What year was the 3 channel Dual Rectifier released ?

[xscottx9]

And i heard there was a change in it in the last couple years, can anyone confirm this?

thanks

 

[ChrisRocksUSA]

and how can you tell what year your 3 channel dual rec was made?

thanks!

 

[jbird]

Was'nt it August of '00' when the three channel versions were released?

 

[xscottx9]

hmm .. somehow I bought a 97' 3 channel Dual Rectifier?

 

[boogieslide]

Hey xscottx9, its peckhart from HC....so now I bought a '97 3 channel

To confirm the year I would imagine you could call Mesa with the serial number and they will tell you. There may be some date codes somewhere inside the head too, but I am not sure about that with the Mesa amps.

I can post what I was told as far as the change they made after the first 2 years or so of the 3 channel. It has something to do with the use of the preamp tube in V1. Here is what Dale B. (who I believe is a member here) wrote.....Dale if you read this I really hope you don't mind me quoting and sharing something you had in a PM to me:

"As far as the 3 channel heads, look for some that were made in 2000 or 2001. The preamp was still based on the older 3 channel design. In about 2002 or 2003 (could be 2004) they changed the preamp a tad bit. They started using 2 different inputs (both sides of V1) instead of 1, where they only used V1A. Those amps had a certain edge to them that these newer ones don't."

Thanks,
Pete

 

[Boogiebabies]

I bought one when they first came out in 2001. I beleive It was June.
I went through 4 of them until I found the one that popped the least when channel switching. I recently played a 2004 New GC floor model and the pop is gone and the tone was excellent.

 

[Elpelotero]

what i do to get rid of the pop is quite simple.....while the amp is in standby, or even after you turn it on (low volumes!), quickly switch thru each channel about 5 or 6 times rapidly (boom, boom, boom, boom, etc.). then when i crank to loud levels, about 11oclcock, i get no pops. maybe it gives the amp a foundation of the voltages switching, kinda like a warm up or something. i dont know, but it seems to work well.

 

[MesaENGR412]

yeah, that's what i do as well, and it normally on happens about once or twice before going away. I would agree that it is annoing, but, if that's the only trouble...and it goes away after a brief moment, I'll happily deal with it to get my favorite tone of all time :-D

-AJH

 

[Dale B.]

I bought one when they first came out in 2001. I beleive It was June.
I went through 4 of them until I found the one that popped the least when channel switching. I recently played a 2004 New GC floor model and the pop is gone and the tone was excellent.

I had a 2005 Dual Recto and it popped every time I swapped to and from the 2nd channel. I didn't do it going from the 1st to the 3rd or Vice/Versa.

I had a few from 2000 and 2001 where they only popped the first time I swapped from the clean channel after start-up. They never popped again after that.

It's weird. Some aren't as bad as others. I guess it's a matter of good luck and bad luck with a hit and miss situation.

 

[Dale B.]

and how can you tell what year your 3 channel dual rec was made?

thanks!

Call Mesa with the serial number located on the top right part of the chassis in front of the rectifier tubes. This is looking from the back of the amp.

 

[Dale B.]

Hey xscottx9, its peckhart from HC....so now I bought a '97 3 channel
Dale if you read this I really hope you don't mind me quoting and sharing something you had in a PM to me:

Hey Pete.... It doesn't bother me. The proof is in the pudding. If anyone has the Dual/Triple Rectifier manual from back in that time period, they can see it in the tube chart.

The design was like this:

V1A- Input/Clean
V1B - Not used
V2A - 2nd Gain Stage
V2B - 3rd Gain Stage
V3A - 4th Gain Stage
V3B - Cathode Follower, which they state as the 5th Gain stage (it isn't)
V4A - FX Send
V4B - FX Return
V5 - Phase Inverter

The T-Verb uses V1B as the Reverb Return.

I got it wrong a little bit in that PM. The preamp looks like this on the newer ones:

V1A - Input Stage All 3 channels
V1B - Clean Channel
V2A - 2nd Input Stage all channels

The rest appears to be the same, but they mention that V3B is the same as V3A, which I doubt because I didn't know that they were using 5 gain stages for preamp distortion. From a nerdy tech's point-of-view, the Dual and Triple Recto's had 9 gain stages in the earlier circuits and 10 in this newer version. One of those gain stages is the Cathode Follower, which only drives the tone controls. There are only 4 that are actually contributing to the preamp saturation.

Dale

 

[Boogiebabies]

The one I had would pop every time. Out of all of the ones I tested, that one popped the lowest. they were all right from the box and the sales rep hated me. Eventually I could not take it. It would pop at full volume and was as audible as the guitar signal. In most cases, it would ping when switching from Ch. 2 vintage to Ch. 3 Modern. It was the preamp tube and never went away regardless of how many times I replaced it. The one I played recently was a seriously good sounding amp. No pop what so ever.
My RK would pop on the first series of switching and was dead quiet after that.

 

[Dale B.]

The one I had would pop every time. Out of all of the ones I tested, that one popped the lowest. they were all right from the box and the sales rep hated me. Eventually I could not take it. It would pop at full volume and was as audible as the guitar signal. In most cases, it would ping when switching from Ch. 2 vintage to Ch. 3 Modern. It was the preamp tube and never went away regardless of how many times I replaced it. The one I played recently was a seriously good sounding amp. No pop what so ever.
My RK would pop on the first series of switching and was dead quiet after that.

Have you gotten a chance to test drive the new Road King?

 

[eaeolian]

Hmm. My Triple pops loud on the first switch to each channel, and then is pretty quiet after that. Once things get nice and hot it disappears.

I think August of '00 is correct. I bought my Triple in August of '01, and some Dual owners I know had had their amps about a year before that...

 

[Modern Red]

They were first available to Mesa endorsers. I know Dave Grohl had one in late Aug 2000. I owned the very first one in Canada in Oct 2000.