Single Rect. a keeper??

Hey folks,

I just brought back my Rect-O-Verb and got a Single w/ 2X12 Rect. Cab. I much happier w/ this set-up as now I can get real loud as well as play in my Apartment. I can also get different heads and experiment with sounds.

With the Single I can get good cleans and classic crunch, however I can't seem to get a good heavy, tight distortion (Eg. Killswitch Engage, justice album) without using a pedal. Currently I have POD XTLive and use the FX Killer, and I get a real cool sound!

My questions are...

Is it common to use pedals for more distortion? Or can one amp give you all you need?

Can the Dual give me more gain than the single or is it just louder?

Should I drop another $400 and go for the Dual or drop $1300 and get the RK.

Should I just shut up and be happy?


JA

I don't think it's common to see a distortion pedal with any Mesa Rectifier series, there's more than enough gain to be had! A sweet spot on your gain setting should be from 12 o'clock to 2 o'clock (IMHO)!
I also don't think the Dual will necessarily give you more gain than a Single, it's all about a "powerband"! The Dual will have more headroom, but some people like the sound of a pushed 50 watter!
And lastly, I think the Single is a wise choice for your situation, good for your apartment living, yet plenty on tap if you end up in a band!

That's right, it's not "usual" to see a distortion pedal with a recto amp. The rectos are known to be high gain beasts, no matter if it's a single, dual, triple, or a road king. They are all capable of creating that killer high gain Recto tone.

However, it isn't THAT unusual to see a distortion pedal with a recto.

Just make sure you don't get anything extreme like MT-2 or it'll be feedback heavn... or hell.

Try to find a nice warm sounding smooth distortion pedal. I have a solo recto myself and i'm using my GT-6 in the effects loop. I experimented with different distortion pedals because I had the exact same curiosity as you.

For me, I really found that the Ibanez TS series pedals worked well. The Ibanez TS series pedals are known for focused yet powerful tones. It took me a while to tweak both the TS and my Recto but once I got it right, the TS pedal gave my recto a whole new life. It was quite amazing.

I didn't buy the Ts pedal, just rented it to experiment, but because of that experiment, I'm gonna be putting a TS in my new rig for sure.
Once I get enough to make my rack rig, I'll be using my GT-6 for practice. And I will for sure place a TS in the rack loop.

Give it a try, and try different pedals, you might find one that fits you the best. good luck~

You could try a good overdrive like a Tubescreamer or Boss SD1, with the gain set low and the output cranked, not to add distortion but to hit the amps front-end harder and make the amp do the work. There are a number of "clean boost" pedals as well. I use a graphic EQ for this, with a nearly flat curve (slight boost across upper mids, and a very slight cut at 250Hz) and a 6dB gain boost. FWIW I leave the EQ on all the time, and slightly reduce the master on the clean channel to keep it balanced.

I'm a little late, but I just found this board this past week, great board!!! When I was first looking for a new amp 6 months ago, I gave the rectifier a try and didn't see what all the hype was about them because I couldn't get a really heavey sound out of it so I went with the Peavey XXX.... I used it for a few months and just wasn't happy with it so I went on another amp hunt and this time took my own guitar instead of using a guitar at the store - I tried about 15 different amps (and kept skipping over the recto) and never found what I wanted and even left that store and went to another and tried every Marshall out there and still wasn't happy and finally I gave up and went back to the store that had the recto, not to play the recto but to play the JSX, but the salesman asked me to play the recto again so this (rich) kid that was looking at a good first amp could hear it, so I plugged in my guitar and started playing and WOW!!!!!! The sound I heard gave me chills, it was the best distortion I'd ever heard!! All along it was the guitar I was using with low output pickups. I Took the recto home that day (3 months ago) and still can't believe how good it sounds. I too use my PODxt Live for a bit of reverb and delay, but the amp sounds so good I could even play without any FX and not miss them (and I'm a reverb freak).

Try a different guitar or maybe change the tubes (preamp and power) and you might find more gain this way.

To be honest, the triple rectifier wasn't the amp with the most gain I've ever played, the Peavey XXX has more gain (maybe too much), but it has more than enough without over-saturating your sound and making it muddy.

Sorry to ramble on, but I just want everyone to be as happy with their recto as I am. Peace out!!!!!!

Thanks for all the help guys! I've figured out what I was doing wrong and it was pretty simple. Ready, here it is...

I took the Cab off the speakers stand and put it on the floor. Yes, you heard right! That's it! The difference is amazing! I also changed up some of the settings...

Output 9 o'clock
Master 12
Presence 9
Bass 11
Mid 11:30
Treble 1
Gain 2-3 :twisted:

I'm very happy with my kit now and have stopped having nightmares about my tone.

You can hear a rough clip of my new sound on the "my first clip" topic on this board.

I've got 2 electric guitars...a Zakk Wylde Epi & KH ESP 602, both w/ EMG pickups. They sound great!

Sorry to ramble on, but I just want everyone to be as happy with their recto as I am. Peace out!!!!!!

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I am definitely happy with this amp and am super psyched!!

OUT!


JA[/quote]

dude i have a single recto solo 50 and I love it. I do wish it had 3 ch. but
I do love it. I love the Vintage mode with the gain at about 1 or 2 o'clock.
this is a rich, sounding overdrive and sounds great for chords and leads.

