with your amp, don't try to fix it yourself." There are some potentially lethal high voltages
inside the amp, plus if you do something that causes even more damage than when you
started out, the person who does the real repair will probably tell you, "Hey, I know what's
wrong. Somebody's been monkeying around in here." And, of course, your warranty will
be void.
There are some things you can do to keep your amp running and to determine (and
hopefully remedy) common difficulties.
Keep the amp out of the elements.
A lot of this is common sense. Don't use your amp in a
sauna or in the bathtub. Don't leave it out in the rain or in a damp basement. If you take it
to a gig or to practice and it's cold out, give it 15 minutes or a half-hour to stand in the
room where you'll be playing. That way, it can get acclimated and sound its best when
you're ready to play.
Be nice to it.
The jury is still out on whether talking to plants makes them happy, or
whether Elvis lives on the moon, but the verdict on pampering amps is well-known. Don't
drop, knock over, kick, or otherwise mistreat your amp. If you don't have a flight case for
travel, use the box it came in, or wrap it in something thick, soft, and protective. RIVERA
amps are built to take a lot, but why push it? If you treat your amp well, it will treat you
(and your guitar's tone) well.
Check for loose tubes.
Here's as close as you should get to being inside your amp. With
the amp unplugged and cooled off, examine the tubes to make sure they're in tight and
straight. Note: Unlike light bulbs, tubes push straight into their sockets. Never try to twist
them! Also note that some of the tubes are inside of metal sleeves. These are easy to
remove for checking the tubes. Grasp the sleeve with your fingers and depress it (it's
spring-loaded) and turn to the left (counterclockwise). Now pull it off; this may require a
little wiggling action. Remember to put the sleeve back on after you check the tube.
Make sure the power cord is tightly plugged in.
This is critical at both ends of the cord.
And don't use one of those 3-pin-to-2-pin adapters unless you connect the ground lug to the
outlet. Leaving the ground disconnected isn't just cheating--it's dangerous to un-ground any
electrical device that's supposed to be grounded.
Let it idle before you play.
If you have a few minutes to spare before you play, turn the
amp on and set it to standby so that all the parts can get warmed up and stable. Once the
amp's nice and warm (5 or 10 minutes), flip the Standby switch and get busy on your
guitar.
Clean your amp once in a while.
You can use a damp but not wet cloth, or one moistened
in a weak solution of dishwashing detergent and water to wipe off grime, dried Pepsi, Beer,
and whatever else accumulates on the vinyl covering. If you use Gaffers or Duct Tape to
hold Picks on the surface of the Venus 5 and you need to remove the adhesive, use a small
amount of Rubbing Alcohol on a soft cloth, then wipe off the residual with a soap/water
solution. Make sure the amp is unplugged first. Also make sure that no liquid is spilled into
the top ventilation grille, or that the tubes have any liquid of any source dripped on them.
Everything else can be vacuumed, as long as you're gentle and use a soft-bristled brush
attachment on the vacuum hose.
