Pretty much any recto tone you hear on recordings, or even live, is a recto with a boost in front. The reason for this is a recto is pure pre-amp distortion, however to get the tubes to really distort hard you need very high output slamming them. I have heard some people with EMG 81's say they do not need the booster because they are so hot, but I have never played an EMG guitar into a recto.
First lets define a good OD Pedal, it will usually have 3 controls. The 3 controls can be labeled different things, depending on the company. I will give you a rough idea of how they are labeled
Tone=Adjusts the tone of the signal. I usually try to match it exactly or give it a little more bite by slightly putting it up.
Level/Balance =Adjusts the input signal level, think of this as an amplifier, takes the signal and makes it louder/stronger. I usually keep this maxed as I love how hard it slams the tubes.
distortion/Overdrive= Usually adds more distortion, depending on the amp is how i adjust it. For my Rec's I keep this all the way down. For my Marshall JCM800's I usually use two OD's, one with it all the way down, second with it all the way up, just gives me to different levels of Gain/distortion, for super light distortion I keep both OD'S off, for medium distortion I put on the OD with the distortion all the way down, for more distortion I turn off the first OD and put on the second with the distortion all the way up. You have to remember the JCM800 does not have that much gain/distortion so you need OD's to boost these, however they will never get into the recto territory.
So you are asking why do I need a pedal with an amp that has so much gain. Well that is simple to answer, with a mesa as you put the gain higher it gets more compressed, which is great if you want that wall of sound, but it is all mushy and your notes are not clear. However with a pedal in front you can get just as much distortion, however the amp stays clearer and not to mention it gives you a lot better harmonics and make it easier to solo.
Here is how I set up a Rec's, I take an OD pedal, such as TS-9 by ibanez, I set the level to max, tone where I desire and keep the distortion all the way down. On the amp you keep the gain around 2 o'clock, treble, bass around noon and presence and mid around 11.
Now another secret with the REC, is it sounds better with the loop removed, this is no problem for me since I don't really use pedals that go in the loop anyway, my OD and my wah are up front, I only use chorus on the clean channel so it is fine up front as well. Sometimes I will use a delay, however I just live with it up front as well, but I hardly ever use the delay.
Fwdftw said:
ic. ic .... what exactly will the 808 do up front on top of the gain heavy amp.. im not used to pedals to be real honest i just go strait throu the amp.. ive tried the BBE screamer.. True bypass still sucked my tone up..