YellowJacket
Well-known member
Today I am embarking on a journey to pick up Cradlefish's Electra Dyne...
It Begins.
- Thread starter YellowJacket
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soothsayer
Member
Congrats! Im glad to see you finally got yourself one!! Let us know how you like it..
YellowJacket
Well-known member
Ya, we'll be popping by Chicago Sat night. We're "touristing" and making a trip out of this. So far it has been plenty fun except when my 1 year old has a 2 hour temper tantrum in his carseat!!
The final straw that pushed me over the edge for the Electra Dyne was that I auditioned and got into a classic rock band. I was sitting on my Dual because it was fine for practice / technique and sounds great. Since I'm going to be playing out and hopefully making money at it, I need to correct tool for the job. Definitely excited here!!
The final straw that pushed me over the edge for the Electra Dyne was that I auditioned and got into a classic rock band. I was sitting on my Dual because it was fine for practice / technique and sounds great. Since I'm going to be playing out and hopefully making money at it, I need to correct tool for the job. Definitely excited here!!
jeffp
Well-known member
Good for you Yellowjacket. Enjoy!
YellowJacket
Well-known member
primal said:
Exactly. I played it once and it was like "That's the sound I've heard in my head all these years." Then I realized that I have spent the last 10 years and $$$$$$$$$$$$s trying to make my Dual Rectifier sound like an Electra Dyne, even before it was built. Good on Mesa for making the thing! Anyway, we're going to pick it up tomorrow and then burn up the highway back to Toronto. Hopefully I will rehearse with it this week...
I was planning on swapping the pickups in my backup guitar and then my wife told me if it was the amp that was a problem, I should get the amp I want, sell the other, and stop wasting money. She's wise.
jeffp said:
EXCIIIITED!!!!!!!!!!!
YellowJacket
Well-known member
Bronco tan tolex head. I have a homemade 2 x 12 with a v30 and c90 which should work nicely with it. My thiele 2 x 12 with greenbacks probably won't be able to handle what this head puts out (for gigs), but I'll eventually get a little 18watt plexi clone for it. For now, I need my gig rig to be operational!
Oh, I should mention that I LOVE the sound of the 1 x 12 combo but I have two 2 x 12s and a 1 x 12 kicking around so I might as well get a head. This way if I ever want a halfstack, I can pick up a 4 x 12.
Oh, I should mention that I LOVE the sound of the 1 x 12 combo but I have two 2 x 12s and a 1 x 12 kicking around so I might as well get a head. This way if I ever want a halfstack, I can pick up a 4 x 12.
screamingdaisy
Well-known member
Sweet. 8)
I agree with your wife... you can't polish a turd.
Not that I'm saying your Recto is a turd... just that trying to polish something that clearly isn't ideal is somewhat futile.
I agree with your wife... you can't polish a turd.
Not that I'm saying your Recto is a turd... just that trying to polish something that clearly isn't ideal is somewhat futile.
YellowJacket
Well-known member
screamingdaisy said:
Exactly. The Recto sounds AMAZING and it does what it does incredibly well. I just hear a different tone in my head and I've been fighting trying to get my recto to make that tone for the last 10 years. I really wish I could hold onto the Recto but whatever, this will be for the best.
ryjan
Well-known member
I have a Splawn cab with Small Block speakers. They sound just like a G12M heritage but can handle 55 watts each.
YellowJacket
Well-known member
Now comes the fun part of dialing in tones. I have spent the better part of two hours fiddling with different settings and I am finding what I like / don't like. One of my favourite tones with my Les Paul is the red channel with the volume pinned to the right. I can get a more saturated low mid tone by turning up the bass slightly but both of these settings cause the clean channel to start to get bloated and bassy. I can understand why Birdy has two of these things. Of course, an easy remedy would be to get a fatter sounding bridge pickup that has more emphasized low mids. The Bridge Rebel Yell pickup is fantastic for the Dual Rectifier, which has a more scooped sound with an emphasis on Low Mids. With the Electra Dyne, a more balanced and bridge pickup is necessary. I think a more PAF voiced neck and something a little hotter on the bridge would be appropriate for this amp. I wish I had waited on the pickups BEFORE getting the 'dyne'.
The Blue channel works better when the volume isn't set quite so high. This allows for great neck or middle position chording tones. I also find that rolling off the volume gives some great blues tones which is something the Dual Rectifier can never manage to pull off. The low and mid gain worlds are ones I am unfamiliar with but I do enjoy working with them. I also find the less aggressive / bright treble response is MUCH easier on the ears, even if the amp is LOUD! I have it almost off and as all of you know, it is still really BIG sounding.
Tomorrow I'll try to ride the volume and bass knobs to find adequate balance between the two. There are so many great tones in this amp, one just has to read the manual several times to figure it out!
I will probably have to tweak my Les Paul a bit for this head but my backup guitar, a Godin LG, sounds fantastic. I have Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro in the Neck and a Custom Custom in the Bridge. These pickups seems to balance better and give a number of great tones, all with less extreme settings on the volume and bass. So far, my Godin LG is my favourite axe with the Electra Dyne for now but it is a REALLY close race with the Les Paul.
So far the things I like best about this amp are the tones one can get in the individual channels. The cleans are so rich, 3D, and fat. It is amazing! The blue channel is great for crunch, mid gain solos, and blues tones which I really love. The Red channel does fantastic lead tones as well as more aggressive rhythm work. The amp is definitely the sort of sounds I hear in my head.
As everyone knows, the shared EQ is the biggest challenge / frustration to work around. Simply having 3 volume controls and two tone stacks would have solved this fully. For recording an album, one simply would EQ each mode individually and when playing live, I think no one would notice. It is just far too tempting to obsess when practicing. In this situation, practicing is probably the best solution.
