In need of advice!

[xcameronx]

Hey. New to the board but I need answers quick! I have a Mesa triple Rectifier 3 channel head. I recently got it fixed because there was no volume output at all. Only a slight amount of volume, and nothing worked to turn it up. I got the head for free because of this problem from a friend, who's dog pee'd in it a year or so back. He sent it out to mesa and they "cleaned" the board for $200. It worked fine up until this problem happened, then he traded me a guitar i had for it.

The tech i took it to said it needed some parts for a circuit board..yada yada. So he fixed it, and it ran me back $265. I thought "SWEET, mesa triple rec for $300." I bring it to my jam space, plug everything in.

Same...problem. :|

So i take my pedal board out, unplug the EFX loop, and it works fine, only it sounds like absolute ****, terrible tone, choppy muddy sounds when the channel volume is anywhere from 12 o clock to 3 o clock. No idea what it could be.

I tried putting a patch cable from the send to return, and it worked fine. But when i plug in my rack equip...it doesnt work. I tried using each piece by itself, i rewired everything 4/5 times. I even tested all the cables. I tried the rack on another head and it worked fine.

I was going to try and replace the V4 and V5 preamp tubes. But with it working with the patch cable, but not working with the rack I'm stuck.

I'm running:

guitar - boss DD20 - boss NS2 - head

Send - korg rack tuner - BBE sonic max - return

Does anyone have any idea what this could be??? I need answers quick I have a show friday :shock:

Thanks.

 

[Triple Cheeseburger]

ditch the sonic max for starters - its going to sound **** with the rec anyway

 

[xcameronx]

ditch the sonic max for starters - its going to sound sh!t with the rec anyway

There's no possible way the BBE process can sound like ****, because it oraganizes all of your frequencies, brings out higher highs, and lower lows.

Just because you don't have one doesn't mean it sucks, chill hah.

Either way opinions are opinions. I need to know what's wrong with my head before i try anything new.

 

[rectofried]

if your running a delay in front of the amp that could be some of the trouble..try it without the delay in the chain. most modulation effects work better in the loop. try running the channel volume a little lower and adjust the master volume to taste.. what are other settings? bold/spongy tube /solid state?

and for the record. everybody i know that has used a sonic max, didnt use it long including me..it adds a digital sound to the amp that im my opinion is useless...i use it in our PA now. works great there. :lol:

 

[xcameronx]

if your running a delay in front of the amp that could be some of the trouble..try it without the delay in the chain. most modulation effects work better in the loop. try running the channel volume a little lower and adjust the master volume to taste.. what are other settings? bold/spongy tube /solid state?

and for the record. everybody i know that has used a sonic max, didnt use it long including me..it adds a digital sound to the amp that im my opinion is useless...i use it in our PA now. works great there. :lol:

I play strictly death metal so it works out. i think it makes the amp sound better IMHO. To each his own.

The delay was off when i was trying to make the head work. I can't imagine running a delay in the signal chain would make the effects loop disable the master volume, and cause bad tone when the volume knob is in certain places when theres no in the loop...all when it's turned off. -_-

The volume DOESNT WORK when i have gear in the loop, but it does otherwise.

I can't imagine bold or spongy would matter, but it's on bold. If by tube/solid state you mean the silicon diode or vacuum tube setting. its on vacuum tube.

I just need someone to tell me what needs to be replaced. this tech guy is giving me the run around, replacing only certain things then saying..."well uhhh, that wasn't the initial problem" -__________________________-

If anyone can tell me someone in CT who can just fix it, let me know.

I need this thing asap. I'm using a peavy valveking in its place -_-

EDIT: not to mention running two 25 foot cables to the front of a stage for one pedal is useless. I have 5-10 to set up entirely, i throw my pedalboard on the ground, plug into my head(live in with the rack plugged in always), plug in my cab, and i'm done. the extra 2 minutes to string up a pedal to reduce a little noise is better used for the 2 extra strings i have to tune.

someone tell me how to fix this head PLEASE. i'm desperate

 

[TexasFM3]

I too play death metal / metal / thrash through my rec... I second the move of the Delay to the effects loop. Sorry bro, but the delay will kill your sound and come off like total **** in front of the beast. Place in the effects loop for sweet solos.

Just my 2 cents...

TexasFM3

 

[Benraldo]

maybe some contact cleaner on the preamp tube sockets? I grimy connection could be the culprit there.

 

[xcameronx]

I too play death metal / metal / thrash through my rec... I second the move of the Delay to the effects loop. Sorry bro, but the delay will kill your sound and come off like total sh!t in front of the beast. Place in the effects loop for sweet solos.

Just my 2 cents...

TexasFM3

i use it once during my set so im not too worried about it.

 

[mikey383]

First off, the BBE IS going to sound like **** in the loop...they're made for vocals, not for amps. If you like that tone, then that's your call, but any sort of fast EQ (which is what a SM is) will sound like poo.

Second, your problem lies somewhere within the effects you're using, and not the amp. If you've plugged a cable from the send to the return and it worked, then the amp is fine and is not the problem.

 

[YellowJacket]

Rather than complaining about people's suggestions, you have to take a scientific approach to isolate the source of the problem. This will be the fastest and easiest solution.

