Drew K said:
. I like a scooped clean tone so the shared eq on the electradyne automatically eliminates it.
THat's kind of silly. Why not try the thing first to see how it sounds and what it can do? You'd be absolutely amazed how many tones can be found on that amp in spite of the shared EQ. The clean on the Electra Dyne is never honky, and with the EQ set to the standard 12:00 noon position for most mesas, it is not honky at all. The amp is default quite mid heavy on the crunch modes so to get to the same sort of an EQ as a rectifier with the presence at 9:00 and everything else at 12:00 noon, you have to dial in a really scooped EQ curve. i.e. Presence maxed, treble at 1:30, mids at 8:30 and bass at 1:00 and volume (Gain) at 3:00. The results are interesting to say the least. The skinny wide cleans are found with the volume (Gain) set lower so that the bright cap on the clean mode is engaged. The advantage of having the gain trim switch is that the amp can be set to have more gain on the crunch modes with a skinnier clean tone as well.
I'd say that the clean on the Electra Dyne is huge and phat with deep warm sub lows already so it does not require excess scooping anyhow, at least not beyond what one would want for the crunch tones. The amp is not for everyone but to simply eliminate something strictly on the basis of bias is silly. The shared EQ is a design compromise but it is not as much of one as you may think.
Just be warned, this thing is not a one trick pony. It has many faces, many feels, many tones. Changing the dials around causes the thing to feel like a whole new amp under the fingers. It takes some getting used to but it is really fun.
Beyond this amp, the Royal Atlantic merits some attention. Just be aware that it is brighter with even more mids but it does have a separate EQ for clean and crunch as well as a built in channel assignable attenuator. I have not tried one yet because I don't need anymore GAS.
As for Rectos, I have owned one for many years and it has this natural scooped voice which makes it an incredible rhythm amp. It notches the upper mids out right where the voice sits in a mix. It can do a decently good lead tone but the rhythm is where the magic really is. The clean on the new recto reborn series is absolutely fantastic and worth the upgrade alone but the updated 'raw' circuit adds some seriously needed midgain tones to make for a very versatile and giggable amp. For a more mid focused tone, running a Mesa Traditional 4 x 12 with v30s will get you there. Just don't expect it to be honky and mid focused since Rectos by nature, have a tone like a Mark V with the sliders in the standard V position. It can have mids but they are different than the mids found with other amps. The best way to get a narrower and more cutting tone is to turn the treble way down, turn the mids way up, and adjust bass to taste. Then the highs can be added back in via the presence control. Reducing the treble increases the signal passed to the next two tone controls (mids and bass) while turning the treble up lowers the amount of mids and bass in the signal.
Mark Vs are probably the best option for versatility. I think the darker mid focused crunch tones can be found in the 'edge' or 'crunch' mode on the second channel. The EQ makes for infinite tone sculpting and the lead tones on this amp are rich, thick, vocal, and violin like. This thing is world class and probably mesa's best amp, but it just didn't resonate with me in spite of how awesome it is.