Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb (new to Mesa)

[mwalluk]

Last night I traded my randall RM100 w/ modules for a Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb. Never owned a Mesa before, always wanted one. I've played through a couple Rectifiers and a Nomad 55 at a local guitar store. I've read countless reviews, could anyone tell me something new that I haven't alreayd read? Also was this a good trade on my part? fair?

Living in an apartment and I didn't get home from making the trade until after nine, haven't really had a chance to mess around with it a lot. From what I heard on lower levels, I'm really digging it. Anyone that has or has owned this amp or another Rectifier, what are some good clean and distortion settings you used? I'm looking for a crystal clear, spring water clean for channel one and a modern rock rhythm, to bone crushing chugga chugga rhythm to an violin-esque overdrive lead. What can this amp do?

Here's my main rig and some bands I listen too.

ESP LTD Deluxe EC1000
Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb
Avatar G112 Vintage Ext Cab W/ Vintage 30s
Boss TU-2
Dunlop Crybaby 535Q
MXR M-101
MXR ZW-44
MXR M-169
MXR M-135
Voodoo Lab Chorus

I play modern to hard rock. A sample of my band can be heard at www.myspace.com/tusoun to give you an idea of my sound.

Some influences are; Audioslave, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Disturbed, Collective Soul, Creed, Crossfade, Fuel, HIM, 3 Doors Down, Live, Nickelback, Oasis, Puddle of Mudd, Sevendust, Smile Empty Soul, Staind, Pearl Jam, Seether, Our Lady Peace, Better Than Ezra, Default, Matthew Good, Altar Bridge, Oleander, Nickelback, GNR, Theory of a Deadman, Day of Fire, Mayfield Four, July for Kings, Seven Mary Three, Third Eye Blind, Sixx AM and many more.

In short I'm a byproduct of the quintessential 9os rock genre......

 

[mwalluk]

Also what's the difference between Vacuum Tube and Silicon Diodes? Spongy and bold?

 

[mwalluk]

bump. Anyone?

 

[halfnote]

I think most of your questions can be answered in the manual
here is mesa description with a link to the manual
http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Out_of%20_Production/Tremoverb/tremoverb.html

 

[jdurso]

First off thats a great trade. the tremoverb is one of the ebst rectos ever made and is coveted by many on this board, especially when you talk about a Recto that can do leads well.

Spongy and Bold settinsg refer to how much voltage is being applied to the amp... Bold is yoru standard 120 Volts which makes the amp sound more present and as the name suggests, bold. Spongy applies only 110 Volts so you end up getting a "Brown" type sound, where things have a looser/smoother feel to them.

Vacuum tubes are also known as rectifier tubes and have more sag which is great for grooving type rock and roll and lead tones. Diodes are your 6L6 tubes and are very tight and very present and are great if your into heavy tight rhythms IMO.

As a new Mesa user the first thing i would suggest you do is download the mnaula and read it. Then try the settings in the back as they are a great starting point to dialing in your own tones. Also the eq controls are probably a lot different from what your used to. So give yourself time to learn the amp... most people that get turned off by Mesas wnat instant gratification. While you can get great tones right away, the best tones come in time as you learn how all the eqs interact. So again read up in the manual, especially on the eq controls, that is super important to getting a great tone.

As far as some tips or tricks, remember that the Rectos are bass heavy amps so dont go over board and try not to scoop the mids. Because of that extra bass, if you dont have a cab thats up to the task, you might find the bottom end a little too much. Either dial out some bass on the amp or if that doesnt sound good get an eq pedal, throw it in the loop and make some fine adjustments till you dial out the frequency causing the havoc. A cab upgrade is always a good idea too if your cab cant handle that much bass. Also an OD is great at tightening the amp and reducing some of that bass response. It also hads some more mids and harmonics which can turn the amp into a great lead amp. Most importantly give it time and have fun with it.

 

[Elpelotero]

Vacuum tubes are also known as rectifier tubes and have more sag which is great for grooving type rock and roll and lead tones. Diodes are your 6L6 tubes and are very tight and very present and are great if your into heavy tight rhythms IMO.

I agree with all everyone has said except that Diodes are not "your 6l6 tubes." Diodes are solid state voltage converters. The rectification in the rectifier comes through the conversion of AC to DC (or is it DC to AC?). Anyways, the tubes take longer to do the conversion, whereas solid state diodes do it very fast. THere are different classes of rectifier tubes as well, but that's for later

 

[clutch71]

I'm wondering if the Avatar Vintage cab will rob a little of your lower end. The Tremoverb was designed with the Rectifier Cabs in mind. They are bigger, boomier cabs.

If you look into the back of the amp the Rectifier Tubes are the two biggest tubes.

Definately read the manual. Cover to cover. You can also alter modes with the red to vintage switches in the back.

Living in an apartment you can pull two power tubes, one rectifer tube, and plug your speaker impedance into the 4ohm tap (if your cab is 8ohm's; if 16ohm cab, plug into the 8 ohm tap) and you'll lower the amp down to 50 watts. You'll get a slightly better break up at lower volumes, but don't expect anything to drastic.

