Triple Rectifier rehab
- Thread starter rs11gps
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stephen sawall
Well-known member
Welcome to the forum.... 
At first I though it was two different heads. The work looks great. I also would be interested in hearing about how you did that and what mods ? How much time you have into it ?
At first I though it was two different heads. The work looks great. I also would be interested in hearing about how you did that and what mods ? How much time you have into it ?
stephen sawall said:Welcome to the forum....
At first I though it was two different heads. The work looks great. I also would be interested in hearing about how you did that and what mods ? How much time you have into it ?
Thanks guys. I enjoy working on the amps. The Mesa is perhaps the best built I have worked on. Total time spent on the rehab was only a few hours over two afternoons.
Other than the chassis cleaning, rust removal and stabilization, prep & painting, removal of the transformers (cleaning/ derusting, painting & checking them), some re-soldering, and re-assembly into a new cab, I haven't modified the Triple Rectifier yet. Here is a Before/After shot of the 'new' case & front:
The original was 'Antik Burgundy' with a tan jute grill. It was nicked and scratched, and I wasn't thrilled by the look. The new case was salvaged from a Peavey XXL. I cut out the wood that filled the new grill, to improve airflow and the view of the tubes from the front, I added heat shielding to the inside above the tube row.
I've been reading on a few recommended mods, such as replacing the presence pot... but that merely gives you two gain channels that are the same. Also, it is a quiet amp, so I don't see any need for noise reduction mods. I'll think about what (if any) sound modification mods might be useful.
One thing I am thinking about is a built-in power reduction selector. I am not a big fan of hot-plate type power attentuators, but I might come up with something else. The Triple is either OFF, or LOUD... I'd like to go somewhere between when I'm practicing.
- Roger
fluff191
Well-known member
Wow that actually looks really good in that Peavey case!!!!! Great job!
fluff191 said:
Thanks! Yeah, I tried a few different combinations... the standard steel-plate trucker look didn't appeal to me. I kept coming back to the XXL grill, with some breathing room through and below it. It was a decent match. - Roger
stephen sawall
Well-known member
I feel I should say it again .... It looks great. :mrgreen:
Thanks. I like the Rectifier. It sounds good with either my Les Paul's humbuckers or the Yamaha's single coils.
Looking at the electronics side... they did a great job in manufacturing it.
Good quality components, very nice wiring, through-hole joints on the pcb... Mesa didn't leave me much of anything to mod.
It certainly deserved being brought back from rusting. I'll keep this one to play, not play with :wink:
- Roger
Looking at the electronics side... they did a great job in manufacturing it.
Good quality components, very nice wiring, through-hole joints on the pcb... Mesa didn't leave me much of anything to mod.
It certainly deserved being brought back from rusting. I'll keep this one to play, not play with :wink:
- Roger
lailer75
Well-known member
wow what an improvment!! but i actually like the original headshell better
The burgundy & tan colors might appeal to you, but the covering is in ratty condition. Heavily scratched all around and the edges are mostly split & dried. I kept the original case untouched, but borrowed the logo for the new case.
My tastes are definitely more the black covering and 'engineered' look rather than custom leathers, jute & wicker. BUT, Mesa appears to sell a number of custom wrappings, so that shows there is a healthy variety of tastes out there. - Roger
My tastes are definitely more the black covering and 'engineered' look rather than custom leathers, jute & wicker. BUT, Mesa appears to sell a number of custom wrappings, so that shows there is a healthy variety of tastes out there.
- Rogerechoes420 said:
It literally was a "barn find". The young guy that owned it had played for a while, didn't get to be Joe Satrianni, met a girl... and the amp ended up in an unheated, unconditioned storage unit, in a humid climate for a long time. When I did a pre-purchase exam, I reached in and rubbed the power transformer... my fingers came out covered in rust. :shock:
I turned over the case... leaves feel out of it!
