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Time spent w/my Dual Rectifier,..interesting findings.


Cibyl

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I tell ya, the more time I spend with this amp the more I'm impressed with the "hidden" tones that this beast can produce. Everyone that buys one (I'm specifically speaking of the 3-ch model) mostly gets it for it's over-the-top gain modes on ch's 2 & 3, ala modern style, and it does do that well. But if you really spend the time there are some fat crunch rhythm, dirty cleans and inbetween stuff that are really nice. Here are some of my "findings":

 

(A) Extreme Eq settings:

 

I started a thread about this the other day. I find the best high gain tones are achieved by zero'ing out the bass completely. The tone is tighter and much clearer this way, and there is still plenty of lowend to spare,....bass players are for that anyway. The guitar need to cut through in the mids and highs so this trick works very well. Also, the tone seems less sizzly or "buzzy" as everyone likes to call it,...more meat.

 

(B) Balancing the Treble and Mid:

 

The Recto is definitely a tweaker amp, which I actually don't like. But once you've found the settings that work just keep them there. I've found that finding a balance between the Mid and Treble key to getting that "cut" that some people say the Recto lacks on the high gain settings. Don't over use the Mid,..the midrange sweep on this amp is definitely in the low-mid spectrum so using a good amount of Treble can help to emphasize the midrange much better. Also, using EL34's helps a bunch,..I'm running SED's.

 

© "Pushed" mode,...awesome:

 

I love the Pushed mode on Ch 1, but it takes some more extreme eq tweaks to really make it bark. I max out the Presence and Treble, run the Gain at around 11:00, Bass at 9:00 and Mid straight up to 12:00 and it rules. I can roll back the volume on the guitar and it actually cleans up very nicely, and full volume it's awesome crunch.

 

(D) Loves the C9 pre's:

 

This amp really likes the C9 preamp tubes and IMO sounds best with them, especially in V1 and V2.

 

Very versatile amp IMO. I know most "tone connoisseurs" think this amp is a one trick pony, and most would say it doesn't do that one trick well. But the tones are very good if you spend some time. Anyway,....that's all I wanted to say.

 

:cool:

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The Recto series has long been my favorite of all amps, I make no effort to hide that fact, even in the face of "tone connoiseurs", they are far from a one trick pony and a few hours with one hardly gives one enough time to form a solid opinion of them. There is just so much you can do with them and so much versatility built in that it takes several days of fooling around to even find good basic tones, never mind polishing them off and adding external EQ and effects. The EQ section is very responsive on the Recto series and is one of it's best assets. The whole family sounds great, in fact, my favorite of the family has been the Rect-O-Verb combo for a long time, it would suit my at home/seldom gig situation perfectly and will likely be my next amp purchase.

The bass control has a drastic effect on the whole EQ, the more bass you have dialed up, the more sizzle you get, especially in the mid frequencies. Keeping the bass backed down gives you tons of "cut", keeps the low end tight as hell, and still has a lot of "chunk". One of my favorites in Modern mode is low bass and treble, with moderate mids and presence, dark, heavy, chunky, with lot's of cut which gets better with volume.

Another long standing preference of mine on the old Rectos is to clone the red channel on the orange channel and use the Modern voice, it completely changes the feel of the Modern voice. A similar effect can be had on the 3 channel Rectos by using the 2nd channel for Modern and the 3rd channel for Vintage. It just adds a little mojo to the tone on both channels, and it sounds {censored}ing great.

I've previously owned a few Mesa amps, including a DC5 head, Studio .22+, a Mark III blue stripe, and had a 2 channel Recto on loan from a friend for 4 months, and the Recto is the king of the pile, I miss it, and look forward to buying a Rect-O-Verb combo sometime within the next few years and take my rightful place in the Mesa clan...

