Silly question? Apologies from a Noob (single Recto)

[Gav_Lewis]

How do I "crank" i.e. what control saturates the power tubes, is it Master or Output on a Recto?

Thanks,

Gav

 

[Elpelotero]

either one really. Cranking is reaching a volume that will hurt your ears and bother the neighbors. As long as you're playing loud, you are hitting the tubes.

 

[Gav_Lewis]

Ok, but I still don't quite understand.

So the Master and Output control BOTH affect the saturation in the power tubes?

I thought, for a fixed bias, the only way to overdrive power tubes is to put more power in, hence for fixed gain setting in the pre-amp, the Master or the Output pot must control the amount of signal hitting the power section from the pre-amp. I thought that perhaps the Output level control was just an attenuator delivering more or less power to the speakers rather than the level of drive into the power section? So do both controls affect the drive level into the power section?

Thanks in advance.

 

[clutch71]

You can drive the output (say 10 or 11) keeping the master lower (say 8 or 9) but most of the gain comes from the preamp section. I always found it better to keep the output and master even and push the gain harder (say 2 or 3 o'clock) at lower volumes.

Let me guess this is what your trying to do? Better saturation at lower volumes?

If you want to make sound even better at low volumes add a good OD like a Maxon or TS 808, TS-9, OCD, OR ZW OD or Bad Monkey.

Good luck and wlecome to the board!

 

[Gav_Lewis]

Thank you for the welcome!

Let me guess this is what your trying to do? Better saturation at lower volumes?

Kind of, but i'm really just interested in how the amp works.
To my ears, it sounds great with Gain about 2o'clock, master about 9o'clock and output set to whatever is necessary. Going louder and louder on the output still sounds great.
However, if I crank the master and use lower output settings, the distortion tends to back-off and I get more of a punchy mids but less crunch and gain. Is that what power tube saturation sounds like??? If so, I prefer the sound of pre-amp distortion!
Also, If I set the Gain channel master above about 10o'clock I cannot get the clean channel to be as loud (with gain set to about 12o'clock) without turning the master way past 1o'clock (which it says in the manual not to do!)
I like the idea of an OD maybe to give a mid boost for soloing and giving even more liquid distortion, but since you are hitting the V1 valve harder, doesn't this reduce it's operational lifetime?

Thanks

 

[clutch71]

I'm sure the wear and tear on V-1 does occur when slamming the front end with an OD but it is the first gain stage and regardless of what you do, it's doing the most work anyway.

I set my OD (A TS808) one of two ways (I'm using a Marshall now, but it should work for you) the first, OD = 0, Tone = 12, level = max. This tightens up the amp and is great for a rhythmn tone. The second way is OD=12, Tone= 12, level = 12. This is a nice lead boost.

Good luck and keep tweaking! Took me about a month to find Settings I liked for eack mode with my old ROV, which is similar to your SR.

 

[Gav_Lewis]

Cool I will stick at it!

I love the settings I have now, I was just wondering if I'm missing that magical "power tube saturation" by not turning the master up enough. But I guess, if I'm happy then don't change it!

 

[clutch71]

Cool I will stick at it!

I love the settings I have now, I was just wondering if I'm missing that magical "power tube saturation" by not turning the master up enough. But I guess, if I'm happy then don't change it!

I forgot to mention for me the magical setting where I hit both preamp and pt saturation was 11:30 on the output and master. I'd keep the gain abvout 2 in VIntage, 1 in Modern. Be careful not to kill the neighbours cat though, it's pretty loud.