Playing lead on a Recto (Mesa pedal content)

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screamingdaisy

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Anyone who plays lead on a Recto, I recommend checking out the Mesa Grid Slammer.

I used to be one of those guys that would tell people that Recto's weren't that good for lead. I felt they lacked compression and the mids weren't quite right. I could never really achieve the singing sustain I wanted. I tried a variety of different boosts/overdrives and was never 100% sold on any of them. Usually, it was because pure boosts felt too stiff, and overdrives and a mismatched midrange where pedal and amp had different mid peaks that didn't mesh well.

For years I just accepted the amp for what it was and used overdrives as sparingly as possible.

I took a chance on the Grid Slammer because I figured that Mesa probably voiced their pedals to sound good through a Mesa, and I was right. The mids of the pedal meshes perfectly with the mids of the amp, and the tone knob does a great job of either accentuating or dialling back the pick attack in the correct frequency range. The pedal also does a great job of subtly filling out the midrange without sounding artificial, so my lead tone sounds a little "bigger" and has a bit more midrange presence with it on. From what information I've been able to find it's based a Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive with a Timmy clipping diode arrangement. The LOD was basically a Tubescreamer that was spec'd to have more headroom, and thus more dynamics than a typical Tubescreamer. It's probably why this pedal gets a lot of "feels amplike" in reviews.

In my quest I've also been through the Flux Drive and Tone-Burst. I avoided the Grid Slammer because I assumed it was just another Tubescreamer. I started with the Flux Drive because I read it was the most flexible, but I found it had too much gain for my purposes and was always using it with the gain nearly off, and since I was essentially using it as a clean boost I decided to try the Tone-Burst to see if it could do clean boost better.

The Tone-Burst is an awesome boost. I like it because it retains the low end, so you get a fat lead out of it. It's also not stiff like other clean boosts I've had, so it feels very natural to play through. It's also handy for pushing single coils when switching guitars. The problem for me is that I couldn't get it to sing... too clean and not enough compression.

While the Flux Drive was too much and the Tone-Burst was not enough the Grid Slammer was just right. Enough compression to sing, but not so much gain that it doesn't stack well with an already gained amp. It's (IMO) perfect for adding fluidity to an amp that isn't exactly known for being fluid.

Anyway... I wrote all this because I think the Grid-Slammer is often overlooked as "just another Tubescreamer"; but, if you own a Mesa I think this pedal is really worth checking out.
 
I love Rectos for leads, more than my Marks in a lot of instances. I've always boosted them with Tube Screamer type pedals as well. The Grid Slammer is a cool pedal, as is the Maxon OD808 with them.
 
I love them now. Not sure why either. One day I was playing lead on my Recto, something clicked in my head, and from then on the Recto just sort of felt right.

The Grid Slammer is the icing on the cake.

In hindsight I think it was watching something Andy Timmons did in a clinic. I thought playing lead was about adding more gain and compression to get the notes to scream, which he did... but then he backed off the guitar's volume and played cleaner, which made things more dynamic and expressive than what I had achieved up until recently.
 
I'll definitely check one out for my Mini Rec. So far, my favorite solo pedals with it are my SHO clone and my Fulldrive 3.
 
screamingdaisy said:
In hindsight I think it was watching something Andy Timmons did in a clinic. I thought playing lead was about adding more gain and compression to get the notes to scream, which he did... but then he backed off the guitar's volume and played cleaner, which made things more dynamic and expressive than what I had achieved up until recently.
In addition to dynamics, if you weren't using treble bleed on your guitar, turning the guitar volume slightly down would also fatten the tone making it more mid heavy. IMO, this fits most of the lead tones very well.

I think this is something that people should pay attention when they're looking for better lead tone. In general, people should toy more with them guitar pot values and settings as they make greater difference to the tone and feel than aknowledged
 
**** it daisy LOL !

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I've always been a fan of the Tube Screamer, and own three, one I've had forever (prob from the '80's), another is modded to "808 specs", and a new Mini. I always have one of them in the rig.

Can't wait to give the Grid Slammer a go. Any settings tips? I'm guessing you have the pedal's gain up a bit to get some singing compression?

Dom
 
Yes to everything above. As I said in another post here... I love how lead sounds on my Roadster, that 3D nature is amazing. If we are talking regarding low volumes (cause we never play loud 10/10 times) I dont enjoy the feeling that much. Now, Im partial to the use of tube screamers/boosters but, while they add the compression and fluidity needed for lead the make the sound less 3D and add fizz.

