My first Mesa..a Single Rectifier Solo head

[tennisplayer]

I'm an at home player in my 50's. Played in bands in college, started back after a cough....25 year lay off and love Hi-Gain amps. So I bought a used Solo head and cheap Bugera (but it sounds good for home) 4X12 and love it.

So, what do I need to know about this amp? People say they are hard to dial in, but mine sounds great.

Thanks....

 

[fluff191]

Congrats on your new amp!

And they aren't that difficult to dial in, just people who have previously only played $100 solid state Marshalls go 'whaaaaaaaaaat?!?'......

If you think it sounds good now, just wait till you get a matching Mesa 2x12 or 4x12. Miles ahead of any cab!

Enjoy!

 

[tennisplayer]

Yep, my next plan.

 

[TREC]

Good choice mate, enjoy it! Like fluff said about the mesa cabs, they really bring the recto to life.

 

[Deathfuckingmetal]

Same here. This is my first tube amp; in fact my first real amp and yes... instead of going "with the trends" and looking at digital or hybrid amps or over-hyped brands (kough... kough...Krank...) I did my homework and did a bit of research, then I choose a MESA.

So, for now I'm pretty satisfied; lots of gain, power and sonic authority. I feel I have LOTS to learn when it comes to my new weapon; I'm carefully reading the manual and expermenting with settings. Yesterday we had a rehearsal and could try out this little beast at playing volumes and WOW... it's very loud but with a pleasant sound. Nevertheless there's room for improvement and I noticed a few things that need to be corrected:

a) There's a very audible humming noise when using the gain channel in "Modern" mode. I tried using an ISP Noise Suppresor (in front of the amp, not in the effects loop and I'll tell you why) and it worked out beautifully for eliminating feedback, but it didn't get rid of the hum. Some people said "it's the tubes, man, change them" and others think it's a faulty ground from the reheasal room. My settings were Output 9:00, Master 1:00, Gain 12:00. Cables are DiMarzo, as well as the PUs in my guitar.

b) The effects loop doesn't seem to be "pedal-friendly". I tried to connect my pedalboard through the effects loop of the amplifier and the noise became unbearable. None of my pedals produced the desired effect; the delay sounded awful, the noise suppresor didn't cut all the noise (the hum I was describing before) and the Sonic Maximizer didn't have any effect at all.

Being this my first MESA amp I'd be glad to have some light about it from more experienced and seasoned players, and what better place than this, I think. Any ideas about these 2 issues??

Thanks.

 

[YellowJacket]

For item a)

1) Check instrument cable / speaker leads. -replace them if they are a problem.

2) Ground -most people recommend a power conditioner. I use a power bar / surge protector.

3) Guitar pickups -Single Coils are notoriously loud. I've found that even humbuckers can pick up a hum from lights such as a dimmer switch in a room.

4) Preamp and power tubes. -Test and replace these. If you hear a hum, a wooshing sound, fizzing, or crackling, that is most likely a tube problem. You can even get microphonics, or an ungodly amount of feedback, which is well above what is usable and reasonable, given the performance situation. I've had my dual (In 100 watt mode) running with my 4 x 12 with the master volume at 1/3rd on the modern gain channel. To get feedback, I have to face my guitar to the amp and put it like a foot away. It is very controllable. If you are getting crazy feedback and it is as much a 'problem' as you say it is, I'd double check those preamp tubes.

Just keep in mind that your problem could be any or any combination of the probable causes listed above. The thing to remember about preamp tubes is that Mesa uses a Cascading gain setup so the first tube in the series (v1) will add the most noise to the amp. With high gain settings, all noise / imperfections will be magnified because the input level in the channel is so much louder. You will get some noise but you can minimize tube noise by swapping around tubes until the quiet ones are in v1 and v2. (Mesa says to use a SP12ax7-a in v1 but I like one of those in v1 and v2. If you want to customize your preamp tubes, you can read in the tube forum here. Guys have some really unique setups for those willing to spend extra cash.

Unfortunately, I can't comment on the effects loop because I don't ever use mine.

 

[mckevrock]

You have the "Series I" Single Recto. Good choice. I had the opportunity to actually A/B the Series I and Series II. The Series I is easily identifiable by the front-mounted 1/4" Footswitch jack.

The Series I has far better circuitry than Series II. I had purchased a Series Two as an upgrade from a B-52 AT-100. I liked the Series Two, but it sounded "grainy" or "Sandy" when cranked. My friend had a Series One and always noticed his amp had a much better response and a great chimey ring to the high gain setting.