A good OD really brings charachter to the amp and tighten things up. The best results are usually to run it like a clean boost. Pedal set gain=0, tone 50%, lavel maxed. I prefer the TS808 but there are many alternatives guys on here really like including the ZW-44.

Best of luck and let us know when you've had an apportunity to turn it loose.

 

[jdurso]

Vacuum tubes are also known as rectifier tubes and have more sag which is great for grooving type rock and roll and lead tones. Diodes are your 6L6 tubes and are very tight and very present and are great if your into heavy tight rhythms IMO.

I agree with all everyone has said except that Diodes are not "your 6l6 tubes." Diodes are solid state voltage converters. The rectification in the rectifier comes through the conversion of AC to DC (or is it DC to AC?). Anyways, the tubes take longer to do the conversion, whereas solid state diodes do it very fast. THere are different classes of rectifier tubes as well, but that's for later

i stand corrected

 

[mwalluk]

Thanks guys, I read the manual a couple times cover to cover but it didn't go indept with the difference b/w the Vacuum Tubes and Diodes.

 

[UltraGary]

Vacuum tubes are also known as rectifier tubes and have more sag which is great for grooving type rock and roll and lead tones. Diodes are your 6L6 tubes and are very tight and very present and are great if your into heavy tight rhythms IMO.

I agree with all everyone has said except that Diodes are not "your 6l6 tubes." Diodes are solid state voltage converters. The rectification in the rectifier comes through the conversion of AC to DC (or is it DC to AC?). Anyways, the tubes take longer to do the conversion, whereas solid state diodes do it very fast. THere are different classes of rectifier tubes as well, but that's for later

i stand corrected

Hey 'mwalluk'....nevermind this little nitpik here. I've learned a lot reading posts on this board....and many of the best have been from 'jdurso'. Once you establish yourself on your Boogie.....other things will come up. "What cabinets, ohms & why?"......."How should I use the effects loop?"......."What EQ works best with that Boogie?"...."What about replacement tubes?"......etc...etc...... Jdurso seems like a really cool guy who knows a LOT about these amps...and seems to have a straight up way of helping folks out here. (just an opinion......)

Why that ******* even has me wanting a PRS now!!!.............

 

[clutch71]

How about this for starters...

Option 1
Set everything at noon in modern on the red channel, on the eq and presence, gain about 1 o'clock Silicone Diode, Bold. Bring the volume up about to 9 o'clock (if your out of the apartment, bring it up even more say 11 o'clock)
Now try some Disturbed, Collective Soul, Creed, Nickelback, Puddle of Mudd, Staind, Altar Bridge, Nickelback

Option 2
Next try again everything at noon orange to vintage on the eq and presence, gain about 2 o'clock Vacuum tubes, Bold. with minor tweaking on the EQ and presence. Bring the volume up about to 9 o'clock (if your out of the apartment, bring it up even more say 11 o'clock)

Now try some Audioslave, Pearl Jam, GNR, these three may be tough as they mostly used Marshalls Theory of a Deadman (this too may be difficult, they use Stiletto's at least live anyway). El's would help but save that for later....

Option 1 are things I would try in Modern, Otion 2 are things I would try in Vintage. YMMV. I only commented on the bands I was familiar with. You'll note that I always started at noon. When I had the ROV and 2 CH Dual Rec (Similar to the TOV minus the tremalo feature could be fun for Audioslave and Rage BTW) I usually tweaked the EQ and presence to taste anywhere between 10 o'clock and 1 o'clock.

Good luck

 

[jdurso]

Hey 'mwalluk'....nevermind this little nitpik here. I've learned a lot reading posts on this board....and many of the best have been from 'jdurso'. Once you establish yourself on your Boogie.....other things will come up. "What cabinets, ohms & why?"......."How should I use the effects loop?"......."What EQ works best with that Boogie?"...."What about replacement tubes?"......etc...etc...... Jdurso seems like a really cool guy who knows a LOT about these amps...and seems to have a straight up way of helping folks out here. (just an opinion......)

Why that ******* even has me wanting a PRS now!!!.............

Thanks for the kind words Gary... but i have to say i have picked up a lot from this board as well. There are some great minds on this board who are extremely generous with ther knowledge, tips and tricks. Clutch, Fixxer, Elpelotero, Chris McKinley, DomCT, Kaz, MavGuy, Shred, Rocky, camsna, timbre wolf among man many others have a lot of great posts here. I would never have gotten into eq pedals, ods, treble boosters, NOS tubes, Mills cabinets, dialing in certain tones, how certain gear works, suhr pickups etc. without this board. Best part is i learn something new all the time and while it usually causes me to spend my $$$, most of the time its well worth it.... the whole diode vs vacuum tube now makes more sense (actually never truly understood what was going on).

Anyway mwalluk, i'm not always right but i'm always willing to help First two things you need to do is buy a PRS and then a Mills cab. After that everything else will fall into place :wink: