User review:Rectoverb combo...2 years after purchase.

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yohimbe2

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Most people like new toys and come on the boards to rave about a recent purchase. The sad part is watching these same amps go up for sale 6 months later. I truly believe it takes years for a guitarist to "connect" with an amp.

So here is my review of the Rectoverb after two years of ownership....

NOTE !!! I've checked youtube for user demonstations of the ROV and most players only seem to be concerned with nuclear levels of distortion. (A blurry mess if you ask me). Dont get me wrong, I love the red channel, but if you are only concerned with distortion at "11", my review is not for you. We use amps differently and my opinion wont help you.

I've been playing the guitar for well over twenty years and would consider myself to be an advanced player. I grew up with Van Halen, Zeppelin, etc... (still warm up my fingers with Eruption)... As I grew older my taste in music has changed and I am now going back to the old blues. At the moment, my rectoverb is being used for 90% blues, and an occasional romp on the red channel. The blues covers a LOT of tones, from clean, dirty, and more modern distortion levels.

Guitars:

Stratocaster Deluxe V neck. (single coil pickups) 10 gauge strings
Old Classic Kramer Imperial-early 80's. (Floyd Rose, Double coils) 9 Guage strings.

Add ons:
Mesa recto cabinet 2x12 closed.

THIS AMP IS PERFECT FOR ME ! many will call this a metal amp, but the variety of incredible tones constantly amazes me. I brought this thing home and used the instant gratification settings in the manual and have not strayed far away from these on all channels. I've found the tone control on my Strat along with pickup selections allows for a huge variety in tone...There are so many to choose from!

Blues !!!! Dammit I swear this thing was made for blues...Clean neck pickup tones are so sweet with old t-bone walker guitar licks ! Moving up to raw adds a very nice "dirty sound" that many here might not appreciate but I love. You really need to get off the high gain for a while to see how much magic this amp has....Not your thing? I guarantee one demonstration by me could change your opinion. Of both of the dirty channels..

Clean sound? OK, not as sparkly and bright as some, but dont let that get you down. It does clean sounds in its own way and very very well !!!! I've owned this amp for 2 years and still have many clean tones yet to discover.

And for the metal heads....Come on now....Why the hell would you ever need a distortion pedal? In fact, I really think they over did it a bit. This thing goes to "19" as far as metal goes.....Turn the gain down and get used to it on the red channels. You'll find less can be more when it come to metal "crunch".....Too much distortion takes the bite out of your metal believe it or not...And always remember, things are different with a bass player on board. Try vintage at 11:00-12:00 for a while and see if I'm onto something.

Anyway I am completely happy with this amp. It does SO MANY Things well !....

I rate this amp an 11 on a scale of 1-10......................Love it, dont need anything else.


To reader: Please excuse my "preaching" when it some to distortion. I just think its important to realize these amps DO SO MANY OTHER THINGS THAN THE BLURRY MESS MANY PLAY WITH-----(All the time) But hey, its your amp, do what you want.
 
A friend had a Rectoverb head and I was impressed with it as well. He sold it 'cuz he needed money and now regrets it.

I also wonder how much distortion people really need. Some of the new styles seem to call for a totally chaotic, buzzy, chainsaw/weedwacker sound. So to the people that prefer it: Go for it.

Just goes to show we're all different.

I can see why one may want more sustain at a given distortion level. So why not a compressor instead of another distortion pedal? That's my take.

You see, I own a Stiletto Ace and I like as well as you like your ROV.
It has plenty distortion, but still not enough for some......

It all boils down to personal preference.

Case in point: last week I was in GC and happened to play through a $3300 Diezel Einstein.
This seemed to be an attempt to mimic the Stiletto....2 ch, 3 mode each, separate masters, etc.....

It sounded very good, but did not "wow" me. And for about twice the Ace's price, I would have expected it to. In fact I found it a bit "Hi Fi-ish" almost sterile :| compared to the Ace, which I feel has more character. Don't get me wrong, it was a great sound but twice the price of my Mesa? Get real...I'll gladly keep what I got even if they were same price...My Ace just has more "punch" and a more distinct voice, IMHO.

Granted some folks don't agree and that's OK, too. 8)

I find it interesting how perceptions vary. I hear things like: " 'this' high quality, expensive tube amp totally blows away 'that' high quality, expensive tube amp".