In my experience the flux drive had to much gain as you described and change to much the original tone which I dislike. The best I have found is the TC Spark (the big one for the extra parameters), transparent, fluid and versatile.
 
I really, really like the OD on my Nova System. This OD/Distortion was also available as the Nove Drive pedal, if a person didn't want the whole multi-fx system.

It's a Tubescreamer clone with digitally-controlled pots and some new tricks. While the pots are digital, it is otherwise totally analog (the OD and distortion are not digitally produced). The positive aspects are:

Midi controlled/programmable
Drive can be set to zero for boosting
Active volume control
Very precise controls
Clipping indicator for processor

the "meh"
Digital pots sound different than analog. If a person can get past that, there's a lot to offer.
Switching lag causes short spillover
Without the additional 3 Switch ($30), it's a PITA to operate in preset mode.

The Nova System also works great as a fly rig or for recording on it's own. It has some limitations in my rig, but the effects and the overall quality are great. The standalone effect pedal would definitely be worth getting, and I will probably get one when/if I get a G-System.
 
With a two-week downtime & a new pedal, I gave the rack drawer a much needed R & R (re-organize & re-wire).

Took out a "Klone" & full sized TS9, and added the Slammer, mini TS9, & the 10 band EQ. All the pedals are looped through a Voodoo GCX, with everything in front except the El Capistan & EQ which is in the FX Loop with a G Major II.

Hoping to try everything tonite or tomorrow, but won't be practicing with the band for another week and a half.

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Dom
 
I've got to say, screamingdaisy was right on about the Grid Slammer. This pedal really sits well with the Roadster, adding all the cut and compression of a TS9, without the neutered bottom end.

You can't go wrong with this pedal, thanks for the tip!

Dom
 
Cool pedal drawer.

I hate tap dancing and keep thinking about getting a Ground Control... but whenever I have the money I think of other, more exciting things to spend it on.... lol.

FWIW - I sold the Flux Drive as I didn't really see myself getting much use out of it, but I've put the Tone Burst back onto my pedalboard. I took it off because I found it a little redundant as I kept dialling it in to something similar to the Grid Slammer... only muddier.

This time around I'm resolved to use it as more of a clean boost.
 
Thanks man. I don't think I could ever go back to gigging without MIDI, it really makes it a lot more fun to play when you don't have to tap dance.

It was actually your experience with the Flux Drive that sold me on giving the Grid Slammer a try. Like you I found the Flux Drive to be "too much" with high gain, & too hi-fi sounding with the gain dialed down to zero, and also felt the Grid Slammer was just another tube screamer, of which I always had more than one. Boy was I mistaken.

My Flux Drive sits on my buddy's board, he uses it with a Crate BV120 and it really fits that amp and his style.

Dom
 
Hi guys,

Can any of you compare the Grid Slammer to the Xotic BB Preamp?

I am going to be putting either my Rev F. dual channel Rackmount or Triple Rev. F head into a working rig and planned on using either the Mini Tube screamer or the bb preamp, both of which I have currently.

Wondering if the grid slammer may be the way to go. For 160 retail, I'd like a bit of feed back.

Cheers,

Tom
 
The Grid Slammer is closer to your mini Tube Screamer than the BB Preamp. Basically the same idea - mid boost, bass cut, and compressed.

From what I can dig up the Grid Slammer is based on the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, which was basically a Tubescreamer with more headroom. A stock TS is designed to compress almost immediately, and Landgraff changed the component values so that it would have more headroom and respond better to picking dynamics.
 
screamingdaisy said:
The Grid Slammer is closer to your mini Tube Screamer than the BB Preamp. Basically the same idea - mid boost, bass cut, and compressed.

From what I can dig up the Grid Slammer is based on the Landgraff Dynamic Overdrive, which was basically a Tubescreamer with more headroom. A stock TS is designed to compress almost immediately, and Landgraff changed the component values so that it would have more headroom and respond better to picking dynamics.

SD,

Thanks for the detailed info,

Really appreciate it!

Cheers,

Tom
 
I used my OD to pad my signal today. Using just Vintage, Silicon, and Bold, I can employ it along with the guitar's electronics for a lot of variety. I setup one midi bank for that and another for boost. It's nice to have the "clean" not be so different once in awhile.
 
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