Issues with Recto Recording Preamp - share your experience

[Lex Eden]

Hi,

I recently bought Mesa Rectifier Recording Preamp and trying to get a good sound out of it. I take signal from the Rec Output into my M-Audio fast track.
The problems are:
1. The clean channel is not really clean - lacks sparkle and clarity and breaks up easily even on very low gain and master settings.
2. The dirty channel has some strange cracking when I play it. Also, the dirty channel does not sound tight and lacks saturation.

I have replaced all tubes to JJ 12AX7/ECC83 S. Could they cause such issues?
Another suggestion I have is the voltage - the preamp needs 117V but my power line supplies only 112-113V. I order Furman AR1215 voltage regulator to supply a stable 120V and see if it makes any difference.

Bottom line - I am able to get a pretty good sound out of mesa only when using cab impulses in Cubase and also using a Sonic Maximiser after the preamp and before the sound card.

Please, share your experience. Have any of you ever faced the same issues?

Thanks!

 

[Roadifier]

I face the same issue. I HateThe recto pre amp for recording. For something named recto recording preamp, I thought It should record pretty well... I was trying tonight to get a good sound out of it recording direct in and using impulses and Eq's, but It still has a very bad lead channel recorded direct out. The preamp Is amazing with a 2:100 and two 4x12's though :twisted: I also notice it really lacks saturation when recorded, so, I think I will just mic up my recto cabs with my recto preamp running through a good poweramp

 

[Lex Eden]

Thanks a lot for your comment.

I was experimenting more today and was able to get a pretty good crunch sound without using Sonic Maximizer. I tried recording it and it sounds quite good to me. But I am still using impulses because without them the sound is not good at all.
Clean sound - no change: neither clarity nor sparkle is present.
What still worries me is that when recorded directly with nothing added to the chain (no impulses, EQ's, etc.), this preamp sounds really bad. If my unit is not malfunctioning and the sound I get is the only sound the preamp is capable of producing - too sad.
This weekend I am going to try recto pre into mesa simul-class 2:90 and a 4x12 cab with Celestion Vintage 30. Hope to hear some good cleans and some roar on the crunch

Meanwhile, if anybody is interested, I can share my settings for the crunch sound I was able to get direct so far:
*All settings are given in clock position.
Mode: modern
Gain: 1:00
Treble: 1:30
Mid: 10:30
Bass: 2:45
Pres: 2:00
Master: 2:00
Recording output: 9:00

For cab impulses I am using Poulin LeCab 2 loaded with 57_mesa_grill impulses. I set two cabs in the plugin, one cab uses 57_grill_edge_presence_8,
the other one is using 57_grill_cap_presence_4.
There is no delay set for the cab impulses, both highpass and lowpass are off. Left cab's Pan is set to 100% Left, right cab's pan is set to center. Both cabs' volume is around 0.57-0.58. Master volume for the plugin is 0.49.

I will mess with the preamp some more and will share some samples with various settings.

 

[Roadifier]

Hey, I have been tweaking a lot with my recto preamp recording it in, and I have made it sound great, Especially the clean channel. I will posy some clips in when i have time, so you can hear how this preamp can shine recording direct. I will share setting and all the other crap.

~Zach

 

[Lex Eden]

Thanks. Please, share what you have. It will be interested to listen to the samples. I have also acheived some better results after more tweaking. Found good clean settings. But for crunch I still prefer to use cab impluses - this way everything sounds tighter.
This weekend I tried running the preamp through simul-class 2:90 and a 4x12 cabinet - wholoe lot of difference. The preamp is beast! After playing it through a power amp and a cab there is now much less desire to record direct

 

[Roadifier]

Thanks. Please, share what you have. It will be interested to listen to the samples. I have also acheived some better results after more tweaking. Found good clean settings. But for crunch I still prefer to use cab impluses - this way everything sounds tighter.
This weekend I tried running the preamp through simul-class 2:90 and a 4x12 cabinet - wholoe lot of difference. The preamp is beast! After playing it through a power amp and a cab there is now much less desire to record direct

yeah, through a power amp is great! you pretty much have to always use impulses with it, because it is just a preamp and no cab sims in it. I suggest using the live outs, and putting master volume up, and output level down. Use good impulses, and some reverb to thicken it up

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/18-Recto%20Preamp%20clean.mp3 heres a clip of the clean tones I got from it using it direct.

 

[Lex Eden]

Well, as a manufacturer states, they tried to emulate a sound of a preamp through a power amp and a mic'ed 4x12 cabinet. That's why one will expect that nothing else is needed and you just take the signal from the rec outs to a mixing console or a sound card and record.
Thanks for the sample. Great clean sound. So, you are taking the signal from live out and not rec out?

Here is a couple of sample I recorded:
1. Direct with no impulses, gain at 1, master at 2:10, other settings at 12.
http://www.netmusicians.org/index.php?section=id&value=10662

2. Direct with impulses, same settings.
http://www.netmusicians.org/index.php?section=id&value=10663

 

[Roadifier]

Well, as a manufacturer states, they tried to emulate a sound of a preamp through a power amp and a mic'ed 4x12 cabinet. That's why one will expect that nothing else is needed and you just take the signal from the rec outs to a mixing console or a sound card and record.
Thanks for the sample. Great clean sound. So, you are taking the signal from live out and not rec out?

Here is a couple of sample I recorded:
1. Direct with no impulses, gain at 1, master at 2:10, other settings at 12.
http://www.netmusicians.org/index.php?section=id&value=10662

2. Direct with impulses, same settings.
http://www.netmusicians.org/index.php?section=id&value=10663

those sound good, but could be clearer, thats why I use the live outs, It's just the preamp unchanged from the simulation. You should also use a power amp sim.

 

[Lex Eden]

The clean sound that you recorded sounds very good. It would be interested to hear some riffs on the crunch channel.
I get a better result by using bright/live voicing - clean sound is much brighter as well as the crunch though the signal is taken from rec outs and only cab impulses are added.