Recto Love Rekindled!!!

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Hello my fellow board frequenters!

In quite the good mood at the moment to be completely honest with you guys!

As of late, I have been going through a lot of gear stress, and frustration with my tone...I have been considering cab changes, speaker swaps, pedals, and even all new heads altogether.

So, with the singer out of town, I decide to still go to our practice space with the "instrumental" part of the band and tweak our mix.

As I've mentioned, my biggest gripe has been the overly deep and boomy bass of the recto....it just doesn't work in the mix at all...awesome on its own, but crap in a clean band mix.

In "tweak" mode, I decided to actually flip the mode on my channel 3....I had sat in Channel 3 modern for so long that I forgot that there were other modes.

Flipped to Vintage, tweaked a bit, and was floored!

A recto with definition, crunchy mids, and sitting perfectly in the mix....NO BOOMY BASS! At of my complaints were in the Modern mode...not the amp itself.

With Doug's retube, the other modes just sing....I never gave them a shot!

I love my recto again! For anyone looking for new tones in their rectifier, give the other modes a try....you'll be suprised.

 

[KDS]

Being persistant pays off.

I was using a Micro Cube for band practice (to spare my back) and needed more firepower when we started gigging. I drug my ROV to band practice, after boasting about what a fire breathing monster it was, only to have it sound like total crap, wimpy & farty.

Long story short, a couple of years ago I put Anderson vintage pickups in my Drop Top and the ROV hates vintage pickups. I put the original pickups back in my Drop Top and the fire breathing monster is back. I love this amp.

Boogie rocks!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

They have their down moments, but when they come back, it's nice

 

[TheRazMeister]

Ibanez...what did you do for a re-tube? I've been looking at the Tung sol 12AX7's for both my rectoverb and Crate V32. Also, seems like you had a good experience with Doug's Tubes.....any more on that?

They have their down moments, but when they come back, it's nice

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I have a Tung Sol in V1, Sovtek LPS in V2, and 9th Gen. Chinese in the remaining positions. SED 6L6s in the power amp, and stock Mesa 5U4GBs in the rectifier position.

VERY happy with both the retube and the service. My first Tung Sol was microphonic. Contacted Doug, and he sent out a new one the very next day!

As for tonal qualities, the clean channel improved the most. Overall, the amp has lost its fizz, as I'm not using correctly biased tubes, and it seemed to smooth out quite a bit. Subtle differences...it's still a recto, but I'm very happy with it.

 

[recto-robbie]

I just wanted to say I have done business with both dougs tubes and eurotubes. they are both trustworthy places in my opinion.. I just received my second order from doug which were a matched pair of
SED c winged el34's for my rectoverb. I got to try them out last night. Deffinatly worth my time.. very nice,,,almost 3d sounding. cant really explain. The rectoverb still sounds like a rectoverb and there still is a bottom end.. Maybe a little tighter on the bottom end. About a month ago I ordered some 12ax7's from doug also. I wound up getting the Tungsol RI's some EH's and had some ecc83s from eurotubes. I spent an evening swapping them around and found that all the EH's seemed to create a lot of feedback noise for some reason. I finally ended up with a Tungsol in V1,V3 and a Tungsol balanced in V5. The jj's worked well in V2 but I found I got a bit edgier sound with a stock mesa in V2. So it stayed. I put the EH in V4 because I never use the fx loop anyways.

 

[broknstuff]

yeah, sometimes you just get stuck in a worse sounding room, but other days it sounds great. Part of the nature of tube amps and a ton of other variables. Once I get back to the states I'm going to retube her, because she's not sounding as great as she used to, and I know the cause are the tubes since they've been in there a long time...I can't wait to get back and experiment some, I think I'll give doug a call when that happens (for preamp tubes at least, poweramp I think I'll still stick with Mesa's since they are under warranty and I still liked the sound of the stock recto). The only thing I would try to do is to tighten up the bass a bit and maybe take a tad big of fizz off. Btw Ibanez4life, do you use your dual recto at home for practice too? I found I only really use it for gigs, especially since in college it's impossible to use it in dorms and I kind of already have hearing problems (not entirely related to amps)..Also, nice PRS man, I'd really love to own one sometime soon.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Nope...the recto is for band practice and gigs only....at home, I have a valvetronix :wink:

Highly recommend Doug btw!

 

[parsky1]

I got a Vox Valvetronix for a bedroom amp too. Works well for a bedroom amp. Beyond that... uh well you know how it sounds :x

 

[jbird]

Subtle differences...it's still a recto, but I'm very happy with it.

