Recto owners: try this if you haven't yet!!

[Silverwulf]

I've always done this on my 2 channel Recto, it sounds way better with the presence turned off. However, even with the treble just under half it's still a bit bright for my liking.

You have a Revision C, that's pretty common with them.

 

[bermuda_]

Hey guys

I bought the preamp tube pack you mentioned here from Doug tubes.

And when I emailed doug about which preamp tube I should use as the V1 he recommended that I should use the Tung sol, but since a lot of people say this preamp tube is crap, which preamp out of the five Doug sold me would you recommend I should put in instead of the Tung Sol.

Thanks

 

[halfdriven]

hey Botch have you tried Beam Blockers, I use 2 in a diagonal pattern and it helps control the highs. I have 2 xtra if you wanna try them.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I love the Tung Sol in V1, but that is in my Roadster, which is a darker rectifier.

I'd try something like an EH or JJ....in that order...I find JJs too dark. The EH might be just what you want for V1.

Best of luck!

Eric

 

[Anonymous]

I love the Tung Sol in V1, but that is in my Roadster, which is a darker rectifier.

I'd try something like an EH or JJ....in that order...I find JJs too dark. The EH might be just what you want for V1.

Best of luck!

Eric

+1

I've also heard a Mesa SPAX7-A in V1 that I liked a lot.

 

[Botch]

I have one of them as I have the Doug's tube kit in my pre amp which is as follows:

Tung-Sol 12AX7
High Gain JJ ECC83
Penta 12AX7
Shuguang 12AX7 8th gen
Sovtek 12AX7 LPS

I can't remember which order they're currently in.

Ahh, I see. Well if I can recommend one thing to you, it would be to swap tubes out for something more suitable for your Recto. Doug's "tube kit" is supposed to be a sampler of different types of tubes because believe me, there are much better combinations out there for a Recto than those.

What I'd do is first get the Tung-Sol and Penta out of there; Chinese tubes, to me, add a lot of brightness and unnecessary fizz that doesn't work well with Rectifiers (or Bogners!). For the first 3 spots, JJs will work well, though I like to mix it up a little. I'd go with JJs or Electro-Harmonix - though EH aren't made as consistent - for V1 and V2. Your ears will tell you which should go where, or if you should just use two of a brand. For V3, I do like the darkness of the Sovtek LPS so I'd probably put one in there, but the JJs or EH tubes will work well here too. The effects loop, V4, I hardly even think about since I rarely use it, but the Penta would probably work best here - Penta tubes are well known to sound good in hi-fi circumstances, which is essentially what you want the loop to do. Phase inverter, V5, sounds great with the LPS again. I haven't played around with this spot too much, but I'd imagine a reissue Mullard would sound good here too.

A few things I've taken away is that in general, with Rectifiers, Russian and Eastern European tubes sound better than Chinese. The early stages - V1 and V2 - should be your clearer tubes with the most gain, while V3 you may want to tame it down (or not!). V4 should be clear to have the loop color the tone the least amount, and V5 must be chosen carefully because it will have a big impact on your tone.

Hope that helps!

And one more thing: I've never heard of anyone liking that Tung-Sol RI in their Rectifier. I'd get that tube out of there ASAP!

So, last night I had a look to see how the preamp was set up and it was like this:

V1 - Tung Sol
V2 - JJ
V3 - Penta
V4 - 5th Gen
V5 - Sovtek

Taking your advice on board I changed it to this, with what I had in that set:

V1 - JJ
V2 - 5th Gen
V3 - Sovtek
V4 - Tung Sol (as i never use te FX loop anyway!)
V5 - Penta

I must say, there was a definite improvement and without doubt a darker tone. Very pleased! I was unsure where to put the 5th Gen and Penta, where would you recommend? I think I'm probably going to get another JJ and another Sovtek and put the JJ in V2 and Sovtek in V5 so it'll line up like this:

V1 - JJ
V2 - JJ
V3 - Sovtek
V4 - Tung Sol/Penta/5th Gen (unsure as yet but not really important as I don't use the FX loop)
V5 - Sovtek

Thanks again for the info!

