Problems getting pinched harmonics on duel rectifier???????

[moodyedge]

It seems the only way I can get decent PH on my rectifier is to use a boost. but that might be beacuse I don't really use PH, I just like to play "My Curse" sometimes. I hope you get it setup to you're liking.

this is my curse....tune.......goin to see kse again with inflames in dec...

kse twice in a year...crazy

the amp has certainly took me a BIG step closer to what im looking for tonewise......cant really use it now til i get a cab so be a few weeks of non playin...goin away for 2 weeks..tryon to get one sorted before i go so my band can prac the week i get bak...


was playin sulfur by slipknot the other day through my 2x12 matamp (which technically isnt mine anymore ive sold it last week and aint sent it yet as i wont be able to play the amp when it goes) ...the tone was slipknot tone was bang on...and my ears were sore for the whole day after with the bottom end...its ridiculous..and that was just bedroom volumes.....wanted more bottom end and balls to my bands sound and i think this amp is the solution...the stuff im writing gets heavier and heavier every song- bring the noise

 

[Anonymous]

Pull either the outer 2 or inner 2 power tubes and a rectifier tube. Then, if your cab is 8 ohms, plug into the 4 ohm spot. If it's 16 ohms, plug into the 8 ohm output. Now, you're using your Rec at 50 watts and can safely turn it up as loud as you want without fear of hurting the cab. You'll find that the pinch harmonics will begin to jump right off the fretboard with more volume.

Rectos are difficult to get right. On one hand, you need to turn them up to get the right feel going. On the other, too much volume can make the power section wash out or worse yet, push the speakers past where they'll remain tight and defined. Mids help a lot! I run my mids at about 3 o'clock and while I still have the huge bottom end, my amp tracks better and stays tight without an OD pedal.

I also am using 6L6s. I've had EL34s in on numerous occasions, and while I like their aggression, the lack of a clear high end leaves me with much to be desired. Of course, now that I think about it, turning the mids down to noon might be the solution to that. Regardless, I love the 6L6 sound.

Here's a rough clip of the sound I get. Used a little too much gain, but again it's a just a rough take. Straight into the amp into a Recto 4x12:

http://www.netmusicians.org/files/64-07-31-09%20Metal%20Mix%203.mp3

 

[nyeguy]

Seriously, forget all the BS about tone knob settings and tube choices(althogh valid ideas) put a tube screamer or any type of OD pedal infront of ur amp(I use the Zakk Wylde MXR, my fave over Ibanez ts9) volume cranked, tone straight up and gain all the way down on the pedal! This took all the problems I had with the DR series(loose bass and upper mids missing "somethin") and takes the DR into Bogner territory! Was ready to sell my ToV until these guys on this board turned me on to this idea! Now squeelies happen at will! Killswitch uses the Maxxon 808 infront of their Mesas!

 

[coppa]

just looking at your settings: the high bass setting will murder your harmonics.

turn off the lights when you play and twist the knobs on that channel until it sounds how you like it
whatever you do don't look at those **** knobs. what you see will mess with what you hear. there must be
a reason for mesa putting those round knobs on the amp besides it just looking cool. so you couldn't read the settings quite clearly

also 5 days with that amp is not gonna do it. you need to spend a long time with the recto before you get it to sound how you like.
its not a plug and play sort of amp. I took a year to figure mine out.

you could also try the overdrive pedal

 

[moodyedge]

just looking at your settings: the high bass setting will murder your harmonics.

turn off the lights when you play and twist the knobs on that channel until it sounds how you like it
whatever you do don't look at those **** knobs. what you see will mess with what you hear. there must be
a reason for mesa putting those round knobs on the amp besides it just looking cool. so you couldn't read the settings quite clearly

also 5 days with that amp is not gonna do it. you need to spend a long time with the recto before you get it to sound how you like.
its not a plug and play sort of amp. I took a year to figure mine out.

you could also try the overdrive pedal

i figured out today that the raw mode on any channel is totally useless....it has a horrid tone.......for pure clear blues rock woody crunch tone i will keep the orange.....for dark heavy tones i have the mesa. the mesa has a good clean channel....but the raw sounds pants...does anyone agree with that? ive traied a lot of settings on both ch2 and 3 with raw and cant get anything i like from them


i like vintage but it seems too mushey and muffled......but turning up the treble and/or presence the highs go spikey and horrible......


patience is certainly being tested....