I have heard and played most brands of amps available today and while many sound different, the best quality of parts and design result in them all sounding awesome. I've never felt one actually can "blow away" another one at this top-end level of the art. They are all very good but different. It is, again, a matter of preference.

I just know one thing: There's lots of amps out there, but when it comes down to overall tone, reliability and value, it's hard to go wrong with Mesa!

Just my $0.02.....

Good luck :D
 
If I was limited to one amp and one setting for the duration of my days it would be my ROV in chan2 Raw. It's like a hot chick you always want to go back to after you've strayed. :lol:
 
I second the need for you to do a video review.

Excellent review. I hear ya on the versatility and variety.

I'm newer to boogies. I briefly had a tremoverb about a year ago, I loved it, but it was overkill for me.

I actually traded it for a 59 bassman reissue, AND a 1985 JCM800 2204. Loved the bassman, but way too loud! and the JCM800 wasn't as magical as it was in the 80's. Funny thing about the JCM800, is that within the last few months, I picked up a JMP-1, and playing it through a Mesa 50-50, it has everything that the 800 didn't. I will never need to buy a marshall product again in my life, I have it all with my rack setup.

I found that the rectoverb had the features of the tremoverb that I liked, but am extremely disappointed in the reverb. Maybe I need to swap some tubes out.

I spent some time dialing the Rectoverb in to sound good with my Strat, Tele, and Les Paul, and found a happy medium.


Here's my take on the versatility of the Rectoverb. I am able to nail Angus Young's rythym tone on "Have a Drink On Me" with my Telecaster, simply by dialing down the volume on the guitar.

I just picked up a Mark IV about a month ago and have yet to bond with it. so it may go.

Unless I can fix the rectoverbs reverb via a tube swap, I'd really like to find something with 6L6's that can give Recto gain, decent cleans, and some lush reverb in a 50 watt or less package.
 
Robusto said:
great review.

how bout a video review!
I would be interested to hear/see that.


Man, I've thought about this many time, but cannot capture the tone with my cheap computer camera/mic...

I know this is a very complicated subject, but how can I record these tones to share? Shure 57 mic to computer? Hand held device? I'd love to show folks some very nice tones that they may have been missing..
 
grindliner said:
I second the need for you to do a video review.

Excellent review. I hear ya on the versatility and variety.

I'm newer to boogies. I briefly had a tremoverb about a year ago, I loved it, but it was overkill for me.

I actually traded it for a 59 bassman reissue, AND a 1985 JCM800 2204. Loved the bassman, but way too loud! and the JCM800 wasn't as magical as it was in the 80's. Funny thing about the JCM800, is that within the last few months, I picked up a JMP-1, and playing it through a Mesa 50-50, it has everything that the 800 didn't. I will never need to buy a marshall product again in my life, I have it all with my rack setup.

I found that the rectoverb had the features of the tremoverb that I liked, but am extremely disappointed in the reverb. Maybe I need to swap some tubes out.

I spent some time dialing the Rectoverb in to sound good with my Strat, Tele, and Les Paul, and found a happy medium.


Here's my take on the versatility of the Rectoverb. I am able to nail Angus Young's rythym tone on "Have a Drink On Me" with my Telecaster, simply by dialing down the volume on the guitar.

I just picked up a Mark IV about a month ago and have yet to bond with it. so it may go.

Unless I can fix the rectoverbs reverb via a tube swap, I'd really like to find something with 6L6's that can give Recto gain, decent cleans, and some lush reverb in a 50 watt or less package.


Hmm, I use EL34's with my Rectoverb. As far as reverb goes---is it really that bad? I've always enjoyed mine (although I dont use a lot)...I know this isnt a great option, but you could always consider a reverb pedal.......
 
I couldn't say why, but the reverb on mine was almost nonexistent unless I had the Master up around 2:00. I tried a number of reverb pedals, and settled on the Holy Grail. Seemed to suit this amp well.
I traded mine a few months ago for a mid-nineties Dual Rec and regretted it almost immediately. *Love* the Dual, but the ROV did offer a bit more versatility.
I would not hesitate to buy another one.
 
I'm part of the "Sold my Rect-o-verb and now regret it" club. I now have a 2x12 Roadster combo which is an amazing amp too, and in theory should do all the things the Rect-o-verb did (and then some!) - yet I still find myself wishing I had the Rect-o-verb on the other end of the patch chord instead some days, especially when playing at lower volume levels at home. The open back cabinet really shines there. I liked the simplicity of the Rect-o-verb too, the Roadster can be a bit much at times.

