Help killing fizz

[JW123]

ME I fought with the fizzy sound for years, in fact I just wouldnt use the modern channel at all, just jack up the vintage channels to get my tone.

I guess at one time I thought all the controls should be up for some reason, but its gotten rid of all the fizziness that was bothering me with my amp, and I use my modern channel way more than I used to.

 

[screamingdaisy]

The easiest fix for me is turning down the tone pot on my guitar. It doesn't have to be much... just edge it down until you loose the fizz. The end result should be a tighter, more percussive attack.

 

[Geiri]

Hey daisy

That's a cool trick, gotta try that sometime. I usually never use the tonepot and have always deemed it pointless. But mabe there is a use for it after all.

 

[sk8erps]

I had the fizz too. I took my Solo 50 to Schroeder Audio in Chicago b/c it sounded so bad I thought for sure there's something wrong with the amp. They cleaned it up inside and adjusted the bias and installed a bias pot. Sounds great. They informed be that it's BS that you can replace the power tubes in a Recto and not have to adjust the Bias. It appears they were right b/c it sounds like a different amp. I just got a PRS Custom 22 20th Anniversary with Dragon II's and now it's even more amazing sounding. I think the guitar used def has something to do with some of the fizz.

 

[Anonymous]

They informed be that it's BS that you can replace the power tubes in a Recto and not have to adjust the Bias.

I think it's a great idea in theory. In practice? Mesa tubes seem to run too cold. If they kept them consistent, and if it didn't cost as much as it does for Mesa tubes, then it might have been a better idea. But 1) it most likely costs too much for them to acquire enough consistent tubes and 2) they bias on the cold side probably for reliability more than tone. There's always a down side though, because Mesa amps are known to be bulletproof, which maybe wouldn't be as much the case if everyone biased hotter.

 

[screamingdaisy]

They informed be that it's BS that you can replace the power tubes in a Recto and not have to adjust the Bias.

I think it's a great idea in theory. In practice? Mesa tubes seem to run too cold. If they kept them consistent, and if it didn't cost as much as it does for Mesa tubes, then it might have been a better idea. But 1) it most likely costs too much for them to acquire enough consistent tubes and 2) they bias on the cold side probably for reliability more than tone. There's always a down side though, because Mesa amps are known to be bulletproof, which maybe wouldn't be as much the case if everyone biased hotter.

A colder bias typically produces a better clean tone.

Some of Mesa's amps are biased hot, but the cleans tend to overdrive easily.

 

[sk8erps]

I'm not sure which way they went on the biasing. My cleans are much warmer and the low end is more articulate all around. My gain channel has more chunk and no fizzy high end now. I started running a Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive as a boost recently and find I have it on almost all the time now. Even for cleans. I never thought this pedal would work well for this but it does. As for the amp, whatever they did with the bias adjustment totally made the amp. I was gonna get rid of it but not now :mrgreen: I play a lot of 311 and can nail the tone easily now.

 

[Bilske]

Apart from using a high enough setting on the output (I recommend 12 'o clock or higher), I've had some interesting results
with completely killing the treble/prescence knobs and then diming (or close to) the mid, with adjusting bass to liking. It seems quite radical on paper, but it gives you some very usable sounds, at least with my allready bright speaker setup ( '82 T75's). Old 3 channel recto on channel 2 vintage with gain on 1:30 - 2:00 is my main crunch in my hardcore band with these settings, and I get asked about it quite often.

Might not work for everyone, but it doesnt hurt to try and maybe kill some fizz.

 

[Martindamm]

Hi everybody. I'm new to this forum which have provided me with hours of good reading.
Thought I would give some knowledge back.

One thing that I would suggest owners of rectifiers (I have a Single Rectifier v.1), is having the fixed bias undone. I had crappy fizzy tone all over the place with the stock Mesa tubes. They where biased too cold, but changing to a set of quality tubes and a warmer bias cured it.

One thing worth mentioning is cable. Don't underestimate the importance of cable. Different capatitance (correct spelling?) will yield different responses to how trebly a guitar sounds through the amp.

Lastly, I'm from Denmark so English is obvoiusly not my native language, so my apoligies for any spelling mistakes ;-)