NAD - Rectifier Solo 50

[langmurf]

Hey... new member to this board. Been a regular over on TGP for about three years. Ex-drummer just entertaining myself with playing at home.

After about three years of buying and flipping amps... kind of a hobby in itself, I realized I was a "Marshall" guy. So I bought a hand-wired Marshall 1987 50w clone that I absolutely love.

Have not owned a Mesa amp until about two weeks ago. Found a Rectifier Solo 50, supposedly 2 years old, in near perfect cosmetic condition, with the foot pedal. Paid $600 for it. Thought... "If I don't bond with it, at least I can flip it without losing my shirt."

Then, two days ago, bought an Ear Candy 2x12 with a single Mesa Black Shadow 90w driver in it. Second driver hole covered, so... guess it's "detuned" now.

Anyway... here they are, in all their glory:

And... wow! I am loving the Solo 50. So many great tones and, contrary to popular rumor, very easy to dial in great tones, imho.

All that said... I get the feeling that the Solo 50's aren't taken as seriously as the other Rectifiers. I'm not sure why. I think I got a smokin' hot deal on this amp and have no plans of flipping it anytime soon. Having WAY too much fun with it. And, oh, yeah... the BS90 sounds freakin' great paired up with the Solo.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Happy new amp day!

I bought a recto verb series 2 50W combo for Christmas, too. a present from the sweet wife.

It is a great amp, quite fun to play.

Just curios, are you playing a single coil with it? I was amazed at the cleans using a tele. I tried a pretty clean boost and it was good as well.

Cranking it is of course money....

Are you using any pedals with it?

 

[DMR]

I also just picked up a Single Recto head (series one) a few weeks ago. Loving it so far. I had used my MXR 10 band eq in the effects loop when i first got it but decided the tones I was getting plugged straight in were just fine. Only thing I have in the loop is a shimverb pedal for clean tones. I will be sending it to FJA Mods though in the near future to add some tonal options to the mix (and keep the resale value up).

 

[langmurf]

Happy new amp day!

I bought a recto verb series 2 50W combo for Christmas, too. a present from the sweet wife.

It is a great amp, quite fun to play.

Just curios, are you playing a single coil with it? I was amazed at the cleans using a tele. I tried a pretty clean boost and it was good as well.

Cranking it is of course money....

Are you using any pedals with it?

Forgot to mention mine is a Series 2 also. You got a combo? What speaker? Is that a Recto-verb? I thought the Rectifier Solo 50 only came in head format.

I've been mostly playing a Gibby Melody Maker with one bridge single coil pup. I think it's a fairly hot passive pup. Talk about yer glassy cleans? Yeow! As to pedals... I have a TC Flashback but I've been enjoying guitar->amp so much, I haven't even plugged the FB in yet...

 

[langmurf]

I also just picked up a Single Recto head (series one) a few weeks ago. Loving it so far. I had used my MXR 10 band eq in the effects loop when i first got it but decided the tones I was getting plugged straight in were just fine. Only thing I have in the loop is a shimverb pedal for clean tones. I will be sending it to FJA Mods though in the near future to add some tonal options to the mix (and keep the resale value up).

Yeah, forgot to mention mine is a series 2. I've never used an effects loop before... I have a TC Flashback... may try it, if for nothing more than trying it out to see (hear) any differences from just throwing it in front.

I am loving this amp; surprised there isn't more noise made about them. Very happy!

 

[screamingdaisy]

I am loving this amp; surprised there isn't more noise made about them. Very happy!

I'm going to paint with a broad brush and say that your average young person sees "50w" and walks away while your average older person sees "Mesa" and walks away.

 

[langmurf]

I am loving this amp; surprised there isn't more noise made about them. Very happy!

I'm going to paint with a broad brush and say that your average young person sees "50w" and walks away while your average older person sees "Mesa" and walks away.

And the younger person is walking away because... 50w is too much or too little?

Glad I'm not your average older person! I'll admit, I did not have high expectations for this amp; so glad I took a chance on it because I think it may be my best bang-for-the-buck amp buy ever.

 

[screamingdaisy]

And the younger person is walking away because... 50w is too much or too little?

Too little.

To put it in perspective, imagine yourself being a 20 year old self stylized rock star and looking at a 50w, 100w and 150w Recto with only a $200 price difference between them...

