LOUD pop when switching channels on my Dual Recto!

[rlcramer]

So I just got a brand new dual recto head, and after a few minutes of playing on channel 3, I completely fell in love. I was noodling around, and then I hit the footswitch switch to go to channel 2, and POP! The loudest channel switching pop I've ever heard. I switched back to Channel 3 - no pop, a completely silent switch. Switch over to channel 1 - no noise, nada... Back to channel 2 - POP! This pop is so loud that I am starting to get nervous that my cabinet will be toast if I do it again.

I roam around to the back of the amp, and manually switch channels using the rear dial, and whenever I switch to channel 2 or 'FTSW' I get the same ridiculously loud popping noise. The other channels are better, but still not perfect using the rear dial. The only silent switches that I get are when I go from 1-3 on the footswitch or 3 -1.

Any ideas? I've tried everything - zeroing out EVERY knob, loop on, loop off, slave volume all the way down, slave all the way up, etc. etc. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get rid of it.

Hopefully it's just something that I'm doing wrong, but I'm thinking that I'm in denial, and I just got a defective head.

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I have 30 days to send it back, but I'm so in love with the sound, I'd love it if there was some magic fix for this...

Bobby

 

[DirtyNoise]

Since no one will reply..this is no big deal. Whe you first power up the amp swtich back in forth between your channals a few times and this will take of it....When i had my DR it lessened over time or I got use to it..and playing live...no one ever hears it...you wont either after a while..

 

[undrcroft]

This is a problem i just posted about. It might be worse with the newer ones. Got mine a week ago. The popping i'm getting isn't audible playing live with a band, but recording, theres no way i would switch to channel 1 or 2 in the middle of a take, because a noticable pop would show up on the recording. I tried the standby mode channel switching idea(didn't do anything), i've called Mesa and they recommend i take it to the local repair shop to get them to see if it's just normal.

I don't know yet if mine is worse than others, but its completely unacceptable. I change channels mid-song alot, and i hear it every time when i'm playing solo. I won't get rid of the amp but this sux. Not being able to change channels when recording on a $1800 amp head? inexcusable...

 

[rlcramer]

Hey guys - thanks for the replies.

To be honest, there is NO way that what I am hearing is normal. The pop is literally loud enough where if I did it repeatedly, I'm sure it would destroy my speakers. It is clearly louder than the amp even at "4" on the master volume (which is LOUD!!!).

I did some serious troubleshooting last night, and discovered that if I change the modes on all three channels, I can get it to go away completely. For example (I'm not in front of the amp right now, so don't quote me on the details) but if I put channel 1 on clean, 2 on raw and 3 on modern, the switching is silent between all 3 channels using the footswitch and the rear dial, and I mean SILENT. Very nice, and I wouldn't have a problem switching in the middle of a song, even when recording.

Now, if I throw channel 2 into modern (which is what I would like to do in real world use), and leave everything else the same, the pop that is generated when I switch to or from channel 2 is RIDICULOUS. Insanely loud. I don't know if this is just how it was designed, but I can't imagine ANYONE dealing with an $1800 head that behaves like that. I'm waiting for my sales guy to get back to me, but if this is just "how the recto is" I may be looking for something else. Like I said - I LOVE the tone of this thing, but the popping is going to drive me to spend my money elsewhere.

Bobby

 

[undrcroft]

tested this out(ch1 clean, ch2 raw, ch3 modern) and it fixed it for me too. No big pop on the first channel change, and none of the normal pops every time i change channels. Rediculous... Tried then switching chn2 back to vintage, and afterward my next channel change caused a painfully loud POP. I'd like to put chan. 2 in modern too. Even in modern channel 2 seems muffled, and bass-y and Raw or Vintage makes it even worse. I like my light distortion to have alot of highs and quick attack, so this stinks. Thumbs down for Mesa.

PS: Not only that but i tried to take the amp in to the local nashville shop that Mesa listed as doing warranty work to check the pop, and i get there only to have them tell me they don't do Mesa warranty work.

$%#@!!!!!! :evil:

 

[rlcramer]

Yeah - I have this problem down to where it is 100% reproducible now. I emailed my sales guy to see about getting an RMA number and return instructions because I'm not paying $1800 for an amp that operates this way. I LOVE the sound of this amp, but aside from the pop being annoying, it's so loud that it will definitely damage my speakers if I keep switching like this. I'm hopeful that this is simply a defect in my particular unit (or a few units) because the recto has been out for such a long time, I can't imagine this being inherent in the amp's design.

