Downgrading from a Mark V to a Rectoverb 25 Head...

Hello everyone, I happen to have a chance to downgrade my main amp (Which is the 90 watt Mark V) to a Rectoverb 25 Head, the guy who's offering me his RV 25 head is also willing to give me some money to cover the price difference between the two amps. Well I've never tried any of MESA's mini heads nor combos, but i'm curious to know what do you guys think. Right know I am mainly a living room player (since before COVID), and I love my Mark V and all but at times I think its just too much for a living room amp... and the amp doesn't shine that much at low volume either... SO, the big question or questions, Is the Rectoverb 25 Head a good sounding amp?, will I get the MESA tone goodness with it?, how does it behave at low volume?, what about the cleans?, I'm reading ya... thanks!

In my opinion (whole following rant...) you cannot crank any tube amp at home levels to have any sensible tones :shock: (except the Marshall 1w hand wired amps were extremely nice at lowest power level...)

“My amp has great master volume. Blablabla...” It just doesn’t work so good with normal guitar speakers.

I went thru many amps and every time it was just “too loud” when the amp started to deliver a tiny bit of the good stuff. Later on I stumbled in Koch Dummybox for dirt cheap and bought it for testing if the attenuation would help. And it actually is helping a lot when comparing to just having the master at 0.00000001 now the master can be set to 0.01 and yet I’m not killing all the small fauna in our neighbourhood...

Not even trying to get the tubes cooking but just a small knock in dBs makes wonders.

EDIT:

IMO: Don’t sell the Mark V if you like it. :lol: you’ll regret it (I already am...)

I own both of these. The Mark V is better for bedroom volumes, IMHO. The Recto sounds dark, even with treble and presence up, at low volumes. This is for the pushed, vintage and modern modes. At least to my ears through a Recto cab or the Thiele EVM-12L.

They both sound really good when cranked but the Mark has way more tones and flavors (but not the Rectifier flavor of course!).

Different amp, but an example of a modern lower wattage Mesa amp- I've got a Mark Five:25, and it's not a great low volume living room amp. The sound is kinda flat when the channel masters are turned low (especially the lead sound). In fact, I use an attenuator with it at home. From what I've read, the 90w Mark V sounds better at low volumes due to its output control.

If you're just looking for lower power at home, running your V in 10 watt mode across the board is going to be lower power than the Recto 25.

I've owned both and the V is a lot more valuable to me.