Mesa Cab Clone VS Studio preamp

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mustardman44

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Hi,

So I have a dual rectifier, which I love using live but getting into recording now. I have the chance to pick up a cheap mesa Studio preamp, but would still cost more then just buying a cab clone and running my dual rec into that and into my mixing desk..

Is it worth buying the studio, or even saving up for the rectifier recording pre? As if it can produce the best results, i'd be willing to do that. But if I'll get the same results by just buying a cab clone, then i might just go with that.

I've owned load boxes such as the two notes torpedo, palmer PGA, but with the cab clone being much cheaper, its very tempting.. but there Mesa preamps must be worth there value, so question is, what should I go for?

Cheers!
 
A lot of people have some gripes with the sound of the Cab Clone. It can sound passable like, and is nice if it's built in as a bonus DI to the Front of House, but for recording it's pretty lackluster. There's some demo videos you can find online.

The cabclone would probably work similarly to the Studio Preamp's recording outputs. emulating the general sound of a cab but not really the whole feel. But with the regular outputs you can just send the Studio preamp into cabinet sim plugins and get some pretty solid tones (I've recorded like this myself).

If you got a cab clone I'd probably still say just use it as a load box and cab simulate the direct output from it.

The other thing is the Studio Preamp will be pretty vastly different than the Rectifier sound: It's a Mark series preamp through and through, which is a different beast. I like it more but that's something you'll need to decide for yourself.
 
thanks for your reply. ive heard mixed reviews, some people saying its one of the best out there, others say its just like the rest. The main objective of using it would be for recording, so I guess there would be much point doing that.

The main style i'm using it for is modern rock / punk. As I've only used a rectifier, I'm not sure how the studio would compare as like you say its the mark preamp. Would the recto sound work better for me or is that something the studio could sound good for?

Using the clone as a load box could work. but then again, as it has the 'slave out', so if I could just plug into my interface and use software, or the hughes and kettner red box I have kicking around somewhere, then the cab clone might be a bit pricey if im just using it for the dummy load and direct out..

If I can achieve the same or close results to what would be considered very good for recording either from the rectifier recording preamp, or the studio, then I'll go for one. But id rather not waste the cash if not! I just want someone to tell me one of these beasts can actually achieve what seems like the unachievable for recording!

Whatever I do, it just needs to be quiet :roll:
 
The Studio Preamp's recording out jacks (or whatever they call them) are useless in my opinion. Sounds absolutely nothing like a cab with a mic on it (nothing I've found so far does). Having said that, though, the Studio Preamp is one of the best pieces of guitar gear I've ever used. Used traditionally, as a front end to a power amp through a speaker, it gets some of the best tones around.
 
The ADA GCS-2 is versatile , sounds pretty good and not too expensive
i don't know how the cab clone made it to market ? load box ok , speaker sim , meh!
on paper the formula preamp's recording out looks good , inductors tube stage and transformer balanced out
still falls short of sounding good enough to want to use it
 
mustardman44 said:
If I can achieve the same or close results to what would be considered very good for recording either from the rectifier recording preamp, or the studio, then I'll go for one. But id rather not waste the cash if not! I just want someone to tell me one of these beasts can actually achieve what seems like the unachievable for recording!

Whatever I do, it just needs to be quiet :roll:

I have been using the Rectifier Recording Preamp for direct recording for about 4 years now. When I first got the RRP, I was only recording clean guitar parts and it sounded great! I did not worry about Channel 2 very much but I'll be honest, the tones were not inspiring. Once Channel 2 became relevent, I was able to dial in enough good "high gain" tones to keep the Preamp, but I dialed in far more bad tones for awhile which was discouraging. (I also own a Roadster Combo which kept me optimistic things would improve.) Things improved when it became clear my studio monitors were the problem. They were a pair of Tannoy 601a's which are big, loud and great for movies but not guitar tracking. I replaced them with a pair Equator D5's (which were actually cheaper than the Tannoys)! and that is when real progress began. (Later on, I bought a pair of Sennheiser HD600's too.)

Signal Chain
Guitar - Front End of RRP - RRP Record Outputs - Eventide Space - Apogee Duet 2 Line Inputs - DAW (ProTools 12) - Sennheiser HD600's. I made a semi-poor choice with one of the Equator D5's...I took it apart with no intention of putting it back together. It was not working properly and I had already been through the battery of troubleshooting tests and I was tired of it. With that said, they served me very well up until that point.
I do not use VST's or Cab Sims in the DAW. The only plugin I use is Eventide UltraChannel - preset Omnipressor, but I could live without it if necessary. :cry:

The reason I am going into such detail is so you have some reference for what gear works. Mesa is extremely vague when they talk about the "other" gear you'll need and give no suggestions. They just say, "It needs to be good quality." When it comes to recording gear, "good quality" occupies a wide price range so that is why I was an open book about it.

I demo'd a CabClone and honestly, I thought is was good! Of course, I was already used to the RRP so that helped....alot! :shock: If you are patient, the Rectifier Recording Preamp is very rewarding. If you are less idealistic than I am, you will experience the benefits much sooner than I did. Good luck on your search/decison making and buy used.
 
mustardman44 said:
The main style i'm using it for is modern rock / punk. As I've only used a rectifier, I'm not sure how the studio would compare as like you say its the mark preamp. Would the recto sound work better for me or is that something the studio could sound good for?
I think the Mark 2/Mark 3 family (including the Studio pre) are much better "rock" amps than the rectifiers are. They sound great all over the gain range, from totally clean to overdriven to all-out distortion. Rectos are a high-gain one trick pony by comparison.
 
I'll add 2 more cents in by saying that the Recording Outs on the Mesa preamps (and even on the Cab Clone), are just some simple electrical circuits which apply an EQ to get in the ballpark of Cab and Mic'd sound.

But they're only one sound (Or for the Cab Clone, 3?). I prefer to use something like Poulin LeCab and some Impulse Responses (IRs) which emulate different Speaker/Mic setups. Then rather than one circuit based emulation you can test dozens of speaker/cab/mic/presence configurations (since presence is a factor of power amp+speaker interaction), multiple mics, phasing from positioning, etc.

I've got some clips of Studio Preamp with IRs and stuff around if you're curious.
 
I've been very happy with my Cab Clone. It's a simple way to get a consistent feed to the board, although I use it live, so I'm not looking for perfection. I care more about consistency.

It provides 3 sounds. A mic placed on a speaker is a sound. Changing mic placement is a different sound. If you think of it that way, then it's a cool and useful tool. If you are more concerned about it sounding exactly like a particular mic paired with a particular speaker, then what you're looking for is an impulse response. I'd recommend Torpedo products for those.
 

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