Torn between which to get: Dual or Triple

[Turumbar82]

Hello all, I'm a new member of the forum here and have to say I love reading what everyone has to say. I respect your opinions greatly. I used to own a single rectifier but to financial problems had to sell it to pay rent. This was a year ago. I'm not in the market for getting another mesa. I love mesa. I always have. I loved my single rectifier. I owned it for 6 years in the last year I finally added some JJ pre-amp tubes from Eurotubes and that was great! Anyway, I'm very interested in stepping up to a higher wattage amp not because I need louder (because I understand the concept of more watts doesn't mean more volume), but that the low end will remain tighter. I have heard that the Dual is a good middle ground. I would like to know what you all have to say about this. There are two sides battling in my mind. I think the dual would be cool because a 100 watts is good and I can pull out the tubes to cut the power but then I have read from Platts info that it doesn't sound that great when that is done. Both the Dual and the Triple have the bold/spongy and tube/silicone diode rectifiers which can push the power amp differently. But there is the side of me too that thinks it would just be so awesome to have a triple rectifier pumping 150watts of tight low end. This reminds me of a story though. Around 1995 I didn't know much about mesa, I was in highschool still and mainly only heard of marshall and fender. I read a little bit about mesa one day on a forum but didn't go to the website. I went to bed that night and had a dream. I was walking around in a hotel and heard some guitar playing coming from down the hall. So I walked down there and saw Marilyn Manson and his band playing in there. Now I don't like Manson's music much. I do love metal but not that kind. I like more hardcore, and power metal styles. Anyway, I meet Manson and I tell him I'm a guitarist. He tells me I have to get this amp...a Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier (this was before the 3 channel ones). Then in the dream he proceeds to explain to me the way the channels work (orange and red) and how the channel cloning works and all about all the features on the back. I woke up a little after that and was alittle weirded out when I opened up the Mesa page for the first time and read the description of the Triple. Exactly like Marilyn had told me and I had read anything about how that amp works before that. Crazy I know! Half of you are like, "he's crazy", the other half probably had the same dream/or similar and are afraid to say it! Well, that's my story.


So Dual or Triple? I didn't follow Marilyn's advice with my first Mesa purchase when I got my Single.

 

[Turumbar82]

Sorry, I wrote "I'm not in the market" Erroneously. I am in the market for a new mesa!

 

[Turumbar82]

Yeah so I realized that I'm a terrible typer and even worse of a proofreader. I hadn't read anything about how the rectifier works before my dream so that is why it is so weird. It would be completely normal if I dreamed about an amp that I knew how it worked. Well anyway, thanks for reading

 

[Undeadpaladin]

I got a DR myself, and personally it's WAY too much power for me. So i would never think about going to a triple, just seems crazy. I can crank this thing to literally make me deaf if i wanted to. Though you may get more clean headroom and some more punch with a triple, not sure how much more you can get though. Honestly my DR has enough low end punch to kill someone with a 4x12.

Also you say you loved your single, if so maybe you can pick another one up again. I never played one myself but why mess with a bad thing?

Make sure you demo a Roadster or Roadking series, i havn't played one yet but everyone on the boards seems to think they are DR and more/better.

 

[MesaENGR412]

If you're going to be playing out, in a band, I'd say go for a triple . I absolutely love mine. It's got monstrous tone, and incredible low end, the kind that makes your pants shake when you stand in front of the cab. I mean, sure, the dual will do this too, but, the main reason I bought a triple was because of the headroom capabilities. It's nice to know I've got an extra 50W of power if I ever need to kick it up to "11" to be heard. Before this amp, I had a Marshall AVT275 stereo combo, and although it's a nice amp, it didn't hold up when put next to a heavy hitting drummer and another guitarist with a half-stack. So, i decided I wanted to have MORE power than the other guitarist, so, I bought the Triple. Plus, everyone I've ever shared the stage with in other bands has had a dual, Triples are rarer, and I enjoy it when people drool over mine because it looks cooler than theirs with the Black Diamond plate and chrome chassis, and it has more power than theirs haha. Just my thoughts bro. Good luck deciding, their both great amps.(but NEITHER are meant to be Bedroom amps, these things can get LOOOUUUD haha, which I'm sure your single recto did as well)

