Maximise your Rectos tone, my rig went from killer> AMAZING!

[wta]

I've been a Mesa guy for years but I recently got into a Dual Rec Trem-O-Verb 2x12 combo and this amp nocked it out of the park on both channels (I'm into a huge guitar rock tone with the full chunk and sic cut time riffs)!!! Running 6L6s, silcone diode and bold is an amazing tight tone for both channels and out does my Marshall TSL 2x12 Combo w/greenbacks (w/EL34s)(it "was" my right side for my stereo setup) so bad I wanted it out of my rig! So before selling the Marshall I thought LONG and hard on what I was going to replace it with to go stereo with my tremoverb. Sooooo many options out there, I looked a Bogners, Diezels, Splawns, Engl, H&K you name it and it finally dawned on me, get a SECOND tremoverb and load it with el34s on the spongy setting with the tube rec activated!!! I just got the second amp a few days ago and mates, bloody hell it SCARED ME with how over the top killer it sounded. My band is tracking a new album so we've been trying it out on some lead tracks... It's the best rig live or studio sound I've ever heard (My main guitar is a Gretch 6129T Silver Jet w/Filtertrons and I use a TC Electronic G-system and their Nova Drive for Overdrive).
I'll also state both of these amps are from the 90's one of which is so old is had the old power cord setup where you can't pull it out and stow it! Not sure of the years on either but this may be food for thought for guys who are pondering getting the best of both worlds in an stereo rig and for those guys who have never ran a stereo rig DON"T DO IT, its like heroin and you'll get too addicted to quit... Ok I warned ya!

 

[94Tremoverb]

So the only thing better than a Tremoverb is...


Two Tremoverbs . I have to admit I had thought about doing this too, because there are great potential combinations of sounds you just can't get on one of them in a live setting, if one uses different power tubes/rectifier/volts from the other. But I had planned on switching, not running in stereo. Hmmm... and my main guitar is a Rickenbacker with stereo outputs!

****. Just when I thought I had the only amp I would ever need.

 

[MesaENGR412]

I would agree there is just something about running about running two Rectifiers in stereo. I LOVE it! :lol: Might I suggest trying one with 6L6's and the other with EL-34's? I am running that with my rig right now, and they really balance each other out nicely. Running Silicon Diodes with the 6L6's and the tubes rectifiers with the EL-34's. Going to get some GZ34's to put in the EL34 head soon.

-AJH

 

[jsabo]

oh, because its so easy to just get ANOTHER tremoverb! :lol:

good idea though, sounds interesting. i wish my express had a bias switch so i could try some EL's in it

 

[ifailedshapes]

oh, because its so easy to just get ANOTHER tremoverb! :lol:

good idea though, sounds interesting. i wish my express had a bias switch so i could try some EL's in it

You could use Yellow Jackets to try EL84's, a la 5:25. (I love my 5:25! well, most of the time... )

 

[wta]

Even when the two tremoverbs are playing together via a non stereo signal it still sounds HUGE, now again mine are both 2x12 combos and one has V30's, 6l6s/bold/silicon diode and the other has emenince Gov'ners el34s/spongy/tube rec so the signals are very different even with just a mono signal. I must say how much trouble I'm in, I can hardly think of anything else! Both channels really do "sing" with the lightest amount of reverb from the amps and a touch of delay ONLY on the leads with some stereo chorus and bobs your uncle!

 

[konstantine RK]

I will have to try the same thing on a Roadking one day... I cannot wait to sell my Randall RM1oo to start the fund of a 2nd roadking to play with...

 

[wta]

I will have to try the same thing on a Roadking one day... I cannot wait to sell my Randall RM1oo to start the fund of a 2nd roadking to play with...

I Shall NOT covet my neighbors Road King, I Shall NOT covet my neighbors Road King, I Shall NOT covet my neighbors Road King...

If you had two that'd be offical 'leading into temtation' man!!!

 

[Chris McKinley]

The key to a huge-sounding stereo rig is to fill the sonic spectrum, but not get redundant. IOW, amp A gets the low bass, @100Hz, while amp B gets the low mids, @2-400Hz. Amp A gets the apex of the mids, 800Hz, while amp B gets the higher mids, @1-3kHz. Amp A gets the 5kHz highs for clarity while amp B gets the 10-14kHz highs for presence. Or you could play with the configurations as you like, just fill the spectrum.

Additionally, you can add a depth to the sound by giving one amp a little more saturation, compression, and/or harmonic content for leads (I would recommend whichever amp gets the 800Hz mids) and leaving the other amp to be a little more open, crunchy and dynamic in response.

By doing this, you're essentially simulating what any good recording studio engineer is going to do with layering your guitar tracks to sound huge in the studio, only you're doing it live.

 

[droptrd]

So the only thing better than a Tremoverb is...


Two Tremoverbs . I have to admit I had thought about doing this too, because there are great potential combinations of sounds you just can't get on one of them in a live setting, if one uses different power tubes/rectifier/volts from the other. But I had planned on switching, not running in stereo. Hmmm... and my main guitar is a Rickenbacker with stereo outputs!

****. Just when I thought I had the only amp I would ever need.

:lol:

Ive been recording with my Tverb and Mark III together. Itll make yo momma cry :wink:

 

[wta]

So the only thing better than a Tremoverb is...


Two Tremoverbs . I have to admit I had thought about doing this too, because there are great potential combinations of sounds you just can't get on one of them in a live setting, if one uses different power tubes/rectifier/volts from the other. But I had planned on switching, not running in stereo. Hmmm... and my main guitar is a Rickenbacker with stereo outputs!

