NAD! Dual Rec Rev F Blackface! Now what the hell do I...

Greetings everyone! I purchased my first Dual Rec last Friday night and it arrived today! New to me Revision F Blackface/Chrome Chassis, currently with 12ax7's and stock EL34's, can't even tell what type of Rect tubes (no idea how old). It's only been an hour or so of jamming around on it, but would anyone who has experience with these Dual Rec's be willing to give me your thoughts and advice? "How to get a good clean sound", "Managing Volume vs Tone", "Spongy, Bold & You!", etc?

Oh, and I also have a tech question. On Channel 1, switching between Clean and Crunch, both green and orange lights stay on no matter which mode is selected. Normal issue, easily fixable or better-get-the-amp-to-a-tech-now?

I'll post some photos when I can figure out how. :?

Hey man, great score, congrats!

For getting a good clean I'd back off the gain and add more presence and bass, maybe a lttle more treble, swapping out the EL34's for 6L6's would be a great way to boost clean tones.
I had EL34's in my 2 ch Triple but much prefer the 6L6's now, it just sounds correct with a recto, the mids felt congested to me with them.

With the EL34's I'd recommend sticking with bold/tube rectification since when it is in bold/diodes, the bias runs hot for them.
Are you on vintage when switching between clean and crunch that both lights stay on? My amp does the same.

As far as volume vs tone, the 2 ch heads sound good at low volumes but even better cranked, these suckers are LOUD! :lol:
They sound better at low volumes than thier 3 channel counterparts.
Just saw you're from Chicago as well, if you ever feel like rolling tubes in the future hit me up!

MESA PARTY!!!!!!!

can i come?

Sounds good to me, always wanted to attend a boogie-fest in the past. 8)

You know, this sounds like a good idea! I know Mesa has hosted a sort of open house for us bassists on Talkbass. Maybe we could try to get together locally and start a small Mesa Fans GTG? Would need to work on logistics; time, place, duration, invites, snacks, security, beer...

Oh JC, thanks for the tips! I think I have some spare 6L6's lying around to try out in the new amp!

I'd be down for this! I rehearse over a Ft Knox Studios, always secure and they have a cool lounge and AC lol :lol:
There was usually a gearfest hosted over the summer by a few buds over at HRI but I heard nothing this year.

First of all, congrats. I have that exact amp and I really do love it. Nothing does high gain like this beast!

Clean tone? BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! :lol:
The orange channel has the best gain tones IMHO which means you need a lonestar for that

OK, so. for cleans... 6L6s, first of all, and try rolling out some 12ax7s. Then experiment with turning the gain off and the master up. Add gain until you get a tone you want. You can also experiment with rolling the mids out and turning up the presence. See how you like that. The clean tone is warm and thick, but it is not chimey, sparkley, and elastic like an amp dedicated to doing clean tones. Lets just clear that up right now. The clean is best for rock inspired clean picking parts but what are you doing playing clean when you need Orange for your lead tones! Seriously, try dialing in the Orange channel set to 'vintage hi gain' and play with the gain up in the 2 - 2:30 region. Should have loads of fun with that!!!

P.S. YOU ALL SUCK! I wish I could have a Mesa Party up here in Caynaduh!! (I'd probably get stuck playing bass though)

Denton and Dee, let's start thinking (and messaging) about scheduling something for August and September for Chicago-land Mesa fans (though anyone willing to drive from out of the area is welcome too!). Fort Knox Studios sounds promising, how's parking there? I'm not sure if I'll have this amp the as I still have 30 days to return it to GC. I wanted to get a backup to my Heartbreaker but this amp is really closing in on becoming #1.

YellowJacket, I have to agree that the cleans aren't the best on this amp, but they are usable. Interestingly, I just dropped in 6L6's and set the Orange channel to get that great overdive with the Red channel giving a pretty decent edge-of-breakup clean tone (gain was WAY down, master up..like you recommended). You're right, this won't be a sparkly clean and chimey amp but I'm actually kind of surprised how good the cleans are on the Dual Recs. Oh and if you come down to our GTG I can play bass too, I started off as a bassist and am currently rocking a Bass 400+ and Buster 2x10 Wedge with an SWR 8x10.

I still haven't decided if this amp will replace my Heartbreaker or not. I feel like I can get much better cleans on the Heartbreaker (likely due to onboard reverb and the circuit design), but the overdrive on either channel of the Heartbreaker only gets about 75% - 80% of the amount available on the DR. That's not a huge margin and Monsta Tone does some sweet mods on the Hearbreaker, but after pricing out the mods and shipping to and from his shop I'm about halfway to the cost of the DR.

Orange Channel has much better cleans than the Red channel but they're still not so good and they're sitting in the way of one of the best gain tones ever created in an amp.

where is the fort knox space? I know i've heard of it. Before my band went on haitus we practiced at The Music Garage. Wish i still had that place. Now we have the basement to my house which is free but not as fun.

Cool, both August and September work for me.
Ft Knox is located a block south of Montrose and Knox.

Forgot to mention that it has a full sized parking lot and parking in front and everything is on 1 floor!

OH ok, i think it used to be called something else back in the day. I know exactly what you're talking about.

Yellow, I'm starting to see what you're talking about. Both channels have some great gain sounds on tap and can be adjusted anywhere from a nice soft growl or purr all the way to hard rock/metal (and even further into way-too-compressed-and-buzzy if desired :? ). I'm starting to wonder about running a two amp setup rather than try to get everything I need out of one amp. I was toying with getting my clean sounds out of my Heartbreaker head and my dirt out of the Dual Rec, both run into my Stilleto 4x12 (each into one 4 Ohm input), maybe each 2x12 miced seperately. Whatcha think?

Denton and dee, let's try this: We'll PM each other and work out some details, then announce it as a new thread and see who else on this forum is interested. We'll brainstorm dates, times and cost to each attendee, then make a formal decision and lock down the date and time at the studio.

Electra Dyne would get you those coveted cleans. That or a Lonestar.
The Lonestar is basically Clean / Lead and the Electra Dyne is Clean and two brit inspired crunch tones. It basically covers all the ground that the 2 channel Dual misses, and it does it in style.

Not a bad idea, Yellowjacket! I'll keep an eye out for one of those to demo...

Have you ever gotten Marshallesque tones out of a BlackFace? I could swear I was getting some pseudo Brown Tones last night with EL34's, low-med gain and raised presence/treble.

MrBear said:

Not a bad idea, Yellowjacket! I'll keep an eye out for one of those to demo...

Have you ever gotten Marshallesque tones out of a BlackFace? I could swear I was getting some pseudo Brown Tones last night with EL34's, low-med gain and raised presence/treble.

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Blackface as in fender blackface!? Or you mean 2 channel Dual? The recto can crunch but I find it sounds like a recto. The Electra Dyne will sound much more Marshallesque when it is dialed in right.

Hey Yellow,

Sorry I did mean the DR Blackface. Maybe it's just because I'm new to Dual Recs but I could swear I'm getting some "brownish" sounds out of the orange side; nothing close like a Splawn or Bray but maybe a nice British vibe to the DR's circuit. Guess I'm keeping it, my 30 days are up and I'm in love with A/Bing the DR for my dirty tones an my Heartbreaker for cleans! I've now got some dirt and od pedals to sell...here we come Craigslist. :?

ABing a Recto with a Heartbreaker! Sounds AMAZING! I'd love to AB my Recto with my Electra Dyne!!!