What a Great Day for this Recto owner!

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Well guys! Let me tell you....today was a great day for me as a Dual Rectifier owners!

First, while practicing with my band, I was honestly starting to get tired of the massive compression and fizziness of the uber gain on the modern channel. So, I finally got the courage to walk over to my recto and turn the gain down. It was hard....the brutality of channel 3 modern with gain at 3 o'clock is pretty mean....but the overwhelming bass and umph was just really muddying up the mix....

For all of today, I ran my gain at 12 o'clock. with my master at 12 and output at 10. What a tone! Instead of an overly compressed gain mess, I now get a huge, in your face purr! Still very very agressive, and huge, but much more open and organic! Not nearly as liquidy, but much more articulate and together! I have found the grail in my recto!

As a side note, this is still with the stock Mesa 6L6s...I still have not popped in the JJ E34Ls I have in the sidelines

Honestly, even you metalheads....try turning your gain down....it really makes a difference ( I know it's hard...just try it)! The agression is still there....just not masked by noise.....and a nice bonus....all my feedback problems are gone!

So, I can home with a huge smile on my face! I cut through the mix much better, and the mix was just much more pleasant...the recto was not overwhelming and agressive, but smooth and agressive, taking its place in the mix perfectly!

Part two of my day! Came home, signed on to ebay, and found a mesa cab I had been watching at only $400.....after a 2 hr back and forth to the comp refreshing, I can now say that I amp the prowd owner of a Mesa Oversized 4x12! I can finally pair my mesa with it's REAL brother! Very excited here! A friend locally is purchasing my avatar, and I will be running this monster, which cost me $515 shipped to my door!

Turned out to be a great day! Just wanted to share!

 

[disassembled]

This post is soooo not metal!!!

j/k

I am glad you finally see the light. I learned this lesson years ago with my first head (Peavey 5150). I started with the pre gain at 6-7ish but when my band was doing our last few shows the pre was 3.5-5 and it sounded great to me(it was a progressive reduction in gain over about a year or 2 span). I ran JJ 6L6's biased up nicely. After the band broke up I made it into a 3 channel head with seperate EQ's and volumes for each channel and threw some E34L's in there. I don't even think I can call it a 5150 anymore as the character has changed sooo much, oh well live and learn.

I am glad you decided to do this before you retubed. You may have been dissapointed with the tone otherwise. I am still dialing in my TA and definitely prefer the gain at a controllable level. The same goes for my PV Tube Fex pre. The tubefex has so much **** breakup on 2 of the 4 channels that it makes it sound like buzz to me with the gain way up but, once the gain and bass are lowered it seems all of this low end shows up(weird huh?) along with a crisp drive that is not harsh in the least bit and, still is extremely shapable with that particular channel's EQ controls. I think it's a pity when users discount equipment because of their lack in knowledge of tone. Just because it goes to 11 doesn't mean it needs to.

Cool deal on the Recto cab. I was thinking about picking a DR up but then I get back to reality (my 20/20 is even too loud for my situation right now!!!) and see that it would not have a welcome place to be turned up much past loud stereo levels.

 

[MesallicA]

I like the gain around 12-1 o clock on the orange channel in modern or vintage its awsome for rhythm, but for solo's i dont like it. I like a bit more gain for some lead work.

 

[JamesD]

Awesome. I've gotta do some EQ'ing now that we are in our new practce space, so i will back off the gain a small bit to 12ish and see what i get.
lol..I was looking at that cab up on ebay last night Congrats on getting it

 

[Micah]

Congrats on the cab man! Good Deal!

On the Gain @ 12 thing.... I messed around with that idea a while back and had things backed off for about 2 months--great when you want to back off the volume on your guitar and get sparksle but I have to say that there is just something missing in the low mids when you do that. As far as versatilitly goes, I actually have to say that @ the moment, I like my Gain @ about 2:45. But then again, thats why its nice to have 3 channels! One for all out and one for crunch(gain 12) and then the clean. @ the moment Ive been using 2 and 3 set exactly the same on the knobs and just utilizing their differences. :wink:

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I do agree, for solos, it isn't liquidy enough, but that is the beauty of my new effects processor! I just switch in the reverb, and it is beautiful! Add some wah when needed, and VIOLA!

