... but still happy to answer questions! Shipped my Rec Pre today after selling it on Ebay. Had it for about two years.
Overall I really liked it, but I've hardly used it over the past 8 months. I put seriously 15 hours a week on it the first year I had it, but then I bought my first Mark III and discovered that as much as I like the Recto sound I'm actually a Mark guy
I tried running the Rec Pre into my Marks' power sections, but a Mark III makes a pretty so-so power amp; it's just not set up to handle the bass a Recto is pushing out. What's worse is that a speaker/cab setup that sounds good with a Mark sounds like flat, bassy awfulness with a Recto and one that sounds good with a Recto will sound piercing with a Mark.
The Rec Pre's cleans kick the MkIII up one side of the block and down the other, but I couldn't justify keeping it and ending up with a really complicated live rig just for that.
I think a lot of the complaints people have about the Rec Pre are actually generic Rectifier problems. If you want to use them as tight lead amps with lots of sustain you really need an eq and a boost. This is just as true of a full-on Triple Rec as it is of a Rec Pre.
After the first few hundred they were revoiced as rhythm guitar amps, with harmonic richness and spread (lots of highs, lows, and presence) instead of cut (mids), and saturation instead of sustain. I never had any trouble getting classic Recto rhythm tones (Soundgarden, Nickelback, Foos, older nu-metal, Evanescence, etc) out of my Rec Pre straight from the direct outs. You have to remember that the classic Recto sound is actually a backing rhythm track with a vocal on top--- something that fills a lot of sonic space without taking over the mix. The lack of cut is a feature, not a bug. Remember, a lot of 90s heavy rock was vocal-driven and relied on mid- or up-tempo rhythm riffs, not single-note leads. Go back and listen to a Soundgarden or early Foos record. The riff tones are always really fuzzy and loose compared to, say, Killswitch Engage or something.
Anyway, yeah. I have several hundred hours of time with the Rec Pre even though I don't have it anymore, so still very happy to provide advice on what I think is a very cool piece of gear.
Overall I really liked it, but I've hardly used it over the past 8 months. I put seriously 15 hours a week on it the first year I had it, but then I bought my first Mark III and discovered that as much as I like the Recto sound I'm actually a Mark guy
I tried running the Rec Pre into my Marks' power sections, but a Mark III makes a pretty so-so power amp; it's just not set up to handle the bass a Recto is pushing out. What's worse is that a speaker/cab setup that sounds good with a Mark sounds like flat, bassy awfulness with a Recto and one that sounds good with a Recto will sound piercing with a Mark.
The Rec Pre's cleans kick the MkIII up one side of the block and down the other, but I couldn't justify keeping it and ending up with a really complicated live rig just for that.
I think a lot of the complaints people have about the Rec Pre are actually generic Rectifier problems. If you want to use them as tight lead amps with lots of sustain you really need an eq and a boost. This is just as true of a full-on Triple Rec as it is of a Rec Pre.
After the first few hundred they were revoiced as rhythm guitar amps, with harmonic richness and spread (lots of highs, lows, and presence) instead of cut (mids), and saturation instead of sustain. I never had any trouble getting classic Recto rhythm tones (Soundgarden, Nickelback, Foos, older nu-metal, Evanescence, etc) out of my Rec Pre straight from the direct outs. You have to remember that the classic Recto sound is actually a backing rhythm track with a vocal on top--- something that fills a lot of sonic space without taking over the mix. The lack of cut is a feature, not a bug. Remember, a lot of 90s heavy rock was vocal-driven and relied on mid- or up-tempo rhythm riffs, not single-note leads. Go back and listen to a Soundgarden or early Foos record. The riff tones are always really fuzzy and loose compared to, say, Killswitch Engage or something.
Anyway, yeah. I have several hundred hours of time with the Rec Pre even though I don't have it anymore, so still very happy to provide advice on what I think is a very cool piece of gear.
