New to the Boogie Family. Any Advice??

[BTC-Ax20]

Hi there, I'm a new member to this forum and the Mesa Boogie Family. I just purchased a 3Ch. Dual Rectifier Solo Head and I'm ready to find the perfect tones. I've been reading this forum for quite some time and it did help to finally lead me to the decision to get the DR. It's still new to me and I'm still trying to dial in the right tone settings. I've got the settings from the manual dialed in right now. I was wondering if anyone had advice as far as tone settings they like and use or maybe some sort of online resource for popular DR settings.

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[Lou]

Enjoy the new amp. and welcome to the forum

 

[zakkfaerum]

Congrats on the new amp. You'll love it. Crank it up some and you'll be blown away. They get better with volume. Enjoy your amp man!

 

[camsna]

Turn it up.

Spend a year with it

HAHAHA! That's what it took with mine!

 

[zakkfaerum]

Turn it up.

Spend a year with it

HAHAHA! That's what it took with mine!

He makes a very good point!!

 

[BTC-Ax20]

Thanks for the welcome. I do enjoy cranking it up! I had around 6-7 at our last band practice. Really brought a smile to my face. That's what I was looking for.

 

[Fixxer6671]

Yeah man, understand what each control does and do not get frustrated with it and sell it. Also try EL34's and different tube combinations.

Keep at it, I found channel two difficult to dial in, but knowing what I know now, I should have never sold it. :twisted:

 

[jdurso]

welcome to the club. the only advice i would give is if your not totally satisfied at first keep at it because the controls on a mesa are quite different from other companies. also there are a bunch of us who like an eq in the loop and/or an OD infront if you need a tighter tone. i wouldnt be able to live without my eq.

 

[JW123]

Welcome,

You dont mention what kind of music you play.

For me Rectifiers work best in the middle around noon on the controls. Mids I tend to scoop some, of course it tells you this in the manual.

I lean toward vintage sounds cause when you push the modern channel there is just to much volume difference, and I wind up turning the master down in the 9 oclcock range and these amps for me just dont work well there.

I play hard rock cover songs, I have channel one on Clean, master wide open, gain around 9 oclock, Im not sure on the eq. My second channel is in the Raw mode master around 2 oclock gain around noon, then the 3rd channel in the vintage mode, master around noon, gain about 2 oclock. I use the loop as an attenuator, it stays around noon, solo control around 1 oclock. Im currently using a Triple Rec with 2 tubes pulled in the spongy mode. I also have a Weber Mass attenuator for quiet practice and gigs where I have to turn it down.

Rectifiers are great amps, Ive had 4 altogether now, and oh yeah recently added a Roadster Combo which is a Dual Rec at heart. The tones are in there you just have to dig for them, be careful with the bass control, whenever someone wants to play it the first thing they want to do is turn the bass way up and the treble and scoop it, it sounds real mushy to me when you do that.

Good Luck and have fun with your new amp.

 

[BTC-Ax20]

Welcome,

You dont mention what kind of music you play.

For me Rectifiers work best in the middle around noon on the controls. Mids I tend to scoop some, of course it tells you this in the manual.

I lean toward vintage sounds cause when you push the modern channel there is just to much volume difference, and I wind up turning the master down in the 9 oclcock range and these amps for me just dont work well there.

I play hard rock cover songs, I have channel one on Clean, master wide open, gain around 9 oclock, Im not sure on the eq. My second channel is in the Raw mode master around 2 oclock gain around noon, then the 3rd channel in the vintage mode, master around noon, gain about 2 oclock. I use the loop as an attenuator, it stays around noon, solo control around 1 oclock. Im currently using a Triple Rec with 2 tubes pulled in the spongy mode. I also have a Weber Mass attenuator for quiet practice and gigs where I have to turn it down.

Rectifiers are great amps, Ive had 4 altogether now, and oh yeah recently added a Roadster Combo which is a Dual Rec at heart. The tones are in there you just have to dig for them, be careful with the bass control, whenever someone wants to play it the first thing they want to do is turn the bass way up and the treble and scoop it, it sounds real mushy to me when you do that.

Good Luck and have fun with your new amp.

