New Guy with rectoverb combo....

[JF Omalycat]

Brother, you've got to have some kind of tube problem. Or other?
My Rectoverb is the best sounding "living room" amp I've ever owned. No problem at all getting heavy crunch at low levels you can still hear the TV over, whether it's on Vintage or Modern.
For me the trick is to crank the gain anywhere over 2:00, setting the Output at about 12:00, then slowly, slowly trim the channel volume up to taste. Heavy gain, chugga chugga galore. Everything from old school Metallica to nu-metal Korn, depending on your settings. (playing through a single coil Jaguar, no less!)
"Winged C" power tubes, with EH's in the pre-amp section.

Take care, and hope you figure it out. It really is an incredibly versatile amp.

 

[clutch71]

I know a lot of guys like active pickups with Mesa's but I didn't. I keep coming back to that. Anyway or access to a guitar with passive PUPS?

+1 to JF Omalycat (Welcome to the Board fellow Buckeye) on the tubes.

How old are the tubes? Did you buy the amp new or used?

I wouldn't rule out cables at this point either. I'd try to swap out as many variables as you can. Then do a tube swap.

You could havr a bad grid resistor too. Something is not right.

 

[JF Omalycat]

Thanks for the welcome, Clutch.
Glad to be here.

 

[ross8425]

heya, been reading these forums for about a year and finally got around to posting.. as for your amp, you should be getting some killer sounds out of it, even at bedroom levels. i have a rectoverb combo as well, and the settings i have mine set at right now are:

ch 1: clean, gain: 11:00, treb: 2:00, mid: 12:00, bass: 11:00 presence: 2:00, reverb: off, master: 11:00

ch 2: modern, gain: between 2:00 and 3:00, treble: 3:00, mid: 9:00, bass: 2:00, presence: 3:00, reverb: off, master: 9:00

output is 9:00 and i dont use the solo function..

this gives a really high gain sound, that will sustain like crazy and it sounds even better the louder you get it (obviously). i used to use the vintage gain setting too with the same settings, just the master up louder.

i dont have an eq or anything to add more bass to it and it has the stock tubes in it.

i have a ts9 if i feel like using it, but rarely ever do i use it, especially with the amp on modern. whenever i want more rhythm like sounds, i just dial in a little more bass and turn the presence down. great little amp for a room. hope that helps ya out.

 

[TheSandman]

Hey guys sorry, been doing the christmas thing. Anyways, yes I bought the amp brand new and yes I still have the original tubes in it. I think I bought it in feb or march. I honestly don't know if anything's mechanically wrong with it, but I thought if a tube was going bad, you would hear some kind of noise when you play? I have played a passive guitar on it, not much difference.

 

[ross8425]

Hey guys sorry, been doing the christmas thing. Anyways, yes I bought the amp brand new and yes I still have the original tubes in it. I think I bought it in feb or march. I honestly don't know if anything's mechanically wrong with it, but I thought if a tube was going bad, you would hear some kind of noise when you play? I have played a passive guitar on it, not much difference.

i think you need to use more presence on both settings based on what you posted above. that will certainly help make your cleans less muddy. i also dont like alot of mids. what kind of gain are you going for? death metal? you should be making alot of gain off that. i dont use active pickups, nor have i ever used them. i know it sounds kinda dumb, but dont they have batteries? if so, check them?