I'll assume that's from house plants. The deep scratches and nicks on the case told me that it had not been well taken care of when in use. BUT... it was whole, nothing broken off, all of the tubes were there. On visual inspection, the electronics were almost pristine. It appeared restorable, and I paid what it was worth in that condition. If the amp had not been built so well, it would be a boat anchor right now. It is a testament to Mesa's superb build quality. I certainly enjoy playing it! - Roger
fluff191
Well-known member
It really makes you wonder how some people spend that kind of money on an amp like that and then just forget about it.
sflight
Active member
What's your opinion on modding it to a series effects loop vice parallel? Phenominal work by the way. I would love to learn how to mess with amps. I may get some reading material and start educating myself.
YellowJacket
Well-known member
rs11gps said:stephen sawall said:Welcome to the forum....
At first I though it was two different heads. The work looks great. I also would be interested in hearing about how you did that and what mods ? How much time you have into it ?
Thanks guys. I enjoy working on the amps. The Mesa is perhaps the best built I have worked on. Total time spent on the rehab was only a few hours over two afternoons.
Other than the chassis cleaning, rust removal and stabilization, prep & painting, removal of the transformers (cleaning/ derusting, painting & checking them), some re-soldering, and re-assembly into a new cab, I haven't modified the Triple Rectifier yet. Here is a Before/After shot of the 'new' case & front:
The original was 'Antik Burgundy' with a tan jute grill. It was nicked and scratched, and I wasn't thrilled by the look. The new case was salvaged from a Peavey XXL. I cut out the wood that filled the new grill, to improve airflow and the view of the tubes from the front, I added heat shielding to the inside above the tube row.
I've been reading on a few recommended mods, such as replacing the presence pot... but that merely gives you two gain channels that are the same. Also, it is a quiet amp, so I don't see any need for noise reduction mods. I'll think about what (if any) sound modification mods might be useful.
One thing I am thinking about is a built-in power reduction selector. I am not a big fan of hot-plate type power attentuators, but I might come up with something else. The Triple is either OFF, or LOUD... I'd like to go somewhere between when I'm practicing.
The typical solution for practicing is to buy a practice amp =-( As far as taming the beast, I have pulled out two power tubes. They have to be pairs though. If you do that, you'll run the amp at 100 watts and you'll have to run from the 4 ohm output to the 8 ohm cab, assuming your cab runs at 8 ohms. A more expensive solution is to buy a sextet of yellowjackets and run the amp at somewhere about 50watts (between 45 - 60) with EL-84s. This alters the sonic characteristics of the amp considerably, with a much warmer and more brown singing clean. The gain tone is still thick but it really sounds much more vintage. I happen to love this mod, hence my SN, but not everyone does. Luckily, it is a plug and play kind of mod which is easily reversible whenever you want. I have a carrying case full of different kinds of tubes for my head. I'm always swapping them in and out.
The other loudness problem is the Recto Standard 4 x 12. Any cab with Celestion V30s or similar high efficiency speakers is ridiculously loud. Like paint peeling BS! A great way to get a quieter sound is to use quieter speakers. Anything with a SPL of like 96 or 97 db/ watt/ meter can half the output level of the amp, which makes it freaking ball bustingly loud instead of paint peeling loud. Not really much of a difference at all.
fretout said:
Thanks. No, I didn't paint the chassis.
The result is from a several hours cleaning with windex, electronics cleaner, soft scrubbing with a bristle brush, spot application of rust converter, and spot applications of matte laquer. It takes a while, but I get good results while keeping the original finish intact.YellowJacket said:
I guess it depends on how and what you are practicing for.
I am currently rebuilding a Fender Princeton 112 into a studio amp. It now has one Electrovoice EVM12L speaker, and is being hand-wired vis AB763 layout. It should have a decent sound at reasonable volumes.The term 'practice amp' has developed into a synonym for cheap. Lets say I need a studio, a.k.a. quiet amp when I don't have my earplugs in.
- Roger
Here's a shot of the partially completed AB763 board in the (highly) modified Princeton 112 chassis:
