dual rec muddy sound

[cliffhanger6]

:? :?
Hi, can anyone give me any advice on dialing in my tone?
I just bought my first 2 channel dual rec and so far im am dissapointed.
I was hoping to get a good megadeth tone with tight punchy gain but after trying everthing every which way I can, I still end up with a muddy weak tone. I know from reading various posts this amp can be hard to dial in. could there be a fault in the amp? tubes are around a year old and everything is lit up. Its the same turned righ up or at low volume. Also I know about using the loop set to the channel im using. If anyone can help
I would really apreciate it. :wink:

 

[ToneAddictJon]

First thing I do when I get a used amp is change the tubes, that way I know what I'm working with. As far as settings, start with everything at noon and experiment moving each control slightly for your sound, as well as experimenting with vintage/modern and tube or diode rectifiers. Speakers make a HUGE difference as well, I love EV's with the DR, because they stay tight and don't get woofy with all the low end the DR puts out. Personally preference for me in tubes is the high-gain retube kit with e34l's from eurotubes.com, I've never had a problem with them and they sound killer (IMO) and they are on the lower side of cost as far as tubes go.

 

[mikey383]

First, turn your bass down. After 2 oclock it starts to muddy everything up.

Second, I really doubt you'll be able to dial in a Megadeth sound with a Recto. They don't get as tight, and they aren't EQ'd like that.

Try running all your EQ knobs straight up (12 oclock) and adjust from there. I'm sure you could find a usable tone once you mess around some.

 

[7thstring]

I also had that kind of problem and it was because of the pedals I looped in. Seem that multi-effect processor don't do so good with the DR's parallel loop. Try to bypass it to check your dry sound (with all knobs to 12 o'clock), if your amp is new, it should sound better than mud.

About dialing your sound, keep a serious eye on the treble knob, as they say in the manual, it really has a strong effect on your tone. Gain around 12' is the best deal usually, but it seems that many people like to add a crunch-like pedal before the amp to get a tighter sound.

 

[cliffhanger6]

Hi, thanks to both of you for your advice.
Will check out new tubes. If I cant get a megadeth sound with a recto, any suggestions which way to go?. I thought that dual recs were used by Megadeth early on, thats why I bought one. If Im wrong let me know :wink: . Also any advice on effects and setups to get that exact sound would help. Thanks again

 

[cliffhanger6]

Hi,
forgot to mention this is a 2 channel 1999 model if that helps.

 

[scottkahn]

I second the comment to turn down your bass... most new Boogie players are used to cranking the bass (especially if coming from Marshall territory)... and that's mistake #1 with dialing in Boogie amps, which are notoriously huge in the low end to start.

Have you read the manual? If you bought the amp used and didn't get a manual, download it from the Boogie site. They have the best, most detailed documentation of ANY amp maker, and the docs provide significant guidance for how to dial in your tone, and how the EQ and gain stages all interact with each other.

Also, for fast tight sound, if your DR has a switch for solid-state (diode) rectification instead of tube rectification (don't know if all the older models had this), this may help you achieve your desired tone.

Scott

 

[TomiR]

many people like to add a crunch-like pedal before the amp to get a tighter sound.

Yep, an overdrive pedal like the Ibanez Tubescreamer is a great way to tighten up the Rectifier.

I use an Ibanez TS-9 with my Triple Recto, and it makes the tone more focused and tighter. It's pretty much the "industry standard" to use an overdrive pedal in front of a high gain amp.

The pedal shouldn't be used for adding more gain, I usually use have the pedal set:

gain: off to 9 o'clock
tone: 10 o'clock
level: 12 o'clock

For good metal settings, I would go for something like:

bass and treble 11-12 o'clock
mids: 9-10 o'clock

gain: 12 o'clock

And a healthy dose of presence.

 

[jab]

i went through the whole "muddy" phase with a DR and ended up buying a Stiletto. Maybe I hadn't exhausted all my options, but there just is an aura of muddiness to a DR, which isn't always a bad thing depending on your taste and style of music. The Mesa reps will first suggest speakers/cab to eliminate some of the muddiness.

