Pre-2010 3ch Dual Rec "Pushed Mode" Question

[zhutwo]

Question for anyone who has experience with both the pre-2010 3ch Rectifiers, and the current gen multi-watt version. I know the current gen version has a pretty hefty amount of gain on tap when set to pushed mode in channel 1, but what about in the previous gen version? Is it normal to get only a moderate amount of dirt with the gain maxed when using high output humbuckers, and no dirt at all with single coils?

[WRGKMC]

I haven't owned those amps but the question isn't that hard to answer. Most professional players know gain is a double edged sward. you need enough to play well but the more you have the smaller you sound. You want to sound big live or recording, less gain and more volume gets you there.

 

An amp with less channel gain makes it better using pedals too. With tube amps you can use dial up just a little hair and then use pedals for gain and sound fantastic. A high gain channel sounds like crap when you use pedals before it, especially time based effects like chorus, echo and reverb. You'd have to put the pedals in the effects loop after the gain channel so the gain occurs before those effects. This means you have to run a more complex pedal board with at least three cables, pedals before the amps input and pedals in the effects loop.

 

My Marshall Valvestate has a clean, crunch and high gain channel. Its sounds good plugged in direct and having effects in the loop. I run dual amps recording and use my pedals before the amps so I can get stereo chorus and echo to sound good. I don't use the high gain or crunch channels, just the clean and use pedals before the amp.

 

So the answer to your question is different strokes for different folks. In may case I prefer tube amps that have a good amount of clean tone and a little aggression at live performance levels. for small gigs where I don't want to haul a bunch of pedals, an amp that saturates at lower volumes can be fun as hell too.

[zhutwo]

Yeah thanks for looking at my post count and assuming I don't know what I'm doing. I've been playing for 15 years and have owned several tube amps. I simply had no reason to make an account because previously I've been able to find answers by lurking.

 

You missed the point of the question, which was specifically regarding the difference in channel 1 of pre-2010 dual recs and the current generation. I'm not even asking about the high gain channels here. The current generation of DR gets a really nice classic rock crunch from setting channel 1 to "pushed" and I wanted to know if that was the same for the previous generation model.