Rectoverb vs Dual Rectifier

[ESP123]

I'm on the verge of buying one of these new from MESA Monday morning and this is the last weekend I have with my old head. Can anyone share what they like and dislike about their Rectoverb Heads? What types of music did you use it for and how did it work out for those? How does it sound live for shows around 100-300 people? I used to own a Dual Recto a while ago but felt I was never using it for the 100w it offered. I would never turn it up past 3 or 4 and I wished it had reverb the whole time as well - kinda why I'm leaning towards the Rectoverb.

Please share any and all thoughts everyone, would really appreciate hearing from the community here before plunging down $1500 for this on Monday.

 

[rich]

i had both...three channel dual rectifier and the series 2 rectoverb before that.

i liked my rectoverb a little bit better...to me it sounded a little smoother and tighter

overall though the two channel i have now is what I like the best

 

[halfnote]

I have owned the Rectoverb combo and the 3 channel recto (currently own a 2 ch). The Rectoverb has a great sound but not much headroom. I also didn't get a very good lead tone to cut through with it, great rythym tone though. The 3 footswitchable channels on the DR are all very usefull and you have the option of tube rectifiers. My opinion is that if you are going to spend the money you might as well spend the extra bucks for the DR. It is all that the rectoverb is (minus reverb) and more. However I would also recomend that unless you are sure you are going to hand onto this amp for a long time do not buy new. Rectoverbs and DRs come up for sale on the board all the time for considerably less than new.
I bought a Stiletto Trident like new for 800 bucks, a Stiletto Ace combo for 1000, a Rectoverb combo for 1000, a Stiletto Ace head for 900, a three channel DR for 550 (Tube recs didn't work, 50 dollar fix), a Tremoverb head for 1000, and my current TOV combo for 1100.
All these prices were shipping inclusive or I picked them up.

I have used all the Mesas I've owned for a variety of music funk, jazz, rock, and teh brutalz

 

[MusicManJP6]

I would also advise you to buy used. You save several hundred bucks and when GAS hits you won't lose as much when/if you sell it. I have owned two Rectoverb combos. I had one for a while then sold it to fund a Stiletto Ace, then sold that and bought a DC-3 head, then ended up finding a Rectoverb locally and trading two recto 1x12 cabs for it because I missed the Recto tone. I think the DR has more gain on tap, but the Recto has plenty of gain and dare I say it has more usable gain throughout it's gain range? Reverb sounds nice and lush, but is not tube driven so it's not as good as a Roadster's or Lonestar's reverb. RoV is one of Mesas best bang for the buck amps along with the DC series - which is why I own one of each! HTH

 

[pokerrules47]

I've owned both the Rectoverb Combo (which I have used extensively with external cabs) and a dual rec head (roadster).

I can say that the roadster has all the good stuff I loved about the rectoverb, but more headroom and versatility. They are very similar in ways, but very different in other ways. I find the roadster more organic sounding and for me that is a plus.

The only real complaint that I had about the rectoverb is that unless I was using a 4x12 or something, I would have a rough time cutting through the mix. That was mostly due to the fact that the band I was in was very loud.

Both are good amps, but try them out to make sure they are what you want. Too many people rush out and buy a mesa because everyone else has one, but then realize it's not the amp for them... then start dissing mesa.

 

[ESP123]

Thanks for all the replys! I've owned several Mesas so far this would be my fourth one. I had a Single Rect series 2, and a Dual Rect a little while ago. I got rid of the Single because I thought I needed what the Dual had to offer (watts and headroom). Being loud enough was never really a problem in my band with the single. My other guitarist plays a Dual and it always sounded fine to me with both turned up. I then got rid of the Dual because I thought it needed a much better clean channel and I wasn't really using the 100w. I'm leaning back towards the Rectoverb Head "series 2" because when I look at this amp, I would use everything it has to offer and not miss anything. I would use the solo feature for sure. I would definitely value the reverb on both channels and the 50w head would give me a better sound outside of band practice and shows. I could also get nice saturation more quickly when playing live and loud with the 50w.

 

[YellowJacket]

Thanks for all the replys! I've owned several Mesas so far this would be my fourth one. I had a Single Rect series 2, and a Dual Rect a little while ago. I got rid of the Single because I thought I needed what the Dual had to offer (watts and headroom). Being loud enough was never really a problem in my band with the single. My other guitarist plays a Dual and it always sounded fine to me with both turned up. I then got rid of the Dual because I thought it needed a much better clean channel and I wasn't really using the 100w. I'm leaning back towards the Rectoverb Head "series 2" because when I look at this amp, I would use everything it has to offer and not miss anything. I would use the solo feature for sure. I would definitely value the reverb on both channels and the 50w head would give me a better sound outside of band practice and shows. I could also get nice saturation more quickly when playing live and loud with the 50w.

My favourite trick with a dual is to pull out one rectifier tube and two power tubes, either the outside two or the inside two. I then match my head with the speaker lead plugged into the 4 ohms output into an 8 ohm cab to compensate for the change in resistance due to running only half of the power section of the amp. The advantages of the dual over the single are really the additional options for tweaking. I find it interesting that you didn't like the clean on the Dual as compared with a Series 2 Single. Which Dual were you running? Was it a very old two channel one!?

 

[ESP123]

Thanks for all the replys! I've owned several Mesas so far this would be my fourth one. I had a Single Rect series 2, and a Dual Rect a little while ago. I got rid of the Single because I thought I needed what the Dual had to offer (watts and headroom). Being loud enough was never really a problem in my band with the single. My other guitarist plays a Dual and it always sounded fine to me with both turned up. I then got rid of the Dual because I thought it needed a much better clean channel and I wasn't really using the 100w. I'm leaning back towards the Rectoverb Head "series 2" because when I look at this amp, I would use everything it has to offer and not miss anything. I would use the solo feature for sure. I would definitely value the reverb on both channels and the 50w head would give me a better sound outside of band practice and shows. I could also get nice saturation more quickly when playing live and loud with the 50w.

My favourite trick with a dual is to pull out one rectifier tube and two power tubes, either the outside two or the inside two. I then match my head with the speaker lead plugged into the 4 ohms output into an 8 ohm cab to compensate for the change in resistance due to running only half of the power section of the amp. The advantages of the dual over the single are really the additional options for tweaking. I find it interesting that you didn't like the clean on the Dual as compared with a Series 2 Single. Which Dual were you running? Was it a very old two channel one!?

Yeah I heard about people doing that but then your just using it for 50w and you don't have reverb? I used a 3 channel dual and although the clean was not as bad as say the Peavey 6505, it lacked any warmth without reverb.

 

[fishyfishfish]

I have had both, and I liked that you could do more tweaking with the Dual. I run mine :
CH1 Clean (TC Compressor)
Ch2 Raw ( I use a TC Vintage compressor and a BB Preamp for solo boost)
Ch3 Vintage (Lead tone)
I can get great clean tones from my Dual, it took a lot though. I also have a DD6 and a Super Chorus in the loop that I can switch in and out of the loop.
The Solo 50 is a cool amp as well as the Recto Verb. Check out both.