 

[dmcguitar]

no Megadeth never used mesa to my knowledge. Dave mustaine used marshalls way back, with metallica and then after the split. I believe he used bogners around the late 80's early 90's. He used a rocktron preamp (prophesy)into a marshall poweramp for most of the 90's and on, still uses that, but has also added line 6 to his preamp. he had line 6 make 4 custom amp channels for his own personal model, and there was never any word to whether those would come out from line 6 for their production line.

 

[nitrous2400]

i dont know what cab your running but a different cab and differnet speakers will greatly change the voicing of the amp... id say turn the bass down to like 9-10oclock, mids 2oclock, treb 3oclock and adjust from there. also any overdrive will help to add crunch to your sound, and you can also look into a bbe maximizer the process control will help to add more crunch and crisp highs... other than that all i can suggest is a eq in the loop doing so you can further tailor your sound

 

[Benraldo]

getting away from the vintage 30's seriously helped kill the mud of my three channel dual rec.

 

[***wicked***]

hey guys i didnt want to open a new board for that what i wanna ask is

I cant use the loop part on my dual rectifier. i plugged the footswitch channels are working but i cant use the SOLO AND OUTPUT on my amp and there is no light at that part of the footswitch. should i do something different for that. i got it from ebay and it had no paper with it. so what should i do to work that part? THANX

 

[mikey383]

hey guys i didnt want to open a new board for that what i wanna ask is

I cant use the loop part on my dual rectifier. i plugged the footswitch channels are working but i cant use the SOLO AND OUTPUT on my amp and there is no light at that part of the footswitch. should i do something different for that. i got it from ebay and it had no paper with it. so what should i do to work that part? THANX

You really should start a new thread about this, but I'll go ahead and answer.

Check your cable. It may be bad. If that doesn't work, open the chassis and make sure the connector is seated fully on the effects loop knob. If still no dice, start another thread and someone else may chime in.





As for the original post...
Running a pedal in front does help a lot. I had a Boss DS-1 laying around, and I tried using it to boost my leads, and it helps tighten up the sound like crazy.

Maybe go with the recommendations for a Tubescreamer or a Maxon OD808 and see if that helps. I know it kinda sucks having to run a pedal in front of the amp, but it helps.

 

[RawkerMan]

I run my 2-channel DR with JJ 12AX7's, either JJ EL34's or JJ 6L6's, and JJ GZ34 rectifier tubes. The manual for the 2-channel DR's suggests using EL34's for metal or high-gain sounds.

If you're running 6L6's, I suggest setting the power to BOLD and the rectifier to TUBE. This way you won't get the "built-in variac" sag that happens in the SPONGY setting. The other guitarist in my band has a 3-channel Triple Recto, and running it this way gets rid of a lot of the "woof" and also adds a bit of "crispiness."

Make sure you put in plenty of MIDDLE, and try not to run the BASS any more than half-way up.

 

[Silverwulf]

I play metal with a 2 channel DR and some of our stuff is in the vein of old Metallica and Megadeth. I don't tend to run my knobs very high. My most recent settings...I think my Treble, Mids, and Bass were all in the 10-11 o'clock range, Gain was at 12 Noon, and Presence around 1 o'clock. This is with Bold and Silicon Diodes on the Modern/Red channel. In front of that, I run a Maxon OD808 with the same settings every time: Volume/Output at 12 Noon, Gain set to "0" (off), and Tone at about 9 o'clock.

This is with EMG loaded guitars into a Mesa V30 cab.

 

[MetalMatt]

+1 on the tubes.

Pick up a overdrive. Volume: Noon, Gain: 7:00-9:00, Tone: To taste. If that doesn't satisfy you. You might want a EQ in the loop. http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=19660.

 

[giantstepjoe]

Try running an eq in your fx loop and dial down the 200-250 range to reduce the "mud" you are hearing and boost 80-100 to increase the thump. This should tighten your bass up significantly. I also agree with the other posts about dialing the bass on the amp down under noon; Boogies have a ridiculous amount of bottom end that must be pruned back in order to sound distinctive.