I'll keep you posted if the replacement is any better. If it turns out to be a design flaw in all rectos and the replacement behaves the same way, I guess I'll wind up going with something else. Engl maybe?

Bobby

 

[mikeweber74]

on my dual rec I get the loud pop too but only when switching from channel 3 to channel 2. channel 1 to 2, no pop. 2 to 3, no pop. 3 to 1, no pop. 3 to 2...pop!

 

[twothemax]

try switching all the footswitch buttons on the footswitch while in standby, BUT with your guitar plugged in seems to help with mine. if i do it without my guitar plugged in it doesnt seem to help, but with a guitar in the input jack it seems to work. hope this helps. my 5150 was bad for this also but traced it down to a bad power supply for the fx pedal. try see what happens

 

[Melodyman]

I'll keep you posted if the replacement is any better. If it turns out to be a design flaw in all rectos and the replacement behaves the same way, I guess I'll wind up going with something else. Engl maybe?

Bobby

It is part of the design and as already stated you can reduce it but not completely eliminate it. If you can't live with it you could have saved yourself the trouble and skipped the replacement and just got another amp.

At higher volumes it's a non-issue, I've only ever noticed it at bedroom volumes.

 

[53crew]

Is this popping you guys refer to apparent on all 3 channel DR's? Or more apparent in the latest ones?

Thanks.

 

[mrd]

I've always read/heard that the pop is a release of static electricity build up that discharges from the head inself, NOT the speaker cab (hence why it's not noticeable in live situations). It happens on my Road King sometimes, I've never been too worried about it, it's happened probably over a hundred times in the 2-3 years I've had the amp, and none of my cabs are damaged.

Try what was said before, cycle through all the channels one or two times before you flick on the Hi-Volts switch.

 

[undrcroft]

as we've both said, we've tried switching through all the channels on standby to get rid of the pop and it does NOTHING. I know pop's, i know speakers, i know electronics, and this is not just some simple thing to not worry about. Its a serious design flaw, that affects recording, and has the deffinite possiblity to damage speakers. The stupidest part is having to have each channel in certain settings to keep the pop from happening. He and i both bought our Rectos new recently and this appears to be something you have to deal with now on new Rectos. Oh, and thanks for the recommendation that i should have gone with a different amp, very helpful......

 

[Melodyman]

as we've both said, we've tried switching through all the channels on standby to get rid of the pop and it does NOTHING. I know pop's, i know speakers, i know electronics, and this is not just some simple thing to not worry about. Its a serious design flaw, that affects recording, and has the deffinite possiblity to damage speakers. The stupidest part is having to have each channel in certain settings to keep the pop from happening. He and i both bought our Rectos new recently and this appears to be something you have to deal with now on new Rectos. Oh, and thanks for the recommendation that i should have gone with a different amp, very helpful......

I had one of the very first 3 channel Dual Rec's back in 2000, and it did it back then. If it was such a serious flaw, I think they would have changed it by now if people's gear were being damaged and threatened a class action lawsuit or something like that.

I personally think they just cheaped out on some components, and assumed the majority of people that use these amps aren't playing them at mouse fart volumes at home but turned up loud in a band mix.

One initial loud pop, and then there is a residual smaller pop when going to a specific channel after that and it's only one channel from a certain direction at least from my experiences.

I don't see how this could affect recording except in very specific scenario's. Most amps don't even have the footswitch connected in the studio at all, lol. Unless it's a live band recording, but then it's going to be loud and you won't even hear it anyway.

I don't like the popping either but I haven't played an amp yet (and I've owned quite a few higher end amps then Mesa's) that didn't have something about them that bugged me.

There is a known technique to reduce the pop except for a small residual, and if that crosses your personal threshold for what you can tolerate than you should definitely get another amp.

Good luck.

 

[geddyentwistle]

try running throught the channels when first playing

change V1 ( that fixed mine)

 

[halfnote]

they do all pop some but yours sounds like it def has an issue. you've allready tried the channel cycle in standby that obviously didn't clear it up. my guess would be a bad preamp tube (whichever one is responsible for the added gain stage) or a capacitor. then there's always the possibility that you just got a lemon. have you called mesa? they are usually pretty helpfull.