Triple Recto lead-tones

[vitriol666]

Hello everyone!

I just picked up my first two channel triple rectifier last friday and I´ve been playing around with it all this weekend dialing sounds The reason I bought this amp was the modern gain on the red channel which is perfect for my band and the rhythm-sound I´ve been searching for for years. I was actually positively surprised by the clean channel. Can´t really see the problem with it, compared to a lot of Marshalls and ENGL´s I´ve tried. I think it has a lot to do with the choice of guitar. But hey, I realize it´s not Fender but still pretty good!

Anyway, I have yet to find, IMO, something that even resembles a good lead tone. It´s not a big deal because that was not the reason for buying this amp in the first place but it would be nice to able to have some fun on my own when I´m not rehearsing with my band. There is almost no sustain and the volume on each string is very different. I play 010-056/60, the tubes are 6L6. My preferences for the perfect lead would be John Petrucci (Images and Words), Vai (Passion and Warfare, Blue Powder etc) and Paul Gilbert. Clear attack, long sustain, smooth and dynamic (meaning that it respondes to how hard I play. I´m not a big fan of a lot of compressor). No matter how bad my equipment has been in the past I´ve always managed to come at least close to this, but not with this one.

I tried experimenting with the different settings on the back but with no luck. I know some of you guys say that it takes a while to dial your settings perfectly on these amps, but I haven´t even come close.
So I was wondering if a Tube Screamer or something similar should be something to consider? Please give me some advise :roll:

Edit: Just one more question; When I switch from red channel to orange-clean the click from the footswitch is coming through the speaker very loud. Is this normal? Is there any "silent" switches you can recommend instead?

 

[turmoil]

glad you dig your rectifier man!! i love mine a ton.

anyways, i would say definetly try a tubescreamer/OD pedal of some kind. they work WONDERS on rectifiers. either an Ibanez or a Maxon would be a good place to start.

as far as the lead tones, i use the 2nd (orange) channel for mine. i would recommend playing with that channel and DEFINETLY try some of the other voicings...vintage, raw, modern.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

The vintage mode with an overdrive of some sort will get you some crazy lead tones :wink:

I like mine with vintage only...on ODs, but it's up to you.

 

[barneyc4]

hey ibanez,

is your 4x12 a stiletto cab or a recto cab?

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Ah the dreaded lead tone. 2 things I suggest......

1. Overdrive Pedal : A must to get any sustain from your recto in my opinion. The digitech Bad Monkey ( $40!) is a popular recommendation on the board. I like the Maxon Od-9 tubescreamer ( true bypass) as well.

2. Noise gate : Now I hate noise gates. Definite tone coloration with a Boss NS-2 BUT...........put your overdrive pedal in the loop of the NS-2 and you can really push your amp in a way not possible w/o a noise suppressor. The ISP Decimator pedal is another option for noise but I have never tried one.

Just suggestions.........experiment and play that mutha loud!

 

[vitriol666]

The ISP Decimator pedal is another option for noise but I have never tried one.

I have the ISP decimator in my Sansamp set-up. It´s very good and highly recommended if you need a noise gate. Ultrafast without messing with the sound at all. Never experienced that with any noisegates before. You will not notice it´s there :wink: But make sure you use a power supply or fresh batteries on gigs. It makes a horrible noise when it´s running low!

 

[Dead Moon Rising]

So what kind of guitar and pickups are you using? and hows the action and pickup height? I run pretty low gain for metal and have no sustain problems. Don't blame the amp for poor sustain, and If the volume on each of your strings is differnt then something's wrong with the guitar.

 

[vitriol666]

Should be nothing wrong with my guitars. LP Custom and SG Standard. Set-up just fine. Not about to change that as I get proper leads out of mostly anything, even straight into my laptop with crappy plugins :wink:

I listed some references above to the sound I am after. If you truly believe I can achieve that, or something similar(minus the delays/reverbs off course) by plugging straight into my triple recto I would be happy if you gave me the approximate settings.

I´ve also tried with my both my Ibanez guitars without luck, one of them with excellent Dimarzio pickups, from my days as a big Theater-fan 8)

The volume difference between the strings is something I have never experienced before on any other amp. I guess for leads it would help to roll off some more of the lows considering the string gauge I use 010 - 056/059. But then again, I don´t notice any difference when playing the clean channel or sounds with less gain. It is possible that what I call volume difference is more likely to be an eq-difference as the higher strings sounds kind of "sizzly" compared to the low and that it makes them appear as "lower" in volume.

 

[domct203]

Different string / note volumes?

Could be the PI tube ( V5 ). Do you have another (balanced) 12AX7 to try?

Dom

 

[vitriol666]

I know I have a 12ax7 lying around at our rehearsal space but dont know if it´s balanced (btw does that mean balanced for Mesa?), dont know too much about tubes in general but the ones in the amp are brand new, only played 10-12 hours on them.

I have borrowed myself a Klon Kentaur? and a Tube Screamer that I´ll check out tonight.

