Mesa newbie needs some guidance

I was told to post this over here by another forum member so here goes.

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I've been playing a lot of 7 string for the last year or so, and I've been really into Petruccis tone on "Glass Prison" and TOT.
I'm also really into Nevermore and love the guitar sounds on Dead heart and Enemies of Reality".
I know Petrucci goes back and forth with rectos and Mark IV's and I know Loomis is all Dual Recto on those 2 CD's.
so my question is this , Should be chasing a Mark IV or a recto of some kind?"
I saw G3 here in Boston last fall and Petruccis sound just blew me away
and I know this time around he was using Mark IVs', so I guess what I need to know is "Can I get a Recto type of sound out of a Mark IV?
Can I get a Mark IV type of sound out of a Recto?
Which head will cover the type of tonal range I'm looking at better?, or are they 2 completely different animals?
Where would a Nomad sit in all of this?
any other models I should be looking at?
Thanks and great forum you guys have got here, hopefully I will soon be a Mesa owner.

I currently own a JSX head /Legacy top (v30's) and I am going to keep that
rig because for what it does , I like it.

rabies said:

try some out at the store.

just remember that mark ii/iii/iv amps are very tight and articulate and rectos are looser and boomier by nature. it's easier to loosen up than tighten up an amp.

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really? i think of mark II, IIC+ even some of the III's as looser, and the IV as the tight one of the marks.

i tihnk the rectos are tighter, but fizzier.
my favorite word to descibe the newer recto stuff (roadster/rk) gain is "foamy". its saturated, but not agressive like the marks.
i had a roadster for two months, and all those power, voicing, and footswitching options sold me.
once i realized how little the power options came in handy, and how little i was satisfied with the tone, feel, and blandness of the amp, i went back to marks.

Can you get a "usable" sound out of either one? Sure.

You can't go wrong - they both kick @ss.

BUT - your best bet as always - take your guitar and try them both out.

OR, do like some of us and get them both! :wink:

They're different animals, but I think you'll have more luck getting a heavy tone out of a Mk IV than you will at getting a singing lead tone, or smooth tone out of a Recto.

As has been said already, both are killer, but very different. I prefer the 3 channel DR for my own style and find having different voicings available on each channel a lot more versatile than the chameleon power section of the Mark IV. I personally love the lead tones I get out my DR, I find them very close to the SLO in nature, but still with a voice all it's own, where the Mark IV seems too surgical and dull to me, but that's just my personal experience with my guitars and such, I've heard some killer recordings from both from players on this forum, so try to play with both of them as much as possible, or buy both used and choose one to keep.

Someone on another forum suggested trying a Mark III as a happy medium between the two?
How differently is the III voiced form the IV? and which stripe (does it really make a difference?) would get me closest to what I'm looking for?

I apologise for all the Noob questions, but It's impossible to find these to try them so I'm trying to narrow down what to look for online.
thanks

III and IV are not world apart in tone. Just some tweaks here and there. I personally think the IV is smoother in tone.

Try searching around here for people that live near you and ask if you can pay them a visit to test their amp. Most people would be willing.

kmanick said:

Someone on another forum suggested trying a Mark III as a happy medium between the two?
How differently is the III voiced form the IV? and which stripe (does it really make a difference?) would get me closest to what I'm looking for?

I apologise for all the Noob questions, but It's impossible to find these to try them so I'm trying to narrow down what to look for online.
thanks

Click to expand...

I know you probably have looked up the dealers in your area but in case you haven't here is a listing on dealers in MA:


Guitar Center 750 Commonwealth Ave Boston MA 02215 (617) 738-5958

Guitar Center 120 Andover St. Danvers MA 01923 (978) 777-1950

Guitar Center 321-C Speen St. Natick MA 01760 (508) 655-6525

Guitar Center 1505 S. Washington St. North Attleboro MA 02760 (508) 399-0000

Ray Mullin Music 103 Swansea Mall Dr. Swansea MA 02777 (508) 676-3900

Matt's Music Center 35 Pleasant Street Weymouth MA 02190
(781) 335-0700

Dealers are required to keep a minimum amount of stock. If they don't have something they will more than likely have it before the same time next month. You should be able to try both out.

Good luck in your quest for tone. Ain't it fun?

TBNT

thanks for the list, the guitar centers around here usually only keep
Rectifiers and Stilletos in stock.
Same with Matts Music, although he would order one for me to try if I like
(he's a good dude).

Unless you're getting a Road King or a Roadster I think the IV is the better way out.

I prefer my Road King II over a friend's Mark IV, but that's just my personal opinion. :shock:

I agree with some of the other posters; try to find someone with each of the amps, or a music store with them and try them out first hand. It's all down to personal preference.

Thanks for all of the responses guys!
I ended up grabbing a Rectoverb head and a 2 X12 recto cab as a package about a month or so back and I really like it.
I can actually get some really good singing lead tones out of the vintage mode and the modern mode just crushes for the rhythm tone I was looking for.
I've got JJ El34's in it with a tung sol reissue in V1 and high gain JJ's the rest of the way.
I picked up a LordoVChaos modded SD-1 and I'm running it in front as a
clean boost and it really tightens up the modern mode and makes Vintage
mode scream.
But I'd like to be able to switch back and forth between them via footswitch and I can't do that with the one lead channel, so I went and
tried out a Roadster on Saturday for about an hour or so down at Matts music and I fell in love with it.
I also hate the loop on the Rectoverb head, it's really pretty useless
unless I do the serial mod to it, so it looks like at some point this summer I will be going for the Roadster head.
Between the Roadster and my JSX head I should be able to cover just about any type of tone that I would be after.

Thanks for the opinions, I still haven't tried a Mark IV yet and a friend of mine runs a TriAxis and I'm going to check that out next week, but as of
right now the Roadster is looking pretty good.