 

[Platypus]

I find it easier to back off guitar volume to obtain the same sound but you don't lose the punch in the midrange and bass this way.. and you can roll the guitar up to 10 for solos without messing with your amp ever.

Congrats.. those 'tone' moments are the reason I keep picking up my guitar

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I now exactly what you mean!

 

[jgventura]

oh man! i just got my mesa oversized 4x12 last week (that even trade for my Jdesign 2x12) and it's RIDICULOUS with my trem-o-verb! the MASSIVE low end, ahhhhhh, i kept switching back and forth between the mesa and my marshall, and oh man, while i like the marshall, the mesa just brings this whole new life to my amp. congrats!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

That's what I'm expecting going from my avatar too! Ther were meant to be together!

It's gonna be heavy though....even heavier than I am expecting more than likely...I don't think I'll be able to list my 4x12 alone anymore....my avatar weighs about 80-90 lbs, and I can lift if alone no problem...the mesa is gonna be tricky.

 

[jgventura]

oh man... be prepared to go to the gym... i think my marshall is roughly the same as your avatar, but i think the mesa's we have add like 50lbs haha. i was saying i think it's built with lead sandwhiched between steel plates :shock:

 

[mrt]

Very cool,, i messed around with my rect all night, WOW, this is what i came up with,, i was running a rocktron for FX and a EQ, and the mod was done to my amp to series, so i was getting a really hot sound through the effects,, so i saw your post and unhooked everything and put the gain and master at 12,, and then the EQs,, the high all the way up,,, the bass all the way up,, and the mid all the way down :?: :?: ,,, i know that sounds crazzzzy but i have the most huge sound :!: super full and a big deep scooped sound,, i think i am going to get rid of EQ and rocktron, and just buy a delay pedal,,, thanks, less to move from show to show,,

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Simplicity is a beautiful thing!

 

[DirtyNoise]

That's awesome dude! Congrats. Mesa Rec's seem to shine in the untraditional settings. I bought the cab the same day as the head. (Could of bought a nice work car for that but anyway..) It EFIN rocks!
I too play in a cover band (My Sig). And our last 2 gigs with out new board and compressors on the the drums..PLUS my Boogie..we have been getting compliments on our huge sound. Our singer uses a TripleX but runs a boss processor through it. But he doesn't play on much just some back up here and there.
Anyway, I have that setup on the way from doug with the V1-5 tunsoul, 9th gens, Shagaung, and Ruby 6l6's. So hopefully there will something there I'll like!!
YOU WILL LOVE YOU CAB!!

 

[Micah]

I find it easier to back off guitar volume to obtain the same sound but you don't lose the punch in the midrange and bass this way.. and you can roll the guitar up to 10 for solos without messing with your amp ever.

Congrats.. those 'tone' moments are the reason I keep picking up my guitar

Thats my theory Plat'-- Im kind of a classic type player. Rather than switching around different channels and such I find myself most of the time just rolling off the volume on the guitar to get a sparkle-- Most of the time I want my amp to be set to the nastiest that I would ever want it to be and then I can regulate it from there-- :wink:

 

[Platypus]

I find it easier to back off guitar volume to obtain the same sound but you don't lose the punch in the midrange and bass this way.. and you can roll the guitar up to 10 for solos without messing with your amp ever.

Congrats.. those 'tone' moments are the reason I keep picking up my guitar

Thats my theory Plat'-- Im kind of a classic type player. Rather than switching around different channels and such I find myself most of the time just rolling off the volume on the guitar to get a sparkle-- Most of the time I want my amp to be set to the nastiest that I would ever want it to be and then I can regulate it from there-- :wink:

Yep, I guess it comes from years of owning amps that didn't have all the bells and whistles the Mesa's do like 3 channels, solo functions, FX loop toggles, etc. I dial mine in to be as heavy as I ever need and then use my guitar to dictate rhythm and soloing

 

[JamesD]

I like to practice this as well. Rolling off the volume for lighter sounds and then coming back into the heaviest setting by my volume pedal. plus i love the sound of a half-dirty sounding tone rolling into full in your face distortion. Nothing like it to me.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I'll give it a try....my volume pot isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be, but maybe I can get some nice tones this way!

Still, I'm loving what I'm hearing!

 

[JamesD]

Depending on my mood or situation i either roll off my volume knob on the guitar or i use my volume pedal. Either way works pretty well, for the times in not at my board i can use the volume knob.