My advice: Remove everything except the amp, cab, and guitar. You need a patch cable from the guitar directly into the amp and then a speaker lead from the amp to the guitar with a correct ohmage match. Dial everything in until you get the tone you want. If there is a problem with the amp, guitar, or speaker you will hear it. Hot tip, don't dump the gain or the bass. Definitely don't dump both of them. The Triple Recto has a lot of low end already which can rapidly become flubby and overly bassy. Turning up the gain phattens up the low end in a big way. Turning up the bass makes it become loose and unmanageable. Best thing is to run the gain no more than about 1:00 - 2:30 depending on your guitar and tweak the presence, treble, and mids to get maximum aggression. I'd leave the bass at MAX 12 o'clock but lower is much, MUCH better.
Heavy sound is created a lot by playing style, moreso than by the EQ settings on the amp. If your band wants a huge low end, let the bass guitarist do his job. Both he and the drummer are responsible for the sub lows, NOT you. The guitar is primarily a midrange instrument and your are only one component of your band's sound. Ideally, you want all the sounds to meld together well like a jigsaw puzzle so when you EQ your amp, don't try to make it sound like a combination of a bass and a guitar at once. Rather, leave a big hole in the low end so that the bass guitar can fill it. You need just enough lows for a nice thump and that's it. Seriously, if the recto is set with too much bass you won't hear the bass guitar and your whole band will sound muddy and like crap. People won't like you, no matter how awesome your music is, because they won't be able to hear it. (I have heard this happen live)
IF there isn't enough gain saturation with the head alone, don't dump the gain on a recto. This just gets squishy and flubby sounding. Rather, I would suggest using a good boost pedal instead. What a boost pedal does is increase the input level into the front end of the amp, causing it to clip more aggressively. The result is a brighter and more saturated tone. Get something like an Ibanez tube screamer and use clean volume from this to push the recto over the top. This will give you those super saturated tones with rich harmonics while maintaining clarity and tightness.

If the amp alone isn't the problem, then examine your pedals.

Firstly, try your pedals one by one to try to isolate the problem. If you still can't identify it, add each of your pedals, one at a time, until you find what the problem is. Don't say 'oh, they sound fine'. You want a solution, try it.

 

[A_Ryder]

Hey. New to the board but I need answers quick! I have a Mesa triple Rectifier 3 channel head. I recently got it fixed because there was no volume output at all. Only a slight amount of volume, and nothing worked to turn it up. I got the head for free because of this problem from a friend, who's dog pee'd in it a year or so back. He sent it out to mesa and they "cleaned" the board for $200. It worked fine up until this problem happened, then he traded me a guitar i had for it.

The tech i took it to said it needed some parts for a circuit board..yada yada. So he fixed it, and it ran me back $265. I thought "SWEET, mesa triple rec for $300." I bring it to my jam space, plug everything in.

Same...problem. :|

So i take my pedal board out, unplug the EFX loop, and it works fine, only it sounds like absolute sh!t, terrible tone, choppy muddy sounds when the channel volume is anywhere from 12 o clock to 3 o clock. No idea what it could be.

I tried putting a patch cable from the send to return, and it worked fine. But when i plug in my rack equip...it doesnt work. I tried using each piece by itself, i rewired everything 4/5 times. I even tested all the cables. I tried the rack on another head and it worked fine.

I was going to try and replace the V4 and V5 preamp tubes. But with it working with the patch cable, but not working with the rack I'm stuck.

I'm running:

guitar - boss DD20 - boss NS2 - head

Send - korg rack tuner - BBE sonic max - return

Does anyone have any idea what this could be??? I need answers quick I have a show friday :shock:

Thanks.

Well I'm too late for friday ... but ...

The Recto has a massive dynamic range coming out of the preamp (goes from very soft to very loud) so you can't just plug anything into the FX loop, especially anything digital, most analog-to-digital converters simply don't have anywhere near the dynamic range, they just cannot cope with a Dual or Triple Recto. They distort (in a bad way) or even black out.

Start with unity-gain, ie just plug a patch lead from send to return of the FX loop and adjust amp/volume/loop levels so its the same volume with the FX loop on versus loop off.

Now plug in your rack gear and use the above as your target volume. Adjust input signals on rack gear make sure it does not distort. But I'll bet that's hard to do. I know my Intellifex LTD couldn't handle it, its input signal indicator went from too soft to too loud (red=overload), it works ok in other amps but couldn't handle the Recto.

Anyway, now make sure the rack's output level is as strong as the Recto's pre-amp was, you don't want to starve the power-amp of the level it was expecting, right? Again I'll bet most rack gear can't do that either but try anyway...

I don't have a BBE sonic max but I know they're designed for use in a PA system so I can't imagine it working in the back of a Recto, they have a "stomp" version I suppose it *might* work (but it's digital so I doubt it).

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a digital-phobe, I have a Nanoverb and love it, it can almost handle the full range out of the Recto's FX loop.

The moral to the story is you can't just plug anything into the Recto. Oh and you need a decent cab too.

Just try it without the BBE and feed the tuner off the slave output not the FX loop.

That amp has a history / dog / wee / repairs - so if it was mine I would use it bone try at home, just guitar and cabinet until I was 100% sure it's working properly. Then add other gear.

Good luck with it all.