Define Rectifier Series

In simple terms what is a Rectifier or Recto and what makes it what it is and different from other tube amps?

Is it a single or multiple answer(s) that address my question?

Is it as simple as an amp design that uses the preamp section for gain?

Is it as simple as an amp design that uses rectifier tubes?

I never really gave it much thought and really do not know the answer.

Years ago I went to the local music shop and played Orange, Saldano, Vox, Marshall, Fender, Peavey and other tube amps including the Mesa Boogie Tremoverb.

It just so happened that the owners had the amps (many, many, many, large volume and models) in a succession that put the most expensive and better amps at the end of the line.

Imagine a wall of amps say 200 feet long from left to right. On this wall all different models and makes of amps sitting next to each other in varying configurations of heads, 4x12 and combos.

As you look from left to right the less expensive mass produced amps were on the left and the expensive point to point wiring and hand assembled amps were on the far right.

After hours I finally played the Tremoverb, in fact I compared it against the other expensive amps just to be sure, but from the very first minute the Tremoverb took my breath away.

So I did not know then and do not know now why some people refer to this amp class as "recto sound".

All I knew was that I wanted a tube amp and did not want to push the output tubes to get the gain I wanted, but instead want to have gain at lower stage volumes.

So please explain, and thanks.

I think that is mainly has to do with the gain structure and voicing that Randall Smith came up with when he first built these amps in the early 90's. The "Recto Sound" is just that, the sound of a Rectifier series amp on orange or red channel, vintage or modern mode, pumping rich and harmonic guitar distortion that I have found to be unique in sound to this line. I too have tried Diezel, Peavey, Bogner, Marshall, Soldano, Hughes and Kettner, Krank, and other amps, and none have ever sounded exactly like a "recto" to me. This, to me, is the charm of these amps, because I do know that there were some that sounded "Marshally" or "like a 5150" or something else. But I have never walked away from an amp saying "that sounded just like my Rectifier", and notice how I walked away, and still have "my" rectifier .

As for the Rectifier tubes, they are there, but for the main stream market, I would wager to bet that most of the people that are using Rectos for modern sounds (which are what these amps are more known for, and what the term "Recto Sound" is mostly used to describe) use the silicon diode mode in place of the tube rectifiers, and these can be found on a lot of other amps. I think it just all comes down to how the thing is wired internally to get that signature gain sound out of the 5 or 6 12ax7 preamp tubes, and then how this sound is wired to be blasted out with a duet, quartet or even sextet of 6L6GC power tubes (yes, El's can be used, but Rectos have always come stock with 6L6's and I would say are the tube of choice for the "Recto Sound").

That's my thoughts. Hope it helps.

-AJH

The name "Dual Rectifier" is derived from the two rectifier tubes in the amp. Not a huge mystery.

ryjan said:

The name "Dual Rectifier" is derived from the two rectifier tubes in the amp. Not a huge mystery.

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I always though of it as more of a "double entendre"

Dual 5U4G tubes rectifiers, and two modes of rectification, diodes or tube

At any rate, it's just a name...good marketing for sure

RussB said:

ryjan said:

The name "Dual Rectifier" is derived from the two rectifier tubes in the amp. Not a huge mystery.

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I always though of it as more of a "double entendre"

Dual 5U4G tubes rectifiers, and two modes of rectification, diodes or tube

At any rate, it's just a name...good marketing for sure

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+1

ryjan said:

The name "Dual Rectifier" is derived from the two rectifier tubes in the amp. Not a huge mystery.

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That's actually incorrect. The "Dual" is in terms of types of rectification (converting AC voltage to DC), not the amount of rectifier tubes. They have solid state diode rectifiers, as well as tube rectifiers, hence the "dual".

Triple Rectifier is actually a misnomer, as it doesn't have 3 types of rectification, although the Single Rectifier only has the solid state rectifier.

The B52 Tri-Mode rectifier would actually be a good example of a triple rectifier, since it has solid state, tube, and a combination of both.

I read the op's questions as "what gives a Recto it's unique sound", not "what is a Rectifier" in the literal tube/silicone diode sense. Could be wrong though.

-AJH

ryjan said:

The name "Dual Rectifier" is derived from the two rectifier tubes in the amp. Not a huge mystery.

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It's derived from the amp having dual rectifiers.... ie, tube and solid state.

The original name for the Dual Recto was the "Solo". It was part of the Dual Rectifier series along with the Maverick, Heartbreaker, and Blue Angel. It was basically a marketing schtick to attract attention to Mesa's snazzy new feature that was available on those amps. The Solo was the only one that had two rectifier tubes... the other Dual Rectifiers only had a single rectifier tube.

This is all very interesting and good stuff.

I was sure that it did not have to do with rectifier tubes, although the combination of solid state and tube rectifiers in one amp did seem like a great spring board for a marketing group to launch an introduction to a new line of amps.

How would you discern the “recto sound” from another boutique amp? Please…we are all adults and I know this is an opened ended question that lends itself to intense interpretation and with a grain of salt, that is NOT what I am looking for. But, think of it this way (from 30,000 feet). A four door family sedan and a two door high performance sport coupe are both “Cars”. However, there are some obvious identifiers or functional features that make them entirely different from one another.

That is all I am looking for.

What can I expect from OUR sport coupe?

What makes it a “recto”?

What would someone be looking for in a recto?

Does anyone else make a recto?

What top three identifiers or functional features must be met to make a recto a recto?

I am not concerned with speakers or cabinetry.

I am concerned about tone and what drives or contributes to the tone or better said, distinguishes the recto tone from another recto or non-recto.

Thank you all so much for your great contribution to this query.