 

[Wingee]

I would also recommend trying a compressor pedal - that will certainly help smooth out the balance between the strings - use it sparingly though, don't over use the compressor, but it also means you can get good lead tones with less drive.

In terms of the click when you change channels - that is normal, well at least it should only happen the first time. I think it's a discharge of the capacitors when changing channels. Usually when I switch on my amp, i click through the channels to clear it out!

 

[eaeolian]

I'd suggest a three-channel, personally.

Having got that out of the way, the OD is a good idea. I recommend a Tube Screamer variant, like the Maxon OD808, or a modded TS-7.

 

[Wingee]

sorry, I just noticed you said you don't like compressors...!! then I'd go with what everybody else is recommending - drive pedal. As alternatives, clean boost pedal, or eq pedal also might get you what you're after.

 

[Dead Moon Rising]

Should be nothing wrong with my guitars. LP Custom and SG Standard. Set-up just fine. Not about to change that as I get proper leads out of mostly anything, even straight into my laptop with crappy plugins :wink:

I listed some references above to the sound I am after. If you truly believe I can achieve that, or something similar(minus the delays/reverbs off course) by plugging straight into my triple recto I would be happy if you gave me the approximate settings.

I´ve also tried with my both my Ibanez guitars without luck, one of them with excellent Dimarzio pickups, from my days as a big Theater-fan 8)

The volume difference between the strings is something I have never experienced before on any other amp. I guess for leads it would help to roll off some more of the lows considering the string gauge I use 010 - 056/059. But then again, I don´t notice any difference when playing the clean channel or sounds with less gain. It is possible that what I call volume difference is more likely to be an eq-difference as the higher strings sounds kind of "sizzly" compared to the low and that it makes them appear as "lower" in volume.

I've always been against the "put a pedal in front" method. because if you want to switch to the clean channel you have to turn off the overdrive pedal too. and i can't tap dance.

Since you have good guitars i'd recomend upgrading the pickups. If you feel actives are too sterile i'd try the Dimarzio Evolution series. They were designed for Steve Vai and are just as hot as my Emg's. I don't think Stock gibson pickups give you enough juice for what you want to do. and modeler/plugins give you that solidstate-esq effect where its so distorted that tonal subtleties get lost, a tube head resonds completley different and is much more responsive to dynamics.

Later

 

[NoGlassNoClass]

I've always been against the "put a pedal in front" method. because if you want to switch to the clean channel you have to turn off the overdrive pedal too. and i can't tap dance.

Try boosting with an EQ pedal that has a good ammount of headroom (MXR 10-band or similar), or a clean-boost (Keeley Katana, Creation Audio MK.4.23, MXR/CAE booster-overdrive) something that doesnt color or excessively overdrive your signal.

I use an MXR 10-band with the EQ sliders basically flat (centered) only a slight boost of about +2dB at 4KHz (enhances pick attack) and a cut of -9dB at 32.5 Hz (this is mostly rumble and mud anyway). Gain slider flat, output vol slider at about +6 to +8 dB depending on the guitar. I leave it on all the time with no ill-effects on the clean channel.

 

[Random Hero]

The 2ch heads can achieve great lead tones.

Orange, Vintage, mids up, presence really low. I liked tube recto too, but that's personal preference.

 

[eaeolian]

I've always been against the "put a pedal in front" method. because if you want to switch to the clean channel you have to turn off the overdrive pedal too. and i can't tap dance.

There are a large number of solutions available to this issue.

 

[vitriol666]

Tried with an old tubescreamer yesterday and it sounded great! Thanks for the advise! I Put it in front of the amp and used the orange channel in vintage mode.

Can the amp or pre-amp fuses get damaged if I run the TS on full volume before the amp. Ended up with these settings on the TS:

Level: Max or 3´o clock
Drive: 9 o´clock
Tone: 11-12 o´clock

 

[vitriol666]

Since you have good guitars i'd recomend upgrading the pickups. If you feel actives are too sterile i'd try the Dimarzio Evolution series. They were designed for Steve Vai and are just as hot as my Emg's. I don't think Stock gibson pickups give you enough juice for what you want to do. and modeler/plugins give you that solidstate-esq effect where its so distorted that tonal subtleties get lost, a tube head resonds completley different and is much more responsive to dynamics.

Later

It would be fun to try something else in my LP Custom someday but to my taste the pickups are hot enough, actually hotter than any other guitar I´ve tried and I love the sound to much. I owned an ESP with EMG 81 (and yes for me they are a bit too sterile) until a couple of months ago, but I also found it weaker in output than my LP. I came no where near the crunch from my LP. . .but I can understand why a lot of metal guitarists use them, they sound more straight metal to me. If you get the chance, try a custom one day with 498 and 490, I think you will be surprised. IMO they sound much heavier than the standard or classic for that matter.

 

[eaeolian]

Can the amp or pre-amp fuses get damaged if I run the TS on full volume before the amp. Ended up with these settings on the TS:

You're not going to produce enough output with a TS to damage the amp, so have at.