However, for leads I do one of 2 things. I use a seymore duncan boost
or a Bad Monkey with the
drive set at or below 12 o'clock
bass set at 12:00
treble all the way
Vloume at 1:00 or 2:00

both work great and give you that little bit of compression that makes your
notes just jump right out during a lead. I like both for the job and switch
back and forth. Can not make up my mind which I like better. The Bad Monkey is only $35. The Duncan is about $70. Both sounds great in an
overdriven head.

IIIBoomerIII said:

dude i have a single recto solo 50 and I love it. I do wish it had 3 ch. but
I do love it. .

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Its the lack of the 3rd channel that makes these things kill other rectos!

no soul said:

Its the lack of the 3rd channel that makes these things kill other rectos!

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Of course, it could also have something to do with being voiced slightly different......

screamingdaisy said:

no soul said:

Its the lack of the 3rd channel that makes these things kill other rectos!

Click to expand...

Of course, it could also have something to do with being voiced slightly different......

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which the lack of "afterthought PCB" for a 3rd channel is a part of. Brighter voicing due to smaller powersection, different OT, and many more.

One of the main reasons why I bought a Recto is because it dosn't need an overdrive or distortion pedal to help drive the preamp. I've always said that if you're paying over $1K for an amp, it should sound good right out of the box. That's not to say that you can't get some killer tones out of a recto with a distortion pedal, I just think that the pure tube tone coming out of these amps is too good and that the more fx people use, the more it takes away from the sound of the amp.

I have a Dual Recto and a Rect-O-Verb and am very happy with both. My drummer actually likes the sound I get out of my Rect-O-Verb a little bit more and suggested I use that head at our next gig instead of my Dual. Again, it goes back to personal preference and what you use the amp for. I bought the Rect-O-Verb so I could use it in my apartment but it has more than enough power to play a medium size venue that my band usually plays at.

The Road King kicks ***, just ask yourself if you need four channels and all of that versitility in one amp before you kick down well over $2K for it. Trust me, I'd have one too if I had that kind of money. But since I already have a couple of Recto's, I would keep those and get a VHT or something different with that kind of lute just to spice things up.

I've had my single 50 for a month and I love it. I keep it on Modern and will probably not switch to Vintage settings for another month. I look forward to getting another amp out of another channel. Being as this was my first Mesa, I would definitely look into getting a Dual Rect 3 channel, in a few years. I haven't been able to get it past 11 on the master volume, but when I did, it kicked major fucking ***. Next up will be a Hot plate in September.

Vshine said:

I would definitely look into getting a Dual Rect 3 channel, in a few years. I haven't been able to get it past 11 on the master volume, but when I did, it kicked major f%&# ***. Next up will be a Hot plate in September.

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they seriously arent as good as as your single.
And if you need a hot plate, then a DR would be extra useless for you.

jargaguy said:

Hey folks,

My questions are...

Is it common to use pedals for more distortion? Or can one amp give you all you need?

Can the Dual give me more gain than the single or is it just louder?

Should I drop another $400 and go for the Dual or drop $1300 and get the RK.

Should I just shut up and be happy?


JA

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Lot's of guys use an overdrive or something to push the front end a little harder. I am using a TC Parametric EQ. It makes the tone/palm muting very Metallic... more like Messugah's tone.
I've owned at least 6 Dual Recs and one Single Rec. Most of the time it has to do with the tubes. (Preamps) You may want to try some Chinese preamp tubes in the amp.

Thanks for all the input guys. It's been a few weeks since I've been on here and I was pleasantly surprised to see this topic responded to again.

I've gone through some changes in my gear since then. I've gotten more tubes to experiment with...high Gain Rectifier replacement kit from Eurotubes...very cool. I've also got a MESA SPAX-7 in the V1 slot to reduce some of the hissing at high volumes, works ok. I've changed from a horizontal to a vertical cab and am very happy!! I also put a Gramma board under the cab in my room and it sounds killer!

I'm not looking to get any distortion pedals anylonger. Instead, I'm planning on getting an MXR 10 Band EQ this weekend. I'd also like to get an ISP decimator or MXR Smartgate to reduce the noise factor at high volumes.

I'm very happy with my gear and am getting back into some bluesy and classic rock again and see that my amp can really handle that sound well also. I'm about to pick up a Fender American Strat and continue my collection!

Have a great Memorial Day guys and make sure to belt out a nice loud National Anthem ala Zakk Wylde, Hendrix on Monday!!


JA

jargaguy said:

Thanks for all the input guys. It's been a few weeks since I've been on here and I was pleasantly surprised to see this topic responded to again.

I've gone through some changes in my gear since then. I've gotten more tubes to experiment with...high Gain Rectifier replacement kit from Eurotubes...very cool. I've also got a MESA SPAX-7 in the V1 slot to reduce some of the hissing at high volumes, works ok. I've changed from a horizontal to a vertical cab and am very happy!! I also put a Gramma board under the cab in my room and it sounds killer!

I'm not looking to get any distortion pedals anylonger. Instead, I'm planning on getting an MXR 10 Band EQ this weekend. I'd also like to get an ISP decimator or MXR Smartgate to reduce the noise factor at high volumes.

I'm very happy with my gear and am getting back into some bluesy and classic rock again and see that my amp can really handle that sound well also. I'm about to pick up a Fender American Strat and continue my collection!

Have a great Memorial Day guys and make sure to belt out a nice loud National Anthem ala Zakk Wylde, Hendrix on Monday!!


JA

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I recommend the ISP pedal! :twisted:

I recommend the ISP pedal! :twisted:

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Got it!! Works incredible!!


JA