I hear they're a cool amp but have never tried one myself. A little brighter and crunchier than the standard Dual Recto.

 

[langmurf]

And the younger person is walking away because... 50w is too much or too little?

Too little.

To put it in perspective, imagine yourself being a 20 year old self stylized rock star and looking at a 50w, 100w and 150w Recto with only a $200 price difference between them...

I hear they're a cool amp but have never tried one myself. A little brighter and crunchier than the standard Dual Recto.

Ah, yes... how silly of me to even consider 50w -too much- for a 20 yr old self-thought rawk stah. lol. Must be all the time I spend hanging out over on TGP. Small amps seem to rule over there. Me? I like the big iron, although I -do- consider 50w big iron, regardless of what the guys rolling 100 and 150w rigs think of my "small" rig. Shoot, I'm just having fun and the Recto Solo 50 makes it even more fun.

 

[DMR]

Seems practicality is starting to win out a bit these days in some circles with smaller wattage amps like the Mini Recto, Engl Gigmaster, or Orange Terror series. If I hadn't picked up the Single Recto I was going to go with a Mini Recto or Gigmaster 30 and run it through my 4x12 cab. I saw some great vids on youtube of those things putting out some excellent tones.

 

[langmurf]

Seems practicality is starting to win out a bit these days in some circles with smaller wattage amps like the Mini Recto, Engl Gigmaster, or Orange Terror series. If I hadn't picked up the Single Recto I was going to go with a Mini Recto or Gigmaster 30 and run it through my 4x12 cab. I saw some great vids on youtube of those things putting out some excellent tones.

The big iron amps just sound better to me. Hard to quantify, but they do. Certainly, the higher headroom is not hard to quantify. Cleans with -authority- on a 50 watter with big iron and big bottles.

Not knocking the mini amps... they are wonderful amps and I'm sure the Mini Recto is a great amp. They do deliver great tone.

That said... with the Solo, Output, Master, and Gain controls, and the five different tone selects on the two channels on the Solo 50... geez, I can go from "don't wake the baby sleeping in the next room" levels to "piss off the neighbors" levels. And for 2/3's the cost of the mini new. No brainer for me.

Still... would love to get some demo time on a Mini.

 

[DMR]

Sounds like you got a better deal than I did. I paid $800 for mine and it's a series one. But I had money burning a hole in my pocket as well as my first Mesa amp within sight. Couldn't find one cheaper on ebay or Craigslist so I went ahead with it. Can't complain, the thing sounds great even at low/moderate volumes.

 

[Heritage Softail]

Great thread here!

Mine is a wine red with tan weave Recto-verb, 1x12 combo with a V30. Tried new Mesa power tubes in it, EL and 6's. Went with the 6's for now. Will roll a few 12's thru the V1 to see what sticks.

The older guys thinking Mesa and Metallica is a funny thing. True to a degree. But....this amp has great cleans and punchy light grit. Not hooking up a Tele to the clean channel is missing out on some fun. It easily does the grit in the newer classic rock influenced country stuff like Jason Aldean.

The 50 or 100W issue is one I vary on. IMO the DSL100 sounds great. I played some ower wattage combo variants over the years. meh.... then i plugged into this one used DSL100 head and now own a Marshall. And I bought a Dr. Z Maz 38 instead go 18 for the extra depth and punch. Maybe it depends on the amp. I run my Bogner New Yorker on the low power setting. With the Rectifier? I like it cooking a bit and a cleanish boost, then the magic happens. It just gets fun. What a great amp that totally owns some chunky riffing! In the end, who cares. Whatever inspires is what I use.

Peace

 

[langmurf]

Great thread here!

Mine is a wine red with tan weave Recto-verb, 1x12 combo with a V30. Tried new Mesa power tubes in it, EL and 6's. Went with the 6's for now. Will roll a few 12's thru the V1 to see what sticks.

The older guys thinking Mesa and Metallica is a funny thing. True to a degree. But....this amp has great cleans and punchy light grit. Not hooking up a Tele to the clean channel is missing out on some fun. It easily does the grit in the newer classic rock influenced country stuff like Jason Aldean.

