The Rivera Venus 6 is an all tube 17/35 watt Class A combo amplifier that can morph between low wattage natural tube distortion to tight, liquid high gain sounds. In developing this amplifier, Rivera faced the challenge typical of any Class A amplifier: The difficulty of getting reasonable power output without excessive heat. Rivera got around this problem by employing high capacity power and output transformers and large heat sinks to dissipate the heat. Combined with their typically obsessive build quality and military-grade electrical components and you've got an amp that can go the distance night after night.
The Rivera Venus 6 has two channels but rather than them being Clean and Dirty Channels, each channel is it's own voice, both with Volume and Master controls. Channel Two is the cleaner of the channels and is capable of warm sparkling clean tone, edge-of-distortion rhythm or crunchy medium grind. By activating the 17W half power setting, it's easy to get attack-sensitive power tube distortion at reasonable playing levels. Though this amplifier has a solid state rectifier, there is a nice spongy sag on the half power setting that is very touch responsive. Using the 4-button footswitch or the pull Master to activate the "Ninja" setting brings on a noticeable volume boost and more "hair" around the notes. It's clearly intended for lead work and it's like adding a few shots of Hot Sauce to your rhythm settings. Yum.
As they say on TV: "But wait, there's more." Jumping over to Channel One reveals a very different character. Channel One starts off a little thicker right from the start and is geared for anything from mild to heavy distortion. It's an "old school" distortion with lots of mids and a smooth top end (like all the Rivera's I've tested, they are voiced to the warmer side). However, the EQ controls have great range and it's easy to brighten it up or pull down the mids. Activate the Boost function, and the amp steps into a modern high gain mode that one would not expect from this type of amplifier. There is A LOT of gain potential here and when the mood hits you'll find it's easy to squeeze out crazy harmonics and sustain/feedback. While the Rivera Venus 6 is not targeted at the High Gain crowd, on it's 35 watt setting it's got that tight edgy sound that is perfect for those forays into hard or prog rock.
Sometimes with a two channel amp, getting the right sound on each channel at the right levels can be difficult. Rivera has a nice solution to this: A channel assignable effects loop with input and output levels. Channel One too hot? Just assign the effects loop to Channel One and adjust the effects loop levels to match Channel Two. No effects in the loop? Just insert a patch cable in the effects loop and presto -- instant attenuator. Add to all this true tube-driven Accutronics reverb, a Presence control, a unique "Focus" (damping) control, external speaker jack with adjustable impedance, a Celestion G12H speaker and a line out jack and about all you're missing is a roadie to carry it for you. The Venus 6 is incredibly warm, incredibly hot, and all shades in between. No wonder it's earned rave reviews in Guitar Player, Guitarist and Guitar World magazines.
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