Thanks for the advice. I've heard the same thing regarding the bass setting. The drums and bass are going to eat it up anyway. We play mostly hard rock/metal covers. Some classic rock like Nazareth and Mountain, AC/DC, Metallica, GnR, Alice in Chains, Rage Against the Machine, STP, and some new stuff by Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Three Days Grace, etc... You know, the typical staples of rock radio.

 

[jerseydrew]

Welcome

 

[Fwdftw]

welcome man!!

Ive been contemplating selling my 2 channel for a 3 channel here lately

 

[wildrat666]

welcome and rock on.

 

[BTC-Ax20]

Yeah man, understand what each control does and do not get frustrated with it and sell it. Also try EL34's and different tube combinations.

Keep at it, I found channel two difficult to dial in, but knowing what I know now, I should have never sold it. :twisted:

I have thought about this. Some folks around here have gone this route and mention that they do get some different tones. I was wondering about trying a pair of each 6L6's and EL34's.
When swapping power tubes, I believe they have to be done pairs correct? Which pairs need to be changed at the same time, the outside 2, inside 2, both left or both right. I'm guessing that it matters.

Thanks for the advice,

 

[JW123]

If you are using Mesa tubes they are color coded.

If you have a pair of reds put them in the inner or outer slots. Then if you have a pair of greens put themin the inner or outer slots.

If you were going to try some EL34s you might want to just get a pair and just run 2 tubes for 50 watts, the manual says to pull one rectifier when you do this. If you switch to 34s make sure you switch the little switch in the back.

Ive stuck with 6L6s in mine. The one time I used EL34s, it didnt seem to have as much headroom and the change in tone wasnt that dramatic to me, but a lot of people will disagree on here. I think to change your amp sound that the preamp tubes can make a more dramatic change than power tubes.

If you arent running your master past noon, you probably wont hear a big difference in power tubes cause you arent letting them sing anyway.

If you have a new amp, I would play it stock for a while and see what you can get out of it. A lot of people on here complain that they cant get a singing lead sound. I can make mine sustain for days but the master has to be in the 2 occlock range to really wake it up.

Depending on what you are doing I would recomend a Weber Mass attenuator to go with your amp. This would allow you to crank the amp to power tube saturation and still be able to turn it down to bedroom levels if you need to, otherwise most folks are really limited to where and when they can play these amps like they are meant to be played.

Have fun and keep tweaking before you change things around.

 

[Extremistno9]

Welcome to the Mesa Family!! I can't wait to have a practice with you and your new Dual Rectifier! I think it would be worth while trying out EL34s, and as mentioned before, just get a pair and try em that way. Who knows, there could be some sweet sounds in there! Just remember, you can't mix EL34 and 6L6s, it has to be one or the other. Hell, I can let you borrow mine for a bit and you can decide that way. I just need them back right away. :lol:

 

[nwoforlif]

Why on earth would you get rid of a 2 channel for a 3 channel. I A/B'ed both and the 2 channel just has better distortion than the 3. I had to crank the **** of 3 channel to get decent distortion out of it. Volume set at around 7. I would not want to play at that volume all the time, maybe for 1000 people. Plus you would go deaf very fast at that volume. That's why I bought my 2 channel. Took a while to find but I'm more than happy with my 2 channel dual rec.

I even told my wife to bury me with it! I was joking with her. I would perfer she sell it to another player when I'm dead and gone.

NWOFORLIF

welcome man!!

Ive been contemplating selling my 2 channel for a 3 channel here lately

 

[JW123]

Ive had both a 3 and a 2 channel rectifier and I couldnt tell any huge difference. I read this all the time on here. Some amps just sound better than others. Im sure lots of people like the versatility of having the 3 channel gain structures more than some pie in the sky holy grail crap that seems to float on here.

 

[BTC-Ax20]

Ive had both a 3 and a 2 channel rectifier and I couldnt tell any huge difference. I read this all the time on here. Some amps just sound better than others. Im sure lots of people like the versatility of having the 3 channel gain structures more than some pie in the sky holy grail crap that seems to float on here.

That's exactly why I chose to hold out for the 3 Channel Model. I've heard the 2 Channel might sound better, but I needed the versatility. Plus when, I'm playing shows, I doubt the typical showgoer or bar patron will notice.

 

[Elpelotero]

Read the manual...seriously! I know it sounds patronizing, but Boogie manuals are extremely well written and will take years of bad tone off your hands.