Mesa Dual Recto sounds weak

[bermuda_]

Is it me or does the Mesa Dual Recto Rectifier 3 channel lack that balls to the wall metal sound that a peavey 5150 or eng fireball do so well

When I got my Dual Recto I was so excited to try it out I heard so much about how ideal this amp is for playing metal

But as soon as I turned the head on I was utterly disappointed with how much gain this amp actually had like I thought this amp was going to be a gain machine but oh how wrong was I to think that

The gain was so weak sounding which made it incapable of performing any covers from my favourite bands,the tone was just so muddy and uninspiring to listen and after spending countless hours of trying to dial in a decent tone it all just ended up in me becoming frustrated with the amp

But I think the biggest let down about the amp was it was no where near as tight sounding as a lot of the other high gain amps out

Does anybody else feel the same way I do about this amp

 

[MesaGod666]

Nope. Here's what you have to do.

#1. READ THE MANUAL. Then try these settings...

Bold & Diode Rectifier settings
Output at 10:30
Master at Noon
This will saturate your signal with cascading gain...and yes it will be loud because you want to hear all the frequencies.
Gain at 2 o'clock
Treble to 2 o'clock
Mids at 9-10 o'clock (I play with mids around 7 o'clock)
Bass below 12 o'clock

#2. Use a TS-808 or similar to boost your signal.

If these things don't work then,

#3. Sell your amp to me.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Nope. Here's what you have to do.

#1. READ THE MANUAL. Then try these settings...

Bold & Diode Rectifier settings
Output at 10:30
Master at Noon
This will saturate your signal with cascading gain...and yes it will be loud because you want to hear all the frequencies.
Gain at 2 o'clock
Treble to 2 o'clock
Mids at 9-10 o'clock (I play with mids around 7 o'clock)
Bass below 12 o'clock

#2. Use a TS-808 or similar to boost your signal.

If these things don't work then,

#3. Sell your amp to me.

I agree with 99% of this post. But, too much gain can add to the looseness, and I would even go as far as saying to keep the bass below 11:00 for tightness. Also, mids are more of a taste thing IMO. I prefer my mids up between noon and 1:30, but I also use Vintage mode and don't play metal. I also keep my treble at noon... and I play a Rectoverb combo so maybe I'm way off base here.

 

[Wstinnett]

Is it me or does the Mesa Dual Recto Rectifier 3 channel lack that balls to the wall metal sound that a peavey 5150 or eng fireball do so well

When I got my Dual Recto I was so excited to try it out I heard so much about how ideal this amp is for playing metal

But as soon as I turned the head on I was utterly disappointed with how much gain this amp actually had like I thought this amp was going to be a gain machine but oh how wrong was I to think that

The gain was so weak sounding which made it incapable of performing any covers from my favourite bands,the tone was just so muddy and uninspiring to listen and after spending countless hours of trying to dial in a decent tone it all just ended up in me becoming frustrated with the amp

But I think the biggest let down about the amp was it was no where near as tight sounding as a lot of the other high gain amps out

Does anybody else feel the same way I do about this amp

You're not dialing it in right.

I had a similar experience when I first got my Recto. I was rehearsing for a gig alongside a friend with a 5150 II and a pretty agressive tone. This was a death metal gig.

I was embarrassed at first because I hadn't yet learned what the amp could do at gigging volumes, and his Peavey was destroying my tone.

It took me a while to get there because I was experimenting with everything, but I ended up switching to diode rectifier mode, the "bold" power setting, and using channel 3 on "modern" with the gain around 1 o'clock, the output cranked and the channel 3 master around noon, it was tighter than a nun's *** and shitting all over that Peavey. By the end of the rehearsal, everybody knew that the Recto was the boss. That was a satisfying day!

And don't get me started on how my lead sound was absolutely swallowing that 5150.

 

[Scarangella]

Yeah, don't give up on it yet. I know some guys that have had these for a long time and are still finding tones they like better than before.

 

[bermuda_]

Thanks guys for all your help

I was just wondering though What color is the LED light usually on a non modified 3 channel dual Recto, because the color of the LED light on my Recto is light blue.

I bought my Recto off Ebay so I don't know at all if the guy that had sold me the Recto had the it modified.

