Mercury Magnetics

Anyone else put the Mercury Magnetic Transformers in their Rectos? Im thinking about ordering a set of them, but being such a pricey purchase I'd like to make sure they are worth it. My friend builds all of his amps with MMs in all of his amps but they are mainly class A single ended amps.

I have an OT in my Randall RM100 (been thinking about doing my DR). It was worth every penny and then some. Warmth and Deffinition WOW! The over all tone became much bigger sounding. It was almost the equivalent of running a BBE and a Furman PEQ with the amp. Its not very noticable at low volumes, but when you start to turn it up -SCHWING! Highly recomended.

Nice, thank you for that. I can get them at dealer wholesale so I've been considering it more and more lately. They are still expensive but the fact that you used a BBE to help describe it sold me Now why did you go with the OT instead of the PT or both?

I was talking to a MM tech and he told me that the Output tranny was the most effective upgrade. I dont know if he ment that in general or just for the randalls. Since it is a pricey upgrade, i went with just the OT. might do the PT and Choke down the road.

I never figured MB would be a company to really skimp on the x-formers. I've heard a few epiphone VJR's that are night and day when it comes to upgraded x-formers. I suppose just about anything can be upgraded. It just depends on whether or not it worth the money to you. I wouldn't even consider the MM kit for a VJR... a hammond PT and OT is just 1/10th the price for 99% of the sound benefit. If you're an electrical geek, you could probably spec out an appropriate x-former package for less than the MM dealer kit price, though the MM deal takes a bunch of the guesswork out of it.

the MM might not sound better to everyone. MM are a little over priced compared to other manufacturers with equally good products.

Who else would you reccommend Nomad?

I mentioned Mercury because they make upgrade transformers specifically for mesa boogie amps. Hammond might have a transformer big enough for 100W.

My take on it is that it's an unnecessary expense. Not everyone will agree, and everyone is entitled to their opinion...but I think there's a TON of less intrusive, less expensive ways to get the sound you want out of your Dual Recto.

First up, what is it that you don't like about your Dual Recto that makes you want to change to MM? What difference in tone are you hoping that it will help you achieve?

If you don't like the tone you're getting, start with everything else first. Changing transformers should be a last resort IMO. Go through and assess everything else that has influence on your tone. Take a look and try different amp settings, swapping out tubes, pickups in your guitar, speakers in your cab, the cab itself, using a boost in front, running an EQ in the loop, etc. There's countless you should probably try first.

You probably bought the Recto initially because you liked the sound of some ones you've heard, whether it be in person or on albums, etc. It's very unlikely that virtually any of them had MM transformers in it, so you liked what the Recto had to offer enough out of the box to buy one.

Give it some time, try other avenues of getting the tone you want before going an expensive and intrusive route, and if you're trying to get a specific tone, let us know and we'd be happy to give advice on how to get you there.

did you bother to read any of the post? his OT might be dead!

nomad100hd said:

did you bother to read any of the post? his OT might be dead!

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Umm...did you read any of the post? Because the original poster never said anything about his OT possibly being dead. Not only did he not mention it, neither did anyone else.

I bought my Road King in from USA, as you'll notice it was amongst the first ones shipped back in 2001 (confirmed by Mesa customer support). I used to run it on a step-down transformer to get the 110v however had some problems and the techs blamed it on the incorrect tranformer. they custom built one for me for half the price of a Mesa transformer... as I learn more about amps, I'm getting quite worried that they fucked with my amp and made it sound worse than it's supposed to be. My Road King sounds dull and lifeless (even when I put new tubes in) compared to my 2 Ch Recto. I actually tried to get my Rev. G Recto sounding like my Road King, but I found it impossible to dial OUT all the extra presence it had. How fucked is that? I love the Rev. G Recto, think it's f*cking fantastic, but should it really sound THAT much superior to a Road King? I thought only the Rev. C and Ds were THAT much better.

Would a MM transformer bring back some of that presence to the sound, or is this just the curse of the multi-channel rectos?

well the power transformer shouldn't have changed the sound much if any unless it's not giving the right voltages with enough amps.

Oh... well.. how does the Orange "Holy Terror" upgrade kit work??

A mate of mine (whom I always look to for guidance) told me that the Holy Terror is the greatest studio amp ever. Outstanding tone with low wattage. I belive him as he was the drummer of my favourite band before he became my friend, and he was the one who guided the guitarists through all their tonal quests and changes.

MM is known for having great iron, but their circuit mods aren't as great. Really the OT is the biggest tone changer.

No, my transformers are tip top condition. I like the sound I get from my Boogie but I just feel that it's lacking. I have swapped tubes out and messed with other speaker cabinets (I work in a music store for a living and I have access to anything to try out) but I can't help thinking that the mesa is just a little lacking int he versitality department.... The EQ section only has a very, VERY small useable range. Just wondering if the output Transformer could help me obtain just a little more out of this amp. I mean the thing is a 1000 paper weight without a Fulltone OCD with it at all times.

I'd love to find out what Voodoo does to the circuit with their most expensive mod and do it myself.

The mm is only 230 dollars or something. If you are considering a voodoo mod for your amp, the $230 for the MM is nothing. compared to the price of the voodoo. The OT wont emulate a pedal boost. It just enhances the tone the way an EQ does. I threw one in my randall - but trust me, it needed it. even though my rev G doesnt have the super cool transformers in, i am happy with the stock ones. they are much better than the stock randall. Love it in my randall. Still, i dont think it will make your tone worse. If you have the cash, try it.

XevKai said:

No, my transformers are tip top condition. I like the sound I get from my Boogie but I just feel that it's lacking. I have swapped tubes out and messed with other speaker cabinets (I work in a music store for a living and I have access to anything to try out) but I can't help thinking that the mesa is just a little lacking int he versitality department.... The EQ section only has a very, VERY small useable range. Just wondering if the output Transformer could help me obtain just a little more out of this amp. I mean the thing is a 1000 paper weight without a Fulltone OCD with it at all times.

I'd love to find out what Voodoo does to the circuit with their most expensive mod and do it myself.

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Changing the power transformer and choke is a COMPLETE waste of money. Changing the OT does help.
Jerry

XevKai said:

No, my transformers are tip top condition. I like the sound I get from my Boogie but I just feel that it's lacking. I have swapped tubes out and messed with other speaker cabinets (I work in a music store for a living and I have access to anything to try out) but I can't help thinking that the mesa is just a little lacking int he versitality department.... The EQ section only has a very, VERY small useable range. Just wondering if the output Transformer could help me obtain just a little more out of this amp. I mean the thing is a 1000 paper weight without a Fulltone OCD with it at all times.

I'd love to find out what Voodoo does to the circuit with their most expensive mod and do it myself.

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maybe it's the wrong amp for your playing style.

how loud do you play?.

at low volumes there is a very small margin where the eq can sound good

at high volumes the I find the eq is less effective, but its much harder to get a bad sound

try the output at noon