Rectifier Vintage roots

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Miro9486

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Hi,
I've been trying to convince myself NOT to buy Marshall 2525X in a good price recently(as I'm still getting money for friedman be-100, torpedo reload etc.)

I sat there trying as much as possible to get my dual rec vintage similar to said marshall with some really good results (at least in my opinion; both with and without boost).

That got me thinking about the whole "mesa won't ever sound as marshall" phrases all over the Net.

Isn't recto tonestack basically the same tonestack as marshall? Weren't SLO/5150/Recto in fact aiming to get that modded US(california?)-spiced british sound? So summing it up shouldn't be they be considered in fact hot-rodded marshalls? (And as we know almost all the amp designs are some mods of other designs).

Just some holiday philosophy/amp history debate:)... or medical and I'm tonedeaf:D
 
In brief, turn the bass knob all the way down on Vintage mode and you are in Marshall/SLO territory.

Now for the longer explanation: Yes, Recto tone stack is essentially identical to SLO/Marshall/Fender Bassman 5F6 tonestack. However, immediately after the treble pot there's a low-pass filter which is used for presence control on Modern mode. The circuit cuts high-mid to treble frequencies which essentially results in bass boost It is there still on Vintage mode even though the presence pot itself is "moved" to the control the negative feedback. This is why Rectos do not sound like SLOs for most of people. In order to get similar results as with SLO, you need to turn the bass pot down.

Actually, on 2-channel Rectifiers, you can use channel cloning (Red Vintage) to use both presence controls at the same time. This allows you to turn crank the presence control after the treble in order to minimize the effect of the low-pass circuit's influence and at the same time to use the other presence for the negative feedback. This is the closest you can get to SLO with Rectos.
 
I'm actually having very good luck on the orange channel in modern. Gain less than half with lots of mids gets me a nice classic Marshall tone, add a boost and I'm into 80's Marshall. It's not spot on but it's close enough that most people would never know.
 
You can do it, dialed in properly. I think you could dial it in to where folks would mistake one as being Marshall-esque. Keep the bass low and turn up the mids.
 
That is how I mainly approach it. With lowish bass, more highs/presence. At the momemt I keep bass at 10 o'clock, noonish mid and treb, presence at 3 o'clock, gain 1-2, Ch 2, vintage., tube rec. I have to get some spandex and hair cosmetics now:) I also tried ch3, raw with almost cranked gain, bass below 9, t and p, mid 1-2, for more deliverately fizzy a la AFD tone with pleasing results. That left me with no clear "metal" channel ATM but when I boost'em - it's getting thrashy. Recto is just late comer to 80's rock party:D

BTW I frankly wonder whoever uses bass above 12 o'clock with these amps...
 
EL34s really make a difference in getting you into that territory as well.
 
Here in UK marshalls are way cheaper than boogies.
For me the 'marshall sound' I always wanted I found in the orange channel of my tremoverb, I sold the marshall (a 30th anniversary Limited edition) because I just didn't use it anymore.
I guess it depends what you envisage your marshall sound to be as to whether you can get it out of a rectifier.
 
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