If he did happen to have the Recto modified I have a strong feeling that maybe he could of got rid of some of the gain on the amp I highly doubt he wanted it modified for more gain :lol:

So is there any Mesa Dual Recto fanatics out there that could maybe shed some light on this subject :mrgreen:

 

[fluff191]

The jewel lens is normally Red, if thats what you are talking about. And now knowing you have an eBay amp, my money would be on your preamp tubes being low-gain versions of what are supposed to be in there.

I would think about doing a fresh re-tube. Just so you know where everything is at.

 

[Metaltastic]

The jewel lens is normally Red, if thats what you are talking about. And now knowing you have an eBay amp, my money would be on your preamp tubes being low-gain versions of what are supposed to be in there.

I would think about doing a fresh re-tube. Just so you know where everything is at.

**** good call there, I remember when I first got my Orange Tiny Terror I was pissed at how little gain it had - then I realized the previous owner had put a 12AU7 in V1, which apparently supplies 19% of the gain of a 12AX7

 

[Schulzy]

I know exactly how you feel.. I bought a 3ch Dual Rec brand new over 12 months ago... Cost me a fortune over in here in Australia. I took it home and spent weeks on it trying to tweak it.. it sounded weak tinny horrible... Nothing like my favourite artists tone.

Only 3 weeks ago i got all the preamp tubes replaced with electro-harmonix tubes.... And boy!! im telling you now... It now sounds absolutely awesome... I can pretty much nail all the tones i loved.... unfortunately i had another tube blow the other night so i replaced the V1 position with a high gain tungsol.... I hope it stillsounds as good... havn't got to try it yet.

 

[fluff191]

Well too many times you hear of people giving out (good) advice, when its assumed everything is working correctly (i.e. tubes).......Any time I get an amp, I go through it, tap, flick and poke things until I am sure everything is as it should be.

Only then can you really start to look at everything else.

 

[mikey383]

Well too many times you hear of people giving out (good) advice, when its assumed everything is working correctly (i.e. tubes).......Any time I get an amp, I go through it, tap, flick and poke things until I am sure everything is as it should be.

Only then can you really start to look at everything else.

+1

I assumed my amp was all good and kept trying to tweak it to get it to sound like my others. It wouldn't budge. When I did the bias mod, I found a burnt screen resistor, and a 30A fuse in the fuse holder from the previous owner. I replaced them and HOLY ****! It was a new amp.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

It could be the settings you are using, or even the preamp valves aren't in good shape...

 

[R_ADKINS80]

It could be the settings you are using, or even the preamp valves aren't in good shape...

+1 bro. My Triple came with all chinese preamp tubes except the v5 which was russian. I was amazed at how it sounded just like running 2 Jimi Hendrix Fuzz pedals in series. It sounded very anemic in the low end department and had a really honky mid to it even with the mid knob zeroed. Now mind you I have a hodge podge of hard to find tubes in there now, But I was amazed at how much better it sounded right off the bat with all EH tubes stuck in the thing. EH are inexpensive and a good sounding all around tube. Try some of those in your gain stages and see if you start getting some more useable tones. Also be very conservative with the trebel and presence. Unlike 5150's, the mesa's don't sound good with a ton of high end in them. At most I would run your trebel around 1:00 on the gain channels with the presence around 9-10:00 max.

 

[mesabplayer]

I've had my DualRec for 12 yrs. For me, it sounds like **** for 45 minutes..After that, look out .It totally loosens up, not so "brittle". They have lots of "mids", and that's what you gotta deal with..

 

[echoes420]

I was just wondering though What color is the LED light usually on a non modified 3 channel dual Recto, because the color of the LED light on my Recto is light blue.

You know... I have a friend that has had some kind of a DR pretty much since they came out. We recently got into a conversation about the jewel light in which he said "I didn't know you could change the jewel light... do you have to take the chassis off to do it?"

This bewildered me... I just couldn't believe this guy, who is a very skilled musician and knows his stuff most of the time, had no idea you could change them. So... for those of you that don't know... the jewel or the lens is just a colored piece of glass(or plastic, depending on quality) set into a small, threaded piece of metal that simply screws off to the left... revealing a small white bulb. No tools needed and it takes less than 10 seconds. You can get good ones from a couple places online... less good ones from ebay. Just search for "amp jewel light"


Does anyone know if there is a replacement LED bulb that will fit?(Like the LED blinkers you can get for a car) I never understood why they still use those old bulbs. The field of lighting has greatly evolved in recent years and most amp companies are still using basically the same bulb that Thomas Edison perfected well over 100 years ago to light the jewel.

I wonder if the people at Mesa read this forum...