Single rectifier

[vertigo]

Hi there,
greetings from the UK. I have a question regarding the single rectifier 50w head. yesterday I tried one out at my local music shop with the 2 x 12 cab. I was OK until it came to my notice that there are 2 channels and each channel having 2 modes. With the supplied pedal board you can only switch channels and activate the solo button.

My question is if I was to buy the pedal board with 5 buttons on could I access all 4 settings of the amp (clean, pushed, raw & vintage) or do I need to purchase a dual rectifier for this ???

Guy in the music shop was not really grasping what I was asking

Thanks

 

[domct203]

Hello and Welcome to The Board!

Unfortunately, none of Mesa's amps have foot-switchable channel modes. I suspect the 5 button switch you are referring to is the 3-Channel Dual's, and with that it switches ch1, ch2, ch3, FX, & Solo.

Download the manuals of the amps you are considering from here:
http://www.mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.htm

Now you can read up on all the different functions of the amps.

Hope this helps,

Dom

 

[erectifier]

I thought it would be a cool idea too but ultimately when you switch from say raw to modern the eq settings are going to be very out of whack and it will sound horrible.

 

[vertigo]

Thanks for the swift replies. Big decision now is it the single or dual rectifier, at the moment I do not need 100w of power but I can switch the dual to 50w and future proof when 100w is needed. By the way I have a Marshall 2 x 12 cabinet modified with celestial speakers rated at 60w.

The price difference is as follows in rip off Britain single £1649 dual £2000. This is in English pounds not dollars !!!!!

Chris

 

[domct203]

There is more than just 50W vs 100W. With the Dual you get a third channel, the ability to choose diode or tube (valve) rectifier, and on the 2010 Duals a series FX Loop.

Choose wisely.

Dom

 

[94Tremoverb]

What Dom said - the Dual is just a much better, far more flexible amp with a lot more than an extra channel, and IMO simply sounds much better too. Don't worry about 100W being 'too much', there's no difference between 50W and 100W in terms of *volume* in most situations - 50W will go louder than you need anyway - but the bigger amp sounds fuller and deeper even at low volume.

If you have a 60W cabinet, be careful with a 100W amp - if you crank it up, you could blow the speakers, although if you're just playing at reasonable volume you won't. If you're worried about that, run the amp at half power (on one of the new ones with the switch) or remove two power tubes and one rectifier tube (on the older ones without). Personally I feel this slightly affects the tone for the worse too though, but some people don't. Or do you mean that the speakers are *each* rated at 60W? (V30s?) If so, no problem.

Please don't let yourself be ripped off by buying a new Mesa in the UK. They're relatively common on the used market, and reliable enough that it shouldn't be an issue not to have it from new. Mesa (or more accurately their UK distributor I think) will only stop the overpricing when people stop accepting it! You'll easily get a lightly used Dual for less than the price of a brand new Single. You could also import one from the US, which is cheaper still, but then you take the risk of shipping damage as well as the cost of that plus import duty, and you'll need a step-down transformer to run it in the UK.

 

[vertigo]

Should off explained the cab better. It has one vintage 30 and one G12 H30 70th anniversary installed, these are currently wired in series to give a max; 60 watt at 16ohm. This is currently used with a marshall DSL401 combo as an extension cabinet. These can easily replaced with higher power speakers for about £120 and rewired in parrallel

I have been looking on ebay at second hand dual's and they go for a fair whack of pounds.

 

[domct203]

Whether you buy new or used, make sure you do so wisely. There's a lot of differences between Recto from model to model.

For example, the (current) series II Single Recto has the ability to run either EL34's or 6L6GC's at the flip of a switch, the series I does not. The most current (2010 models) Dual & Triple Recto's have power scaling set per channel, Diode / Tube Rectifier selection set per channel, and a footswitchable tuner mute with a tuner out.

There is also the discontinued TremoVerb, IMO one of Mesa's best Recto's for High Gain Tone, but can only be found on the used market.

Then there's the Roadster and RKII.

Check out those owners manuals, and do some searching here and on the web to get up-to-speed on these awesome amplifiers.

Dom

 

[94Tremoverb]

Should off explained the cab better. It has one vintage 30 and one G12 H30 70th anniversary installed, these are currently wired in series to give a max; 60 watt at 16ohm. This is currently used with a marshall DSL401 combo as an extension cabinet. These can easily replaced with higher power speakers for about £120 and rewired in parrallel

Yes, that's a 60W cab. But you could make it into a 120W cab just by replacing the H30 with a 60W+ rated speaker, either another V30 or something else. But to be honest, you may be better replacing the whole cab - those Marshall 1936s (if it's more recent than a JCM800 one) are made of pressed cardboard* and don't do justice to any speakers really.

I have been looking on ebay at second hand dual's and they go for a fair whack of pounds.

You should be able to get one for a grand or maybe a little more. That's way less than a new Single - enough less that you could afford to get a better cab as well and still end up cheaper. Likewise, don't buy a new Mesa cab. There are some UK-based custom makers that will do you something just as good for less than half the price.

The Tremoverb is a fantastic amp (I would say that, wouldn't I... ) but is strictly 2-channel on the fly, although they also sell for about a grand to £1200. The combo version is actually *less* expensive - you'll easily get one for under a grand - but the reason for that is the weight, which not everyone is willing to tolerate!


(*Technically, it's MDF but it really is basically the same as very thick dense cardboard - have a look closely at it or read up on what it's made from...)

 

[vertigo]

Just looked and there is company in the UK who do 2 X 12 boutique cabinets for £220, these are made from 0.5 inch birch plywood and a choice of tolex covering, just add your own speakers. If I was building from scratch any recommendations for speakers ??? and wire in series or parallel ???

Thanks for all the great advice and info by the way on the amps. Went to see Alter Bridge last week in Manchester, oh they were awesome. Booked for Roger Waters doing the wall and Bon Jovi, all next year

 

[94Tremoverb]

For a pair that will take the full power of a Dual Rec and really suit the sounds, try V30/Mesa-Celestion Black Shadow 90. The problem may be getting one of those in the UK, in which case the Classic Lead 80 is fairly similar - a bit brighter, but in the same ballpark.

Series or parallel doesn't really matter, so you could either go with two 8s in series or two 16s in parallel. Some people think parallel sounds better since the resonances of the two speakers don't 'block' each other, but with two such similar speakers I'm not sure that really happens. The standard Mesa set-up is to make the cab 8 ohms, so that would be parallel.