As some of you may remember, I wrote a pretty detailed piece a few years ago in the Rigs & Tones forum where I described how to combine the Clean Pushed channel 1 of the Mesa Triple Rectifier with EQ's and overdrives to get some really nice open-voiced Marshally sounds. I did the same thing with the Catalinbread RAH and got some jaw-droppingly good tones out of it. I've tried various units in this combination and some are better than others at allowing the real tube tone of the Mesa to come through and define the sonic character. The RAH did this better than anything else I've tried, and by a wide margin. For a refresher, I'll describe the setup I used.
First, set the Mesa Triple Rectifier to Channel 1. Flip the Clean/Pushed switch to 'Clean'. Set the treble, mid, and bass controls to maximum. I like to set the presence control to about 2:00 most of the time, but you can adjust it to taste with each pedal you try in this combination. Start with the gain control set low for now. The Master control, which functions as the channel volume for Channel 1, should be set low or off at first while you're hooking things up. Of course it should go without saying that you let your amp's tubes warm up for a few minutes with the amp on 'Stand By' before playing.
Second, hook up your guitar's cord into the RAH's input and the RAH's output to the Mesa's input jack. Start with the RAH's master control set low at first because the pedal has a very generous amount of output. Set the pedal's treble, mid and bass controls to noon to start with, and go ahead and set the gain to maximum. This pedal is so good at dynamics that if you don't need full gain, you can simply use your guitar's volume control to goose it (or not) as much as you want.
Third, with the RAH pedal switched off, switch the amp from 'Stand By' to 'On' and adjust the amp's channel volume and master volume as desired. Turn your guitar's volume up to full. Switch on the RAH pedal and adjust the pedal's master control to taste. Keep in mind that increasing the master volume of the RAH also hits the Mesa's preamp tubes harder, resulting in more real tube saturation from the amp.
At this point, with the amp set very clean, you will hear primarily the RAH pedal's tone. Set like this, I was able to get some extremely sweet tones which sounded every bit as good as those that Howard Gee coaxes out of the pedal in the RAH demonstration clips on Catalinbread's website (although I couldn't play like Howard for love or money). Beautiful tones, all very useable. The pedal's tone controls are very well ranged. Full mids don't get honky and fake-sounding. Full bass doesn't ever become flubby mud. Even full treble is useable without becoming shrill or strident. Much like the Mesa amp, the RAH's tone controls are fairly interactive so, for instance, if you want lots of mids, you don't just turn up the mid control, you also turn down the treble and bass. Set up like this, with the pedal running into a clean tube amp, the RAH is a pleasure to play through.
The RAH is a player's pedal; it rewards good playing and finesse. If you're a 14 (or 44) year-old kid just beginning to play the guitar and you're looking for a pedal which will coat your playing in a thick syrup of distortion and compression to hide all of your mistakes or to let you ignore playing dynamics, you'll want to look elsewhere. This pedal really shines in the hands of a mature player with an artist's playing expression. The pedal sounds great through an inexpensive solid-state practice amp, but a real tube amp adds a warmth to the tone that blends so well it absolutely has to be heard to be believed. I've never played through a pedal that was so good at blending with real tube tone and warmth the way this pedal can. You would be hard-pressed to believe you're listening to it through a Mesa Rectifier rather than an early Hiwatt or Marshall Plexi. On this point alone, I would heartily recommend this pedal.
As if this weren't enough fun, now it's time to try turning the amp to 'Pushed' and turning up the amp's gain gradually. The sound takes on an entirely new character, adding in even more tube warmth and crunch to the mix. Channel 1 on the Recto is very open-voiced, tonally, and blends seamlessly with a pedal like the RAH which is itself about as open and uncompressed as it gets. With the amp's gain mixed in, the tone starts to edge closer to Page's early Marshall tones in character. Think of a JTM-45 with an overdrive, but instead a generic Tubescreamer-ish OD tone, you've got Jimmy Page-in-a-box pushing your amp's preamp tubes. It's a match made in heaven. By turning up Channel 1's gain control gradually, you not only affect the total amount of gain, but also the blend of RAH tone to Mesa tone. Every single point, from zero gain to maximum gain on the amp, yields a tone that is sonically pleasing. I can't say that about just any pedal.
The Catalinbread RAH is a worthy addition to your arsenal or even as the primary engine of your tone. If you're playing through a $100 practice amp for the small club or bedroom, snatch one of these up immediately. Additionally, if you play through a quality tube amp, you get an extra 'Easter egg' with this pedal in that it functions as one of the finest, most natural-sounding overdrives you'll ever hear. You want Jimmy? This will do it, sure, but the real magic is in all of the other open, warm tube tones the RAH will provide, and the seamlessness with which it will blend with your own tube amp to let you create your own phenomenal tones.