****. Just when I thought I had the only amp I would ever need.

:lol:

Ive been recording with my Tverb and Mark III together. Itll make yo momma cry :wink:

and cry and cry and cry... :lol:

 

[wta]

The key to a huge-sounding stereo rig is to fill the sonic spectrum, but not get redundant. IOW, amp A gets the low bass, @100Hz, while amp B gets the low mids, @2-400Hz. Amp A gets the apex of the mids, 800Hz, while amp B gets the higher mids, @1-3kHz. Amp A gets the 5kHz highs for clarity while amp B gets the 10-14kHz highs for presence. Or you could play with the configurations as you like, just fill the spectrum.

Additionally, you can add a depth to the sound by giving one amp a little more saturation, compression, and/or harmonic content for leads (I would recommend whichever amp gets the 800Hz mids) and leaving the other amp to be a little more open, crunchy and dynamic in response.

By doing this, you're essentially simulating what any good recording studio engineer is going to do with layering your guitar tracks to sound huge in the studio, only you're doing it live.

This is totally band on if your stacking your amp's sound BUT if your hard panning stereo you need the full spectrum in each amp but with different focus.

 

[LesPaul70]

While I'm probably not the only board member to do this, I'm bringing this up since nobody else has yet:

A Dual Rectifier and a Mark V in stereo!

The two amps complement each other nicely. The Rectifier gives you the low end aggression, and the Mark gives you the bite. Just be warned, you will have to crank it a bit before you can really start reaping the rewards...

 

[Steve@Russo]

I would agree there is just something about running about running two Rectifiers in stereo. I LOVE it! :lol: Might I suggest trying one with 6L6's and the other with EL-34's? I am running that with my rig right now, and they really balance each other out nicely. Running Silicon Diodes with the 6L6's and the tubes rectifiers with the EL-34's. Going to get some GZ34's to put in the EL34 head soon.

-AJH

what kind of GZ34 are you getting? I was thinking about changing out my recto tubes in my stilleto I just dont know too much about them

 

[Chris McKinley]

wta,

What exactly are you calling a "different focus"? I'm not entirely sure that you and I are necessarily in disagreement. I've just been more technical and specific in my recommendations. As to full spectrum in each amp, that only begins to be true when the amps are placed more than about 10-12 feet apart, where the ear begins to be able to distinguish their upper mids as separate signals. Closer than that, such as is typical of smaller venues, the frequency emphasis I detailed previously works a little better in that it prevents redundancy between the two amps.

Let me take a moment to describe what I mean by redundancy. The physics of acoustics is such that two sound signals of the same strength (amplitude) and frequency will, when sounded simultaneously, actually double the strength of their signal in perceived volume. For example, if two amps, each heavy on the muddy 200Hz bass frequency, receive a guitar signal at the same time, they will produce exactly twice as much wet blanket mud to the listener as either amp would produce alone. In the case of this particular frequency, it may very well be enough to completely drown out the rest of the guitar's sound to the listening audience.

Just as importantly, it should be noted that no amp produces a full frequency spectrum of sound. The design of their tone stacks dictate that they will have an emphasis of certain frequencies in the bass, mids, treble and presence range of frequencies. So, to take the mids for example, if you want the singing, even-order harmonics of an 800Hz emphasis, but you would also like to have a little boost in the clarity of articulation that the 3-5kHz upper mids offers, you're out of luck. You're stuck with being able to boost or cut whichever range of frequencies your amp's mid control is set to govern, and it may be neither of them.

What a stereo rig with eq's will do is offer you the chance to govern and emphasize (or de-emphasize) whichever frequencies that you, not your amp's designer, choose. Additionally, it lets you get away with providing boosts to multiple ranges which, if played through a single amp, would sound like indistinguishable noise or, at the very least, like a general boost in the total volume of all frequencies.

By separating them out to the two amps, you can achieve a truer approximation of a full frequency response with the added benefit of tonal clarity at each frequency range.

 

[wta]

Chris
I'm sorry, I wish I had the time to dig in deep with this, I LOVE this subject but mate I just don't like typing that much (I could talk for hours though!) LOL!!! For me when I stack two or more amp sounds I'll carve each to highlight their specific tonal strengths but when I hard pan them in stereo I do less carving and let more of each amps sound come through giving the feeling that two guitars are playing. Typically when I stack amps sounds it more of a mono approach... Hope alittler clearer and I do apologize for not going deep on my explaination, I enjoy your articulations!

Cheers...

 

[Chris McKinley]

wta,

Ok, I think I get where you're coming from now. You're talking about running two amps mono vs. stereo, and how you configure the tones for each way. I'm talking more about the distance between the two amps and the difference that makes than whether they are in true stereo or are two monos. I think for the most part, we're thinking fairly similarly.

 

[vitor gracie]

oh, because its so easy to just get ANOTHER tremoverb! :lol:

Yeah, sometimes it just is.

 

[wta]

Nice setup Vic! Ya know, back when I was running mono I had to have two amps while touring or even a local show incase one fails so I final just concluded if I'm going to have two amps I may as well run stereo and up my sound! Funny how things progress...

 

[MesaENGR412]

Nice setup Vic! Ya know, back when I was running mono I had to have two amps while touring or even a local show incase one fails so I final just concluded if I'm going to have two amps I may as well run stereo and up my sound! Funny how things progress...

EXACTLY! :twisted:

-AJH