Seems the gain gets weaker by the minute on DR??

[Adambomb]

I have a Dual Recto 3 ch and seems like when I first turn the amp on it rocks. Then after about 5 minutes of playing on channel 2 and 3, the gain and balls on this amp seem to drop a little. After about 5 minutes the amp don't distort as good.

Has anyone experienced this?

 

[camsna]

Not normal - get it serviced!

 

[AnnihilationText]

I have a Dual Recto 3 ch and seems like when I first turn the amp on it rocks. Then after about 5 minutes of playing on channel 2 and 3, the gain and balls on this amp seem to drop a little. After about 5 minutes the amp don't distort as good.

Has anyone experienced this?

I am having the *exact* same problem right now. I play quite heavy death metal style music and what made it apparent to me that something was gradually going wrong with my sound was when I was practicing this past weekend, I was sitting in front of the amp and when I would go to do things like speed picking palm muted runs (like the band Aeon does a lot, that's my style), it came out sounding like complete garbage, just gutless and weak. The crunch was sort of still in the amp, and the volume was there, just certain sustain and stuff was not. Pinch harmonics also became -incredibly hard to pull off without dying about 1 second after doing them. I am really frustrated. I am also running an Ibanez TS-9 in front (using channel 2 in modern mode) and when I switch that off, the DR on its own is pathetic sounding! I also run at 4 ohms to get a tighter response. I know it wears down tubes faster but I can tell a huge difference even going from 8 down to 4.

I shut the amp off and let it sit for awhile and turned it back on, and it was ok but like you said, not more than a few minutes in playing again and it was pretty weaksauce.

I have asked around from people I know with DR's and some suggestions have been made (dead pre tube, maybe the power tubes aren't seated right, etc.), but I really don't want to mess with all that so I'm just going to give it to a trusted tech in town here and have a very thorough cleaning and inspection of the head done.

The kid I bought the head from about 2 weeks ago bought it in 2002, and apparently it was sitting in his basement for the last year or so unplayed. I did give it a quick cleanup when I got it and put all brand new tubes in it so it's not like I'm using ratted out tubes. Sometimes though with the EH 12ax7's I have gotten duds so that wouldn't surprise me that one may be dead, causing this. And my band just finished playing a show on Thursday night and it was fine. Friday, it's acting stupid.

I will let you know once I get it back from the guy who's going to work on it if that cured what ails it. I get really bothered when amps don't work right!

-Steve
ANNIHILATION TEXT
Ontario, Canada
www.myspace.com/invoketerror

 

[Adambomb]

I have a Dual Recto 3 ch and seems like when I first turn the amp on it rocks. Then after about 5 minutes of playing on channel 2 and 3, the gain and balls on this amp seem to drop a little. After about 5 minutes the amp don't distort as good.

Has anyone experienced this?

I am having the *exact* same problem right now. I play quite heavy death metal style music and what made it apparent to me that something was gradually going wrong with my sound was when I was practicing this past weekend, I was sitting in front of the amp and when I would go to do things like speed picking palm muted runs (like the band Aeon does a lot, that's my style), it came out sounding like complete garbage, just gutless and weak. The crunch was sort of still in the amp, and the volume was there, just certain sustain and stuff was not. Pinch harmonics also became -incredibly hard to pull off without dying about 1 second after doing them. I am really frustrated. I am also running an Ibanez TS-9 in front (using channel 2 in modern mode) and when I switch that off, the DR on its own is pathetic sounding! I also run at 4 ohms to get a tighter response. I know it wears down tubes faster but I can tell a huge difference even going from 8 down to 4.

I shut the amp off and let it sit for awhile and turned it back on, and it was ok but like you said, not more than a few minutes in playing again and it was pretty weaksauce.

I have asked around from people I know with DR's and some suggestions have been made (dead pre tube, maybe the power tubes aren't seated right, etc.), but I really don't want to mess with all that so I'm just going to give it to a trusted tech in town here and have a very thorough cleaning and inspection of the head done.

The kid I bought the head from about 2 weeks ago bought it in 2002, and apparently it was sitting in his basement for the last year or so unplayed. I did give it a quick cleanup when I got it and put all brand new tubes in it so it's not like I'm using ratted out tubes. Sometimes though with the EH 12ax7's I have gotten duds so that wouldn't surprise me that one may be dead, causing this. And my band just finished playing a show on Thursday night and it was fine. Friday, it's acting stupid.

