06 DR 3-Channel Solo Head Mods? FX Loop and Presence help!

[warpedsoul]

Hello all. I just recently traded an Orange Jim Root Terror plus cash to get a DR. The DR has been my dream amp for years, and had to pull the trigger. I get it tomorrow.

What time I've been waiting for it to arrive, I've been reading more about the DR. Evidently, some don't like the 3 channel amp. I think it will be a good amp, but my main concern is the FX Loop. Should I do the serial mod right away? I've read almost every thread on here about it. I plan on using a TC Electronics Flashback, and maybe a Decimator G-string noise gate, and maybe even a Joyo chorus in the loop. I know the Flashback has the option for the killdry and buffer bypass. Is it still worth doing? I called Mesa to get the schematic. Can someone verify what they mean by wiper wire and by "forward" end of the resistor?

Also, is it worth doing the ch 3 presence mod? It seems like it is just a 25k pot switch which is easy enough.

Anyways, I just wanted to get your thoughts on those mods, or the 3 ch DR in general. I'm sure that I'm going to love it, but will also have tons of questions along the way . I will do a proper NAD as soon as she arrives.

 

[YellowJacket]

Tung Sol 12ax7 in V1.

 

[warpedsoul]

Tung Sol 12ax7 in V1.

Excuse my ignorance, but what will that change?

 

[APEMAN]

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[warpedsoul]

Tung Sol 12ax7 in V1.

Excuse my ignorance, but what will that change?

With the DR yo will Marke 100% opposite experience than with TH #4 there will be sooooo mich mudd in the sound... The tung sol helps to reduce THW bass in the first gain stage which helps to reduce the mudd...

Funny to Herr your change... I did the opppsite direction... I sold my DR and got the orange #4 and couldnt be happier. This AMP is easy to carry sounds huge (!!!!!!) and sound fantastic all the time and everywhere... After fighting Witz my Dr for several years this is just pure valve heaven to me

Good luck

I was very happy with the Orange Jim Root, and I may regret getting rid of it. May get it again one day. The reason I traded it is that I didn't have an amp with a clean channel. I know the DR isn't the best clean in the world, but will be good enough for me. And like I said, I always wanted a DR, and couldn't pass this up.

 

[tomprs]

I LOVE my 3-channel dual rec! It is not an easy amp to dial in though, I've been through different configurations until finally achieving my dream sound.

1/ Stock tubes (Mesa STR-430) + Orange ppc412 cabinet + using the fx-loop

< sounded too dry, stiff and fuzzy (especially on channel 3) though very punchy. Cleans were OK.

2/ Sovtek 5881 tubes + Orange ppc 412 cabinet + bypassing the fx-loop (all pedals in front)

< BIG improvement but there was still something I didn't like about the highs. Channel 3 was still unusable.

3/ Sovtek 5881 tubes + Mesa Traditional 4x12 cab + bypassing the loop

< There we are! I was finally falling in love with the amp. It sounded warm, organic and HUGE! I could finally make use of channel 3 for rhythm and of channel 2 for both lead and rhythm. One last thing was missing though ... a bit of evil/aggressiveness in my sound! (maybe because of the 5881 powertubes)

...and then I bought a Maxon OD808... end of the story! Channel 1 sounds nice (not great but not bad either and magnificent with the Maxon), Channel 2 with the Maxon on is pure evil and channel 3 (without the OD) sounds like 3 amps running at the same time: huge!

Tom.

 

[warpedsoul]

I LOVE my 3-channel dual rec! It is not an easy amp to dial in though, I've been through different configurations until finally achieving my dream sound.

1/ Stock tubes (Mesa STR-430) + Orange ppc412 cabinet + using the fx-loop

< sounded too dry, stiff and fuzzy (especially on channel 3) though very punchy. Cleans were OK.

2/ Sovtek 5881 tubes + Orange ppc 412 cabinet + bypassing the fx-loop (all pedals in front)

< BIG improvement but there was still something I didn't like about the highs. Channel 3 was still unusable.

3/ Sovtek 5881 tubes + Mesa Traditional 4x12 cab + bypassing the loop

< There we are! I was finally falling in love with the amp. It sounded warm, organic and HUGE! I could finally make use of channel 3 for rhythm and of channel 2 for both lead and rhythm. One last thing was missing though ... a bit of evil/aggressiveness in my sound! (maybe because of the 5881 powertubes)

...and then I bought a Maxon OD808... end of the story! Channel 1 sounds nice (not great but not bad either and magnificent with the Maxon), Channel 2 with the Maxon on is pure evil and channel 3 (without the OD) sounds like 3 amps running at the same time: huge!

