Tube Saturation With active Effects Loop Question

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Strangler

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Hello all, Second post here..lol I have a Triple Recto and on a few other forums people say to CRANK it to Saturate the Tubes.

I took the effects loop off and you only have one option and thats the Channel master. I cranked it today but I didnt notice much of a difference except volume! it tended to break up and sound weird. I've had this amp for 6 months.

With the effect loop active I followed the manual and set the return to 10% and the send to 12:00.

My question is how to obtain that saturation tone you guys talk about with the effects loop active?

Someone else said to get a distortion pedal and plug my guitar into it and crank the output all the way up that way the signal is boosted before the amp.

Any Advice?


Thanks!
 
A couple of things to try...
Use an overdrive pedal, gain down vol up, to boost you input signal. (you can also use an eq pedal for this.)

Connect the loop send to the return with a short cord. By varying the send level you can use the loop as a sort of overdrive.

Use an attenuator (THD hotplate best IMO) so you can crank the amp and have control of volume. You get output tube saturation like this, but it will cost you that cabinet "knock" which can only be achieved one way.

CRANK THAT BABY UP!!!!!
 
Which overdrive would you recommend? there's a boss sd1 orange distortion pedal at my local guitar center for $30. Would that be fine?

also What if I wanted to run a delay unit? and what knock are you talking about? do you have any sound samples?

Thanks!
 
+1.

Strangler, the Triple Recto has tons of headroom so to saturate the tubes, you will be near arena rock volume. (Like NoGlassNoClass said, a THD Hotplate will help)

Also, your EQ curve perception will vary as the volume goes up...what sounds good to you at lower volumes could sound like poo at higher volumes. Once you get your amp good and cranked, experiment with your EQ and see what happens.
 
Strangler said:
Which overdrive would you recommend? there's a boss sd1 orange distortion pedal at my local guitar center for $30. Would that be fine?

also What if I wanted to run a delay unit? and what knock are you talking about? do you have any sound samples?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The sd1 is a good choice, as well as the ts9 or ts808 tube screamer. I am currently using an mxr 10-band eq for this with a nearly flat curve and a 6dB gain boost.

As for the delay, that pretty much rules out using your loop for additional drive. Loop levels that high will overload the delay's input and make it sound very harsh.

"Knock"..the interaction between the speakers and cab that occurs at high vol's. Kind of a subjective thing, something you feel in your chest and lower back more than you actually hear.
 
I've heard the same thing about cranking the effects send level to achieve more gain after assigning the loop on and not running effects (nor a patch cable) through the loop. I believe Godsmacks guitar tech set up their Rectos like this! I once called Mesa about it, they said it can be done, but not to justify more gain. As they pointed out, there is plenty of gain on tap with the Rectos! It's just more useful if you want to use the one global master instead of the individual channel masters. As far as distortion pedals; why would you need one with a Recto?
 
Certainly the mighty Recto has more than enough gain for even the heaviest styles. Using an OD pedal (or an EQ for that matter) to boost your guitar signal tightens up the amp's response, especially in the lower freq's. Use the pedal's output level, not od/distortion, to get a clean boost.
 
Strangler said:
Hello all, Second post here..lol I have a Triple Recto and on a few other forums people say to CRANK it to Saturate the Tubes.

I think people alot of people confuse the old non master volume amps of yesteryear with the more modern master volume amps of today. With the cascading preamps of today it's really not necessary to crank it up to achieve an overdriven sound. Mesa's have all the gain you'll need, even at bedroom levels, thats whats great about them. But if you want to feel it then sure, crank it up.
Click to expand...
 

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