 

[Botch]

hey Botch have you tried Beam Blockers, I use 2 in a diagonal pattern and it helps control the highs. I have 2 xtra if you wanna try them.

Halfdriven, thanks for the offer I appreciate it but I don't use my cab at band practice, I use the rehearsal room's Mesa 2x12 and use my Orange 4x12 for live shows so therefore I really need to tame the highs of the Recto itself.

 

[Anonymous]

So, last night I had a look to see how the preamp was set up and it was like this:

V1 - Tung Sol
V2 - JJ
V3 - Penta
V4 - 5th Gen
V5 - Sovtek

Taking your advice on board I changed it to this, with what I had in that set:

V1 - JJ
V2 - 5th Gen
V3 - Sovtek
V4 - Tung Sol (as i never use te FX loop anyway!)
V5 - Penta

I must say, there was a definite improvement and without doubt a darker tone. Very pleased! I was unsure where to put the 5th Gen and Penta, where would you recommend? I think I'm probably going to get another JJ and another Sovtek and put the JJ in V2 and Sovtek in V5 so it'll line up like this:

V1 - JJ
V2 - JJ
V3 - Sovtek
V4 - Tung Sol/Penta/5th Gen (unsure as yet but not really important as I don't use the FX loop)
V5 - Sovtek

Thanks again for the info!

That looks pretty good to me. The additional Sovtek and JJ should work well in taming those highs, but with what you've got now, I don't think you can really make any further improvements. The one thing I might try is to switch the 5th gen and Penta, just to see if it sounds better or worse.

Glad I could help!

 

[Silverwulf]

I hate that tube combo from Doug's Tubes. Doug is a great guy to buy from, but that tube selection he preaches to everyone is just completely random. There's no logic behind his tube selection, which was evident when I questioned him about it before. The best explanation he could give for why he chose that combo was that he likes the Tung Sol best, so that's what he tells people to put in V1...and the rest were all different because he didn't want to sell people multiple of the same tube in the event they didn't like that one particular tubes tone.

If you liked the JJ in the V1 slot and what it did to your tone, then get another 2 high gain JJ's for at least the V2 and V3 slots. You'll probably be pleased. I run all JJ ECC83's in my Recto preamps (high gain in V1 to V3). It darkens your tone, thickens up the gain a little (IMO), and gives you a much more usable presence knob.

 

[Silverwulf]

In regards to the Presence knob, mine is usually set around 12:30 to 1 o'clock when using Modern Red on 2 Channel Rectos.

 

[jakeleigh]

Just tried turning off the presence. Sounds ALOT better, will definitley be using this setting. I find anywhere between off and 8o'clock sounds really good. Running my TR with Bold/Diode Master, Loop on, 10 o'clock, Pres 8, Treb 12, Mid 11, Bass 2, Gain 1 and obviously Output to whatever I need. Pushing the front end with SD-1 Volume Full, Tone halfway and Drive 0 if using EMGs or 500Ts and 2 if using PRS Custom 22 with Dragon 2s. It sounds huge with hardly any fizz.

 

[bermuda_]

As I mentioned before I bought the preamp kit Doug recommends so much to his customers

But I don't like the sound of the Tung Sol in the V1. So I emailed Doug and asked him could I replace the Tung Sol and use the JJ in the V1 instead.

He replied back to and said and I quote " And then put the Tung Sol where", I replied back to his question stating would it be possible to put the Tung Sol in the V2 slot.

Doug then replied back again and said and I quote "All I can tell you is do not use russian preamp tubes an any high voltage cathode follower spots. V2 and/or V3 in many amps.

So with that being said, I was just wondering guys what did Doug mean when he said that?

