Boost 3 channel triple recto for metal chugging riffs

[sunil999]

hello everyone,,,need some input

i have a 3 channel triple rectifier ...im looking for a boost to add for making the sound bigger..
i play metal and i use channel 3
i would like a comparison betweed fulltone ocd or maxon od808....i heard the is some loss of lowend with the 808???
thanks

 

[TheCapstan]

Dude... the Triple recto has 150 Watts of power... you dont need anything else to make it bigger..
The problem is that the amp is too powerful for your needs..
I assure you that you are using maximum 15 watts at best. Even in a decent size music studio you will never use more than 15 watts. Thats why your amp doesnt sound 'bigger' as you would like, because at these volumes the tubes havent even started to open up. A triple recto will start to sound as it was designed to at minimum 50% of the volume. That would be at around 70 watts or so. You will never get the chance to play at those volumes unless you are playing outdoors or at a very loud club.

The best you can do is either change your amp to a dual recto (which would still need to be modded by removing 2 power tubes and 1 rectifier) or get an attenuator, which is gonna cost you at least $250.

I hope I helped a little.
Cheers

 

[Heritage Softail]

Interesting advice Capstain. It was EXACTLY what I was told when I was shopping for a REC. I ended up getting a used single rec, saved a pantload, and the volume level is something you can manage.

 

[Jerrick]

What do you mean by bigger? Do you mean volume or tone?

A boost up front can give you a bigger sound. You get more saturation, and can push the amp into more gain, also tightens things up. So that added punch can give you that bigger sound. My favorite way is to simply add a bit of delay through the loop. I like setting it up so when I stop playing, you can barely hear a few repeats. But that subtle use of delay really fills out my sound.

To get the biggest sound, running a stereo setup would do the job.

For volume, Ive found these amps, well, the duals and triples capable to make you go deaf and sound good, or play quietly at night in your room and still sound good. No need to add anything there unless you want it to have a volume boost during shows when its your turn to shred.

I havent used either pedal, but I know lots of people like the 808. Best is to try them out both if you have access to them.

 

[sunil999]

hey guys thanks for the reply...i play in a metal band....we usually gig in big venues as well,,,what i mean by bigger is tone wise not volume...i want more chunk...if that makes any sense and both the fulltone ocd and maxon od808 seem popular for boost

 

[Melodyman]

Recto power sections are designed to provide clean power to the mostly preamp shaped tone. Recto's actually start to sound mushy if you push the power section into clipping.

Dual's are not going to be that much quieter, don't fool yourself.

Triples sound meaner/tighter to me, even at lower volumes. Follow your ears not the amount of power tubes.

To the original thread starter, it sounds like you want more saturation and pick scrape/edge to palm muted notes/lines not necessarily "bigger" and a boost will do that for you easily. There's many to choose from, start with an affordable one to see if you like what they do to the sound, then work your way up from there if you want to experiment further.

 

[bermuda_]

From my experience as a musician Recto's sound very loose sounding especially in the palm mute department side of things, so I highly suggest you boost your Recto with an Maxon OD808 overdrive pedal, it will add warmth and tightness to your sound.

 

[bermuda_]

Try these settings on the Maxon OD808.

Overdrive - all the way down,
Balance - all the way up
Tone - all the way up, or if you find you tone is to bright you can always turn it down a to wherever you want

After you have dialed in these setting on the pedal, you will find that the overall sound of coming from your amp will sound a lot tighter, especially when you palm mute, but don't forget by boosting the amp with an overdrive pedal you will lose some low end that naturally comes from the amp, so turn the bass knob on your amp up a bit, and that should keep everything balanced.

 

[sunil999]

hey bermuda....i got the maxon 808 and used the settings you suggested .i dig the mids it added and the palm muted chugg is so tight!,,.i noticed theres a loss of lowend currently my bass is at 12oclock...what do you suggest i put the bass to cover up for the loss of lowend???

 

[ibanezrocker720]

I had to crank my bass to almost max on my Dual Rec to get it back in the mix where I liked it when using my OD808. I also turned the Lo Contour up a bit on my BBE Sonic Stomp as well.

 

[droptrd]

Its like salt and pepper. Just add to taste. Also the 808s really open up if you start to bring the OD up a bit. Gets ballsier. I used to run my bass at 3 oclock with my 808 on.

hey bermuda....i got the maxon 808 and used the settings you suggested .i dig the mids it added and the palm muted chugg is so tight!,,.i noticed theres a loss of lowend currently my bass is at 12oclock...what do you suggest i put the bass to cover up for the loss of lowend???

 

[sunil999]

hey droptrd what are your settings on the maxon?? so i can try them out..thanks

 

[droptrd]

I run the Balance maxed, the tone at noon, and the Overdrive between 9 and 11 oclock. Just experimnent with it. As a whole, its an easy pedal to operate.

 

[Soma]

Newbie question time :roll:

I assume unless you have some sort of nifty switching system or seperate loops per channel etc that boosting the front end like this destroys your clean tone?

Cheers :wink:

 

[b0nkersx]

I assume unless you have some sort of nifty switching system or seperate loops per channel etc that boosting the front end like this destroys your clean tone?

Yes, unless you disengage the boost right before you switch channels, or you really roll back your volume knob on the guitar as soon as you switch and leave the pedal on. This is annoying to do live but it's cheap!

 

[mikey383]

Dude... the Triple recto has 150 Watts of power... you dont need anything else to make it bigger..
The problem is that the amp is too powerful for your needs..
I assure you that you are using maximum 15 watts at best. Even in a decent size music studio you will never use more than 15 watts. Thats why your amp doesnt sound 'bigger' as you would like, because at these volumes the tubes havent even started to open up. A triple recto will start to sound as it was designed to at minimum 50% of the volume. That would be at around 70 watts or so. You will never get the chance to play at those volumes unless you are playing outdoors or at a very loud club.

The best you can do is either change your amp to a dual recto (which would still need to be modded by removing 2 power tubes and 1 rectifier) or get an attenuator, which is gonna cost you at least $250.

I hope I helped a little.
Cheers

I disagree. There is no need to get the tubes cooking in a Recto. They're based on preamp gain and sound mushy and muddy when power amp gain is applied. They require a clean power section to sound their best. You can add a bias mod to get the tubes hotter, which will equate to using more volume, but you do NOT want the power section to be driven hard, unlike a low or medium gain amp where power amp distortion adds to the sound.

Also, there isn't much of a volume difference between a Single/Dual/Triple. It simply comes down to headroom in the power amp.

Newbie question time

I assume unless you have some sort of nifty switching system or seperate loops per channel etc that boosting the front end like this destroys your clean tone?

Cheers

This is one of the reasons I don't use a boost. I switch from clean to distorted quite often. I like the sound of boost, but I don't want to tapdance.

I get around this by "boosting" with my Digitech GSP2101 controlled with a Behringer FCB1010. Even with the volume set to unity gain on the 2101, it gives a slight boost to the signal which is simply a little more gain...probably has to do with line level versus instrument level signals.

I'm in the process of building a switching system so I can boost with my home built 808 clone. It's going to be tricky. I'm going to build a one space rack that will house the 808 guts and the system to switch it in/out and switch 2 amps at the same time.

 

[Soma]

Thanks guys, I thought that would be the case. I was quite interested in trying the boost thing but don't like the idea of the pedal tap dance and unfortuntely don't have $$$ to splash around on expensive solutions

Cheers.

 

[cornsyrup]

Roll back on the volume knob on the guitar & leave the boost on for cleans.