NAD: Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier

[rjg10000]

What a surprise! Someone on this forum bought a Mesa!

http://i.imgur.com/T78Fgra.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/h4nO5PY.jpg

It's a used one that ran me about 800 even though it's nearly brand new. Only problem is that one of the preamp tubes blew out 30 minutes after plugging in! Heartbreaking!

So that brings me to the point of this topic. Why is it that people claim this amp can only really do metal and do it loud? For the 30 minutes I played it, I had no issue dialing in a range of tones from bluesy breakup to classic rock tones. And modern mode makes for an amazing alternative "cleanish" sound when the gain is dropped. I don't understand how this amp gets that rep with such a large repertoire of sounds available for anyone who can turn a knob. And while it CAN be loud, I haven't had too much of an issue dialing in solid low volume tones that are very playable in an apartment.

Needless to say, I'm very happy with this purchase as it's my first Mesa Boogie amp! But considering it's my first, I was wondering if anyone had some good tips for someone who's never had a Mesa before. General tips as well as tone tips would be greatly appreciated!

Now all I need is a Mark V and I'll be truly happy! :mrgreen:

 

[Gnarkill3k6]

Only 800!? Even if it's GBP it's cheap.

Strange about the pre-amp tubes btw... Is it only one tube? Was the glass cracked? Maybe the previous owner put in old tubes and kept the ones he used?
Nevertheless you bought a great amp and welcome to the unofficial Triple Club :mrgreen:

A quick tip: for good distortion tone at low volumes, keep the master volume on the channel low (9 o'clock) and run a tube screamer-ish pedal in front of the amp with the volume to the max, the gain to the min. and tone to your like, and rock your b*lls off!

[EDIT: Sorry, I was to enthusiastic... you already had a good home-tone :wink: ]

 

[rjg10000]

Thanks! Glad to be a part of it!

And no! 800 USD, not GBP! I couldn't pass it up! He also had a 2x12 Vertical Recto cab with custom grill and tolex for 400. I was really tempted but I didn't have the cash on hand so no go on that, haha!

No, the tubes themselves look just fine, but while I was playing the volume just disappeared and now I need to put the master on like 8 to actually hear anything. The clean channel is fine, oddly enough. So I'm guessing it's either V2 or V3 that's out. I'm going to pick up some tubes in a bit.

And that's pretty much what I'm doing right now for my metal tones. My Fulltone OCD sounds pretty amazing with this amp, I was pretty surprised! I was just wondering what kind of stuff people recommend regarding the tone controls. They are very sensitive and extremely responsive to small changes.

Gotta say though! It sounds great even at low volumes!

 

[domct203]

Congrats on the new Recto, and welcome to The Board.

It's really not that strange that you lost a preamp tube like that if it is a "New Sensor" brand tube that is in a cathode follower position. New Sensor brands include Sovtek (Mesa "Russian-1"), Tung-Sol (reissue), Electro Harmonix (Mesa "Russian-2"), & Mullard (reissue). These have been proven to fail in cathode follower usage. The cathode follower positions in your amp are V3 & V4.

So far the only reliable tubes for those positions are Shuguang (or just about any Chinese mfg tube), JJ (the current Mesa 12AX7), & NOS tubes.

Have a read here:
http://www.forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=25102&start=19

Welcome aboard!

Dom

 

[rjg10000]

Thanks for the warm welcome! Hope to be a good contributor once I learn my way around mesas!

I didn't know that! How great that I bought two Electro Harmonix because they were all the local shop had in stock, haha!

I'll just order some Chinese ones in a week or two to prepare for the inevitable then. Thanks for the information!

 

[DMR]

You don't by chance live in South Florida do you? Reason I ask is because I've been watching one haphazardly on Craigslist that was going for $800 and it's suddenly off the board. Way too much power for my needs but I was curious how long that was going to be around at that price and it hung around for a surprisingly long while.

 

[Gnarkill3k6]

Man... 800 usd.... I bought my 2005 Triple second hand in 2008 for 1700 euro's. :x At the time the amp was 2800 euro's new.

 

[rjg10000]

I live in Central Florida! And I bought it off of someone local up here who I knew from a local store. So not sure about that one in South Florida, might still be available since I didn't get it off of Craigslist.

But yeah, I'm really loving it so far! Pushed clean is really great for that single coil snap. Modern mode on Channel 3 makes for a surprisingly good low gain blues tone, despite the reputation it has. And I'm loving Channel 2 with Vintage mode. Crank the mids and it brings me into that crunchy Mark style sound.

Only thing is that it takes me a while to find these sounds. They weren't kidding when they said these are amps for the tweaking guitarist! Really have to put some effort in to find all the great sounds, but **** is it worth it!

Speaking of which, anyone have a used Mark V they don't want anymore? :mrgreen:

 

[DMR]

Yeah i've heard the term "Mesa month" thrown around with regard to how long it takes to get to know them as far as learning to dial them in right. I'm kinda struggling a bit with my Single Recto right now in getting that modern metal "recto" tone that i'm after. I think it's a combination of not truly understanding how the eq really works in a Mesa amp and my speaker cabinet (yes I have the manual). I made the jump up to the Recto from a Line 6 HD147 head and the matching Line 6 4x12 cab with V30's. Sold the head to help pay for the Recto and am now waiting for my cab to sell so I can get a Mesa Recto 2x12 cab. I thought the Line 6 cab would sound good enough just because it has V30's but I don't think that's the case at this point. I had a tech look it over when I bought it and everything checks out aside from having to replace 1 12AX7.

The Recto Faq is quite clear about the importance of a proper Mesa Recto cab so i'm trying not to get too frustrated until that happens.