I will let you know once I get it back from the guy who's going to work on it if that cured what ails it. I get really bothered when amps don't work right!

-Steve
ANNIHILATION TEXT
Ontario, Canada
www.myspace.com/invoketerror

Man, I thought I was the only one. I think it might be the preamp tubes too. I really don't know. Let me know what happens with yours when you get it done. THANKS

 

[nomad100hd]

drives me nuts when amps don't work or sound right, that's why i got into working and modd'ing them myself.

 

[Adambomb]

Seems like I have to turn up the gain a little more on mine after about 5 minutes cause it doesn't distort as good warmed up. The harmonics and bite get less and less after about 5 minutes. I hope I can figure out what I need to do about this.

 

[AnnihilationText]

Seems like I have to turn up the gain a little more on mine after about 5 minutes cause it doesn't distort as good warmed up. The harmonics and bite get less and less after about 5 minutes. I hope I can figure out what I need to do about this.

Try this and let me know what happens:

Whatever output you are using, i.e. 8-16 or one of the 4 ohm ones, try using an alternate one and see if it gets any better. I switched to the other 4 ohm output and the sound came back -- not to normal but it was better. We checked all of the preamp tubes and they were fine and also tested with a whole different set with no changes. So I think a number of problems may be attributing to this issue. If nothing, then take a look at this:

Watch your power tubes as you are playing with a decent amount of power running, run it around half or so with the master Output around 11 oclock. Are you getting any blue glow around the bottom of the tube? Depending on the lighting in the room you are in, try to cover up the back of the head a little so you will see exactly what is going on.

Mine are doing that, especially when I am at around half volume on channel 2 with heavy gain on. 3 out of 4 power tubes have varying amounts of blue glow, which I am told is a bad thing in a Recto. One guy said the blue comes from oxygen getting in the tube, and there's supposed to be none in a vacuum tube. So either defective tubes or somehow the sockets are the problem? Not 100% sure. The only head I've owned before was a Peavey 5150 II so this Mesa head is new territory for me.

Either way I was able to get some improvements but something is definitely wacked with it the longer I play so I am packing it up tomorrow and taking it in for repairs. I suggest you do the same.

 

[nomad100hd]

blue glow isn't always something serious.

 

[Adambomb]

Seems like I have to turn up the gain a little more on mine after about 5 minutes cause it doesn't distort as good warmed up. The harmonics and bite get less and less after about 5 minutes. I hope I can figure out what I need to do about this.

Try this and let me know what happens:

Whatever output you are using, i.e. 8-16 or one of the 4 ohm ones, try using an alternate one and see if it gets any better. I switched to the other 4 ohm output and the sound came back -- not to normal but it was better. We checked all of the preamp tubes and they were fine and also tested with a whole different set with no changes. So I think a number of problems may be attributing to this issue. If nothing, then take a look at this:

Watch your power tubes as you are playing with a decent amount of power running, run it around half or so with the master Output around 11 oclock. Are you getting any blue glow around the bottom of the tube? Depending on the lighting in the room you are in, try to cover up the back of the head a little so you will see exactly what is going on.

Mine are doing that, especially when I am at around half volume on channel 2 with heavy gain on. 3 out of 4 power tubes have varying amounts of blue glow, which I am told is a bad thing in a Recto. One guy said the blue comes from oxygen getting in the tube, and there's supposed to be none in a vacuum tube. So either defective tubes or somehow the sockets are the problem? Not 100% sure. The only head I've owned before was a Peavey 5150 II so this Mesa head is new territory for me.

Either way I was able to get some improvements but something is definitely wacked with it the longer I play so I am packing it up tomorrow and taking it in for repairs. I suggest you do the same.

OK. I'll try that. I just have to say right now I am only running a 112 cab with the head. It's an 8 ohm speaker so I got it hooked up to the 8 ohm jack. should I be running the single 12 at 4 ohms you think?

 

[Adambomb]

Seems like I have to turn up the gain a little more on mine after about 5 minutes cause it doesn't distort as good warmed up. The harmonics and bite get less and less after about 5 minutes. I hope I can figure out what I need to do about this.

Try this and let me know what happens:

Whatever output you are using, i.e. 8-16 or one of the 4 ohm ones, try using an alternate one and see if it gets any better. I switched to the other 4 ohm output and the sound came back -- not to normal but it was better. We checked all of the preamp tubes and they were fine and also tested with a whole different set with no changes. So I think a number of problems may be attributing to this issue. If nothing, then take a look at this:

Watch your power tubes as you are playing with a decent amount of power running, run it around half or so with the master Output around 11 oclock. Are you getting any blue glow around the bottom of the tube? Depending on the lighting in the room you are in, try to cover up the back of the head a little so you will see exactly what is going on.

