Negative review on Rect-O-Verb.. Are these statements true?

[Surfguitar!]

I've owned a Rect-O-Verb combo for a few months now, and simply love it! I know Mesa's aren't liked by all, but most at least respect the sound (even if it's not their sound), quality, value, and durability of these amps - right? I know this is just one opinion, but is any of it true or valid? I don't really care, but I thought the Rect-O-Verb was a hand built/hand wired combo with no PCB, etc. Again, I don't care either way, I just want to know more.. Please read and advise!

I recently read the following comments by a fairly respected individual..

"I had a Rectoverb 50 that was a pile. I kept it less than 2 months. It was easily the worst amp I've owned."

The drummer in my old band managed a music store. They stopped carrying Mesa because "too many had to go to the shop before they went on the floor" (his words, not mine).

Finally, I owned a Mesa Rectoverb 50 for a few weeks. It was easily the worst amp I've ever owned including some old Peavey SS amps I've had. It was noisy, popped, buzzed, ran hot and was not easily serviceable because everything on it including the tube sockets are mounted on the PCB. I went back to Fender Twin Reverbs and was glad to be rid of the Mesa.

This is all just one man's experience, but it shouldn't be hard to see why *I* would have such disdain for a brand.


:shock: Say what? I simply can't believe that.... I can coax blues, jazz, metal, rock, and even country and surf out of this thing. That's an assault on a brand based on one experience if you ask me (although he didn't really dog the sound).

Comments?

 

[musicbox]

it's the internet. :roll: as far as i know, the series one do have pcb mounted pots and the like, and all modern mesa boogies have pcb. the series 2 and most modern mesas just use flying lead's, so the components are chassis mounted and then wired to the board.

this is the inside of my stiletto so you can sort of see what a modern mesa boogie looks like under the hood. very neat and tidy.

keep in mind, i havent seen the inside of a series 1 rectoverb. the guitar player in my band had his go, and the tech said he rewired it from the 'marshall' style to the modern mesa boogie style. pure speculation, so feel free to call me on it, and ill feel better!

my recomendation: just play and love your amp!

 

[TheRazMeister]

Oh good grief..... Hand wired amps are few and far between and cost more than I'm willing to pay. Rarely is anythng under $2000 hand wired and if it is, it's probably a whopping 18 watts or so. As far as sound? Please....you can officially remove this "individual" from the respected list. My ROV sounds wonderful and is one of the quietest amps I've ever heard, even in channel 2. I tried about 15 QUALITY amps before settling on the ROV and the only thing that I liked better was the Marshall TSL122, which was too big and heavy. BTW - I compared the amp to tube offerings from Crate, Matchless, Dr. Z, Peavey (the worst of the bunch), Traynor, Marshall, Koch, Fender, Budda, Vox and Groove Tubes.

I've owned a Rect-O-Verb combo for a few months now, and simply love it! I know Mesa's aren't liked by all, but most at least respect the sound (even if it's not their sound), quality, value, and durability of these amps - right? I know this is just one opinion, but is any of it true or valid? I don't really care, but I thought the Rect-O-Verb was a hand built/hand wired combo with no PCB, etc. Again, I don't care either way, I just want to know more.. Please read and advise!

I recently read the following comments by a fairly respected individual..

"I had a Rectoverb 50 that was a pile. I kept it less than 2 months. It was easily the worst amp I've owned."

The drummer in my old band managed a music store. They stopped carrying Mesa because "too many had to go to the shop before they went on the floor" (his words, not mine).

Finally, I owned a Mesa Rectoverb 50 for a few weeks. It was easily the worst amp I've ever owned including some old Peavey SS amps I've had. It was noisy, popped, buzzed, ran hot and was not easily serviceable because everything on it including the tube sockets are mounted on the PCB. I went back to Fender Twin Reverbs and was glad to be rid of the Mesa.

This is all just one man's experience, but it shouldn't be hard to see why *I* would have such disdain for a brand.


:shock: Say what? I simply can't believe that.... I can coax blues, jazz, metal, rock, and even country and surf out of this thing. That's an assault on a brand based on one experience if you ask me (although he didn't really dog the sound).

Comments?

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[Surfguitar!]

Amen Brothers, I will probably never sell this amp! It's one of the best combos I have ever played through.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Not true at all....it's a great amp.

Also, he went back to fender twins....I don't think he was looking for the mesa tone.

 

[G.I.G.]

I've owned my Series II Rect-O-Verb for almost two years without a problem. I've owned my triple channel Dual Rec for four years now and again, never a problem.

Yeah, some of these jamokes play amps in a store, play their buddy's, or own one for a week or two, then feel compelled to write a review on it like they actually know what they are talking about. This guy obviously already had a beef with Mesa from what he heard from his drummer before he even bought it . So why the hell did he buy it?!?!?