The Blue channel works better when the volume isn't set quite so high. This allows for great neck or middle position chording tones. I also find that rolling off the volume gives some great blues tones which is something the Dual Rectifier can never manage to pull off. The low and mid gain worlds are ones I am unfamiliar with but I do enjoy working with them. I also find the less aggressive / bright treble response is MUCH easier on the ears, even if the amp is LOUD! I have it almost off and as all of you know, it is still really BIG sounding.
Tomorrow I'll try to ride the volume and bass knobs to find adequate balance between the two. There are so many great tones in this amp, one just has to read the manual several times to figure it out!
I will probably have to tweak my Les Paul a bit for this head but my backup guitar, a Godin LG, sounds fantastic. I have Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro in the Neck and a Custom Custom in the Bridge. These pickups seems to balance better and give a number of great tones, all with less extreme settings on the volume and bass. So far, my Godin LG is my favourite axe with the Electra Dyne for now but it is a REALLY close race with the Les Paul.
So far the things I like best about this amp are the tones one can get in the individual channels. The cleans are so rich, 3D, and fat. It is amazing! The blue channel is great for crunch, mid gain solos, and blues tones which I really love. The Red channel does fantastic lead tones as well as more aggressive rhythm work. The amp is definitely the sort of sounds I hear in my head.
As everyone knows, the shared EQ is the biggest challenge / frustration to work around. Simply having 3 volume controls and two tone stacks would have solved this fully. For recording an album, one simply would EQ each mode individually and when playing live, I think no one would notice. It is just far too tempting to obsess when practicing. In this situation, practicing is probably the best solution.
screamingdaisy
Well-known member
I have an A2P and 59 if you want them. I'll never use them.
Personally, I really like Gibson's pickups. I have a set of the 57 Classics in my SG and they smoke with the Mark V, particularly in the clean and lower gain rock regions. It just sounds like how a vintage guitar should sound.
My Les Paul has a set of Lollar Imperial Highwinds.... basically a PAF that's wound to around 9k, so a little hotter than the 57s. It's also a great sound, although I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't prefer a slightly more mild set. If I were to do it all over again I'd probably go with a Burstbucker 1 and 2.
Personally, I really like Gibson's pickups. I have a set of the 57 Classics in my SG and they smoke with the Mark V, particularly in the clean and lower gain rock regions. It just sounds like how a vintage guitar should sound.
My Les Paul has a set of Lollar Imperial Highwinds.... basically a PAF that's wound to around 9k, so a little hotter than the 57s. It's also a great sound, although I sometimes wonder if I wouldn't prefer a slightly more mild set. If I were to do it all over again I'd probably go with a Burstbucker 1 and 2.
YellowJacket
Well-known member
Hmmm. The Rebel Yells are great pickups and they really get on well with the Dual Rectifier. I think the upper mid spike is just a bit much for the Electra Dyne. I'm going to play with the height tomorrow and see if I can't adjust them to work better first. I'd just like a little more aggressive low mid punch with the Electra Dyne. Some of the low gain blues tones were phenomenal. I think this amp is going to help my playing!
YellowJacket
Well-known member
So I set up the pickups in my Les Paul according to Gibson factory specs and tweaked the pole pieces until I was happy. I fired up the Electra Dyne this morning and started dialing in tones. I put the master up to 7:00 and popped it on 90watts. I fiddled with the presence control until I was happy.
The goal was to get balanced footswitchable sounds. It worked. With the pickup height adjusted, I was able to dial back the volume to a more usable level. I discovered that the neck has enough less output to be able to do brilliant blues style playing while the bridge is much phatter in the low mids now. Check.
Next goal was to AB the Electra Dyne against the Dual Rectifier. I dialed in 'my' sound on the Dual Rectifier and I was sad because my two channel dual really sounds great. I then popped on the red channel on the Electra Dyne and fiddled with the presence a bit. It was pretty much the exact same tone, but a bit less bright and sweeter sounding. It was just aggressive though. At this point, I realized that I can get 'my' heavy tone with the Electra Dyne with room to spare and it is pretty much what my Dual Recto does, but without the ear bleed highs. So I now have one amp that does better cleans, blues, and low gain tones, and it is less punishing on the ears but it can be as aggressive as I'll ever need.
The Electra Dyne also sounds great with my backup guitar.
The Verdict:
The Dual will go. The Electra Dyne will stay. My oversized 2 x 12 is awesome.
The goal was to get balanced footswitchable sounds. It worked. With the pickup height adjusted, I was able to dial back the volume to a more usable level. I discovered that the neck has enough less output to be able to do brilliant blues style playing while the bridge is much phatter in the low mids now. Check.
Next goal was to AB the Electra Dyne against the Dual Rectifier. I dialed in 'my' sound on the Dual Rectifier and I was sad because my two channel dual really sounds great. I then popped on the red channel on the Electra Dyne and fiddled with the presence a bit. It was pretty much the exact same tone, but a bit less bright and sweeter sounding. It was just aggressive though. At this point, I realized that I can get 'my' heavy tone with the Electra Dyne with room to spare and it is pretty much what my Dual Recto does, but without the ear bleed highs. So I now have one amp that does better cleans, blues, and low gain tones, and it is less punishing on the ears but it can be as aggressive as I'll ever need.
The Electra Dyne also sounds great with my backup guitar.
The Verdict:
The Dual will go. The Electra Dyne will stay. My oversized 2 x 12 is awesome.
jeffp
Well-known member
Well...it begins with me too.....ED long head on the way.Looks like around the 25th. Scheduled for the 20th at my dealer, then headed my way! I`ve waited a long time!...too long! jeffp
YellowJacket
Well-known member
It is an interesting amp. One thing I discovered so far: Choosing and setting up guitar pickups goes a long way into making the design 'compromises' workable.