-AJH

 

[jtb226]

if you're looking to buy used, i'd say go triple. it seems there are a lot more triples on ebay right now than duals. i personally have a dual and couldn't imagine how loud a triple is. i run my dual with the output set at noon and the channel 3 volume at about 8:00. it is absolutely brutally loud. but it sounds incredible.

i do play in a band and we gig a lot. i can easily be heard about a very hard hitting drummer with no problems. so in that respect, i would say go dual. plus, with the dual, a retube is cheaper.

all in all, it really is up to you. go play both and see which one sounds better to you.

 

[eventide_awakening]

man, that dream was hilarious...wish I had dreams about manson talking amps

 

[Johnson]

I've owned both DR's and TR's and they truthfully both sound great. I do prefer the early DR's personally. But I don't think you can go wrong with a 2 channel DR or TR. The only thing I didn't like about my old 2 channel TR is that it has ALOT of tubes, so when it comes to retubing the amp, it can get pricey. Goodluck!

 

[TheSon]

If I was in your shoes I would choose my budget, what your prepared to pay most for on this individual venture and get the max feature for that price i.e. if your chosen limit encompasses all rectifier models get the triple or perhapse even the road king... both being 3 sets of pushpull power ... in my experience the wattage number does not reflect the loudness ... take a road king at 2x el34 or 2x 6l6 (about 40-50W)... at 50% vol its deafening in most rooms ... add in another pair described as around 100W but its not twice as loud ... always sounds to me like its about at best a 20% increase in actual loudness... again with adding in the third pair, just a little increase ... so having the triple compared to having the single seems to me like less of an over kill cos its not 3x more than enough, its just a little bit more than enough per model upgrade, whichever one you start from ... so i guess try em all and pick your fav ... if they are all awesome and niether one has enough preference with you to take it over the rest, get the triple cos its got more stuff :roll: lol ....
thats just me though ... I say these things yet as im typing, it occurs to me that iv'e never had a gig or situation yet where ive used my roadking with more than one pair of tubes per channel :idea: :idea:

 

[JamesD]

I have a dual and i can't imagine needing more power unless im playing a huge huge venue. Which while it is a nice dream, most of us aren't gonna do on a regular basis. If you are buying used i would say find which ever one you decide on, but if your buying new, you probably would be better going with the roadster. Switchable 50/100 watt options, no pulling tubes, and reverb and better cleans.

On a side note i may have my dual up for sale in the near future, due to im in a crappy financial situation and possibly moving in a month or two.

 

[Turumbar82]

Thanks for all of the input. You all make a lot of good points. I agree with a lot of you that I think a 100 watt dual will be plenty for me. I'm interested in the 3 channel duals and triple because i would like to have two heavier channels (one for my rhythm and the other for my lead sound) I like my clean channel to be very clean. I have consider the Roadsters and Road Kings. I know I won't use the multiple cabinets that the Road King can do but the Progressive Linkage is a great idea. A few of you mentioned that it is cheaper to retube a Dual and I like that. If money weren't an issue I would get a Road King or Roadster brand new. Since I'm saving up I do feel as though I should save up for what I really want and not settle. I never felt like I was settling when I got my Solo 50 but now I feel like I really want to save up for something great. As of right now I'm leaning towards a Dual but if the money comes along maybe a Roadster.

 

[jtb226]

i would go for the roadster if i were you. it's only like $200 more and you get another channel and some other options (reverb, 1/2 power, etc). i know if it would have been out when i got my dual, i def. would have gone for that. and it has the same number of tubes as a dual recto.

