Tremoverb or 2 chan DR?

[groovetuber]

Ok, yet another thread on helping me decide which Mesa to get. I called the local guitar center and they have a Tremoverb head for $1200. I am definately going to at least try it out. Number one, is that a good price? Number 2, what are the differences between the Tremoverb and the 2 chan DR aside from the tremolo and the reverb. How are the cleans and the gain on the Tremoverb? Thanks.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Cleans on the trem will be better.

 

[groovetuber]

How about the distortion? Both are important to me. What do you guys think would be the overall better choice for me?

 

[jgventura]

the trem gain can be nuts, i've only played a 3 channel dual and triple rec, but it can get up there. the cleans sound wonderful, and if you keep an eye out on ebay, you can find trems for less than $1,200. i got mine for $800! keep in mind, i've got to retube the whole amp (my preamp reverb tube may be messed up) but still, i love how it sounds

 

[boogieslide]

I concur with the better cleans on the Tverb.
The Dual Rec is a little more aggressive and edgey where the Tverb will be a little smoother and not quite as mean. My personal comparisons would be between a Tverb I used to own and the 3ch DR I now own.
The reverb is nice on the Tverb, but I personally don't care much about reverb. It is nice to have for the clean channel, but I personally don't play on the clean channel that much to make it a deal breaker on an amp. A personal taste thing for sure.

What kind of music do you play? Will you be using it live?

 

[groovetuber]

I'll definately be using it live. The type of music I play is a cross between jam (like phish) and metal (dream theater, buckethead, metallica, primus, etc.) I also like playing the virtuoso type stuff a la satch and vai.

 

[smallcrap]

The Tremoverb can cover alot of ground and I think it will do well for the stuff you're playing. Many owners say that the Tremo is a darker sounding amp than the Dual Rectifier. Having owned both (and still the Tremo), I agree. And I doubt you'll be wishing for more gain when needed.

Also the 2 channels have 2 modes in each :
Channel 1 - Clean/Vintage high gain
Channel 2 - Blues/Modern high gain

With time, tweaking, guitar and cab selection this amp can do alot.

 

[groovetuber]

Are there certain good Tremoverbs to buy? Like from a certain year like how some of the 2 chan DRs are.

 

[jgventura]

For some reason, I hear people look for '94ish versions... i'm not sure as to why, it may have a series loop instead of the newer parallel

 

[boogieslide]

Are there certain good Tremoverbs to buy? Like from a certain year like how some of the 2 chan DRs are.

I do think the Tverb will work very well for you musical interest.
As far as certain years....I think you may find some that will argue this, but I honestly don't recall which ones and the differences.
Mine was from 98 and it sounded great.
What does seem to be hit or miss with the Tverb is the channel switching. I have heard of some popping pretty bad. Mine had some slight delays or little volume bursts when switching when the amp was set up in certain mode/cloning options. I was able to set up some great tones on each channel that had seemless switching though.

 

[jgventura]

Ya, mine is also a '98, fortunately that doesn't happen with mine :?

 

[jgventura]

...I called the local guitar center and they have a Rectoverb head for $1200. I am definately going to at least try it out. Number one, is that a good price?

I think there are two series of the rectoverb, someone correct me if i'm wrong. But if so, you should find out which one they have, then, if you decide that you do infact want the rectoverb, tottally haggle that price down. See, Guitar Centers auctions on eBay have CRAZY prices... but if you talk to them you can usually get them down a good chunk of change. I was going to buy a Soldano Avenger for like,... $1,000 from them i think, and they were asking... $1,300 I don't remember the exact amounts but either way I was gunna save a boatload... But deep down I wanted a Mesa, so I was lucky to have found mine

 

[groovetuber]

I didn't even realize it, but I meant to say that GC had a Tremoverb for $1200, not a Rectoverb, heh.

 

[jgventura]

ooo ****, check that out! and get them down on the price! infact, i just made a post a couple of minutes ago, because after a month, i think i finally found my gain sound, and i'm very satisfied with it!

 

[groovetuber]

Awesome man, what kinda stuff do you play? Also, what's the difference between a series loop and a parallel loop? Why would/is one better than the other?

 

[groovetuber]

You know what dude, I think I just remembered something. I think I remember hearing somewhere that Mesa Boogies couldn't be talked down in price at GC, or possibly any store for that matter. Something to do with MB policy. I'm not exactly sure why that would be, and I don't know if it applies to used stuff. Anyone know of anything like this?

 

[jgventura]

i play mostly hardcore/punk.. that's why i had assumed that red channel would be my gain, but i guess i was wrong i think red is more for like... metalish kinda stuff, which you're looking for right? and i had actually asked the same question (refer to: http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=5200&highlight=)

 

[jgventura]

ooof, that would suck. personally, i'm not sure about that, but hey, it doesn't hurt to try. just muster up all that wit and charm and hope you get someone a tad lenient :roll:

 

[groovetuber]

Heh, I hope so. I hear people getting deals form GC all the time, so I couldn't imagine them totally refusing a deal. I'll just tell them some of the prices I've seen them go for, like on ebay and whatnot and go from there. As far as the loops, it seems like the best option is to have both kinds of loops, lol, so that doesn't really help. What would you do if you have an effect that isn't really appropriate for the type of loop you have?

 

[jgventura]

haha well, i think the only way that you'll get both loops, is if you gather the $$$ and buy a Road King :shock: How would you be paying if you bought anything at a store? If cash, tell them straight up, I want this amp, but I only have (so and so amount of cash) and see what happens. And the whole FX thing, once they all started talking about that latency thing, I got SO lost, so maybe you should start a new thread asking about that, haha sorry.