-made Epiphone Casino at age 20. After 30 years I got back into playing.
Musical Style:
Rock, Blues, Christian, (Everything from early blues to Chuck Berry to ZZ Top)
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Submitted March 3, 2015 by Todd R in Epping, NH
"Crave Tube Amp Tone, but not the shear volume? You NEED This!!"
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This review has been selected by our experts as particularly helpful.
1st of all. Please take note that this is from the view point of a home player who was trying to 'settle' with Digital amps because good tube amp tone just cant be had without ridiculous volumes. I do enjoy my SS/Digital amps and can use them at home friendly volumes, but they just cant compete with hot cranked tubes for tone. Not just the sound, but the 'feel' of the relationship between the guitar and amp is important to me and again, I've not yet found any sub $1500 digital amps that have the same feel as a good old tube amp. But tube amps are hard to play at low volumes in a bedroom, basement or living room setting. Low volume tube amps lack tone. Even with a master volume amp, its difficult at best to get a decent sound out of the amp...they just sound so flat and lifeless. I've now owned 4 small tube amps under 6 watts and none of them had much character either. All either lifeless or fizzy sounding.
Now enter the RockCrusher and its like having your cake and eating it too, to coin an old phrase. The RockCrusher lets your tube amp do what it does best. Sounds great, but with many levels of home or apartment friendly volumes. The Studio setting allows you to play at almost 'baby sleeping in the same room' levels. The Studio setting has its own level dial. Working like a normal volume knob. It will go from Zero sound up to just a normal-ish TV watching volume. Though very useful, the Studio setting does chop off a little of the high and low end of the tone.
Switch to the -20db or -16db and the tone comes to its full glory, but at manageable volume levels. These are my 2 favorite positions and have had no complaints about volume from anyone in my house. The -12db starts to get a bit too loud for comfort. The -3/-8db start getting to close to full on volume for my home use. But I could see where they would be extremely handy for live use to knock things down a tad so your note blowing the heads off folks in the front few rows and keeping the FOH guy happy.
The EQ buttons for Warm & Edge come in handy for fine tuning. I haven't spent a lot of time with them. I own a handful of guitars. So in those I have P-90's, Humbuckers and Single Coil pickups. I find that I end up using different combinations of the EQ switches for each of the different types of pickups. Great for fine tuning the sound of each different guitar.
I've owned a few different Big Named Brand attenuators over the years and the RockCrusher is hands down far better overall for my use. Those other name brand ones are okay, and just 'okay' for taking a bit off the top of a 100 watt head, but just don't come close to the flexibility of the RockCrusher. I own lots of gear...and zZounds can back that up for me. I rarely take the time to write up gear reviews. That said, this is one of the few that I really got excited about enough to share my thoughts about.
I would say only a small amount of players actually play live. So the ones like me that only play for the shear self satisfaction of it and crave/need/want what only a cranked tube amp can give, need the RockCrusher. That is if you value your tone, along with your own ears anyone that you live with or are close enough too where you need to consider just how loud you can be playing and keep the peace at the same time. The RockCrusher is for you.
Sound
Only at the Studio setting is there a noticeable drop on both the high and low end. The sound is still very good, but the top end loses just a little of the sparkle and the low end loses just a bit of the thump.
All other -db settings are at full tone and feel. Except for the volume drop, they sound just as full as you could ever want. Best description I can offer is that its invisible. The RockCrusher produces no sound on its own. It doesn't color the tone in any way that I can notice.
Features
For me the handiest features other then the attenuation ability are the 2 EQ switches. They really help shape the guitars tone when using different pickups and their individual flavors. I have not tried the Line Out feature. I'm a simple guy with simple needs and I don't record or play live where this would be useful.
Ease of Use
It couldn't be easier to use. Just a few knobs for attenuation and the 4 switches for EQ, Z matching and a bypass. Once you get the few particulars dialed in, its just set and forget.
Quality
The RockCrusher is built like a 'rock'. And by that I mean Rock Solid. Beefy steel frame and whatever is inside it makes it heavy.
Value
I thought before buying it, it was a little pricey compared other well known name brand attenuators available in the US. I've owned those other as well in the past, but found that they just didn't do what I needed them to do very well. They were cheaper, but only knocked a few db off the volume while sucking the ever loving life out of the tone.
Now after taking the chance and buying the RockCrusher, I found it works perfectly for my needs. Making it worth every penny I spent for it and then some.
Manufacturer Support
I haven't had to use the manufactures support. So I can only go on what I've read about Rivera support on many guitar forums. If its only half as good as their reputation says, then their 10 times as good as I'll ever need.
The Wow Factor
Its all WOW with this product. Its not a new amp or new guitar or new pedal WOW. But it will allow the average home player who needs to save the wear and tear on their own ears and keep peace with others in the living space. No more headphones, which personally I hate to wear. I was really starting to resent the fact that maybe would never play a smoldering hot tube amp in my house ever again. Feeling like I was 'stuck' in a sterile SS/Digital amp rut. Playing but not having fun.
That all changed when I got in my RockCrusher. Pure tube bliss, but at comfortable home volume levels.
That you Rivera a thousand times over for building this device. Its the bedroom players dream come true.
Musical Background:
35+ year home/hobby player
Musical Style:
Rock & Blues
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Submitted January 23, 2012 by Charles Stewart in Gray, TN
"Great for tube amps"
Verified Customer
zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I have used the RockCursher on everything from 15 watt amps to 120 watt amps and it works great. Sounds very good. No loss of tone. Great quality and price.
Musical Background:
Been playing 30 years
Musical Style:
Rock - Country - Blues - Christian
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