The double entendre thing works for me and appears to have been part of Mesa's thinking:

"1989 was the fork in the road here at Mesa/Boogie. It was the year we embarked on a mission to Rectify
high gain guitar and reintroduce MESA Engineering® to the world."

What makes it a “recto”?

The name on the faceplate.

What would someone be looking for in a recto?

Because they like the sound it makes.

Does anyone else make a recto?

No. I think there's been a few people who've tried to make a "better" Recto, but in the process they alter the sound/tonality so that it's becomes something different. Plus Mesa's patents tie people's hands when it comes to duplicating certain features. I think it's why after nearly 20 years the original Recto is still king of the heap.

That, and a Recto is a fairly complex amp with no easy source for PCBs... so it's not like joe blow with a soldering iron can order a kit of the internet, build one in his basement and start calling himself a boutique amp builder. The amount of effort required to start up cuts down on copy cats.

What top three identifiers or functional features must be met to make a recto a recto?

Modern and vintage high gain.

Keep in mind that the original Dual Rectifiers didn't have a whole lot of features, and most of them were later modified (FX loop and channel cloning in it's original form), or removed (tube rectifier and Variac on a Single Recto and Recto Pre/2:100) in various iterations of the amp, thus eliminating them for contention in a requirement to make a Recto a Recto.

It's important to mention again that the Maverick and (especially) the Blue Angel *are* Dual Rectifiers, both because they have two rectifiers (tube and solid state, with only one rectifier tube each) and because they say so on the front - but they sound nothing like a 'Rectifier' if you mean that sound which is most associated with the name. The Blue Angel sounds almost nothing like any other Mesa, in fact - it has no channel switching, not even a master volume, and is one of the few amps that does get all its distortion from the power tubes. (The reason it has two rectifiers is to keep the preamp from distorting by running it on a solid-state rectifier with higher headroom and no sag, compared to the tube-rectified power stage.)

The 'Rectifier sound' (ie Dual Rectifier Solo Head/Single/Triple/Tremoverb) is more a characteristic of preamp distortion, a tone response with the mid frequency lower than most classic guitar amps (actually more like an old-school bass amp), low damping (the Modern mode on all these amps turns off the power stage Negative Feedback loop, which is like disconnecting a regulator) and a fairly 'soft' power supply (even when set to the solid-state silicon diodes, and much more so when using the tubes). That all adds up to a very deep, loose, resonant tone compared to more traditional guitar amps, even other high-gain ones such as the SLO. (For what it's worth, no matter what you may read on the net, the Dual Rectifier is *not* an SLO copy - some parts of the preamp circuit were 'borrowed', that's true... but the rest is very different. No more a copy of the SLO than the SLO is of a Marshall 2203, and much less than a Marshall JTM45 is of a Fender Bassman.)

Rectifiers do sound better cranked, but not because you're getting power tube distortion - not at sane volume levels anyway - more because the power *supply* is working harder, and what happens when you do this is what really sets them apart from other high-gain amps.

I also agree that even after 20 years, there really hasn't been another new amp that has defined modern guitar tone in the same way; everything since then has either been a continuation of the same basic ideas that led up to it, or refinements of vintage amp designs - more features/options etc, sometimes better quality, but nothing really new. The Rectifier may be the last great tube guitar amp design.

94Tremoverb said:

I also agree that even after 20 years, there really hasn't been another new amp that has defined modern guitar tone in the same way; everything since then has either been a continuation of the same basic ideas that led up to it, or refinements of vintage amp designs - more features/options etc, sometimes better quality, but nothing really new. The Rectifier may be the last great tube guitar amp design.

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+100

Totally agree.

94Tremoverb said:

Rectifiers do sound better cranked, but not because you're getting power tube distortion - not at sane volume levels anyway - more because the power *supply* is working harder, and what happens when you do this is what really sets them apart from other high-gain amps.

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I've never known how to describe that effect before.

screamingdaisy said:

I've never known how to describe that effect before.

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Magic?

Dare I say...?

EVERY tube amp sounds better cranked! :mrgreen:

RussB said:

Dare I say...?

EVERY tube amp sounds better cranked! :mrgreen:

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Because there's nothing better sounding than power tube distortion. Makes sense to me. 8)

TremoJem said:

I am not concerned with speakers or cabinetry.

I am concerned about tone and what drives or contributes to the tone or better said, distinguishes the recto tone from another recto or non-recto.

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That's a big part of the equation not to be concerned about.

FWIW I personally think you can't get the "Recto" tone unless you have the proper speakers/cabinetry. I have a 70's Peavey 4x12 (before they put the aluminum trim on the sides) with the original speakers and the tone isn't the same as my Mesa cab. I've plugged my Dual into a Marshall cab and it's not as good to me as a Mesa cab. Even the older style Mesa 4x12's with the metal grille don't sound as good to me.

No 2 cabs by different manufactures sound the same (to me.) There are subtle nuances that affect different aspects of the sound of the amp.

fluff191 said:

94Tremoverb said:

I also agree that even after 20 years, there really hasn't been another new amp that has defined modern guitar tone in the same way; everything since then has either been a continuation of the same basic ideas that led up to it, or refinements of vintage amp designs - more features/options etc, sometimes better quality, but nothing really new. The Rectifier may be the last great tube guitar amp design.

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+100

Totally agree.

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Agreed.
I think they hit the nail on the head with Rev G. It's just a MEAN amp. Granted the cleans aren't the best but that's not the reason you bought it in the first place. :wink:

They say the first high is the best, and the rest you're just "chasing the dragon"
As far as I'm concerned, the dragon IS the 2 channel Dual. And I don't have to chase it, just turn it on :twisted: