While I'm a total sucker for 6V6 amps, my next tube of choice is most definitely the EL-34. EL-34 tubes are known as very "musical" tubes with a strong midrange and nice complex overtones when overdriven. They are a bit more husky sounding than the typical blackface amp but do not sacrifice high end clarity. They are a great tube for beefing up a single coil guitar without compromising on sparkle and twang. The big high-wattage Marshall, HiWatt and Laney amps from England were typically EL-34 based.
With 50 watts of power and an oversized output transformer, the Clean Channel has plenty of headroom, and the 2-band EQ is more than adequate to dial in anything from warm and lush to bright with plenty of sizzle. There is also a pull bright control, perfect for waking up dark humbucker pickups. Like all Rivera amplifiers their natural character is warm and full, but they respond very nicely to tweaking the EQ. This is far preferable to trying to warm up and icy amplifier.
The Lead/Crunch channel really takes on the British flavor that the EL-34 tubes are known for. Think "Pinball Wizard" or "Won't Get Fooled Again" and you'll get an idea of what this channel is all about. The addition of a midrange control allows anything from fat chunky overdrive to a more scooped modern sound. The pull gain switch pushes the amp into a fluid gain mode perfect for big rock solos or prog-rock leads. There is a lot of gain available in this setting and you can easily run it up to the onset of feedback, even at reasonable volume levels. Whether clean, crunch, or high gain the tones are complex and rich and emulate the classic rock sounds of those big British amps used by the likes of Tho Who, AC/DC and just about every other hard rock backline out there.
Makes a great sounding and easily transportable package with a Rivera 1x12 or 2x12 cabinet. Other nice features include:
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Genuine Accutronics Reverb - Presence Control - Active effects loop with send and return control levels
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Adjustable speaker output impedence (4-16 ohms)
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Main and extension speaker output jack
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Line out jack
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Heavy duty footswitch for channel switching and reverb on/off.
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