Rectoverb 25 vs its big brother

[koosh27]

For those guys with rectifier experience----
All punchy bass frequencys aside, does the ROV25's vintage and modern channels compare with its bigger, 50 &100 watt brothers? Obviously EL84s are a much different tube, but my understanding, is Mesa made it work, and with an extention cab, these little amps do the trick. True or False? If false what sets them apart? Tone, amount of gain? Thanks in advance!

 

[Ryann]

The RV25 combo is a new beast all it’s own in my opinion. It definitely has some tricks up it’s sleeve particularly in 10W mode that I have not heard from another Mesa amp. It’s super responsive and crunchy and juicy.

One thing it does have in common with the big Rectos (that I almost never hear anyone talk about) are the excellent cleans. It doesn’t have a ton of clean headroom but ****, the clean channel sounds fantastic. Appreciate the cleanness a while then for sh*ts and giggles dime the gain knob and prepare to be amazed.

Something I have noticed that may or may not be important to you is that it sounds kinda crappy at lower volumes. You really have to turn this amp up to be in the sweet zone.

Maybe someone in the know could chime in here but the power section reminds me a lot of my old F-30. Whether this amp and the Mark 5:25 use an evolution of the old Dyna-Watt 2xEL84 config I dunno but it has that feel.

 

[koosh27]

Thanks for the response! Bedroom volumes are not important to me that much as much as what itll do on stage. I have heard great things about the clean channel from reviews and what not. What are your opinions of modern mode on the ROV25? Similiar to the big guys in terms of voicing, or no?

 

[Ryann]

I would have to hear the RV25 driving a 4x12 cab in order to comment on that legitimately. Maybe someone else can chime in here?

I will say that Ch.2 Modern mode is not in the top five things I appreciate about it. The combo is pretty **** aggressive sounding @ 25W through the new Fillmore speaker but isn’t what makes it special IMO.

 

[plan-x]

Modern mode is in my top 5. Has girth and plenty of gain. Don't know how it compares to the 50/100 w model. My buddy has one, I'll ask for a demo. I don't think it has the same thump as a 6l6 does. A fair approximation but different in an inferior way. Fullness is lacking. So why own one? Portability vs tone. I would definitely use this as a gigging amp but a good cab will help.

 

[elvis]

I would peg the 25 as sounding closest to the 50. It's brighter than the 100. I gigged one for a long time and it does very well onstage, very clear. At higher volumes the clean will dirty up a bit and it will be more mid-driven, as the EL84s can only deliver so much volume for low frequencies.

Lovely amp. For more volume you could add a Power Station or pretty much any other amp in stereo out of a stereo reverb or delay pedal in the loop.