just bought a dual recto (oh my!)

[MF]

I bought a used 3 channel dual recto off ebay this weekend for a pretty reasonable price, so my fingers are crossed that it works as well as advertised. I also bought a Randall R412CB cab loaded with Celestion Vintage 30's to go with it. I hope i made the right choice cause once i import this stuff into Canada i'm kinda stuck with it!

This purchase is a pretty big deal for me. I've been using mostly budget gear during my 12 years of playing so i'm pretty jacked to be moving up in the sonic world. The other guys in my band are now insanely jealous :twisted:

Is there anything i should know before joining the Mesa elite? Is there a secret handshake, or a certain swagger i need to inject into my walk?

 

[Elpelotero]

Congrats on the purchase! Set the knobs to 12:00 first and then tweak from there.

 

[Rocky]

I have talked to Rich at Mesa. They actually advise people to NOT start with everything at noon.

Rich's advice was to start with everything at zero then bring things in one level at a time...starting with gain (rich suggested cranking it....I put it at about 2:00) then going through bass, middle, treble and presence...in that order. At each band raise the knob until you get a level that you like. After that initial 'zero to whatever' stage then you should start fine tuning.

 

[MF]

Interesting, I'll give that a whirl. I was actually thinking about contacting Mesa anyways to see if they could send me an owner/user manual, unless you folks know of any place online that might have a PDF or scans or something. I'd like to have that for reference.

 

[vertigo_]

Interesting, I'll give that a whirl. I was actually thinking about contacting Mesa anyways to see if they could send me an owner/user manual, unless you folks know of any place online that might have a PDF or scans or something. I'd like to have that for reference.

http://mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.htm

 

[Silverwulf]

http://mesaboogie.com/manuals/3chRecto.pdf

There you go, and definitely READ the manual. You'll learn a lot about the amp that way and it's an invaluable resource. Mesa manuals are well written.

 

[MF]

Interesting, I'll give that a whirl. I was actually thinking about contacting Mesa anyways to see if they could send me an owner/user manual, unless you folks know of any place online that might have a PDF or scans or something. I'd like to have that for reference.

http://mesaboogie.com/manuals/user_manuals.htm

aww nuts. how did i miss that? thanks!

 

[BMarchant]

I cant tell you how important it is to "Read the Manual". Download it off the website, print it out and read it from cover to cover. This is what I did when I bought BostonGuitars 3 channel Dual Recto. I set it up, plugged in, and within two minutes had the sounds I was looking for.

The controls are different then a standard amp. Its not like a marshall where everything goes on 11 and play. Once you understand how everything works, dialing in a sound is a lot easier.

Good luck,

BMarchant

 

[jdurso]

as for settings start with the settings in the back of the manual.... they're a great starting point

 

[LEVEL4]

Is there anything i should know before joining the Mesa elite? Is there a secret handshake, or a certain swagger i need to inject into my walk?

That "swagger" will come automatically. You'll also end up with a constant ****-eating grin. I'm also newly inducted into the Mesa secret-handshake club. I just got my Recto too (see below), and I'm in heaven. I'll tell you one thing . . . your playing will actually become instantly better. No ****. I just made two recordings with my two "new" used Mesa/Boogie amps, and they sound f*cking awesome. Better gear makes you sound better, so you naturally just start playing better.

Which Dual-Recto did you buy on Ebay and how much did it finally auction for? I was watching a bunch of those too. I finally just snagged a Single-Recto Solo 50 for $900 with free shipping with "Buy it Now" from a guy in Hawaii. I wanted lower Watts anyway. Just got it today, it's MINT, and it sounds f*cking AWESOME! Total high-gain madness! Tons of "oomph!" Tons of high-presence "bite." It's just what I was looking for to contrast with my Mesa/Boogie DC-3 head I got a few weeks ago, also MINT!

 

[daveyboy]

I cant tell you how important it is to "Read the Manual". Download it off the website, print it out and read it from cover to cover. This is what I did when I bought BostonGuitars 3 channel Dual Recto. I set it up, plugged in, and within two minutes had the sounds I was looking for.