 

[Metaltastic]

i figured out today that the raw mode on any channel is totally useless....it has a horrid tone.......for pure clear blues rock woody crunch tone i will keep the orange.....for dark heavy tones i have the mesa. the mesa has a good clean channel....but the raw sounds pants...does anyone agree with that? ive traied a lot of settings on both ch2 and 3 with raw and cant get anything i like from them


i like vintage but it seems too mushey and muffled......but turning up the treble and/or presence the highs go spikey and horrible......


patience is certainly being tested....

As I've only owned a 2 ch., I can't comment on Raw, but I agree 100% with your assessment of Vintage, at least for rhythms (for leads it's so creamy, mmmmmmm). You're settings look good dude, but I would NEVER play a Dual Rec without some form of Tube Screamer personally; the $40 Ibanez TS7 is identical to the TS9 (only the box is different, same op-amp, as can be seen here), and I would NEVER play my Dual without it! 8) Drive 8:30, Tone, 11:00 or so, Level 12:00, happiness = MAX

 

[mikey383]

+1 on the technique comment.

FWIW, I've been playing for 17 years, been playing Mesas for the last 7. I had absolutely no problems getting PH on other amps, but could not get them to sound good through my Mesa. Changed my technique a little bit, and BAM! there they were.

After doing that, I noticed they were killer when I play through other amps. You just have to learn what spots on the strings shine through on a Rectifier.

 

[bryan_kilco]

i recently set up my Mark IV differently than normal. I kinda "figured it out", so to speak.

anyway, I noticed that when my gain and drive are around 6-7, i get an awesome nice, tight, chunky rhythm tone, but PH are a bit rough to nail. if I knock that gain up a notch or 2, it becomes easier, but takes away my tight chunkiness.

 

[moodyedge]

yeah it does seem there are issues with it even though it has killer tone lurking in there somewhere

the rhythm tones blow me away but the highs on the lead tone on vintage are just too much for my ears...they sound thin and abbrasive up the next on the thinner strings, Im trying to sort that also

im keeping my orange I think thats the verdict for that. The lead tones are very ....organic??????? more pure and have more soul...the orange barks the mesa does a death metal scream

what it says about the vintage mode and "soul" in the mesa boogie handbook is maybe PR/marketing bullshit ...I dont think it has much soul at all. Nice tones yes...but soul........hmm...not sure. Ive heard clips of mk 3 and 4s and they have that "soul" but in a slightly diff way

I will maybe notice a difference when i get a mesa 4x12 cab. Not sure how but have to wait and see when I can see one on ebay that looks tidy.

i find the neck pickup sounds good on vintage if a little bassy but when I switch to the neck pickup its mush city

Im sick of the sound of my own voice now......or my own typing anyway

 

[coppa]

ok ok

try this:

bass 9:00
mids 1:00
treble 1:00
gain 12:00 or 11:00

presence depends on your cab, stand off to the side of the cab if its too much
I think a darker cab might do it some good IMO

 

[minus]

I'm gonna guess it's not so much not getting pinch harmonics, but ones that can kill small birds and shatter ear drums. A tube screamer will get you there with ease, and still give you that wall of punishing sound.

 

[plapnab]

You shouldn't need to crank the amp to get good harmonics. The amp gets its distortion from the preamp. When I bought my Rec I thought the same thing as you did...just didn't get those responsive tones and harmonics. Then four days later I had a massive power loss problem on channels 2 and 3. Turned out the problem was a bad 3rd 12ax7-a preamp tube (which was replaced). Immediately, the amp came to life harmonically and I have been in love with it ever since. You should maybe try a good EQ/reverb/and delay in the effects loop. Maybe an overdrive in the front (MXR Zakk Wylde recommended) would give you the pinch harmonics your looking for...I find the dual recs to be pretty dry with out any effects.