The 50 or 100W issue is one I vary on. IMO the DSL100 sounds great. I played some ower wattage combo variants over the years. meh.... then i plugged into this one used DSL100 head and now own a Marshall. And I bought a Dr. Z Maz 38 instead go 18 for the extra depth and punch. Maybe it depends on the amp. I run my Bogner New Yorker on the low power setting. With the Rectifier? I like it cooking a bit and a cleanish boost, then the magic happens. It just gets fun. What a great amp that totally owns some chunky riffing! In the end, who cares. Whatever inspires is what I use.

Peace

And it's posts like yours that make it a "great" thread! Thanks for sharing... for real.

Your last few sentences "say" it all. Being a full-blown Marshall subscriber... I was totally shocked by how effin' great the Solo 50 is. I've been playing it every night. I fire up the 1987 too... but end up going back to the Solo 50 after a few minutes. I may have a new favorite amp.

 

[RussB]

Funny story...


I built a nice 1987 clone, but later traded it for my Single Rec (v2) I run mine with either a Lopo 2-12 or an old MusicMan 4-12

 

[langmurf]

Funny story...

I built a nice 1987 clone, but later traded it for my Single Rec (v2) I run mine with either a Lopo 2-12 or an old MusicMan 4-12

I love both amps. Still reveling in the Solo 50. I'm really liking the low volume tones... higher gain settings seem to lose some of the high gain at really low volume settings. What would sound like high gain at higher volumes, simply sounds like low gain at lower volumes. Which, honestly, totally works for me. Still thinking this is a Great, with a capital "G," amp. For my purposes, at any rate.

 

[langmurf]

Ordered a pair of EL34's from Mesa. They came in yesterday.

Pulled the 6L6's...

And threw in the EL34's...

And... yee-haw! I really prefer EL34's to 6L6's, so I'm a happy camper, right about now. I had listed this amp on CL, because I thought I'd thin the herd. But after hearing this amp with EL34's, I deleted the CL ad and will be keeping this bad boy!

 

[bigguitartone]

And... yee-haw! I really prefer EL34's to 6L6's, so I'm a happy camper, right about now. I had listed this amp on CL, because I thought I'd thin the herd. But after hearing this amp with EL34's, I deleted the CL ad and will be keeping this bad boy!

What made you decide to put the recto on craigslist? It sounded like you were in love a month ago. I'm genuinely curious of your impression after the "new toy" shine has faded.

Also, as a tube amp newbie, what change does the EL34 bring out? I may have to try the swap myself (I've got the rectoverb 50 combo).

One last question: A lot of you are loving the cleans on this bad boy -- what settings are you using? I haven't dialed in a clean to fall in love with on mine yet.

 

[langmurf]

And... yee-haw! I really prefer EL34's to 6L6's, so I'm a happy camper, right about now. I had listed this amp on CL, because I thought I'd thin the herd. But after hearing this amp with EL34's, I deleted the CL ad and will be keeping this bad boy!

What made you decide to put the recto on craigslist? It sounded like you were in love a month ago. I'm genuinely curious of your impression after the "new toy" shine has faded.

Also, as a tube amp newbie, what change does the EL34 bring out? I may have to try the swap myself (I've got the rectoverb 50 combo).

One last question: A lot of you are loving the cleans on this bad boy -- what settings are you using? I haven't dialed in a clean to fall in love with on mine yet.

My "fickleness" regarding my amps is driven, right now, by the fact that I was recently diagnosed with lymphoma. (Not playing the pity card here... it was found early, stage 1, and the cure rate is 80-90%, so my prognosis is about as good as it could be, given my specific cirumstances.) So... I put the amp up on CL thinking that if things DO go sideways, I'd like to spare my wife the duty of having to sell off my equipment. After getting the EL34's, I pulled the ad. Just got home from chemo round #2 and threw it up on CL again. It's just me being fickle, really. I still absolutely LOVE the Single Series 2 and, as stated, even moreso with the EL34's.

I'm not one of those guys that can explain, technically, why I like EL34's better than 6L6's. From my POV, the EL34's just sound more "Marshally" than the 6L6's. Their grind is more RnR grind, to my ears.

I'll check my green channel settings a bit later. It's 0640 and the wife and son are still toes up...

Here's some info, directly from the Mesa site, on 6L6 vs. EL34's:

http://mesaboogie.com/news/2010/08/6l6-vs-el-34-feel-the-power-of-your-amps-power-section/

 

[RussB]

Best wishes to you langmurph! Kick that cancer's ***! 8)