Turning down the presence knob to zero on a Recto

[cheameup]

i keep my presence low also. like the manual says ch3 takes off from where ch2 ends. i dont know about other 3 ch DR owners, but i have no problems with the fizz everybody talks about. you really have to tune with your ears on these monsters otherwise you can tweak for days. the eq is set up completely different than most amps. i keep reading that the 2 channel beats the 3 as far as tone. i dont agree with this at all. i really believe its all hype. if the 2 ch were really that much better mesa would still be making them. really most of your tone comes from your fingers and not your amp. eddie van halen will still sound like eddie van halen no matter what he plays through. as far as the loop, i like the par loop works like a mixer fx loop. this way your signal stays true. again its just the way you set it and of course the vol on your amp makes a big differnce.
what do you other 3ch dr owners think?

I'm a 3 channel owner and I love the amp .With any peice of gear there is always hype around the older versions sounding better . Like I have an early zvex fuzz factory from when they were all completley hand hand and hand painted. And everyone always bags on about how the old ones are so much better. My buddy has a new one and while they do sound sligtly different I wouldnt say one sounds worse than the other . But his can take a 9v power while mine is battery only
The big fizz debate I dont get . i have never played an old 2 channel so I cant really comment but my 3 channel isnt "fizzy" at all when I run it unless I set it up to be fizzy . If I turn the gain over 3 oclock and pump the presence on 3rd channel modern it I hear it but what do you expect with that much gain and presence ?

I also really like the loop on the 3 channels. I run the send level at 12 oclcok and the mix at 3 olcock and it wet enough for me and my clean sound is usually pretty wet with delay . I do agree that some pedals hate the mesa loop. My Malekko reverb I had to move in front of the amp but I onyl use reverb on clean anyway and its true bypass so no biggie. My ehx hog hates the mesa loop as well.

 

[mikey383]

i keep my presence low also. like the manual says ch3 takes off from where ch2 ends. i dont know about other 3 ch DR owners, but i have no problems with the fizz everybody talks about. you really have to tune with your ears on these monsters otherwise you can tweak for days. the eq is set up completely different than most amps.

Your ears are the best tweaking device.

i keep reading that the 2 channel beats the 3 as far as tone. i dont agree with this at all. i really believe its all hype. if the 2 ch were really that much better mesa would still be making them. really most of your tone comes from your fingers and not your amp. eddie van halen will still sound like eddie van halen no matter what he plays through. as far as the loop, i like the par loop works like a mixer fx loop. this way your signal stays true. again its just the way you set it and of course the vol on your amp makes a big differnce.
what do you other 3ch dr owners think?

Gotta disagree there. There is a whole lot of difference from VH1 to For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. The "sound" you're describing is more like feel. His tone greatly varies from the early stuff to the new stuff.

Granted, there isn't a whole lot of differences between the 2 and 3 channel Rectos, but it's definitely there.

 

[YellowJacket]

i keep reading that the 2 channel beats the 3 as far as tone. i dont agree with this at all. i really believe its all hype. if the 2 ch were really that much better mesa would still be making them. really most of your tone comes from your fingers and not your amp.

Well, the tone comes from the fingers AND the guitar / pickup. I think that electric guitarists should pay much more attention to the sonic footprint of guitars and pickups because that has such massive influence on tone. Generally speaking, you really do hear the guitar a lot depending on whether you have the gain dimed or not, and certain guitars have such a recognizable personality: Strats, Teles, Gibson LPs, PRSs, etc. You combine this with a certain famous guitar player, and you have a pretty solid sound already even before adding the amp.

 

[johnny q]

Presence on zero? I never even thought to try this w/ my dual rectifier, with Marshalls yeah, but not the DR. You guys are gonna laugh, but recently my Recto has been sounding best with Treble, Presence, Mid and Bass all on 12 noon!

 

[sunil999]

how many channel is your dual recto?? and which channel are you using,,,,i noticed the presence on channel 3 is too much thats why i turn it off on channel 3... 12 oclock on channel 2

 

[fluff191]

I have been playing in a band for about a month now, and have had adequate time to fully break in my band settings on my Recto.

My 2 cents is that the presence and mids are the key to standing out in a band. I havent touched any other knobs, but still tweak the presence and mid knobs if I do any tweaking at all.

My tone is a Cantrell-esque Facelift era kind of sound, but with a bid more gain. When the entire band is playing, it sounds great, but when I play by myself, its not my favorite tone ever. I have never been a huge midrange guy. That being said, both my presence and mids are just shy of 11:00. I was never able to cut through with the mids that low until I put some Winged C EL34's in.

 

[cheameup]

I have been playing in a band for about a month now, and have had adequate time to fully break in my band settings on my Recto.

My 2 cents is that the presence and mids are the key to standing out in a band. I havent touched any other knobs, but still tweak the presence and mid knobs if I do any tweaking at all.

