What Happens when you put a Single Recto on 10

[Acesofbelkan]

I've heard players like Yngwie Malmsteen dime the volume on their amps to get that sweet tone and such. Can you do this with a single recto series II?
Would it sound good or would the tone just turn to mush?

 

[stephen sawall]

You can do it with any amp ..... I would be surprised if it sounded good. You well want to back your preamp way down on the gain. In general amps know for poweramp distortion do not have much gain. You well get the best results well blending poweramp and preamp distortion. Expect to set the tone controls very different also.

 

[Acesofbelkan]

Yeah, it just came to me since I was wondering, being that its a 50 watt head maybe I can dime the volume and get some super sweet tone.
But I would have to dial the gain way back. Last week I wanted to see how loud it could get, so I hadnt reached the max volume and the sound was extremely distorted and unclear. Too much gain was probably it since I didnt tweak the eq or gain from what it was prevously at.

 

[stephen sawall]

My experience with Rectifier's is if you put the master up around 2 or 3 o'clock on the orange channel and bring up the gain slow and balance out the tone controls you can find some great sounds. All the way up was not the way to go.
warning it's going to be loud.

 

[YellowJacket]

Aces of Belkan? Are you into ace combat by chance?

As you noted, if you run the amp really loud you get way more gain. Generally, as you turn the volume up on a tube amp, you should turn the gain down. I found that with my Dual, the power amp distortion really didn't sound bad when EQ'd correctly. The only issue was that the gain had to be way down so the sound didn't get muddy. It for sure turns the amp into an entirely different beast.

My experience with Rectifier's is if you put the master up around 2 or 3 o'clock on the orange channel and bring up the gain slow and balance out the tone controls you can find some great sounds. All the way up was not the way to go.
warning it's going to be loud.

After some particularly nasty tinnitus the other day I have once again started my practice of using my gear with hearing protection at all times. I just have to accept the fact that my ears are much more sensitive than most so I should respect them. If I go half deaf I'll have to give up cello and I wouldn't like that.

 

[stephen sawall]

I have had ear protection on my keyring for about 15 years .... I never go anyplace without them. If you find ear plugs you like ... it is a very good investment in the future. There is no reason to blow out your hearing.

I use a THD Hot Plate when I want poweramp distortion from a amp. It is a good method for controlling volume.

 

[Acesofbelkan]

Hell yeah I love Ace Combat Yellow Jacket! But the name was chosen by my best friend a long time ago. I never had a email before so he created one for me with Acesofbelkan as the name and I just stuck with it whenever I joined a forum.

Previously, I ran the poweramp volume around the same output as the channel volume for the orange channel. I assumed the mesa got its heavenly sound from the poweramp since at low volumes the preamp distortion sounds a bit fuzzy. But Ill definitley try the Master at about 3 and the channel volumes a bit higher.

The Hotplate sounds like its a great piece of gear, I cant really afford one right now. I cant get the Mesa to sound very good at bedroom volumes so if you have any personal settings or advice on that I would love to hear it. I do know Rectos are to be played at louder than bedroom volumes to sound godly though.

 

[YellowJacket]

Good to see I'm not the only gamer around here!!

Just be very aware that half of the ROAR of a recto comes from sufficiently agitated speakers. Guitar speakers with very little power going through them tend to sound very buzzy.

The key ring ear plugs sounds like a great idea. When working grounds keeping I ALWAYS wore hearing protection around heavy machinery. I also would always using -33db earplugs for basement rehearsals with 2 halfstacks and a 300watt bass rig + a 410. I've just gotten lazy lately with my yellow jackets and little 2 x 12 that sounds better at low volumes than just about anything I've tried. The ear rape started when I swapped back to EL-34s for more crunch. Just the other day, I was running BOLD DIODES with all the tube sockets full. This was through my Mock 212B. It sounded like a thousand angry Gods but my ears were CRYING afterwords. Not doing that ever again!

 

[stephen sawall]

When going for poweramp distortion turn off the effects loop. You do not want that on when learning the amps poweramp distortion property's, this is very important.
Do not use any pedals in front or effects in the loop. Once you get the sound right you can worry about adding effects or turning on the effects loop.
Only use guitar / amp / speaker.

There is no way to get poweramp distortion out of any amp without being very loud with out a attenuator.

 

[Heritage Softail]

I had that exact amp for a while. Single Rec Series II. It had a diff sound that it is famous for with the gain low and the MV at 3 o'clock. And I definitely had earplugs. All the tone related controls were dialed way back, almost no bass. It made a sound but not like what I bought the amp for..... :wink: I ended up putting in some old Tesla EL34's, running the gain higher and volume up around noon to jam. IMO the amp had the best distortion in the preamp side and the EL's added a softer power amp distortion. Oh yeah, I put in Tung Sol RI 12AX7's across the front end. It was good, still loud as a MF though.

 

[Acesofbelkan]

Thanks for the advice guys, Im definitely going to look into earplugs though. I did some quick research since I didnt know much about earplugs, but they have regular ones and high-fidelity ones which retain all the frequencies of the music but just lowers the decibles. So it still sounds good and not like crap!

 

[YellowJacket]

The Hi fidelity ones are cool but I find for good ol' rehearsals, it is better just to stick in the -33DB foamies. The Hi Fi ones can be used for shows and enjoying your amp in private, if you like to crank that much!
I think the worst thing is these people have 'permanent distortion' in their ears from consistently loud levels. I have taken care of my ears for the most part and yet I still have had a minor case of Tinnitus for as long as I remember. It is only when it gets loud that the tinnitus gets angry.

 

[stephen sawall]

I had that exact amp for a while. Single Rec Series II. It had a diff sound that it is famous for with the gain low and the MV at 3 o'clock. And I definitely had earplugs. All the tone related controls were dialed way back, almost no bass. It made a sound but not like what I bought the amp for..... :wink: I ended up putting in some old Tesla EL34's, running the gain higher and volume up around noon to jam. IMO the amp had the best distortion in the preamp side and the EL's added a softer power amp distortion. Oh yeah, I put in Tung Sol RI 12AX7's across the front end. It was good, still loud as a MF though.

I agree with this .... my favorite sounds from the amp are in the 11~1 o'clock range. The variables being the guitar and speakers being used.