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Originally posted by SLfreak

The Recto series has long been my favorite of all amps, I make no effort to hide that fact, even in the face of "tone connoiseurs", they are far from a one trick pony and a few hours with one hardly gives one enough time to form a solid opinion of them. There is just so much you can do with them and so much versatility built in that it takes several days of fooling around to even find good basic tones, never mind polishing them off and adding external EQ and effects. The EQ section is very responsive on the Recto series and is one of it's best assets. The whole family sounds great, in fact, my favorite of the family has been the Rect-O-Verb combo for a long time, it would suit my at home/seldom gig situation perfectly and will likely be my next amp purchase.


The bass control has a drastic effect on the whole EQ, the more bass you have dialed up, the more sizzle you get, especially in the mid frequencies. Keeping the bass backed down gives you tons of "cut", keeps the low end tight as hell, and still has a lot of "chunk". One of my favorites in Modern mode is low bass and treble, with moderate mids and presence, dark, heavy, chunky, with lot's of cut which gets better with volume.


Another long standing preference of mine on the old Rectos is to clone the red channel on the orange channel and use the Modern voice, it completely changes the feel of the Modern voice. A similar effect can be had on the 3 channel Rectos by using the 2nd channel for Modern and the 3rd channel for Vintage. It just adds a little mojo to the tone on both channels, and it sounds {censored}ing great.


I've previously owned a few Mesa amps, including a DC5 head, Studio .22+, a Mark III purple stripe, and had a 2 channel Recto on loan from a friend for 4 months, and the Recto is the king of the pile, I miss it, and look forward to buying a Rect-O-Verb combo sometime within the next few years and take my rightful place in the Mesa clan...

 

 

I own a Tremoverb combo in addition to the Dual Rectifier head. Both have their own thing going on but are cut from the same cloth. I gotta say, I'm a huge fan of Recto's too,...I think they get a bad rap a lot of time for just being a Nu-Metal amp, etc. They are far from just that.

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Although I have favorite settings, every time I play I find a new tone or a nuance on an old one.

There are many great tones in this amp....not just the 'mid suck', play AJFA without needing a bass player tones ;-)

I guess my neighbors might be fed up of hearing the same chords time after time as I sweep with the treble and play with the mids but I'm not...and don't get me started on the Presence interaction :-D

I've had something like 8 or 9 amps in the space of a year....I think in the end I'll just end up back with the one that started all these 'problems'...the mid 90s 2ch DR :-D

For fun, lets list 'em

Crate GFX212 - yeah, ok...it's sold but had a good clean and could do a passable Ride the Lightning on a good day

Rectoverb 50W Head - ugh, no matter what I did sounded awful compared to the 2ch DR

2ch DR - the beast...don't care for the cleans, although they are passable...but who cares with 2channels and channel cloning/2 gain ranges and tube rectification if you want it.

Roadking - son of beast. Although it doesn't sound as sweet as the 2ch...can't bear to part with it - 4 channels and power tube changes without pulling tubes!

Powerball - ugh...too tight. VERY nice clean. It's sold. Very brutal..sounded better through my 4x12 compared with the 2x12 (both Mesa Recto cabs with v30s)

Marshall 30th 6100LM - versatile Marshall...not quite what I was expecting in a good way (versatile) and a bad way (I definately came to the decision I prefer EL34 type tubes over 6L6) Lovely cleans(6L6 probably helps here :-/) and the 'crunch' channel is great....nice to have 3 gain ranges to play with....6 of you double 'em up with a pedal in front :-D

Randal RM50HB - ended up winning two auctions, kept the modules...sold the head. Nice amp but decided to keep the RM100.

Randall RM100M - still here, still digging the Plexi, Recto and Ultra modules...have an XTC on the way

Randall RM50 - 1x12 combo...wow, where'd the bass go!! ;-) I really need to stay away from eBay...still it scored me an SL+ and an XTC module.