I currently have a Rev-G 2 channel Dual Recto, sounds slightly better than the Series I Single, but holds up much better when cranked. You will notice that after the master reaches 10 o'clock, the amp doesn't get much louder, the tone gets more and more squashed...depending on how much output your guitar has. But that's 50 watts compared to 100 watts.

The limitation on the single recto's is
A) Solid State (silicon diode) rectifier ONLY
B) Modern mode is on Channel 2 only
C) Noticeable "Hiccup" between channel switches

The Solid State rectifier on the series I is just fine. You won't miss the tube rectifier, in my opinion.
Now, if you are using the effects loop, the modern mode will sound much louder compared to the other modes. The modern mode "pushes" the power amp to get that super saturated sound. Unfortunately this will make your effected sound's volume louder or quieter when switching channels. I use a looper pedal and this caused problems when trying to layer channel one and channel 2.
The Dual Recto has no hiccup when switching between channels.

Aside from that, enjoy your amp! it sounds great at both low and high volumes and is very forgiving to cheaper cabinets, too. Records well too!

 

[tennisplayer]

Got my Mesa 2X12 cab last week. Loving it. Thanks for all thge help guys..

 

[Deathfuckingmetal]

Thanks for the input, guys. I went back to the rehearsal room yesterday with the firm purpose of making the goddamn thing work, and to a certain extent I think I accomplished my purpose.

I tried different settings in the amp, I swapped the different pedals in my chain, experimented with placements and combinations until I found the most reasonably satisfying sound (but at 11:00 pm it was like... "that's it for today man, gonna sleep now").

First I got to a very nice balance of Master Volume + Gain + Output Volume; after that, I plugged my pedals to the effects loop and the first one to earn it's place was the ISP Noise Suppresor :lol: , it was a no-brainer. After I got to a point of loud volume, crushing gain and perfect noise gate setting I moved to the BBE Sonic Stomp. Another instant hit!!! The sound improved a lot, with more gain, more sparkle and more definition.

The Eq. pedal was like... yuck!!! so it's gone now; the delay sounded cool so it stayed... and so on. Now that I see it it was the Eq. pedal the source of all that annoying feedback, it ruined my sound until I removed it from the chain.

For now, I'm satisifed but maybe I'll change tubes in a month or so, just to be sure, since this is a second-hand amp and from what I understood, the former owner never replaced the tubes... :shock: . Maybe a high-gain kit from JJ Eurotubes, thought I have not decided if with 6L6s or EL34s, we'll see.

 

[vertigo]

Bit of advice on your settings, I have a single rectifier but struggle to get the main output above 7:00 o'clock, it is so loud, even at rehearsals.

It is painfully loud, what position do you have your masters set at

Thanks

 

[Steve@Russo]

I just got my first mesa too, single rec, I leave the eq 12 oclock with a strat with paf pro in bridge, love it, 1960asl cab

 

[vanled69]

Hello to all, first post here but have learned a lot from all the posts.

I have a Series II Solo Rec and have a kind of love/hate thing with it. Mine was a parallel loop until I did the Series mod and it takes delay etc in the loop much better now. The other thing I am trying is running the slave signal through the effects - nothing in the loop -, then to a power amp. I have a Marshall 1960A 4 x 12 in stereo, run the Solo through one half and the effected signal through the other half and it sounds pretty good. Gives me a lot of options tone-wise.

 

[UnderJollyRoger]

Bit of advice on your settings, I have a single rectifier but struggle to get the main output above 7:00 o'clock, it is so loud, even at rehearsals.

It is painfully loud, what position do you have your masters set at

Thanks

Where are your channel volumes ? I would say, when rehearsing with a drummer you should be able to turn both knobs up to lets say 10:00 before you drown the drums

I have a DR 2010 and run the main output at about 12:30 and the channel volume (channel 3, modern) somewhere between 10:00 and 11:00 ...

 

[vertigo]

The channel masters are about 9 or ten ish. The output is at seven

 

[UnderJollyRoger]

This should be pretty low on the volume ... I have a DR2010 and my bandmate has a Single Rectifier, so I can give this a test in the next days, but it shouldn't be really loud ...

 

[playdosboogies]

The channel masters are about 9 or ten ish. The output is at seven

seven oclock on the master knob? That's barely cracking it open. I run my single higher than that for appartment noodling.??

 

[volatileNoise]

Bit of advice on your settings, I have a single rectifier but struggle to get the main output above 7:00 o'clock, it is so loud, even at rehearsals.

It is painfully loud, what position do you have your masters set at

Thanks

Sounds like what the dual/triples are like when set to bypass loop mode.... strange.

 

[playdosboogies]

Sounds like what the dual/triples are like when set to bypass loop mode.... strange

Yes i agree! weird