I'd agree the reverb on it was adequate, at best, but could be improved upon.
 
Loser No. 27 said:
I'm part of the "Sold my Rect-o-verb and now regret it" club. I now have a 2x12 Roadster combo which is an amazing amp too, and in theory should do all the things the Rect-o-verb did (and then some!) - yet I still find myself wishing I had the Rect-o-verb on the other end of the patch chord instead some days, especially when playing at lower volume levels at home. The open back cabinet really shines there. I liked the simplicity of the Rect-o-verb too, the Roadster can be a bit much at times.

I'd agree the reverb on it was adequate, at best, but could be improved upon.



Its good to read that other feel the same way about this great little amp.

I actually purchased this amp at Guitar Center and ALL of the people highly recommended the ROV. I spent a month or so at guitar center playing all the Mesas, Fenders, etc...and although I found many great amps, the RoV seemed to cover the most ground.. The Lonestar was very tempting, but I love to romp around on the red channel from time to time. (Lonestar doesnt do it the same)

My only complaint with the RoV is the fact that it does not sound good when pushed to extremes,...I spent an afternoon cranking it to 11 and it really fell flat....Not a problem at all...All the good sound comes at decent sound levels. (can still go VERY loud sounding great) Just dont expect it to get magical like opther tubes amps when cranked.
 
yohimbe2 said:
My only complaint with the RoV is the fact that it does not sound good when pushed to extremes,...I spent an afternoon cranking it to 11 and it really fell flat....Not a problem at all...All the good sound comes at decent sound levels. (can still go VERY loud sounding great) Just dont expect it to get magical like opther tubes amps when cranked.
I'm going to take a shot in the dark and guess you've got 6L6s in it. I don't like my Triple cranked with them because I think it just turns to mush. EL34s? That's another story! I put them in my Recto one day, turned the gain way down and cranked the amp and got a really nice classic rock lead tone. Heh, I was pretty surprised to hear THAT come out of my Recto.

I like 6L6s more in it, but not cranked. But I guess when you've got a Triple, cranking the amp is borderline stupid anyway. :D
 
Im using EL34's....no good when cranked.

I actually spoke with the Mesa folks and they explained that the rectifier amps dont get their magic from cranking the tubes like many amps do. Actually, this is a blessing. I dont have the chance to play at "11" very often anyway.

But I do get some dam good volume levels out of this amp that sound great.
 
yohimbe2 said:
Im using EL34's....no good when cranked.

I actually spoke with the Mesa folks and they explained that the rectifier amps dont get their magic from cranking the tubes like many amps do. Actually, this is a blessing. I dont have the chance to play at "11" very often anyway.

But I do get some dam good volume levels out of this amp that sound great.
Hmm...it should sound incredible. What type of cab and speakers are you using? My XTC cranked into a 2x12 V30 loaded cab doesn't sound as good as you'd think, but put it into a 4x12 and that's the sound.
 
TheMagicEight said:
yohimbe2 said:
Im using EL34's....no good when cranked.

I actually spoke with the Mesa folks and they explained that the rectifier amps dont get their magic from cranking the tubes like many amps do. Actually, this is a blessing. I dont have the chance to play at "11" very often anyway.

But I do get some dam good volume levels out of this amp that sound great.
Hmm...it should sound incredible. What type of cab and speakers are you using? My XTC cranked into a 2x12 V30 loaded cab doesn't sound as good as you'd think, but put it into a 4x12 and that's the sound.


I've got the 2x12 rectifier cabinet used in combination with the one combo speaker.

First let me explain what I mean when I say cranked....I mean this amp does not shine when pushed to its MAXIMUM settings. Many tube amps actually need to be pushed all the way to get magic. The Rectoverb is opposite. Is sounds great at extremely loud volumes, (you can crank it up loud) but when you go to its max setting it gets a bit muddy....

This is no problem at all and I'm sure a blessing...I'd go deaf with this amp if I had to fully crank it to get tone...
 
Yeah, there's probably just so much power tube distortion that the tone's definition is compromised. I've found that with the clean channel cranked, using EL34s, I get an excellent classic rock tone. Basically, I'm using little to no preamp tube distortion so that when the power tubes distort, it's not over saturated. Anyway, it's a fun sound to play with.
 

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