Decibelics Rivus: The Ultimate Mini Bluesbreaker Mk1

Check out this pedal here: https://decibelics.com/product/rivus/

Decibelics - based in Barcelona, and run by the ever-talented Guillem - has really made its name in recent years for creating some of the finest reproductions of legendary pedals that exist on the market today. The best known of these is the Golden Horse (held in the highest regard amongst Klon aficionados), but the Angry Swede (HM-2) and Reverend (Bixonic Expandora) have also wowed the guitar-playing community. So whenever Guillem brings out another pedal, the gear world tends to listen.

So...listen up! Guillem has now turned his attention to one of the most loved (and cloned) overdrive circuits: the Marshall Bluesbreaker MkI from the 1990s. John Mayer loves his, and it's a topology that is nowadays most closely tied with the famous (and infamous!) Analogman King Of Tone. It's one of those circuits that just 'works' into a loud amplifier...giving you more of what you've already got.

Enter the Decibelics Rivus - a pedal that gives you the exact sound of those originals, but then a whole lot more!!

The pedal has a Mode switch (giving you Pre-95 and Post-95 Bluesbreaker circuits...the former being a little warmer and more polite; the latter having a little more bite and tightness in the low end), but also a 3- way clipping switch. Down, you get the tame soft clipping that the original is known for; but Up gives you hard clipping (much more like a hard-edged distortion pedal); and the Middle position drops the clipping diodes out altogether, for a fully unique, punchy and dynamic grind with a firm edge.

But that's not all - inside the pedal is a Dipswitch, letting you choose between Low, Medium & High gain (similar to the popular mod on the KOT). So this pedal will take you from clean boost, through low gain overdrive, to high gain distortion, and everything in between - with a huge amount of different ways to configure it. Cool, eh?

What do you think? All the Bluesbreaker you could ever need? Or not for you? Comment below!

Guitars:
Corsa Manalishi w/ ThroBak SLE-101 PAFs
McGuire T-Style w/ Don Mare Nancy & Ron Ellis MidTall

Amps:
-Vajra JTM45
Dr Z EZG-50

Amps running into a Zilla Studio Pro 2x12 cabinet loaded with Celestion Silver 100 & Fane A60 AlNiCo speakers. Recorded with Chandler Limited TG Microphone, '70s Sennheiser MD441 and sE RNR1 ribbon mics, with a Schoeps CMC6 room mic.

0:00 Intro Playing
0:41 Intro
7:05 Humbuckers & Marshall
15:25 Telecaster & Fender
21:35 Outro

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