Rectifier studio preamp questions

Hi. I'm new to the board.
I enjoy playing and recording, and I don't care too much for tweaking, and I want good tone, but don't need it to be THE BEST tone.

I want to make silent high quality recordings. I have decent gear, and I'm currently recording through a miked Mesa F-50 to a RME and sometimes directly using plug ins. I don't want to rely too much on software although I have lots, also NI Komplete Ultimate.

Question is about the rectifier pre. Is it really that hard to get a good high gain tone? I intended to plug it directly to the RME, due to silence. Also is it possible to use it with the F-50 and bypass the F-50 pre ? Would that sound aweful, if even possible?

Last q. My other option is a low watt amp, and considering the Peavey 6505 mini actually? Would it be easier to get good high gain chugga tone from that? Sorry for a messy post, but I'm in a hurry.

What is wrong with the tone you're getting? Not enough gain? Too fizzy? Something else? To record a preamp directly, you can try the "recording outs" (but read the manual as one may be optimized for clean while the other is for gain), or you can run the preamp out directly to your interface (make sure you don't overload it) and run some speaker simulator IRs in your DAW.

JMMP said:

What is wrong with the tone you're getting? Not enough gain? Too fizzy? Something else? To record a preamp directly, you can try the "recording outs" (but read the manual as one may be optimized for clean while the other is for gain), or you can run the preamp out directly to your interface (make sure you don't overload it) and run some speaker simulator IRs in your DAW.

Click to expand...

Sad to say no I don't get the rectifier high gain tone I want from the F-50, in fact I've been using a high gain tube pedal on the clean channel to get closer on low volume.... And I'm kinda sceptical to get the rectifier pre if the direct recording doesn't really work well. So I might just do a low watt alternative. Either the Mini Rectifier or Peavey 6505 Mini.... I kinda regnet selling my Axe Fx2.

I want plug and play and get good tone.... I guess thats not gonna happen

I completely misunderstood your question earlier; don't listen to anything I said in my last post. I would not expect a rectifier high gain tone from the F50. Most people say direct recording from the recto pre is excellent. It may not quite be up to snuff with an AxeFX, but it should work well. At worst, you could record from the regular output and add IRs ITB. I have no reason to doubt the recto pre would get you where you want to be, if you want a recto tone recorded. I am thinking about picking one up at some point.

The Fixxxer said:

Question is about the rectifier pre. Is it really that hard to get a good high gain tone? I intended to plug it directly to the RME, due to silence.

Click to expand...

The reason the learning curve is so steep for high gain tones has more to do with studio monitors than the preamp. You have a good interface so that should not be a problem. At first, I was using a pair of Tannoy 601a's. They were my first pair of studio monitors and work well for certain things. Unfortunately, distorted electric is not one of those things. I replaced the Tannoys with a pair of Equator D5's and they have been working really well. If you are using Genelec/Neumann/etc. your results may be incredible! The Tannoys did not have a great mid range which makes recording almost anything difficult. They are great for movies though! 8)

For recording direct, my setup looks like this:

Rec. Rec. Pre. - Record Outputs into Eventide Space - Eventide Space into Apogee Duet 2 - ProTools 12 - Equator D5's.

The Eventide Space has really made recording much easier. Can you get a great high gain tone by literally recording direct? Yes! But the better your monitors are, the easier it will be. I do not use IR's when I record and all the effects are "printed to tape" so to speak. (I do not record to tape.)