My first Mesa Amp

[john cohen]

Hi... I just got my first Mesa Amp... The Rectoverb 25 with 2 x 12 Mesa cabinet. My first tube amp since the 80's....I just was reading the manual for the first time and Ive had a couple of band practices with it. It says to not have the gain all the way up because you could damage the amp. Ive got it mostly all the way up....I will turn it down from now on to the 1 o clock position but I'm wondering if I damaged the amp already?

 

[domct203]

Welcome to the forum.

I’m sure the amp is fine.

You really don’t want to run the gain that high, it just makes the amp muddy and you lose definition and overall tightness.

I run my Roadster’s gain at about 1:00, and I use a front end boost to get that saturation and sustain. Any decent OD pedal will work, gain low and level high on the pedal. The Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer works well and is popular with Recto players.



Dom

 

[john cohen]

Thanks...Aprreciate the response!

 

[DECEMBER]

You'll probably be able to hear it if any damage has occurred. Run an overdrive in front to add gain without having to crank it on the amp.

 

[mace]

Gain can be run past 1 o’clock with no damage. I’ve never really used a boost portal in front either, but I do keep the bass and mids, especially bass, on the low side when in the distortion modes.

I don’t remember seeing in the manual about max gain damaging the amp. Where did you see that? Just curious since I must’ve missed it.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

I don't think max gain can damage an amp. Maybe you can blow a speaker, but there is no reason to add enough gain to an amp so that you can only run it at 1 o'clock. It might sound muddy and super saturated but I don't think it should break anything.

 

[marcel20855]

I checked the manual for my amp (Express 5:25+, but I imagine others are similar). There are several references to how you may want to adjust the tone controls when using maximum gain, and no warning about maximum gain causing damage.

The manual does say you can get unpleasant microphonics when using high gain with high treble settings, but that shouldn't cause damage, except maybe to your ears.

 

[Allen Velasquez]

Hi... I just got my first Mesa Amp... The Rectoverb 25 with 2 x 12 Mesa cabinet. My first tube amp since the 80's....I just was reading the manual for the first time and Ive had a couple of band practices with it. It says to not have the gain all the way up because you could damage the amp. Ive got it mostly all the way up....I will turn it down from now on to the 1 o clock position but I'm wondering if I damaged the amp already?

I run the older Rectoverb 50 and I keep my gain between 11:00 and 1:00 with a Fulltone OCD overdrive and a compressor pedal at the front end. I can get all the gain and sustain I would ever want with just those two pedals.

 

[bandit2013]

I recall reading that in a Mesa manual before. Makes no sense if it can cause damage, why provide a range for a control that would result in such behavior? This note is in the MWDR and Roadster manual. Only states a potential for preamp tube issues or pushing them past their limits.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

I believe that is also what is says in the Mark V manual. So basically you will just go through tubes faster, maybe? Preamp tubes can last a long time but with extreme gain might need replacing more often.

 

[marcel20855]

To me, that quote from the manual just means you might get bad sounds while the gain is all the way up. Season to taste.

Edit: I read the quote again, and I see that it does say the tubes can be damaged over time, but it seems that would only happen if you let the amp squeal for an extended time, which would be unlikely.

 

[bandit2013]

If the amp works the way you dial it in, just use it that way. Some amps may behave differently due to the type of triode circuits used. If you run the amp at bedroom levels, to get that sound you may have to push the gain up. At gig level, that may not sound as desirable. Again, it depends on the amp in question due to the level of power tube saturation or clipping. Perhaps that is the benefit of the Simul-class models, they push the extended class A push-pull section into clipping early. I am not familiar with the characteristics of the EL84 tubes so they may behave a bit differently. I could have used the Recto-verb manual. Here is the gain description. If you can stay out of the microphonic effect with a higher gain setting, by all means go for it. Even the Badlander can be driven with the gain all the way if you are keeping it at bedroom level. I copied this from the Rectoverb manual.

 

[Sinner's Swing!]

Agreed, I almost never crank the gain unless it is at home on a master volume setting. And even then, only usually on the clean channel. I also don't really use the 10-watt setting as the master volume difference is like an eighth of a turn and it doesn't sound as good. They should have made it 5 watts or 25 watts. If you crank the gain 100% it saturates the crunch channel nicely at low volumes, but its still fairly heavy at noon and above. But the V:25 also has that mid-boost, which also saturates the signal at different frequencies I guess, and you can back off the gain a bit and use that if you want to. If you have the Master from 10-11 o'clock and up, you won't need to crank the gain as much. The V:90 has a lot more features that I am not an expert on by any means, but unless you are hearing microphonic squealing, you are probably ok.