Not to say Mesa's are perfect, because they're not, but if you read reviews on Harmony-Central and other websites, there are way more glowing reviews on Mesa's than bad ones. I scan through reviews to get an overall idea of what problems people consitantly have with their amps (for example, footswitch problems with Marshalls is a common gripe) but one mans word is not the scripture. Especially these idiots that play an amp in GC for 15 minutes and feel like they have something informative to say about it. "Uh, yeah, I've been playing guitar for a year now. I went and played a Mesa at GC the other day and it sucked. I'm going for the Limp Biscuit and Linkin Park sound. I couldn't get enough gain out of it. I think it was called a Lone Star or something".....You get my point.

I don't know if this or true or not, but when I was talking to Martin, the owner of Krank Amplification, at the NAMM show a couple months ago. He told me that there have been reports of companies posting bogus reviews about their competitors amps to try to sway people from buying someone elses amp. He said that Harmony Central accused Krank of posting false reviews on their own amps, which Martin claims is absolutely not true. If you notice, you can't find Krank under the amp reviews on HC to this day. Again, I don't know if that's true or not, but I would be pissed off to find out that companies are using public forums and message boards as a tool for their dirty marketing campaigns. ****, there might even be a mole on this message board. :shock:

Reviews are subjective so don't read into them too much. It's good to read them to get an overall view of an amp or hear some other people's oppinion on them, but that's about it. If you love your your ROV and havn't had any problems with it Surfguitar, then that's all that matters. I love both of my Boogies and couldn't be persuaded otherwise.

 

[db]

I have a serie I ROV. It's a quality amp. I don't care if that anonymous internet wanker is Jesus H. Christ--he/she is an idiot with an axe to grind.

 

[Boogiebabies]

I remember walking into a Mars Music a few years ago and this guy was playing a Mexican Tele through an amp that sounded like heaven. I sifted through all the clutter and the solid state wankers playing Enter Sandman to check this guy out. He was just an awesome player. When I got to the back of the store it was a Rectoverb plugged straight in to a $ 399.00 Tele.
It is an awesome amp.

 

[MetalMatt]

I'm the MOLE! Muhahahahaha!

j/k

I got to play a ROV in town and its a sweet amp from blues to metal it lurks within! I often though...it can smoke a fender...b u t that one mans opinion.

I read reviews to get a general idea of what the amp might sound like when I go play it. I pay no attention to the guy with a poor review in the middle of glowing ones, just seems odd.

Not all amps are created equal! Maybe he got a lemon? Or maybe...hes tone deaf? :shock:

 

[TheRazMeister]

What kind of speaker was in the Tele? :lol:

it was a Rectoverb plugged straight in to a $ 399.00 Tele.

 

[Platypus]

Sounds like rubbish, if a Mesa is 'the worst amp he's ever owned' then you can pretty much just discount his comments right there. Sure you might not like the tones but you cannot make a blanket statement about one of the most well made high gain amplifiers on the market and expect to be taken seriously.

We could sit here and pick apart the absurdity of his statements but why bother.

Take everything you read on the net with a huge grain of salt, the true test is your own ears!

 

[Monsta-Tone]

That guy is an idiot.

I really miss my Rectoverb. I had a Mark IV at the time too, and thought it was more of an amp. I was seriously wrong.

The only complaint that I could ever have about the ROV is that the Reverb is very weak, but I could have easily (and should have) installed a Tube Reverb circuit and be done with it.



These are great amps.

 

[chennie]

can you give me some details on installing a tube reverb?

 

[Surfguitar!]

Monsta-Tone I'd be interested in knowing how to do that as well...

 

[Monsta-Tone]

It's not that easy if you aren't used to working with tube amps.

I've been thinking about this since I sold mine.

If you interupt the signal where it would normally go to the Solid State Reverb, and basically build the DC's Tube Reverb circuit in the amp, this would solve every problem with the amp. Well, except the fact that I couldn't get the lead out of the bottom.

Basically, you would have to make a hole in your chassis (plenty of room), add a tube, add some components (which may add humm if not done properly), and change the Reverb Tank so that it has the proper impedance.



OK, so it's not all that easy, but by the end of the summer, I will have my shop and website fully up & running. I'll be concentrating on amp mods and repairs, and put the custom build stuff on the back burner. It just takes too long to build an amp, and nobody wants one until you have a famous guy playing one, ask Randall.




This will be my last post for a few weeks, but if you guys PM me, I'll eventually get to it.

I'll be offering good discounts for the guys on the forum, especially since you'll have to ship your amp chassis to New Mexico, but I am a Phase 1 Mesa Tech, and am more than willing to do most mods on any amp. The only things that I won't do are: 1. Let an amp leave my shop without a 3-prong cord, 2. Put extra holes in a Vintage (or something that might be collectible) chassis and degrade it's value. 3. Charge more than a bench fee if I can't fix it. I've been lucky so far, I haven't found anything that I can't fix except for the Princeton 65 in my closet.




Anyway, if you guys are interested, I will try to post things like this on my website for do-it-yourselfers too.



See you in a few weeks.