I'd like to emphasize on the "but" statement above! It amazes me, the loyalty among Mesa users, especially around these parts! There are a plethora of different amps/tones to be had in todays market, yet many of us/you continue to seek that elusive holy grail of tone in your head, by trying different tubes, pickups, etc, etc. I, like tele jas have decided to part ways with my Mesa, and try something new! Now, I was never one to be constantly swapping tubes and pickups n stuff, it's really come down to something more than what a tube change could provide. I was always happy with my amp in stock form, the way it was intended to be! It's more than that, the Recto thing has become less appealing to me, too common! I want different, I want something inspiring again! Just keep in mind, there's other things out there!

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Jbird, as always with the wise words!

I have been seriously considering it....the funds don't necissarily allow it at the moment though :?

 

[siggy14]

A recto is a recto, I think when people tend to get tired of it, or start swapping tubes like crazy is when they are trying to make it sound like something else.

I went through the same thing, I was trying to make my recto sound like a marshall because at the time I was into the marshall tone.

As to the recto tone being over used, yeah it was for the longest time, but now everyone is switching back to marshall style tone and playing marshalls or marshall clone's.

After getting rid of all my mesa's and just having some bogners a I have fallen in love with the tone again. I now know where the recto stands and what it can and cant do, I am not trying to make them sound like a marshall anymore.

I have also noticed with the original stiletto, as it is in the realm of marshall, it still does not sound like a marshall, closest to that is my bogner XTC, but even that does not exactly get you there.

Subtle differences...it's still a recto, but I'm very happy with it.

I'd like to emphasize on the "but" statement above! It amazes me, the loyalty among Mesa users, especially around these parts! There are a plethora of different amps/tones to be had in todays market, yet many of us/you continue to seek that elusive holy grail of tone in your head, by trying different tubes, pickups, etc, etc. I, like tele jas have decided to part ways with my Mesa, and try something new! Now, I was never one to be constantly swapping tubes and pickups n stuff, it's really come down to something more than what a tube change could provide. I was always happy with my amp in stock form, the way it was intended to be! It's more than that, the Recto thing has become less appealing to me, too common! I want different, I want something inspiring again! Just keep in mind, there's other things out there!

 

[jackieTHEjokeman]

Uh oh, this pattern sounds familiar. I've experienced this scenario MANY times with my Stiletto I. I loved it....hated it....loved it....hated it. Changed tubes...loved it.....hated it..... ON and ON and ON. Finally I sold it and I'm so glad I did.

 

[parsky1]

Dean only uses marshall cabs, his preamp is a Demeter, and the poweramp is a VHT. His other amp is of course the Vox. I'm not sure what he is using though for the new Army of Anyone album.

I absolutely love the layered sound of the CE-1 on STP's Core album.

 

[mesanomad100]

everyone has their opinion on the rec's,mine is
I love them,everything about them,I love the bass response,the highs,the amount of gain,the VOLUME,the diamond plate,It was the recto sound that turned me on to mesa,I dont listen to or play that stereotypical rectifier music(korn,Limp Bizkit),Im not saying that I wouldnt have came across mesa later on but Im glad I found them at the age of 11 when I was searching for that amount of gain the recto's produce,I think about my choice of amp for ages,I had a rec. I sold it(gutted I did),bought a Nomad,love that but It wasnt what I was hunting for,I was actually looking for that recto sound but through different cab setups,now I sound great in the band and as a result the band sounds great,I use stock mesa tubes and a 3channel head,no messing with it just how it comes from the factory,no pedals,just a guitar,lead and amp(with cabs also helps)

so I dont care what anybody thinks I love the rec's,Im gonna venture out and get a Mark series(hopefullyMKIV) or another mesa product like a stilleto,was really wanting a RKII but really for the rec sounds and the lonestar cleans
thats my opinion

Euan

 

[parsky1]

Dean only uses marshall cabs, his preamp is a Demeter, and the poweramp is a VHT. His other amp is of course the Vox. I'm not sure what he is using though for the new Army of Anyone album.

I absolutely love the layered sound of the CE-1 on STP's Core album.

I saw STP twice live. One of the best live bands I've seen and very bass heavy (but not muddy). They're **** heavy even though most songs are in E or D.

I consider the Purple album a major hard rock breakthrough b/c of all the jazz chords used in the guitar parts. Yeah, that was a badass band.

Yep, you can't beat the verse chord progression to Interestate Love Song.

 

[stadidas]

I've had a very similar thing with my Recto recently. I'd been getting bored with the sound, and always thought it was too muddy, especially on palm-muting. A couple of days ago I dropped some of the gain out, upped the presence and treble, added a little more bass, and now it's perfect! I love it again. A very satisfying feeling, glad to know I'm not the only one who goes through phases of loving and hating the tone.