The controls are different then a standard amp. Its not like a marshall where everything goes on 11 and play. Once you understand how everything works, dialing in a sound is a lot easier.

Good luck,

BMarchant

I concur. Very well written and mega informative on how the controls
affect not only tone but feel as well. I downloaded and read it several times prior to receiving my DR. And like BMarchant was up and running with a big grin on my face almost immediately.

And like others have said the sample settings are a great place to
start provided you can use them with a bit of volume as written.

Good luck and congrats.

-dave

 

[Ukalali Solo]

A couple of other things that we're always advised to me when I first got my 3-ch DR was...

1) A nice OD pedal in the front will tighten up the amp nicely. I use an MXR Wylde, and it works great.
2) EQ in the loop will help tweak the settings a bit, and also help tighten the sound up a bit.

Possibly the most frustrating thing with the 3-ch DR's is getting the loop to work exactly how you want it (no tone bleed, no volume bleed).

...And of course, congrats on your new purchase, and welcome to the MB Family .

 

[MF]

Which Dual-Recto did you buy on Ebay and how much did it finally auction for? I was watching a bunch of those too. I finally just snagged a Single-Recto Solo 50 for $900 with free shipping with "Buy it Now" from a guy in Hawaii. I wanted lower Watts anyway. Just got it today, it's MINT, and it sounds f*cking AWESOME! Total high-gain madness! Tons of "oomph!" Tons of high-presence "bite." It's just what I was looking for to contrast with my Mesa/Boogie DC-3 head I got a few weeks ago, also MINT!

I bought it from a guy in New Hampshire. I was watching that auction along with about a dozen others and he lowered his Buy it Now price to $1150 from $1250 so i just grabbed it. I was bidding on other 3 channel rectos earlier in the week and one had gone over $1400 :roll: . So I was glad to get one reasonably close to home so it didn't have to get shipped accross the continent.

I set it up at my rehearsal space for a few minutes last night and it sounded fucking incredible. I was only playing with the volume at about 8 oclock and even at that level the walls were shaking. And the tone, my god the tone! I haven't even taken the time to dial in my own settings, i was just using the ones from the previous owner and it felt right. Even with the gain cranked every note was clear as day. It had my drummer and other guitarist floored.

 

[songrider]

Good looking rig!

 

[Jay22]

NICE! It looks like its in real good shape. Thats awesome!

 

[MesaENGR412]

That's a great looking rig man, how do you like that Randall Cab? A buddy of mine had a cheaper Randall Cab and it sounded awesome! BTW, that Epi looks nice man, the heritage cherry color and body's wood grain look great.

-AJH

 

[MF]

That's a great looking rig man, how do you like that Randall Cab? A buddy of mine had a cheaper Randall Cab and it sounded awesome! BTW, that Epi looks nice man, the heritage cherry color and body's wood grain look great.

-AJH

to tell you the truth i have no real basis for comparison since the amp is new to me as well but i think it kicks all kinds of ***. $500 shipped from musiciansfriend.com, compared to the $850 the Randall dealer around here wanted is a steal, even after paying the tax to import it into Canada.

And yeah, i'm pretty fond of my Epi though i'm noticing a lot more electronic hum than with my old amp so i may invest in a new set of pickups in the near future. I don't know if it's a shielding problem than can be fixed or whether it's just a limitation of the stock pickups. Just for comparisons sake I plugged my buddy's Epi Tony Iommi SG into it and the noise disappeared so it may be time for an upgrade.

Btw, i'm also looking to replace the tubes and i discovered that Long & McQuade have the Mesa brand 6L6's for $36/matched pair...cheaper than through the Mesa store :shock: . What do you folks generally pay for new tubes, and is that a good price? I was always under the impression that tubes were a lot more expensive than that.

 

[LEVEL4]

Wow! Your Recto looks totally MINT! Good buy!