I am finally an official member of the Mesa owners club

[kmanick]

I picked up my Rectoverb and 2 X12 recto cab on Friday night.
My first ever Mesa!
I need some settings advice from you experts out there on how to dial this thing in.
I actually have done a tube change as the tubes that were in it sounded kind of "dead"
so I have JJ EL34's in for Power tubes
a tungsol Reissue in V1 and JJ's the rest of the way.

Now I have a question about the loop on this thing (that may actually force me to sell it right away)
it seems that as soon as I plug anything into the loop the tone of the amp drastically changes.
I have a Boss ME-50 and an MXR 10 Band EQ that I want to run in it and
the ME-50 was farting out and giving me some kind of Oscillating sound
when I turn up the "mix" level up on the loop.
This loop is very different fom the loop on my JSX,which works very well BTW.
(If I can't use my pedals in the loop this thing is going right back up for sale)
Also if I want to dial in a good high gain tone at lower volume do I keep the Master low
and the output high or the Master up and use the Output to control the volume?
Should I keep Treble high and Presence low or the other way around?

thanks for any help,
as it seems really easy to make this amp sound like total ****.

 

[chemten]

grats.

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

If you're going to run pedal-type FX in the loop, Master low, Output high. Lower settings on the Master, along with a reasonable FX Send (1:30 or so) helps prevent overloading the pedals. Also, for the EQ pedal to work properly in the loop, FX Mix needs to be all the way up, but this will quickly reveal any shortcomings of the ME50. The ME50 will work best with its mix level all the way up and the amp's FX Mix as low as possible to give you the right blend.

FWIW the 10-band works really well into the amp's front end as a boost with EQ. As for Treb and Pres...your amp, your ears. There are many different opinions here, so just twist the knobs 'till it sounds good to you.

Oh yeah...Welcome Aboard 8)

 

[kmanick]

Well I finally got this thing dialed in with my Jackson SL2H soloist today and it sounds freaking great.
I don't even need the EQ in the loop which should simplify things a bit.

Couple of things I noticed.

#1 this 50 watt amp is way louder than my 120 watt JSX (way louder)
#2. this amp is also much less forgiving than my JSX.
I may need to run a compressor in front when playing lead until I get used to this thing.
Seems like I have to dig in a bit more while playing the Recto than I do with the JSX.
#3. at lower volumes the Recto has much less usable gain than the JSX does.
I can't run this amp wide open because i'm using it in my house but thru a hotplate cut back to -8DBs
these settings were sounding great today.
Output=3
master=2
pres=4
bass=3
mids=4
treble=6
gain = 6 (1:00 oclock)
clean boost in front.
I was diming the master because it seems to add more gain , but it was adding a lot of mud to my tone, so I cut it way back.
You guys who say that you run the gain at 10:00 oclock?
how do you do it? at lower volumes gain at 10:00 is nothing.
I have a Recto 2 X 12 with V30's and an Avatar cab that I bought empty and loaded it with 2 C90's and it sounds good with both cabs, each cab is giving it a little bit of a different personality.
Going to do some loop testing this afternnon and some 7 string testing
which is the main reason I wanted one of these (Petrucci/Loomis fanboy)

 

[clutch71]

Are those settings clock face? If so no wonder it sounds like straight up ***. I'm not trying to be a dick I think your just experiencing what some people encounter when coming to Mesa from other brands. Mesa eq's are a little more duynamic and subtle adjustments go a long way

Set everything to noon and dial the master and output evenly. Driving the output hits your power section, but the ROV derives it's gain from the Preamp section thus the balance. At no point is anything on a Mesa designed to be Dimed.

At lower volumes you will experience a little fizz/or fuzziness. I recommend a good OD like a Maxon 808, TS808 (my personal favorite), OCD, Bad Monkey (yes the $49.99 Digitech) and ZW-44. Turn all the gain off of the pedal, set the tone to noon, and the level to 100% and it tightens it right up at any volume.

Remember that treble is the most powerful pot in the eq stage and the mids have the greatest effect on gain. Precence hits post gain and is associated with the power section.

I always found tweaking half the fun. Sorry I have no experience with the ME-50. I know Recto's can sometime be finicky with cerain devices in the loop. I've had two (ROV and DR) and really had a hard time getting them to digest things in the loop.

Good luck and welcome to the board.

 

[OSAR]

Welcome to the club!

 

[kmanick]

Are those settings clock face? If so no wonder it sounds like straight up ***. I'm not trying to be a dick I think your just experiencing what some people encounter when coming to Mesa from other brands. Mesa eq's are a little more duynamic and subtle adjustments go a long way

Set everything to noon and dial the master and output evenly. Driving the output hits your power section, but the ROV derives it's gain from the Preamp section thus the balance. At no point is anything on a Mesa designed to be Dimed.

At lower volumes you will experience a little fizz/or fuzziness. I recommend a good OD like a Maxon 808, TS808 (my personal favorite), OCD, Bad Monkey (yes the $49.99 Digitech) and ZW-44. Turn all the gain off of the pedal, set the tone to noon, and the level to 100% and it tightens it right up at any volume.

