Single rectifier is desesperatly looking for tightness...

[nismofreakish]

I ordered a retube kit from Doug's tubes, after told him what my problem was, he sent me a hot cocktail of tubes and I just tried them this weekend... my God... MY GOD!!!! My amp sound like a dream now, it's still thick but is very tight (and that with my tone zone pickup on my music man, can't wait to get my PRS back with the Tremonti pickup!!!).

Well thanks again for your suggestions, now, I'm in love with my amp!!

 

[kmanick]

So what are the tubes?
I have a Rectoverb head (that I actually love right now)
but I'd be interested in seeing what tubes you put in.
I currently have a tung sol re issue in V1 and high gain JJ's the rest of the way with JJ EL34's and with my LordOvChaos modded SD-1 in front it sounds pretty bad ***.
What did Doug suggest?

 

[nismofreakish]

V1 - Tung-Sol reissue 12AX7
V2 - Mullard 12AX7 reissue
V3 - Penta Labs 12AX7
V4 - Shuguang 12AX7C9
V5 - Sovtek 12AX7LPS

For the power, I already had JJs 6L6GC that did the job very well with those preamp tubes, but he suggested me Rubys 6L6 that I tried, but haven't noticed much difference between them and the JJs... but well, both are great so!

 

[kmanick]

Thanks!
I have a fresh set of JJ 6L6's that Bob(eurotubes) sent me specifically for my Rectoverb.
I need to try them again, I thought the amp sounded muddier with them in there than the EL34's but I may just have to adjust my EQ?
I don't have any mullards laying around but I have a couple of shuguangs and and some sovteks laying around.

 

[playdosboogies]

Guy i have dealt with for years at my local music store always told me to stay away from the mullard ri preamp tubes unless i had a low-gain amp, i.e. plexi or older nmv marshall..well one day (about a week ago) i said "f&^k it" and bought a pair of the el34's and 1 12ax7..put them in my dsl50 and WOW!! I am a firm believer in these tubes now!! I still like jj's and tungsols, but holy cow, i highly recommend the mullards..They cost more than i like to pay for tubes, but unfortunately LOL they are worth it...I have tried them in all my marshalls, but have yet to slip a pair in my last remaining mesa yet. I would if i played it more though.

 

[tunedown]

I had a similar problem with my DR and here's my recent first step at solving it:

I emailed the guys at Eurotubes and ordered the hi-gain preamp (front end) kit on Friday afternoon.

First of all. My correspondance has been with a young guy named Eddie and let me tell you how easy going and informative he's been. Very good with me and making good recommendations and helping me solve me problem. Stoked.

Second of all. My tubes arrived on Monday afternoon (less then a business day later). 2 to 3 business days, my A$$. Prompt. I like that.

Ok, the important part is that I put the kit in (replacing a quintet of GT preamp tubes) and it was night and day. The hi-gain kit really tightened up my low end and my mutes sound tight, but not "sharp". So the amp still "sings" and "sparkles", it's just not flubby in the low end anymore. The hi-gain kit DID increase my gain response in a good way too. Overall a vast improvement that I'm very happy with.

Now, I'm running mine through a worn out marshall 1960a 4x12, so some of my flubby low end may be a product of the cabinet/speakers that I'm using. But, experience tells me that pre-amp tubes are everything in a Rectifier.

Step one = complete.

Next step will be a new cab. I don't know if I should be looking for a recto 4x12 or a standard 4x12...

 

[nismofreakish]

I must say that before going with the cocktail Doug made me, I had 5 hi gain EC83S JJs called from Eurotubes. They were better than stock preamp tubes, but verrrrry not tight... at least, for me. My sound was thick, but not "sharp" as you say. Now with my new setup, my amp lives again... I was going to sell it... but not anymore!! My sound is thick AND sharp... God... just speaking of it and I wanna go play!

Bob at Eurotubes is a great guy, great service and stuff, but maybe the fact of just selling JJs was the problem... Doug at Doug's tube was great too, very fast and sells plenty of tubes. Well, I'm satisfied now.

Inch of life

 

[leblanc74]

I did purchase a Maxon OD but now that I have a MXR ten band equalizer in the loop... That is all I need, the OD is collecting dust now...try the MXR EQ...money well spent...but this is for the DR not the SR

 

[coppa]

try cranking the gain right up on the "clean" channel. then eq it(on you amp).very tight.
then boost it?. havent tryed, dont feel the need.

there is lots of gain on the clean setting if you want it not a recto sound tho. it reminds me of a marshall or something. o and if you roll off you volume it goes right back to clean. I feel like the clean channel alone on the single rec is worth the asking price. the red channel needs some work as I feel you have to fight with that pesky recto voicing. its like there is a preset eq that you cant escape on that channel.

for dynamics it helps to run the preamps low and the master high.

 

[ANIMATED SUSPENSION]

I have a Single Rec series II and oversized Recto cab. Vintage mode is what you want to work on, it's way more articulate and you work the power tubes harder. My MKIV through the same cab is way tighter with the same std Mesa tubes. It's due to the Recto power amp design I believe.

 

[kmanick]

I have a Single Rec series II and oversized Recto cab. Vintage mode is what you want to work on, it's way more articulate and you work the power tubes harder. My MKIV through the same cab is way tighter with the same std Mesa tubes. It's due to the Recto power amp design I believe.

I agree, I went back to 6L6's in my Rectoverb from Kt-77's and now My Vintage mode sounds amazing.
I'm also running an MXR 10 band EQ in the Loop and a modded SD-1 in front and it's really sounding good. Much much tighter than modern mode.

 

[SydMark11]

I had a set of the same pre-amps and Ruby's in my Duel and LOVED that tone structure. I've since sold the duel..bought a Single...should be here today..and before ALL of that ..... I ordered another set of the same pre-amps an power tubes. Nice aren't they?

 

[the.rev]

it seems as though i'm having the exact opposite problem as you!

i have a Rectoverb and am finding it a bit too tight when used with a marshall 4x12 slant cab.

i'm considering replacing it with a mesa cab, but the question is recto or stiletto size...as well as slant or straight.

i don't want to replace the amp, i think it has potential and it sounds better "earlier" cranking up a 50w amp than it would a dual rec.

pretty sure the answer is the cab, so if you want tightness, buy a marshall, me i need some more punch, so i'm after a mesa.

 

[rectonator296]

i put an boss ge7 in front of my rectoverb, unlike some who would placed it in the loop, and it produces just the right amount of tightness for me. You might wanna try it this way.

 

[drummerboy7816]

I have no idea how you guys are getting the vintage mode tigher then the modern.. Isn't the modern suppose to be voiced tighter in general?

Everytime I try to play rhythm on vintage it is much much looser and muddier then modern. Maybe it's cause of the KT77s?

 

[coppa]

try turning on the solo switch it makes a difference in eq just sligtly, its a small difference but for me it gets it sounding a lot less muddy

 

[drummerboy7816]

Thanks, I usually do have the switch on in vintage channel, still a lot looser then the modern channel though.