 

[Anonymous]

As I mentioned before I bought the preamp kit Doug recommends so much to his customers

But I don't like the sound of the Tung Sol in the V1. So I emailed Doug and asked him could I replace the Tung Sol and use the JJ in the V1 instead.

He replied back to and said and I quote " And then put the Tung Sol where", I replied back to his question stating would it be possible to put the Tung Sol in the V2 slot.

Doug then replied back again and said and I quote "All I can tell you is do not use russian preamp tubes an any high voltage cathode follower spots. V2 and/or V3 in many amps.

So with that being said, I was just wondering guys what did Doug mean when he said that?

Sometimes the Sovtek LPS doesn't work in those spots, though I am inclined to believe this is simply untrue of ALL Russian tubes, especially since - to my knowledge - Mesa uses Russian. I haven't had trouble with it, and since it can do no harm to the amp, I see no reason not to try it. For you, I'd say put the Tung-Sol in the FX loop spot - V4. It will be the most transparent position, even with the loop on.

 

[bermuda_]

just curious but between the Tung Sol, JJ which of these two preamp tubes has the most gain?

 

[wolf]

Hi.I had 3 ch recto before it`s more fizzy and darker than older 2 ch. models especialy on red ch.I`ve tried to work with presence and treble on my F rev recto as someone said in this thread I haven`t noticed much difference.For example If I turn presence to 9 o`clock and treble 3 o`clock it`s sounds the same like both on 12 o`clock.Also it`s depend whitch configuration of preamp tubes U use.Some experience with JJ tubes they do good job in V1 and V3.For V2 is propably best EH or old Mesa 7023 they make mids nice tight.With those preamp tubes sounds my recto realy markish.....

 

[boogiewoogie]

I already knew about this trick and it takes a bit of time to get used to the sound because of that "blanket over the cab" feel but once you do you will not want to dial more presence...if you're looking for a smoother tone, of course. Sometimes I dial more presence but it sounds too harsh and fizzy.
It would be good to make this a sticky

 

[wolf]

I understood presence knob as ovelal "sound brighter" witch realy is.So if I play in our reherse room witch is small and full of carpets I can easy turn it off.When I play gig on biger stage I need put some presence up but I don`t have to touch other knobs except master volume.

 

[Silverwulf]

One of the problems with doing this is that if you turn off your Presence knob, then you're likely jacking up your Treble knob to compensate for the highs. And when you jack up the Treble knob, you reduce the effectiveness of your Mids, Bass, etc...because of the Rectos interactive controls.

 

[Anonymous]

One of the problems with doing this is that if you turn off your Presence knob, then you're likely jacking up your Treble knob to compensate for the highs. And when you jack up the Treble knob, you reduce the effectiveness of your Mids, Bass, etc...because of the Rectos interactive controls.

I don't see it as a problem if you're not maxing out the controls.

On my 2ch DRs, I ran the following settings in Red Modern:
Treble: 1:00
Mids: 11:00 - 1:00
Bass: noon
Presence: off

Gain and volume to taste

On my 3ch Triple in Red Modern:
Treble: noon
Mids: 11:00
Bass: 10 - 11:00
Presence: off

Again, gain and volume to taste.

Personally I've never felt the need to have more highs. Especially in a band setting I've found the above to work really well because you're not stepping on the vocalist or bass player - though you may need to adjust if you've got another guitarist.

This clip was recorded with a 2ch DR with no presence. I love the guitar tone and don't feel it's lacking anywhere, but maybe others disagree.
http://www.netmusicians.org/files/67-10-11-2009%20-%20Rev.%20F%20-%20G12M%20-%20e602.mp3

 

[Silverwulf]

I don't see it as a problem if you're not maxing out the controls.

Well, I was thinking more of the guys that would be jacking up the knob to 3 or 4 o'clock for more highs with the presence rolled off. If you're keeping it at 12 to 1 o'clock, that's a different story.