Tom.

Did you do the fx mod to serial? That may help. And that is one of my biggest worries.

As far as tubes, I don't have a big budget to toy around with. I might get the Tung Sol for V1 as mentioned above, or I may just get the JJ set off of Eurotubes. I have a Way Huge Green Rhino that I will be putting in front of the amp.

 

[deeman]

I have a 2001 3 channel and I use the Tung Sol on V1. I would definitely recommend it. I have not done the FX loop mod so I run my effects in front of the amp. No big deal for me as I don't really use many effects any ways.

 

[warpedsoul]

I have a 2001 3 channel and I use the Tung Sol on V1. I would definitely recommend it. I have not done the FX loop mod so I run my effects in front of the amp. No big deal for me as I don't really use many effects any ways.

What would the benefit of the Tung Sol in V1 be over the JJ ECC83s? I had thought of just ordering the retube kit from Eurotubes.

 

[tomprs]

Did you do the fx mod to serial? That may help. And that is one of my biggest worries.

As far as tubes, I don't have a big budget to toy around with. I might get the Tung Sol for V1 as mentioned above, or I may just get the JJ set off of Eurotubes. I have a Way Huge Green Rhino that I will be putting in front of the amp.

I haven't modded my fx-loop to serial ... the effects I use and that normally would go in the fx-loop sound OK put in front of the amp (Boss DD20) and I like to still have the option of engaging the fx-loop when playing live to have the volume boost option (which you loose if you do the mod). I definitely recommend the JJ 6L6 GC or the TAD 6L6 for your amp, they sound great in the dual rec. I have no experience regarding pre-amp tubes though...I stick with the stock Mesa ones.

Cheers

Tom.

 

[tomprs]

I have a 2001 3 channel and I use the Tung Sol on V1. I would definitely recommend it.

Could you explain why? How does it affect the sound of the amp?

 

[warpedsoul]

Did you do the fx mod to serial? That may help. And that is one of my biggest worries.

As far as tubes, I don't have a big budget to toy around with. I might get the Tung Sol for V1 as mentioned above, or I may just get the JJ set off of Eurotubes. I have a Way Huge Green Rhino that I will be putting in front of the amp.

I haven't modded my fx-loop to serial ... the effects I use and that normally would go in the fx-loop sound OK put in front of the amp (Boss DD20) and I like to still have the option of engaging the fx-loop when playing live to have the volume boost option (which you loose if you do the mod). I definitely recommend the JJ 6L6 GC or the TAD 6L6 for your amp, they sound great in the dual rec. I have no experience regarding pre-amp tubes though...I stick with the stock Mesa ones.

Cheers

Tom.

Thanks. From everything I've read, you still keep the boost with the mod, but lose the option to turn the FX Loop on or off as it will be on all the time.

 

[tomprs]

lose the option to turn the FX Loop on or off as it will be on all the time.

Well I definitely wouldn't want that!

 

[Dr.G]

Besides experimenting with preamp tubes, try some poweramp 6l6 tubes that bias hotter than the stock mesa tubes (there are tube stores that offer selected tubes for the DR) or try el34, with the fixed bias in the DR, they are on the hotter side from the beginning.

Put an OD808 in front of the amp.

 

[APEMAN]

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[warpedsoul]

Sry for the wrong language before... my cellphone drives me crazy ...


I love the recto sound and it introduced me to mesa... but after I bought the DR I was very unhappy (after a while). I'm an electrical engineer so I started to change tubes... later I started to do the whole modding ... throw out the J176 transistors... changed the components... until it started to sound like I wanted it to sound... but: this amp will never be easy. When you change the volume, play a slightly different cabinet, if its sound is too big for the room, even if the supply voltage differs it starts to sound strange... it was almost impossible to me to recreate a great tone in different venues.

The other point is... I love MESA... and I wish some day in the far far far future I will gain only a part of randall smith's knowlege. He knows how he wants the DR to sound like. Be shure if he wouldn't like it, he would change it. He wants the bias being so cold, thats part of his concept. The stock (!) DR is what MESA thinks a Rectifier should sound, you can change that or you can live with it.

