New to Mesa....please help

[JaydenD]

Hey guys,

So I recently picked up a used Mesa Dual Rectifier with a Marshall 1960a cab.

There's tons of options and switches which is nice, however confusing to set up the tone I am looking for.

I used to play a lot of metal but I play a lot of Paramore stuff now.

So I was just wondering how I could get a close tone to their stuff.

By the way the guitar I use is an EC-1000 (pickups are probably a bit agressive for Paramore, I know).

But theres tons of stuff going on in the back of the head. Can I just change from the 6l6's to the EL34's, I saw a caution thing so I dont wana screw around with it.

Not sure what ohm out put to use. And on the cab theres two outputs aswell, not sure which one to use.

So yeah I'm pretty lost, my tone right now is decent, but I know it can be a lot better.

Thanks for your help

 

[RR]

Do you know if you 1960 has stereo capabilities? If not, then either jack is fine. I think 1960 are usually wired for 16 ohms so you should plug your speaker chord to the 16 ohm jack on your Dual Rectifier.

You do realize that you have to have EL34 tubes to switch to the EL34 setting. I'm assuming your Dual Rectifier has 6L6s. Not sure though if the previous owner switch to EL34s. And I'm not sure if you are or are not aware of this.

Another thing, hope you have the manual or download the manual for your Dual Rectifier because the setting it critical searching for your tone. The 'treble' control governs all the other control. A rule of them, it best the treble is between the 9 o'clock to the 2 o'clock. It not recommend setting beyond those point. Although who knows, maybe there is a setting that's works.

Anyway, hope other chime in.

 

[big_red]

Definitely download the manual. Also I have found that starting everything off at noon (everyone says this at some point.) is a great way to begin. Start it at noon and make minor adjustments from there. You can do the additive or subtractive methods. Starting everything below where you think it should be and adding to it, or above where you think it should be and taking away.

 

[paintballnsk]

My band plays a lot of Paramore stuff and I use a dual rectifier (roadster), and a MH-1000 with Duncans.
Let me start by saying I really hate rectifiers in 1960 cabs. No offense to anyone, but every time I've had to put mine through one it made the Mesa in me cry. I'd recommend swapping the speakers out with V30's or V30/K100 x pattern.

I'll assume it's a 3 channel?

So I use the green for clean, orange for rhythm, and red for leads.

Diode rectification instead of tube on all of them.

Clean:
Bass 5, Mid 0-5 (0 more sparkly, 5 more pick attack and punch) Treble 6, Gain in the highest stage, 4-8 depending on what you want. I use EL34's and even with the gain relatively aggressive, it still sounds like a great clean channel with just a little grunge to help compress it.

Orange and Red
Presence 2-5, Bass 2-4, Mid 4-6, Treble 6-8, gain 6-8, modern gain stage, or sometimes the middle one.

And if you had channel 2 on the roadster, it's amazing for that high mid guitar bridge in CrushCrushCrush haha.

If I'm using red for leads, I usually give it a little more mids in relevance to the orange channel, and give it a hair more volume.

Also your presence and bass are going to change a little bit venue to venue. You're safer keeping your presence on the low side, especially in a 1960 cab.

AND THAT LITTLE CAUTION LIGHT!!!
YOU BETTER CHECK AND MAKE SURE THAT LITTLE CAUTION SWITCH IS BIASED TOWARDS THE RIGHT TUBES! Or you'll blow your tubes out in about 2 hours, or worse, damage the amp. I did it once. I was lucky. All it did was smoke the paper and paint off the tubes and kill them, but my amp was luckily fine.

For Paramore stuff I could probably live without a tube screamer. If you find yourself lacking punch and definition, or the amp feels too saggy, or slow on leads, or the only way to get enough gain is to crank the presence knob and make it all fizzy, you're way better off at keeping the gain between 5-7 and using an overdrive to push the amp into awesomeness. I use a TS808 for almost everything. It will make the amp feel a lot tighter, leads a lot smoother, and best of all make the gain well balanced instead of fizzy.