Mine are doing that, especially when I am at around half volume on channel 2 with heavy gain on. 3 out of 4 power tubes have varying amounts of blue glow, which I am told is a bad thing in a Recto. One guy said the blue comes from oxygen getting in the tube, and there's supposed to be none in a vacuum tube. So either defective tubes or somehow the sockets are the problem? Not 100% sure. The only head I've owned before was a Peavey 5150 II so this Mesa head is new territory for me.

Either way I was able to get some improvements but something is definitely wacked with it the longer I play so I am packing it up tomorrow and taking it in for repairs. I suggest you do the same.

OK. I'll try that. I just have to say right now I am only running a 112 cab with the head. It's an 8 ohm speaker so I got it hooked up to the 8 ohm jack. should I be running the single 12 at 4 ohms you think?

 

[nomad100hd]

8Ω to 8Ω regardless of the amount of speakers unless you like the tone better the other way.

 

[songrider]

Replace your preamp tubes. At least the first 3 for now. V-1 thru V-3. thats your input and gain section and see how it does.

Before you were saying your clean seemed under powered and now coupled with this problem leads me to believe your tubes are tired or you have a bad one.

If you bought the amp new you should have a warranty... if you got it used then I would replace ALL the tubes so you know exactly what you got running and that they are all good.

And keep it in 8 ohm if you are running an 8 ohm speaker.

 

[AnnihilationText]

Seems like I have to turn up the gain a little more on mine after about 5 minutes cause it doesn't distort as good warmed up. The harmonics and bite get less and less after about 5 minutes. I hope I can figure out what I need to do about this.

Try this and let me know what happens:

Whatever output you are using, i.e. 8-16 or one of the 4 ohm ones, try using an alternate one and see if it gets any better. I switched to the other 4 ohm output and the sound came back -- not to normal but it was better. We checked all of the preamp tubes and they were fine and also tested with a whole different set with no changes. So I think a number of problems may be attributing to this issue. If nothing, then take a look at this:

Watch your power tubes as you are playing with a decent amount of power running, run it around half or so with the master Output around 11 oclock. Are you getting any blue glow around the bottom of the tube? Depending on the lighting in the room you are in, try to cover up the back of the head a little so you will see exactly what is going on.

Mine are doing that, especially when I am at around half volume on channel 2 with heavy gain on. 3 out of 4 power tubes have varying amounts of blue glow, which I am told is a bad thing in a Recto. One guy said the blue comes from oxygen getting in the tube, and there's supposed to be none in a vacuum tube. So either defective tubes or somehow the sockets are the problem? Not 100% sure. The only head I've owned before was a Peavey 5150 II so this Mesa head is new territory for me.

Either way I was able to get some improvements but something is definitely wacked with it the longer I play so I am packing it up tomorrow and taking it in for repairs. I suggest you do the same.

OK. I'll try that. I just have to say right now I am only running a 112 cab with the head. It's an 8 ohm speaker so I got it hooked up to the 8 ohm jack. should I be running the single 12 at 4 ohms you think?

So just FYI I had a local repair guy go over my amp pretty thoroughly -- nothing wrong with the tubes, he just cleaned it out really good, tightened up the tube sockets and it's performing very well right now. Sounds great.

 

[Adambomb]

I'll give that a try. thanks man!!

 

[Adambomb]

My DR seems to be playing better now. I switched to the other 8 ohm input and it seems a little better. Maybe the amp was just having a bad week. I also got a 412 cab and that may have helped...way better than the 112 cab I was playing with.

I'm playing with the band tomorrow night so I will let you guys know how it does then.

 

[Anonymous]

I've had similar problems, and if you search the forum you'll find that this is a very common problem. I think it does have to do with the preamp tubes. I think the DR just eats them up like crazy, which makes since since most of the gain is coming from them. I just switched them around and unplugged the reverb on my TOV and the problem went away.

 

[Adambomb]

I was playing with the band yesterday and decided to turn the lights off and look at the power tubed. The middle of each power tube had some blue glow in the components inside of the middle. Does that mean there is oxygen in the tubes and that's why my gain goes down after they warm up?

 

[WretchedESP88]

i would try replacing them. Its expensive but its very easy atleast. BTW, put some 6L6's in that thing,lol.