The Blues Shaman has a knack for conveying
the nuances of the interaction between fingers,
wood, and wire. It’s very organic sounding.
Built for the Stage
Both the Blues Shaman and Double Shaman
are constructed from 16-gauge stainless steel
and adorned with colorful graphics printed on
polycarbonate panels. Shared features include
a single 1/4" input and output, a 9-volt
adapter input, and a battery compartment
that’s accessed through the back panel’s four
Phillips-head screws. High-quality parts are
used throughout: WIMA wound caps, low-noise FET and bipolar transistors, and Analog
Devices chips are mounted on double-sided
PCBs, while metal-barreled jacks ensure road-worthiness and long life, and the knobs and
stainless-steel housing suggest Paul Rivera isn’t
the slightest bit interested in skimping. These
pedals were built to last and were obviously
designed with love and care.
shapes the voice in a more dimensional way—
moving from darker to brighter and fizzier
without sacrificing bass clout. At first, I was
leery of having only one control for tonal voicing, but in this case it was more than enough
to dial in tones ranging from James Gang-style
grit to Leslie West’s Mountain-sized hugeness.
Switching to my humbucker-equipped
Hamer Korina Special, I cranked up the
gain and toggled to Stack mode, which
thickened and tightened up the bottom
end while emphasizing low mids. With my
eyes closed and the amp volume high, the
bristling, compressed tones made me feel
like I was onstage at a late-’60s outdoor
festival. Small as the test rig was, it sounded
as badass as a Sunn Coliseum head—only
at a much more practical volume. The
Blues Shaman
The Blues Shaman was designed to reproduce
the dynamic range and soft-clipping overdrive
typical of a ’50s tweed Fender with 6V6s and
an alnico Jensen speaker—for example, a
Deluxe or Tremolux. Controls are simple and
to the point: Level, Tone, and Gain knobs,
a Stack/Combo mini toggle, and two stomp
switches labeled Ascension (boost) and On/
True Bypass.
I set up a Fender American Standard
Strat, a Blackheart Little Giant 5 head, and
a 65Amps London Pro cab with a Celestion
G12H- 30 speaker to evaluate the Blues
Shaman. With the Blackheart set clean and
flat, the pedal delivered a classic, slightly
fizzy, thick-bottomed blues mood. The pedal
translated picking dynamics superbly, and the
whole rig felt lively and very touch sensitive.
The Blues Shaman has a knack for conveying
the nuances of the interaction between fingers,
wood, and wire. It’s very organic sounding.
Digging in with the Gain at 1 o’clock
imparted the beautiful sound of a small combo
nudging up against the breaking point. In
the Combo setting, you can hear the Blues
Shaman take on many of the qualities of an
open-back cab with its airy, and less bass-heavy
sound. The Tone knob is effective and has a
very wide range. Rather than just add treble, it
Blues Shaman
Rating:
Buy If...
you need a wide range of tweed-
style tones in a single pedal.
Skip If...
your overdrive tastes tend toward
modern flavors.
Rivera
Amplification
Street $249
rivera.com
or use a mobile device to download
audio clips of the pedal at
CLICKHere…