And the answer nobody wants:
Play with it and figure it out. Rectifiers are really sensitive to their accessories. I find myself changing settings for different guitars, different pedals, and different cabs whenever I go to them. If you go from an EMG pickup guitar to a Duncan guitar, you'll get a completely different sound in the highs and mids, and completely different feel in the pick attack. If you go from a mesa cab to a 1960 cab, you're gonna need to adjust almost everything.

 

[Jackie]

Let me start by saying I really hate rectifiers in 1960 cabs.

I haven't tried the above combo (I tried a Dual Recto 3ch with a Mesa standard 4x12 slant) but I can see why a 1960A wouldn't work well with a Recto.
The G12-T75s in the 1960A cabs are a bit on the scooped side (compared to a Greenback or V30) and I think they have a slight peak right where the "Recto presence" lives so that would give it a high end of questionable desirability.

I threw in 4xV30 in my 1960A cab and I've been a happy camper ever since.
BTW I don't like my Mesa TriAxis/2:90 rig going through my 2x12 with G12-T75s either.

The G12-K100 speakers on their own hit like a fuking hammer but I'd like them more if they had a little more warmth, so the K100+V30 combo is a great suggestion.

 

[A_Ryder]

Hey guys,

So I recently picked up a used Mesa Dual Rectifier with a Marshall 1960a cab.

There's tons of options and switches which is nice, however confusing to set up the tone I am looking for.

I used to play a lot of metal but I play a lot of Paramore stuff now.

So I was just wondering how I could get a close tone to their stuff.

By the way the guitar I use is an EC-1000 (pickups are probably a bit agressive for Paramore, I know).

But theres tons of stuff going on in the back of the head. Can I just change from the 6l6's to the EL34's, I saw a caution thing so I dont wana screw around with it.

Not sure what ohm out put to use. And on the cab theres two outputs aswell, not sure which one to use.

So yeah I'm pretty lost, my tone right now is decent, but I know it can be a lot better.

Thanks for your help

Hey welcome to Boogie land.

I just googled "Paramore equipment" and found
http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/736-paramore-taylor-york-guitar-rig-gear-and-equipment

Amp section says: Marshall, Mesa/Boogie/Recto, Divide by 13...

So you're definitely in the right ball park.

Well first things first.

DO NOT touch that EL34 switch, it is not some sort of "tone setting" you can randomly choose, that's why it is (or originally was) taped up, you can only use it if you drop some real EL34 tubes in there.

And I've tried Sovtek EL34's but it doesn't make it a Marshall, it was just a confused amp, neither boogie nor marshall, it was ok but a lost identity.

For now I reckon just forget about tubes (I'm tempted, I can say much more on tubes but I reckon we should not go there yet...)

OHMS - well the MOST important thing is to have *a* speaker plugged into your amp at all times. Tranny amps can live without a speaker, valve amps *must* have one. And if you get the ohms matched that'll even be better. If you cab says 16ohms then plut into that jack on your amp, if your cab says 8 then plug into 8 on the amp, if it's 4 then use 4.

If you have multiple cabs and other ohms things can get complicated by try the above simple approach first? (Ask us if you have something else in mind). Anyway the most important thing is never turn the amp on with no speaker then match the ohms.

Speak tone?
I agree the Marshall 1960a cab is not the best for a DR, the Mesa Recto Cabinets have Vintage 30's in them and I reckon that's exactly what they had in mind when they made those amps. Don't rush out and get V30's tomorrow, try to dial up tones you like with what you have, but if you have spare time and or money, yeah give some 30's a try in a store or something...

Marhsall?
To get a more Marshalle-ish (JCM800) type sound have lots of gain and power on your DR I think orange mode worked best and put your guitar volume on something like 1 or 2, give that a go I think you'll be amazed.

Divide by 13 - I have now idea - I only know I love those amps from recordings and demos but I've never had one or seen one in person, sounds like a super Marshall to me but ... ????

And it's not commonly spoken of but the DR can get some pretty good clean, bluesy and non-psycko gain sounds - so dial dial and dial some more.

Don't be afraid to play with the volume dial - before my DR I only ever had my guitar volume on 10 but with the DR I became a volume knob jockey... so that'll take the edge off of your pickups if you think they're too agro for Paramore.
Good luck.