I realised that I'm deeply in love with the stock Mark series. Many records I thought they would have been recorded with an DR where actually recorded with a Mark.... to make it short, I'm very happy with it.

After owning those two amps I decided to change my DR back to stock and after a while I sold it and bought the orange #4. Man to be honest, this is a fine sounding amp!!! It does what I always searched in the DR. From lead to rythm... almost perfect. It isn't heavy... 100% tube without any semiconductor... it can be very loud ... it can be wispering silent with a heavy tone. It delivers so much mojo... it is impossible to set up wrong ... it owns the best sounding fx loop I have ever heared ... just wow. And it sounds great in almost every location. I gigged with it a few times and never got so many compliments on my sound - lol, with a single channel... and without any pedals in front.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still deeply in love with my mark, as it is an overall more professional instrument with far more possibilites, but compared to the DR the #4 is more supporting your playing and very easy (- there is a reason why it has been voted the amp of the year 2013).

So I'm curious what you think of your DR when it arrives, I hope you find your dreamamp.

Best wishes

Thanks. And like I said, I know I'll regret getting rid of the JR Terror eventually, as I already miss it. I'm sure one day I'll get another one, especially when the prices drop some. I though I'd never get rid of it.

 

[warpedsoul]

And this may sound like the most uber newb question, but what are the Orange and Red channels? Is Orange Ch 2 and Red Ch 3?

 

[YellowJacket]

There are 3 basic iterations of the Dual Rectifiers.

1) The 2 channel version. There were a number of flavours of these but they had an orange channel and a red channel. The Orange channel is warmer, creamier, and more elastic, and it has the clean mode as well. It is the lead channel of the amp. The Red channel is tighter, drier, clearer, and more aggressive and it is the rhythm channel of the amp. Besides the basic tones, channel cloning can be used to approximate the tone of red on orange and orange on red.

2) 3 Channel heads. These amps have the addition of a dedicated clean / sparkly clean channel as well as the 'raw' mode for channel 2 and 3. Channel 2 is voiced darker for lead tones while channel 3 is voiced to be brighter and more aggressive for heavier rhythm tones.

3) 3 Channel Reborn heads. An improved clean / raw modes with a brighter, clear, and tighter updated sound overall. Also has rectifier tracking and the individual channels can be set to 50 or 100 watts.

They're great sounding amps but I have found, like others, that they can get muddy VERY fast. Switching v1 to a Tung Sol 12ax7 really upped the aggression / gain levels without adding mud. Rather than fiddling endlessly with mods, tubes, speakers, and cabs, I addressed the problem at the other end of the circuit. The guitars. I have started using Bare Knuckle Pickups exclusively. They're harmonically rich, even, and unbelievably clear across all ranges of the instrument. Bye bye mud.

 

[warpedsoul]

There are 3 basic iterations of the Dual Rectifiers.

1) The 2 channel version. There were a number of flavours of these but they had an orange channel and a red channel. The Orange channel is warmer, creamier, and more elastic, and it has the clean mode as well. It is the lead channel of the amp. The Red channel is tighter, drier, clearer, and more aggressive and it is the rhythm channel of the amp. Besides the basic tones, channel cloning can be used to approximate the tone of red on orange and orange on red.

2) 3 Channel heads. These amps have the addition of a dedicated clean / sparkly clean channel as well as the 'raw' mode for channel 2 and 3. Channel 2 is voiced darker for lead tones while channel 3 is voiced to be brighter and more aggressive for heavier rhythm tones.

3) 3 Channel Reborn heads. An improved clean / raw modes with a brighter, clear, and tighter updated sound overall. Also has rectifier tracking and the individual channels can be set to 50 or 100 watts.

They're great sounding amps but I have found, like others, that they can get muddy VERY fast. Switching v1 to a Tung Sol 12ax7 really upped the aggression / gain levels without adding mud. Rather than fiddling endlessly with mods, tubes, speakers, and cabs, I addressed the problem at the other end of the circuit. The guitars. I have started using Bare Knuckle Pickups exclusively. They're harmonically rich, even, and unbelievably clear across all ranges of the instrument. Bye bye mud.

Thanks for the info. I will def be getting the Tung Sol for V1 as it seems to be universally praised. Where would be the best place to get it.

I hope option 2 that you listed. I take from your info that Ch2 is the Orange Lead channel and Ch3 is the Red Rhythm channel.

 

[APEMAN]

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