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one of the coolest things i found with my 3 ch. was the dirty cleans i could get from channel 3 in raw mode with the gain WAY down...hit that with my crystal chorus in front and it's just beautiful!!! btw i'm running EH el34's

that's the ONLY edge the mesa has over my framus, the cobra can't get a good dirty clean without an OD...by the same token, the mesa can't get a lead tone i like without an OD (use channel 2 vintage for all my high gain needs)

i was also suprised how good the clean channel sounded, after hearing forever how horrible the mesa cleans were and even being unimpressed with them in the store...with some new tubes and (very) little tweaking i had a clean singing form channel 1 that i was quite satisfied with

@ $1000 for the head (with bigfoot) and $120 for a 1/2" ply roadcase, i'm very happy with my backup rig ;)

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hey guys, don't suppose you'd mind sharing some of those settings, though I realize your dual or triple rects might be different. I'l be joining the mesa clan very soon with a rectoverb 50 watt head. (whoever made the comment about the rectoverb head sounding like crap, you scared me:( Perhaps it just needed new tubes? :rolleyes:

Should be a nice jump from my ashdown peacemaker 20 watt combo to a 50 watt rectoverb head into my 2x12 eminence wizards loaded avatar cab :cool:

Perhaps you guys could tell me if there is a really big issue with th effects loops like I hear some people menion phasing and whatnot? I've got a big pedal board and wondering if thats going to go to waste?

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I have owned a pair of 93, 2 channels - since well..93

I recently traded one of the 2 channels for a new 3 channel...

the 3 channel is definitley the best amp I have ever played and the 2 channel is now a backup amp...


thanks to forumite Killshot for turning me on to the 3 channel.

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Originally posted by t-rave

I have owned a pair of 93, 2 channels - since well..93


I recently traded one of the 2 channels for a new 3 channel...


the 3 channel is definitley the best amp I have ever played and the 2 channel is now a backup amp...



thanks to forumite Killshot for turning me on to the 3 channel.

 

 

That's funny,....almost everyone you talk to say the 2 ch version slays the 3-ch. I owned a 92' 2-ch that was a great amp,....the 3-ch is just a little different. They're both great amps.

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I dont care what anyone says, I have a 2 channel dual recto and mine just sings. I can pull off a lot of amazing tones. Pushing the clean channel can get plexi like. But I am in love with this amp. Its definately not a "nu metal" amp.

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Alright, I'm not part of the club! Go my Mesa Rectoverb series 2 Head today.

Whoever said it has sucky cleans can suck my *bleeeeeep*

Seriously, the clean and the pushed , oh god that pushed channel sounds amazing. perhaps its teh reverb? A definite must, makes the cleans sound deeper and 3-d like.

I haven't gotten into the higher gain sounds as much since i'm in my room at home. But all 3 definitely have their own feel. And I think I'l be spending a lot of hours just tweaking the eq.

When I plugged this head into my 2x12 avatar cab with Wizards, I could almost make it sound like a deluxe reverb reissue (or apparently it might have been a vibrolux) on the clean tone with the presence at about half way and reverb at about half. Not exactly the same but an awesome bouncing full clean tone thats really sweet.

I can get much better cleans on this amp then my ashdown peacemaker that didnt' have a lot of headroom and it was more marshallesque.

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Originally posted by StrykeBack

Alright, I'm not part of the club! Go my Mesa Rectoverb series 2 Head today.


Whoever said it has sucky cleans can suck my *bleeeeeep*


Seriously, the clean and the pushed , oh god that pushed channel sounds amazing. perhaps its teh reverb? A definite must, makes the cleans sound deeper and 3-d like.

 

 

I think the cleans were only 'OK' or 'sucky' (in some peoples eyes) on the earlier 2ch DRs.

 

Later models, including 3ch DR, Rectoverb Series II, Roadking etc. all have improved clean channels....I've owned them all. (It could well be true about the Tremoverb and Rectoverb series I also...)

 

I enjoyed the Pushed channel too.

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Man, these are threads I like. There should be threads like these more often (about other amps too!).

I love reading other people's tricks and such with their amps.

Well i just stuck some Ruby El34s in my Rectoverb combo, took my bass to like 9:00 o'clock and played with everything else a bit, stuck my Ge-7 in front for a nice boost and a basscut/mid boost and man, this thing roars with a bit of volume!