My tone is a Cantrell-esque Facelift era kind of sound, but with a bid more gain. When the entire band is playing, it sounds great, but when I play by myself, its not my favorite tone ever. I have never been a huge midrange guy. That being said, both my presence and mids are just shy of 11:00. I was never able to cut through with the mids that low until I put some Winged C EL34's in.

+1 on this. What sound great in a band mix and by yourself at home are completley different things

 

[b0nkersx]

My 2 cents is that the presence and mids are the key to standing out in a band.

+1

In my opinion, dialing back the presence all the way sounds great only with a good bit of volume. It seems to get muddy when you turn the volume down to bedroom levels (this is not a problem for me at all, but it may be useful information for other people reading).

I have also noticed it makes it slightly more difficult to cut in a band setting due to the softened attack.

 

[fluff191]

I have also noticed it makes it slightly more difficult to cut in a band setting due to the softened attack.

Bingo.

I have tried and tried to dial down the presence, only to have the guitar fade away in the mix along with it!!!

 

[bermuda_]

So if you play your Recto in your bedroom, where do you roughly need to set your presence knob to on the amp, also keep in mind that I'm using channel 3 modern mode on my Recto.

 

[b0nkersx]

where do you roughly need to set your presence knob to on the amp

Wherever you want.

Also, mikey, about this post:

Something else to take into consideration: Potentiometers can have up to a 20% tolerance. That means a 20K pot can read up to 24K, or as little as 16K.

I know it's two months old, but doesn't a 20% variance mean it can go up 10% or down 10% (meaning 18k or 22k)? Not important either way, but I'm personally interested in these things.

 

[mikey383]

Also, mikey, about this post:

Something else to take into consideration: Potentiometers can have up to a 20% tolerance. That means a 20K pot can read up to 24K, or as little as 16K.

I know it's two months old, but doesn't a 20% variance mean it can go up 10% or down 10% (meaning 18k or 22k)? Not important either way, but I'm personally interested in these things.

That example would be 10% tolerance, although the variance would be 20% between those two figures.

The tolerance is figured at the specified value...say you have a 20K pot. 20% of 20K is 4K, so it can vary up to 4k in either direction and still be within spec. If one pot is at one end of the tolerance, and another is at the other end, you have a 40% variance between them. That's also considering the pots are either dimed or zeroed. In the halfway position, there's going to be less of a differential between them...somewhere in the neighborhood of 20%.

Honestly though, my example is extreme, and most likely you're not going to have that extreme of a difference from pot to pot, but it is possible. It really boils down to one amp needing a little more on the knob than another amp to get the same sound.

 

[b0nkersx]

That example would be 10% tolerance, although the variance would be 20% between those two figures.

Ahh, gotcha, that settled my confusion. My brain is permanently stuck in math-major mode. Thanks!

 

[cheameup]

I have also noticed it makes it slightly more difficult to cut in a band setting due to the softened attack.

Bingo.

I have tried and tried to dial down the presence, only to have the guitar fade away in the mix along with it!!!

In my experience with the amp so far allot of the tone of a rec in a band is in getting though the mix with raw power .Its not a real cutting tone amp to me but the fact it has so much under the hood I can push through those tones which might'nt cut through with a lesser amp

 

[Turumbar82]

So if you play your Recto in your bedroom, where do you roughly need to set your presence knob to on the amp, also keep in mind that I'm using channel 3 modern mode on my Recto.

Just use your ears. It's one knob honestly! Put the knob at zero and twist it up and down and stop where you like it.

 

[bermuda_]

I am aware it's only one knob, but I seem to be having a problem with adjusting it correctly, on my Recto I can't seem to find a setting I like for playing metal.

Any suggestions guys?

 

[Turumbar82]

I am aware it's only one knob, but I seem to be having a problem with adjusting it correctly, on my Recto I can't seem to find a setting I like for playing metal.

Any suggestions guys?

what kind of sound do you want from your recto? How do you expect it to sound? In your other post about your pickups, new pickups will help, but they aren't going to change the character of your amp.

If you want metal the best thing to do is put your amp in Diode, Bold, on channel 3 modern put all of your knobs at 12 o'clock and work through each one going from 0 to 10 hearing what happens when you turn it up or down. If you can't find a sound you like that way, then I don't know what to do for you! lol

 

[bermuda_]

Well for metal would having the presence knob set to 12 O'clock on the amp, not suck out some of the low end coming from the amp?

 

[Turumbar82]

alright, here is the ultimate metal sound on a recto. It's really a secret everyone has been keeping from you.

Gain: all the way up
Treble: all the way up
Mids: all the way down
Bass: all the way up
Presence: 1:30 ish

 

[bermuda_]

Okay there was no need for you to resort to posting this information man I get what you're trying to say I'll speak no more about it I promise :lol: