First post, amps question

[thor von clemson]

Hello there. This is my first post so I will try to make it a good one.

My name is Zach and I have been playing guitar for around 10 years. I currently have an acoustic, a POD XTL with a carvin PA, and a custom made 2x12 cab with old sheffields in it. I have been playing USA jackson for most of the years but I have sold them because I am getting married in 18 days and it costs a lot of money to exist.

I have a friend at guitar center who hooked me up with a great deal on a new guitar (EBMM Lukather in black) and I will be picking it up after my honeymoon in July. I need a good amp to go with it.

I play mostly progressive/tech metal. Lots of distorted and clean chords, pinch harmonics, low end chunky stuff, and dual guitar harmonies. Something like Dream Theater, Extol, and Becoming the Archetype. I am wondering what mesa, if any, would work well? I am hoping to still use the XTL for fx. I would be needing a 2x12 cab (easier to carry around and they still sound great. I can mic it live) and either a rack preamp/poweramp or a regular head. If mesa stuff does not work well, I may still go with a mesa poweramp and cab cuz I know I can get it at a same price.

It is nice to meet you all and I look forward to hearing what you have to say.

Bless,

Zach

 

[Brewski]

Your probably looking for something in the rectifier line. Start looking at a Rectoverb and you can go up from there, depending on your budget and needs.

 

[xscottx9]

I just bought a used 97' Dual Rectifier, its lead channels are awesome. Blows my DSL50 Lead out of the water..

The DR's clean is nice .. its got some good mids, and it works well for me so far un-touched .. if I try and add a Overdrive pedal to it, I just cant coax a good sound from it. It is very close to my DSL's Crunch channel, with a little less gain. Kinda Plexi'ish.

I have not had alot of time to mess with all the channels, as I dont have a pedalboard yet, so I am alwyas reaching behind the head to manually adjust. Bu so far, I am extremely happy with my new DR ..

I am running it the trhu a mesa boogie 2x12 recto cab, closed back .. works just fine. I have a Marshall 4x12 right next to it, and the 2x12 holds up nicely.

Tubes, I have found the 6L6 GC's working better for me, I have some JJ E34L's that I bought for a TSL100, but did not keep the TSL .. they do not sound as good, but maybe its because the JJ's were *marked* for Marshall, not Mesa. I like the E34L mid crunch, but something just didn't sound right. They were marked at #37 .. ?

 

[Dann'sTheMan]

Check out the F-series. Tommi Inkila from Scenery Channel uses an F-50 head for prog metal, and gets stunning tones (listen at http://www.scenerychannel.com/download.html). The F-series voicing delivers an interesting mix combining the singing leads of the Mark series, with the modern aggression of the Rectos.

Also do check out the Mark series - the MKIII and MkIV in particular would make versatile choices.

Big smiles,

Andy.

 

[Russ]

I play mostly progressive/tech metal. Lots of distorted and clean chords, pinch harmonics, low end chunky stuff, and dual guitar harmonies...


Sounds like the call for a Mark IV to me.

 

[tele_jas]

With a Rectifier, you're not going to get a real tight low end "chunk", it will still chunk but not real tight. The leads on the other hand will sound amazing in Vintage mode on the orange channel. If you're looking for a tighter low end, check out the Mark IV or III or even the newer F-series (F-50 to be more exact).

I'm sure everyone here is tired of me posting the link to my site, but I have a dual recto clip on my site in the Vintage mode on the orange channle, it's a Road King but the orange and red channels are voiced identically to a Dual Recto. Go to www.guitartest.moonfruit.com and give it a listen, it on the Road King clips page and it's the one called Road King Rock (on the top left).

Good luck!

 

[SeasonOfPain]

I have a JPMM and an Axis Sport, so I'm coming from a similar guitar angle (esp. being a Dream Theater fan). I had a Triaxis + 50/50 rack setup for a while, but last year sold it and got a Mark IV combo plus a Mesa Standard 4x12. I actually chose the Mark over a 3-channel Dual Rectifier, as I found the low end was too "flubby" for me on the DR (luckily the store was cool and let me do an even trade on the Rectifier after taking it home for a couple days). For early-DT sound, the Mark IV is the way to go (assuming you can't score a deal on a IIC+).

I recently also bought an F-50 head to go with it. Like many here, I've found that this amp gives me a very decent, more "modern" tone but without the Rectifier's loose bottom end. This is great for playing the newer Dream Theater stuff, and especially sounds good layered in a recording, complementing the sound of the Mark IV. A Road King may be much more versatile, but it's also more expensive, and I've never played one to compare how it stacks up to the DR in tone.

If I had to choose a "tight", DT-sounding amp, I'd go for the Mark IV if you can afford it, otherwise the F-50 is a great choice.

 

[thor von clemson]

The F-50 is really a good choice eh? Mesa seems to push it as a classic rock amp on their website.

Guess I will have to try it out. Are there any differences between the F-100 and the F-50? I would opt to go for the F-100 combo and another mesa 2x12 rather than just the F-50 head.

I played a DR with my new EBMM luke and here are my thoughts.

First off, I played it through a Mesa 2x12. Very loud it was.

2) I loved the clean channel... sounded perfect for me.

3) The distortion was very impressive with a great balance of lows, mids, and highs, however the low end was very loose. If that could be somehow tightened up it would be perfect for me. The mids were exactly what I am looking for, and among the looseness of the lows I could sort of hear what I am looking for.

4) It is a somewhat noisy amp, however that is easily fixed with a good noisegate.

5) I do not need the orange channel. A good modern high gain channel and clean are all I need.

 

[Brewski]

I have an F-50 combo, and the cleans are outstanding. That amp is an excellent classic rock amp. If you don't need the orange channel, and you like the way it sounds, then there ya go. The F-100 should sound fairly similar, with the extra wattage, you'll get a little more volume.

Good luck on whatever you buy.