Sample Electra Dyne Tone Settings.

OK, so I don't remember starting a thread like this nor do I remember seeing one so here is a chance to talk about how to dial in different tones. Most of mine are low volume tones because I really don't have a need to crank the thing.

Practice Settings: 45 watt mode. Everything at 12:00 noon with the Master barely on and the volume at 2:30 - 3:00. Gain trim to 'CLean'. With Gibson LP.

Crunch: 45 watt mode. Master at 8:00. Presence at 1:00, Treble 12:00, Mids 12:00, bass 11:00. Volume at around 1:00 to 1:30. Gain Trim to 'normal'. This is for my Godin LG.

Metal: 90 watt mode. Master at 8:00 or over. Treble and mids at 1:00, Bass at 12:00, presence maxed, Volume at 3:00. (Primarily for use on Vintage Hi) Gain trim set to 'Clean'. This yields a very usable clean tone as well as a sick rhythm / lead tone on Vintage Hi. There is no need to scoop this tone since the lows and low mids are hugely phat with the added horsepower. With Godin LG. This is one of my most favourite tones I have dialed in.

Live Cut: This is something my father wanted me to try. I was playing church music with two acoustic guitar and a piano. My dad suggested my tone should cut more so I let him dial it in. It was a lot more stiff feeling than what I usually like and it was honestly a bit hard on the ears it was so bright. Apparently the mic liked it because people were raving about how awesome my tone was. These settings are much more bright, like a Marshall.

Master, 8:00 - 8:30. Presence, 1:00. Treble 3:00, Mids 9:00, Bass Maxed (to add in the low end) Volume 3:00. Gain trim Clean. With Godin LG.

It was extreme but Vintage Lo worked particularly well with a lot of cut in the live situation. I'm just not a fan of the feel and I would appreciate different EQ settings for Vintage Hi for a proper lead tone.

Typical settings...

Usually in 45w mode
Vol: 1:30-2:00
Treb: 1:00
Mids: 12:00
Bass: 11:30
Pres: 1:00

I spent most of the first year of ownership with the gain around 11:00. I think I copied the settings from the AC/DC demo off the Mesa website and tweeked them a bit, then never touched them again.

A few weeks ago I was checking out the Soundgarden rig rundown where they showed the detail on Thayil's rig and wrote down the settings. I tried them out and preferred them to my own, so I tweaked them a bit and haven't touched them since. The results are above.

I was using the amp to produce something akin to a modded Plexi kind of sound, but Thayil's settings brought the amp more inline with the standard Rectifier sound... only with less gain and a looser, more open texture. At heart I'm more a Recto guy than a Plexi guy, so these settings made the amp perform more inline with my tastes. I think it might become my main amp now since it does the massive sounding Recto thing without requiring the kind of volume a Recto does to do the massive sounding Recto thing.

For leads, I find it reacts really well to tubescreamers. I'm using a Fulldrive 2. I normally hate OD pedals but with the ED they sound awesome.

Weren't Kim Thayil's settings with less mids and more bass? I tried them and I also thought they sounded pretty good. I happen to like the overdriven plexi tone AND a thick chunky recto tone so I dial in my amp depending on my mood that day!

I find it interesting how you picked this amp up on a deal and how it is now becoming your favourite. (I haven't used my recto in a couple of months) Did you ever get the gain trim switch and the clean level trim pot installed on your Electra Dyne? I have found that both really increase the possible tones the amp can cop in a good way.

YellowJacket said:

Weren't Kim Thayil's settings with less mids and more bass?

Click to expand...

Those were his older settings from last year or something like that. The newest ones I've seen have the gain at 2:00 and bass/mids at noon. I run the gain and bass a bit lower.

I find it interesting how you picked this amp up on a deal and how it is now becoming your favourite.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's kind of funny how it worked out. It sat on the back burner because I never experimented with it for the longest time. I bought it wanting it for the modded Plexi thing and at $850 for the combo I laughed all the way home, but once I had the modded Plexi thing dialled in I never played around to see what else it could do.

Now I want to get a head version. I really like the combo (enough that there's no way I'm selling it) but the Recto cab is a big part of "my" sound. Dragging around a 75lb combo so that I can bypass the internal speaker and run it through a 100lb cab isn't cool.

Ironically, one of the things I really like about the amp is it's low volume sound. It sounds f*cking massive all the way down to the spot where it goes silent.

Did you ever get the gain trim switch and the clean level trim pot installed on your Electra Dyne? I have found that both really increase the possible tones the amp can cop in a good way.

Click to expand...

Nope. I tend to like the gain in the middle regions, which is the way the amp was originally designed to function, so I haven't really felt like not having it is holding me back.

screamingdaisy said:

YellowJacket said:

Weren't Kim Thayil's settings with less mids and more bass?

Click to expand...

Those were his older settings from last year or something like that. The newest ones I've seen have the gain at 2:00 and bass/mids at noon. I run the gain and bass a bit lower.

Click to expand...

Yup, I've never played a Mesa that didn't have enough bass.

I find it interesting how you picked this amp up on a deal and how it is now becoming your favourite.

Click to expand...

Yeah, it's kind of funny how it worked out. It sat on the back burner because I never experimented with it for the longest time. I bought it wanting it for the modded Plexi thing and at $850 for the combo I laughed all the way home, but once I had the modded Plexi thing dialled in I never played around to see what else it could do.

Now I want to get a head version. I really like the combo (enough that there's no way I'm selling it) but the Recto cab is a big part of "my" sound. Dragging around a 75lb combo so that I can bypass the internal speaker and run it through a 100lb cab isn't cool.

Click to expand...

Not playing around with this amp is a bit of a shame since it has a particularly huge number of tones hidden craftily behind those few large knobs. I'm glad you found something else you love! I think you may have to track down a head in the States. I haven't seen many heads out here and they have generally been massively overpriced considering the current market. I guess you'd get a black head to match your cab?

Ironically, one of the things I really like about the amp is it's low volume sound. It sounds f*cking massive all the way down to the spot where it goes silent.

Click to expand...

See, this has been my exact experience as well, and this is the big reason why I bought the thing. I really can't understand the volume complaints since I have used it for a practice amp right up to outdoor gigs and it doesn't miss anything in any situation at all.

Did you ever get the gain trim switch and the clean level trim pot installed on your Electra Dyne? I have found that both really increase the possible tones the amp can cop in a good way.

Click to expand...

Nope. I tend to like the gain in the middle regions, which is the way the amp was originally designed to function, so I haven't really felt like not having it is holding me back.

Click to expand...

[/quote]

I suppose I can appreciate this, since I really have not had many issues with the shared EQ while others have. At the same time, I have noticed plenty of sweet spots on the volume knob depending on what the amp it needed to do. I guess with so many other mesas you don't require such a big catalogue of tones, but there are some other gain regions that I really think demand exploration and I really hope to have opportunities to gig all of them in the future!

90 watt mode
Gain trim set to Clean
Presence at noon
Bass at 9:00
Mid at 11:00
Treble at noon
Volume at 2:00
Master at 9:00


I have an Xotic BB in front with the gain at 9:00 and all other knobs at noon. I toggle on and off the BB depending on just how clean or dirty I want to be. I find using the BB gives me 3 more tones, especially with Clean and Vintage Lo. Lately I've been putting an Xotic EP Booster in front of the BB, set on about 9:00, the dip switches set to unity gain, and just let it ride. Sparkles up the clean mode quite nicely.