Recto Epiphany #2: Tone Purist to Stay!

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Hey guys!

Having no school this week, I decided to again sit down and noodle with my recto all morning!

Epiphany #1, if you remember, was turn the gain down! You get more balls, more definition...basically, it only get meaner.

Today, I decided to switch out my effects loop. I always liked the idea of having a solo boost, and a master volume for easy volume changes, but TODAY, I said what the heck, let's give it a try.

:shock: ...that's about all I can say. Just flat out beautiful. The loop really does take from your tone. Pure Mesa agression, even at low volumes :twisted:

So, again, I have found beauty in my mesa! I do have to sacrifice my effects processor, but that is really no big deal for me. I've always been an effects minimalist, and after getting hte processor, I started liking delay and reverb. Recently, I noticed how much tone the processor took. It was fun to have the effects, but in all honesty, all they did was steal tone, and cover up my mistakes. I can get much nicer tones with the Mesa alone, especailly with 3 gorgeous channels! Platypus...you were right....reverb mostly just makes up for lacking tone!

As for upfront, I'm running an A/B switch, with A being to my tuner, and B to my wah and noise supressor. I'd love to go directly into the recto, but I really love my wah pedal.... . In all honesty, I might even be able to get rid of my noise supressor, as the lower of gain makes the Mesa a pretty **** quite amp.

Just wanted to share with you guys!

So, my setup at the moment is:

Ibanez SZ520 w/ Tremontis
Ibanez RG520 w/ Dimarzios
Morley Tremonti Power Wah
Planet Waves Pedal Tuner
Pedalboard Junction Custom A/B Box
ISP Noise Decimator
Mesa Dual Recto 3 Channel
Mesa Standard 4x12

THANK YOU BOOGIE BOARD!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I CANT STOP PLAYING! Wow...long live the recto.

Shoutout for MESA!

 

[MetalMatt]

...F R E A K!

Yup, I was just like you when I found this out. I'm thinking of going back to trying the effects loop, now that I have new cables . I love effects, but I hate the tap dancing.

WHAT? Reverb makes up for "lacking tone"... hmmm as Chuck Schuldiner would say... LIES! I use reverb... :shock: maybe I have bad tone!

Congrats on the new found love.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

A little reverb isn't bad...but if overdone, it really makes a mess....

I'm happy with my wah pedal for now!

 

[jbird]

I've always said F/X Loops degrade tone, to different degrees! Another thing, get rid of the noise supressor! I'll let ya keep the wah though! :lol: :wink:

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I'm actually considering getting rid of the supressor also!

I remember you always talking about bypassing the loop. I thought you'd be one to appreciate this!

Can I keep the tuner and the A/B box?

 

[siggy14]

i have always loved my recto without the loop engauged, i dont care for the solo boost and like everyone says, things in loop just kill the tone.

 

[jbird]

Can I keep the tuner and the A/B box?

When I finally weened myself of all my effects (sans a wah), I even got rid of my in-line tuner! In it's place, I bought a Peterson VSll! I tune my guitars once before a practice/show and that's it! It gets me that much closer that I'm good for a night! Of course, we're talking PRS Guitars here! :wink:

 

[Commander Coo1]

strange, i felt like my amp gained a lot of fullness when i engaged the loop, but i just have a reverb/delay pedal and 6 feet of cable maybe i will have to give this a try though. there is a lot of buzz in my effects loop, does anyone know how to get rid of it? is a preamp tube problem?

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

There is much more tone in stock without it.

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

...but i just have a reverb/delay pedal and 6 feet of cable maybe i will have to give this a try though. there is a lot of buzz in my effects loop, does anyone know how to get rid of it? is a preamp tube problem?

Similar setup here...chorus, delay, reverb in loop, all Boss pedals. To clean up your effected tone, you must first find "unity gain" (typically around 1:00 on the Send knob...no significant change in vol when footswitching loop on/off), turn your channel masters down until the buzz/noise goes away, and turn UP the Output to get your desired stage volume.

If the noise persists, try changing the V4 preamp tube.

 

[broknstuff]

You also maybe liked the tone with the loop engaged because of the extra preamp tube might have been adding some extra gain that you found pleasing.

When you guys mean you like the sound of it with the preamp bypassed, do you mean set to bypass on the backpanel, or when you have it on footswitch mode but haven't engaged it yet? I thought that when you had it on footswitch mode but it wasn't engaged the effects loop was still hard wired bypassed (true bypassed), just like it is when you have it set to bypass on the backpanel. I haven't used any effects with my mesa yet, so that's why I'm not really in the 'know'..

Anyways, I got a g-system though and will set it up soon (ya I know, going from zero to over-kill, but I figure now I'm set and don't need anymore, plus I'm playing lead now and we do some covers occassionally, so I'll be ready at whatever comes my way). My idea is to still have it so that when I'm not using any effects, my signal is going straight from guitar to amp (well with a buffer now because of the longer signal run) and only engage it in the signal path when I'm using it. I'll be using an ABCadabra a/b midi switch to take the pre-preamp loop in and out of the siganl (so when I'm not using it it's going straight to the mesa), and then figured the post preamp loop would just to be taken in and out by switching the fx loop on and off (I'll be using a CFX4 to control the recto via the g-system controller).
So in other words, hope having the loop footswitchable, eventhough not on, doesn't take my sound away from me. I figure a bit of tone loss is o.k. when using effects because the point is that you're affecting your signal anyway...

 

[PDad]

There is much more tone in stock without it.

Why is that, do you think, ibanez4life? I've seen lots of folks mention it, so I'm sure it's valid, but it seems odd.

I use the loop in my amp 100% of the time, so I guess I'll have to try putting my FX rack through the input.

 

[Micah]

There is much more tone in stock without it.

Which Dimarzio Pickups do you have in the other Ibanez?

 

[RyanDM]

What about those of us with the Single Recto heads? There is no hard bypass. All we have in the back is the send, return, and then an FX Mix knob.
See Here: http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Rectifier_Series/The_Single_Rectifiers/enlarge/P-Loop-LG.htm
So technically is my FX loop is always engaged? I personally sold all my old FX processor hoopla to buy this amp so I haven't even tried the loop yet. Has anyone with the Single Recto experimented with this? I usually plug straight in but would like to have a couple time based FX again occasionally in my loop (Boss chorus, tremelo, and reverb). Will my tone suffer once I do this?

 

[Platypus]

I've noticed that the tone is 'better' when the loop is bypassed but it isn't THAT drastic guys. It's worth the slight loss in tone that no one in your audience would ever notice anyway to be able to use modulation and time based effects in a seperated loop, not to mention the output and solo knob functionality.

 

[Guitarzan]

no one in your audience would ever notice anyway

...or the Bears offense. Urlacher maybe. I run my rig live with a Digitech DSP 256 XL in the loop only assigned to the clean channel. You can get a great stage volume with loop in line as well. Either, or, you still get a great tone

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I definitely agree! If you need the effects, the change is not that drastic, but the unit just gave me more tap dancing and more cables to setup.

It just felt to me like the amp gained more girth and punch with the loop bypassed.

And with the loop engaged, whether it is switch in or out, it is still there....

 

[Platypus]

Analog delay is such a huge part of my tone I can't see ever playing without it! Before I used delay I ran bypassed and I really don't miss it too much.

My Orange and upcoming Stiletto are my 'no pedals, only guitar' amplifiers, my DR is a workhorse!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

If I had other amps, I would definitely do that, but at 17, I'm already lucky to own everything I do!