Smooth that RECTO!!

hey everyone.

I'm running a roadster with a Line 6 m13 and i'm just curious to know if anyone can suggest a way to smooth out channel 4 ala Vai?

I know the rectifiers are harsh and abrasive but nature, but maybe there's is someone out there that has modded theirs, added a pedal or modded their axe to get that smooooooth lead tone. Even Petrucci's 'stream of concsiousness' lead tone is pretty cool and that WAS a rectifier.

I've tried all combinations of eq settings but to no avail.

help is appreciated.

Thanks folks!!!

Matt

You can allways use a Boss SD-1. Vai use it. Its not a wonderful pedal but in the front of the amp it smooths your tone and give sustain for days.

Hi harem..... mate from Oz.

Try this. It's based on my Rectoverb:
Place an OD in front. I use a MI Audio Blues Pro (but I constantly change/experiment with pedals) so I'll use this as an example. Turn up the gain on the pedal between 11~1oclock. Turn the Volume/Level on pedal down around 10oclock. Tone to taste but around 10~11oclock. Turn gain on amp 10oclock, treble around 9~9.30oclock, mid around 10~10.30oclock and bass around 10oclock. Add an EQ in loop and boost mids a little and top end for some presence. Also, play with the tone control on your guitar; seems to be a lost art. AS for the suggested settings, use them as a starting point. Your amp, guitar, speaker/s and so on are different to mine so make adjustments where necessary.

Many push the front end with an OD as a 'clean' boost; gain at zero, Volume/Level at max. This still tends to give the aggressive 'recto' tone. My suggestion to turn the gain up and level down on the pedal is to smooth out the tone. With the gain up on the pedal, it seems to also reduce some of the fizz. I've experimented doing it this way and it works well. There seems to be a relationship between the amps gain, the pedals gain and the pedals level control. There seems to be a 'fine line' between these 3 dials; smoother or more agressive tone. What I tend to do is find a balance between the recto tone and the smoother tone. It's a balancing act.

These are my findings with the setup as I've explained:
-if you turn up the pedals level, you'll push the front end more and you'll introduce a more aggressive recto tone
-if you turn up the amps gain, you'll introduce a more aggressive recto tone
-If you turn up the gain on the pedal, you'll probably get too much feedback.

As for the mids dialled back on the amp, if it's set too high the attack is quick, whereas if it's lower, the attack is smoother. This affects the 'feel' of the amp. The reduced treble on the amp is an attempt to reduce fizzies as well. The EQ in the loop tries to address the mid range and treble content after the fact (pedal and EQ settings on amp).

Keep in mind this is for lead/solo suggestions. It'll be a slightly 'darker' tone and smoother but with proper EQ'ing, it should sound good.

Another thing I do is to place an EQ after any OD's. I find that OD's tend to be a bit dull or flat sounding. I address this with an EQ. I also cascade two OD pedals. I've used an MI Audio Blues Pro into a Wampler Pinnacle and it sounds very good. Currently, my favourite is an original Marshall Drive Master and the Wampler Pinnacle. Whichever pedal you can get your hands on, experiment with the amp gain and pedal gain/level approach as I've mentioned.

Oh, if your amp has a tube rectifier, maybe use that, too (not sure about Roadsters, Rectoverb doesn't have one) as I'm sure it reduces the attack or response of the amp.

Let us know how you go.

+1 Really good, detailed advice above. The only thing I'd mention is that I'd be careful about reducing the mids on a Recto if you're after any kind of lead tone. The mids are where most of the harmonic content that really characterizes good lead tone lives. The kind of even-order harmonics that give a soaring lead lots of sweet singing feedback (not the noisy, squealy kind) means keeping the mids up to a nice healthy level. On a Recto, this is even more true given that the amp is already voiced to reduce the mids from the "factory".

Rectos are known for having a distinct lack of mids in general, a lack of singing lead harmonics in specific, and a disappointing level of sustain for lead playing. All of this is made worse the more you reduce the mid control knob. Better to use an EQ, the gain on the OD, and possibly the addition of a treble booster pedal to coax out lots of singing sustain without having to simply crank up the amp's gain knob.

Mixing v30 with c90 speakers will help out the lead tone immensely. It also really smooths out the top end.

I think Channel 4 is voiced pretty aggressive, due to its presence control.
This is obvious, but have you just reduced treble and presence a good amount ? Maybe switch to your neck pickup ?

DON'T USE CHANNEL 4!

Orange mode (Vintage gain) on Channel 3 is your ticket. It's voiced with more mids and smoother highs. The red mode on 3 and 4 are voiced differently on purpose. If you read the manual it states this. Red on 4 is crispier and has crunchier highs sooner on the tone controls then on 3. Red (to me) is the wrong way to get any kind of fluid, singing lead tone. I think it excels at rhythm but looses the mids for your leads (ala Vai's phat vocal tone) Use Orange mode on the Tube rectifiers and crank your mids. Leave your presence at about 12 and adjust treble to taste (I always backed off on the treble a bit) I also only allowed myself to use the bass at 12 o clock cuz I ALWAYS want more bass and would just crank it. This made me settle on a balanced amount of low end and made me rest on the fact that it needs to stay at 12 instead of screwing with it all night (which I would do) Lastly I used a lot of gain for my solos on channel 3. I like it to sing and when soloing, I don't do anything percussive. I like notes to ring out a lot.

You can also use a compressor pedal instead of a dirt box for sustain. I think it's a better solution for solos. Gain boxes really really color your tone and you loose your real guitar's sound with them. They add so much foreign stuff in your sound that I really think it does more harm then good in front of your already distorted settings. Compressors (high quality ones) are just taking your guitar signal and balancing them out...so you still sound like you, and not like Boss, DOD, whatever. The exception to that is a pedal (which I swear by) like a BB Pre amp by Exotic. (the Andy Timmons pedal) That pedal allows a lot of your clean signal through and ads a minimal amount of overdrive (not distortion) It's essentially the modern, ballsier, better (in my opinion) version of what guys go after that use Tubescreamers.

Andy uses it as an OD sound on his clean and for a little more sustain on his dirty sound.

Vitor is right on once again! 8)

If your looking to smooth things out on a Rec ( especially leads), the Xotic BB Preamp is THE way to go. If you want some additional eq'ing, throw something like a MXR 10 band eq in the loop. And...if you want to get real fancy, start playing around with different preamp and poweramp tubes.

~Nep~