 

[CoG]

Bandmate got a gently-used Roadster a few months ago.

Slightly tweaky, almost too much potential (after a while you're going to be going 'oh man, only four channels?'), but an awesome amp. I would highly recommend it.

 

[siggy14]

You are semi right, dont know how close you are in your percentages. But in reality loudness is measured in decimals and not in wattage. Wattage is for power, decimals is for sound.

So now say you you want to double the amount of sound you have coming from your amp. you have to take the wattage and times it by 10. so to double a 50 watt amp, you actually need 500 watts of power to make it twice as loud as it was.

However with more wattage you have more head room, meaning your clean channel will not break up as quick and you can go louder. However if you want more distortion from the power tubes then a lower wattage amp is better as it will break up sooner.

I much prefer the two channels dual recs, alot better of an amp in my opinion then the 3 channels and I also like the power tube breakup.

If I was in your shoes I would choose my budget, what your prepared to pay most for on this individual venture and get the max feature for that price i.e. if your chosen limit encompasses all rectifier models get the triple or perhapse even the road king... both being 3 sets of pushpull power ... in my experience the wattage number does not reflect the loudness ... take a road king at 2x el34 or 2x 6l6 (about 40-50W)... at 50% vol its deafening in most rooms ... add in another pair described as around 100W but its not twice as loud ... always sounds to me like its about at best a 20% increase in actual loudness... again with adding in the third pair, just a little increase ... so having the triple compared to having the single seems to me like less of an over kill cos its not 3x more than enough, its just a little bit more than enough per model upgrade, whichever one you start from ... so i guess try em all and pick your fav ... if they are all awesome and niether one has enough preference with you to take it over the rest, get the triple cos its got more stuff :roll: lol ....
thats just me though ... I say these things yet as im typing, it occurs to me that iv'e never had a gig or situation yet where ive used my roadking with more than one pair of tubes per channel :idea: :idea:

 

[Turumbar82]

I totally understand that 50 watts, 100watts, and 150watts are not that far apart in volume but they are in headroom and headroom is exactly what I'm looking for. My Single Rectifier was plenty loud for playing a band situation through a 4x12. I'm looking for a tighter bottom end and the ability to get my clean loud without breakup but I would really love to have the option of getting a broken up clean sound which is why the Road King and Roadsters are so very interesting to me. I also really like the idea of being able to have different rectifiers on each channel. I would love to have the silicon rectifier going for my clean channel and my heavy rhythm sound at 100 watts and then use the tube rectifier for a lead sound and a broken up clean sound at 50watts. I think those four options would give me all the sounds I would want in 4 distinct channels. I really will have to sit down and play on some Dual's, Triples, Roadsters, and Roadkings to see what I really want.

 

[Turumbar82]

By the way, it's decibels and not decimals. Those are those little dots in $3.74 or 9.9%APR.

You are semi right, dont know how close you are in your percentages. But in reality loudness is measured in decimals and not in wattage. Wattage is for power, decimals is for sound.

 

[siggy14]

LOL thanks for pointing that out, it has been a long month and not thinking 100% straight here.

I would honestly look at the roadster, my buddy has one and it is a great amp, closer to the sound of the 2 channel rectos. My next Mesa Recto will be a roadster.

By the way, it's decibels and not decimals. Those are those little dots in $3.74 or 9.9%APR.

You are semi right, dont know how close you are in your percentages. But in reality loudness is measured in decimals and not in wattage. Wattage is for power, decimals is for sound.

 

[Turumbar82]

Thanks for the advice on the Roadster. I think the price is worth it! I do like the way the Dual's and Triple's look because of the faceplate. The roadster has that "leather" looking part.

 

[barneyc4]

get both or you'll never be 100% satisfied

 

[Turumbar82]

There are plenty of people here that have the money to own more than one mesa. If I ever get the money I'm sure I will too but for now I think the Roadster will satisfy me 98% only detracting from it not looking exactly how I want.