 

[moodyedge]

I'm gonna guess it's not so much not getting pinch harmonics, but ones that can kill small birds and shatter ear drums. A tube screamer will get you there with ease, and still give you that wall of punishing sound.

thats the ones yeah.....obviously u can get them without an amp but the amp makes them shine through a speaker. i bought a TS9DX Turbo Tube Screamer from the states a while back....liked it..best pedal Ive ever tried as every other pedal Ive ever bought to try was totally pants...sounded fake..that was the 1st one that sounded like real tone. I used it with the oramnge rock 30 so..it wasnt ideal althought got me closer to the nu metal type tone with the jackson dkmgt i also had at the time. I wasnt happy with the tone still so i sold both of them after a few weeks and then decided to change the amp. much better now with the duel rec. when i get a cab and some effects it will be great, and when i get used to it..getting cloer...i play a range of stuff tho so...i get the settings right for say slipknot...then i wana play ratm so they all get moved and the hard tewaking work is gone.....arh.........no doubt if i do it enough i will know wat to put where within a few seconds

 

[moodyedge]

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[moodyedge]

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[moodyedge]

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[moodyedge]

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[moodyedge]

You shouldn't need to crank the amp to get good harmonics. The amp gets its distortion from the preamp. When I bought my Rec I thought the same thing as you did...just didn't get those responsive tones and harmonics. Then four days later I had a massive power loss problem on channels 2 and 3. Turned out the problem was a bad 3rd 12ax7-a preamp tube (which was replaced). Immediately, the amp came to life harmonically and I have been in love with it ever since. You should maybe try a good EQ/reverb/and delay in the effects loop. Maybe an overdrive in the front (MXR Zakk Wylde recommended) would give you the pinch harmonics your looking for...I find the dual recs to be pretty dry with out any effects.

i never ever wanted an amp with reverb i thought..."whats the point" but i wish my duel rec had reverb it is very very dry....im not big on pinched harmonics or effects but my view is changing..all i ever used when gigging for the past 3 years was a dunlop wah for certain parts in a few songs........nothing else....very simple setup...1 channel.....control cleans with the volume pot on the guitar and change tones by swicthing pickups....now i realise this would be so much simpler if i had a few channels..which is the maoin reason for buying the duel rectifier 3ch....its a total luxury having 3 channels..ive always played 70s style blues rock/classic rock so never really needed any effects, just an awsum tone whioch the setup gave me but it was jus that kinda sond it would do and not much else.

..now a few effects..(i already hav a dd6 delay)

tremolo for a smooth wide slow shimmer on cleans
phase for some tom morello style soloing
reverb (which i also bought a boss rv5 and thought was ****, does anyone know of a better reverb for around the same price)

as for pinched harmonics...it was never my style ..but the stuff im writing..certain parts just cry out for that...you have to put in what the songs seems to ask for...thats how i see it...getting into kse etc also as they do a lot ha. Cant wait to get some stuff recorded in a studio and on disc/web. Weve only ever played it live

 

[Metaltastic]

I'm gonna guess it's not so much not getting pinch harmonics, but ones that can kill small birds and shatter ear drums. A tube screamer will get you there with ease, and still give you that wall of punishing sound.

Yup 8)

 

[volatileNoise]

Man channel 3 is there for the angry sounding (metal/heavy) tone, you should be tweaking this channel in the "Modern" mode, especially with the influences of the bands you mentioned... The pots fitted to Ch 3 are put there by Mesa for this purpose!

Basically you are using the channels back to front (2 & 3 anyway) for what it "sounds" like you are trying to achieve.

Better off doing that, and learning how to tweak Ch 3, than putting some tone killing OD pedal out front IMO.