I had been very frusterated with the amp for about two weeks (i actually went to go play some amps a few days back), then i stuck thje 34's in...man I am very happy. Sounds much smoother with more harmonics...just roars and screams more in vintage mode!

I need to play with my cleans more but the reverb adds such a nice effect to the cleans. I don't play pushed much, but I do play with raw every now and then, usually with my same settings as I have with vintage, it usually transfers very well as a more rock oriented tone compared to the more heavy tone in vintage mode.

Great amp.

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I have a pair of el34s I might take out of my ashdown combo to try in this amp. never really liked teh lack of headroom that the el34s had. i like the fullness of the 6l6s.

Just played with it a bit more, tried the trick of boosting with my ts9dx out infront. very cool. I actually took the "clean settings" and just clicked into pushed, lowered the bass some and can cop the warren hayes tone on the live in central park with dave matthews band. Damn, this amp rocks. Wish I had some place to really let it rip..

Oh, I'm using my etymotic ear plugs so i can keep my hearing :D

Anybody have issues with their effects loop? I've got my dd-20 and my ce-20 that won't work in the effects loop, I start to get a real bad low vibration starting really soft and then starting to get louder. It worked alright with my pigtronix phaser. But whats the secret to the effects loop?

I realize i'm going into a parallel loop instead of the serial that i'm used to but what changes do i need to make to my pedals to stop the feedback loop?

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I love my early 2 ch. It's a 93 leather wrapper unit and I crammed some KT88s in there. The amp just flat out rocks !!! It is very picky about too much pre amp dialed in, but if you don't overdo it, you can get some very cool vintage like tones. The modern channel is killer too .....

An under rated amp in my opinion. :)

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Originally posted by StrykeBack

I have a pair of el34s I might take out of my ashdown combo to try in this amp. never really liked teh lack of headroom that the el34s had. i like the fullness of the 6l6s.


Just played with it a bit more, tried the trick of boosting with my ts9dx out infront. very cool. I actually took the "clean settings" and just clicked into pushed, lowered the bass some and can cop the warren hayes tone on the live in central park with dave matthews band. Damn, this amp rocks. Wish I had some place to really let it rip..


Oh, I'm using my etymotic ear plugs so i can keep my hearing
:D

Anybody have issues with their effects loop? I've got my dd-20 and my ce-20 that won't work in the effects loop, I start to get a real bad low vibration starting really soft and then starting to get louder. It worked alright with my pigtronix phaser. But whats the secret to the effects loop?


I realize i'm going into a parallel loop instead of the serial that i'm used to but what changes do i need to make to my pedals to stop the feedback loop?



Wish I could help, but i know jack about the loop...im no good with it either.

So i could use some help with that too, anyone?

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Originally posted by gonan111

I dont care what anyone says, I have a 2 channel dual recto and mine just sings. I can pull off a lot of amazing tones. Pushing the clean channel can get plexi like. But I am in love with this amp. Its definately not a "nu metal" amp.

 

 

Same here!

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Originally posted by Cibyl

damn,...I thought this thread was dead,...cool.


Hail all Recto's!!!
:D
My Tremoverb is still king.



Hey, Cibyl.
I think your recent Recto threads have been some of the best on the board for a while. I've had my '92 for a quite a while, and along the way I've come to many of the same realizations that you - and other forumites - have come to. It's great to see a useful and thoughtful thread on HC once in a while. Nice work, dude.

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Originally posted by 61SG



Hey, Cibyl.

I think your recent Recto threads have been some of the best on the board for a while. I've had my '92 for a quite a while, and along the way I've come to many of the same realizations that you - and other forumites - have come to. It's great to see a useful and thoughtful thread on HC once in a while. Nice work, dude.

 

 

Thanks bro. I think it's really easy to get caught up in all the hype that comes along with the next "cool" boutique amp model that comes out,...when all along most of the work horse amp will do the job just fine. Don't get me wrong,....I love amps by companies like Budda, Bogner, Dr Z, Bad Cat, etc,....but staples like Marshall, Fender and Boogie are classics that will never go away.

 

Bill

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