Triple Rectifier and Power Amp questions

[triple rectumfrier]

Hey everyone! First let me introduce myself before I get into it.

My name is Matt. I am 20 years old and I have been playing guitar for 10 years. I play Lead/Rhythm (equally shared with our other equally talented guitarist) in a metal/hardcore band named Prey for the Hunters.

My rig:
Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
Mesa Boogie Standard 412 (I think? it's the bigger one)
ESP KH-2 guitar

Rack Gear:
1. Monster Power power conditioner
2. Korg tuner
3. Shure ULXP4 wireless
4. BBE Sonic Maximizer 882 (?)

HERES THE QUESTION!!!
okay, so I went over to my buddys place and he has a power amp (1000W) connected to a Randall solid state head. I did NOT like the sound it produced being solid state, but the sound was MASSIVE coming out of a full stack.

What would getting a power amp do for me? I have never heard of or thought of ever using a power amp in conjunction with the triple rectifier. What are the pro's and con's of using a power amp? I understand I can then CRANK up my volume to 8 giving it that tube distortion tone and then have the power amp actually control the volume to the cabs...but will it thicken my sound and make it bigger? I was told I need some kind of "hot plate" as well...

Any help would be amazing,
thanks everyone!
-Matt

 

[mrd]

I think you are a little bit confused heh. Your amp already has a power amp in it, every amp does. It's what makes your speakers actually produce sound. Without getting too technical, the pre-amp (also contained in every non-rack amp) does the bulk of your sound shaping, with EQ controls, gain, presence, et cetera. The power amp takes this very weak signal and boosts the hell out of it depending on what your output volume knob is set to. The louder it goes, the harder you push your power tubes and the more volume and power tube distortion you get.

As for your question, I don't think I've ever heard of a 1000W power amp... are you sure it's not a bass power amp? Is the brand also Randall, or is that just the head? It sounds like your buddy is slaving the Randall into this other poweramp for a different sound. BTW, you can already crank your volume to 8 or 9 or 10 for luscious tube distortion, but beware, you will probably go deaf unless you're wearing earplugs or are standing 75 feet away.

A hotplate is basically a device that sits in between your head output and your cab. So the wiring layout would be: Head speaker out -> Hot Plate -> Speaker Cabinet

It's a device that can soak up 50-95% of the original signal strength from the amp to reduce the volume. It basically just turns the excess energy into heat. Tone will be affected, although very slightly. In my limited experience with them, I find they seem to remove a bit of the "bite" from an un-plated amp. It's pretty minor though. I would only worry about the tone issue if you are recording or playing live.

 

[BENNY]

is that a P.A. poweramp ? you don't want to do that. sounds like to me he is running the preamp of his randall into the poweramp and bypassing his own onbaord solidstate/mosvalve poweramp. you have 150watts of tube power how much more you want ? if you amp doesn't sound big i would suggest you tinker with your eq settings. add a little more mids and less gain. this will thickin' things up a bit. triple through and oversized cab shouldn't be anythingless then huge.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

thanks guys for the responses. the head is a randall, the power amp is a carvin i believe.

It all is making more sense now, I have no reason to go the power amp way then haha. My tone has been pretty bad lately, but I realized now that I need to replace my tubes, they haven't been replaced since I bought the head brand new 4 years ago :roll: oops :shock:

I purchased all new tubes, just went with the stock Mesa's again plus a tungsol in V1 and something else in V2 I cant remember. hopefully that will make my sound amazing, As the sound diminishes over time you dont really notice it, so I am extremely excited to receive my tubes, especially in time for our show this Saturday.

Thanks guys for the help, you answered my questions

 

[Elpelotero]

awesome. glad you figured everything out...

to add a couple of more things:

if you were to slave your recto into a 1000w power amp, remember you'd only be sending the weak pre-amp signal. you would still need to crank the power amp really loud (assuming it's a tube power amp) to get that awesome tube saturation. so either way it's the same. a hot plate lets you crank the tubes but without the deafening volume.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

what if you connected the power amp after the hot plate?

 

[MesaENGR412]

triple through and oversized cab shouldn't be anythingless then huge.

Haha, heck yes. It's the greatest sound in the world :shock:

-AJH

 

[mrd]

what if you connected the power amp after the hot plate?

Er... that's not really how they're meant to be used.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

what if you connected the power amp after the hot plate?

Er... that's not really how they're meant to be used.

oops okay i got my answers thanks guys! I appreciate it