Remember that treble is the most powerful pot in the eq stage and the mids have the greatest effect on gain. Precence hits post gain and is associated with the power section.

I always found tweaking half the fun. Sorry I have no experience with the ME-50. I know Recto's can sometime be finicky with cerain devices in the loop. I've had two (ROV and DR) and really had a hard time getting them to digest things in the loop.

Good luck and welcome to the board.

thanks and no those aren't clock face settings :lol: Oh my god that would sound horrific. (I've been playing guitar for over 20 years I do have a clue).

I wish I could dial in the output and Master at noon but even thru my hotplate that is waaaaaaaaaay too loud for using in my house.
I was playing around with this amp all day and I got a great "nevermore-ish" tone out of it without going deaf.
I guess it's true what they say about these amps.
"you're got to take the time to tweak them"
I hated this thing last night and was ready to dump it ,and today I absolutely love it.
Today I set everything at noon (as everyone is suggesting) and tweaked from there.
I still haven't played around with the loop but I'll get around to it.
One thing for sure, this thing is monstrously loud, it dwarfs my JSX (which is rated at 120 watts)

 

[kmanick]

took some pics, this thing is really clean , doesn't look like it's ever been gigged.

Laughing at my JSX :lol:

 

[MusicManJP6]

Nice amps! The ROV is a GREAT amp. Everything you need, nothing you don't... I prefer portability so an F-320 combo is suiting me fine these days. I'm not in a band anymore, I just jam at some friends' houses. I used to have a Roadster, but it never left my living room - I sold it to give it a good home where it will be used like it is intended...

Welcome to the addiction.... I mean CLUB!

 

[kissing]

Hey man,

Congrats on the new amp!

Wish i was like you.....

Just like to check with you, are you using the THD for practising or home playing?

Is it a hassle to set up the THD? Is it preventing you from getting tones like DT?

 

[kmanick]

I don't gig anymore, once in a while I jam with some friends, but the majority of the time I'm just using these things at home.

I couldn't run the Rectoverb without the Hotplate in my house, it's just way too loud.
I also use the Hotplate with the JSX so I can get the power section going a bit.

the Hotplate is a snap to set it up and if I don't cut it back more than -8Db's I don't think it really effects the tone too much.
I have a couple of 7 strings (which is really why I wanted to check one of these out as I'm a big Loomis/Petrucci fanboy :roll: ) and yesterday
I was really getting some great tones out of this thing.
With my Jackson soloist I was using Petruccis "Damage Control" as a baseline for the tone I wanted and I got very close.
I'm sure if I could actually crank this thing wide open I could nail it dead on.
For the 7 string stuff I was using my Carvin and my 7620 and I was really
able to get very close to the Nevermore-"Dead heart in a Dead World" tone, which is what I
was after (and I didn't have to change my EQ setting very much to get there).
I wish there was a way to cut these Single recto's down to 15 watts, even at 50 this thing is incredibly loud.

 

[kissing]

you are definitely firming my decision in getting a MESA. I have always worried about the volume and THD sucking the tone dry. By the way, i am considering the roadking(well, it's all or nothing...hahah)
By the way how much did you pay for that hotplate?

 

[sixtonoize]

Hahaha...that's kinda funny.

I just bought my second Mesa on Wednesday...a Rectoverb Series II head, and a 2x12 recto cab!

Apparently, our destinies are linked. Or, we just both have great taste, and good luck.

BTW, my first Mesa was/is an F-100 2x12.

 

[kmanick]

you are definitely firming my decision in getting a MESA. I have always worried about the volume and THD sucking the tone dry. By the way, i am considering the roadking(well, it's all or nothing...hahah)
By the way how much did you pay for that hotplate?

I got it off of Ebay for $220.00 shipped. (used but it's in mint condition)
They go for around $300.00 new but there seem to be a few used ones popping up on EBay pretty regularly.
Now that I've had this amp for a few days, I'm thinking about maybe
getting a Roadster at some point down the road so I can set one channel to Vintage for lead and one channel to Modern for rhythm.
The more I play around with this amp the more I like it
but it sure is touchy, one false dial and my beautiful tone disappears

 

[Artiefufkin10]

nice rig! the jsx and recto should compliment each other nicely. I'm a big fan of the jsx sound...I almost got that, but decided to go with the Stiletto instead.

 

[kmanick]

nice rig! the jsx and recto should compliment each other nicely. I'm a big fan of the jsx sound...I almost got that, but decided to go with the Stiletto instead.

Thanks!
between the 2 I can cover a pretty wide range of tones.
I initially thought I was going to try and decide on one of these heads
and sell the other, but I like being able to go from a Dream Theater/Nevermore type of sound on my Recto, to a
Van Halen-ish/Ratt (Marshally) type of tone on the JSX.
Plus I figured out how to dial in the Ultra channel on the JSX to sound very much like a smooth 5150, so I think
I'm going to keep both of them around for a while
The wifes not to thrilled with that decision, but what's a guy supposed to do? :lol: