played a dual rec for the first time. thoughts inside

[Thor Von Clemson]

I played a DR with my new EBMM luke and here are my thoughts.

First off, I played it through a Mesa 2x12. Very loud it was.

2) I loved the clean channel... sounded perfect for me.

3) The distortion was very impressive with a great balance of lows, mids, and highs, however the low end was very loose. If that could be somehow tightened up it would be perfect for me. The mids were exactly what I am looking for, and among the looseness of the lows I could sort of hear what I am looking for.

4) It is a somewhat noisy amp, however i am sure that is easily fixed with a good noisegate.

5) I do not need the orange channel. A good modern high gain channel and clean are all I need. Could I use that to my advantage to possibly save some money?

Some Mesa'ers have suggested the F100 combo to help tighten up the low while still maintaining the things I like. Mesa seems to push the F-Series amps as more of a classic rock amp.

Anyone know of an amp that can take off where the DR leaves off?

[Deneb]

You may be able to find a dual or triple rec, old 2 channel on eBay. Mesa holds their value pretty good, so I wouldn't be upset by paying full price again for mine.

I bought mine when a triple was 1699 for a 3 channel, I think they are 1799 or 1899 now.

I love the clean on mine, and the drive is great. I do have the same complaint as you though, the low end seems a little loose, but you can eq this out of it.

It is semi noisey, but I've never had trouble with it at a club, and never really "needed" a noise gate. The only bitch noise I've had is during channel switching. If you're playing at low volume (come on, a 150 watt tube head isn't for bedroom volume) you can hear the channels change, and there is a pop the first time you cycle through the channels. Some have this more than others. It's only during the 1st run through though. Perfectly normal, it's just the caps filling up and discharging.

There are some people who will say go for some version fo the 5150, or go for a Carvin MTS. Others will tell you Bogner or Engl. Just test out some amps and see what does it best for you. Also try it through a 4x12. I enjoy mine through a 4x12 Marshall JCM900 cab. For some reason, the Mesa cabs seem way to dark for my liking.

[Thor Von Clemson]

deneb- how do you dial out the tone without changing it too much? Like I said I really liked the mids and treble and the bass was there... it was just so loose ya know? If the bass on the red channel could be tightened up a bit, that would be my dream amp..

[1trussell]

Well, I've never been a fan of Mesas. I always thought they were a little too bottom heavy and a bit too "nu-metal" for my tastes. That being said, I think John Petrucci has some of the best tone I've ever heard and he uses a Mesa. So it just goes to show that tweaking an amp can make a huge difference. Spend some time with it, or any amp for that reason and see if you can dial in exactly what you want. If not, don't spend the $.

[Thor Von Clemson]

1trussel.. see thats the problem is no one around here has anything besides mesa's and marshalls. I know I don't like marshalls and I have already played the mesa that I am interested in. I live in the northwest suburbs of minnesota and while there are some stores 3-4 hours north of here that have framus and the like, I am pretty limited here. No one stocks high end tube amps unless they special order them or something. Besides the Framus stuff is a little too expensive. $1800 is the most I want to spend for a new amp which would get me a Powerball. Again, problem with that is no one around here carries them.


Some I would like to try out are the Randall MTS series, Engl Powerball/Fireball, PV JSX, and a few others. I'd give my left nut to try out a Fireball to see what it can do lol..



BTW, doesn't JP use a Road King and several different gadgets to get his tone, or is it mostly coming from the Road King and his fingers?

[toejam]

Some Mesa'ers have suggested the F100 combo to help tighten up the low while still maintaining the things I like. Mesa seems to push the F-Series amps as more of a classic rock amp.

Anyone know of an amp that can take off where the DR leaves off?

The F Series are great amps. I had an F-30 combo for awhile and thought it did a great job for modern metal (it's a little warmer with the Contour off, but with it on it can give a slightly scooped sound while boosting the bass and treble). I didn't even feel a need to have the gain cranked either. And the clean channel is great as well, especially with the gain control being a pull-bright pot. And a separate reverb for each channel was also a plus.

[MEX3]

Dont know if your interested in them but solid body guitar in mounds view carries Soldano and Willies in St. Paul carries Bogner.

[Thor Von Clemson]

MEX3... you from around here?


Bogner is a little out of my price range I think.

[siggy14]

Well, I've never been a fan of Mesas. I always thought they were a little too bottom heavy and a bit too "nu-metal" for my tastes. That being said, I think John Petrucci has some of the best tone I've ever heard and he uses a Mesa. So it just goes to show that tweaking an amp can make a huge difference. Spend some time with it, or any amp for that reason and see if you can dial in exactly what you want. If not, don't spend the $.

There are so many tones in a Rec besides that nu metal tone, you just have to change the voicings and tweak. They are great amps but like most say the bottem end is a bit to loose for me too, but out of every amp i have ever played they have the deepest bottem end out there.

Right now i am playing a uber because it is tighter, but it doesnt have as much bottem end as a mesa rec, but that is fine for me as i do not play to much heavy metal anymore.

[charvelguy]

Did you try Solidbody guitar? http://solidbodyguitar.com/
They're in Mounds View. ..just off hwy 10. Not far from where I live.
They carry alot of 'boutique' type amps; alot of Soldano, some Cornfords, Groove Tube.. and a bunch of other high end amps.. they have a great collection of vintage gear too.. you cannot go wrong in just walking in and taking a look about...maybe even taking a hard to find amp for a spin.

[tseegert]

Thor, http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...l%3Den%26lr%3D

That link is a pic of JP's rig... so, I would assume theres a bit of tone shaping going on

What exactly is a "boutique" amp?

[GodOfRhythm]

JP uses so much different stuff, it's mindboggling. REALLY complex toneshaping going on with him and his playing/tone!

Best tone of his was Images & Words, imho. So slick, tight, hard but still smooth. It was the IIC+ with toneshaping and extra overdrives / mixing with other amps for the leadsounds.

But yes his livesound nowadays is nothing short of ASTONISHING! Tone to the wall, seriously. It's the combo of the RK, Technique, style & fingers and a shitload of processors, effectsunits.

[Thor Von Clemson]

Tom-I stopped in there once for a few minutes. Seemed like a cool place with lots of vintage stuff.

[Deneb]

Different people will tell you different ways to eq your recto. Some people are all like, drop all of the presence and treble all of the way off. To me that sounds like ass.

Almost all of my parameters hover in the noon time setting. That's basically how I dialed it in, put everything in noon, and went from there.

Bass is a little higher than noon, mid is just a hair lower, treble is just a bit higher, presence maybe like 1 oclock. Gain at 1-130.

Also, on the back there is a setting, tube rectifiers or silicon diodes. It will tighten it up some if you go to silicon diodes. That's how I used to play mine.

[tseegert]

Grainy, very very grainy and gainy. The heavier the music my band plays, the granier I like it. Chunk seems to take away from definition, you lose tight bottom first.

I agree about JP's tone, he's the main reason I sprung for a Vetta, (which still hasnt arrived.. damnit) to be able to have the effects available to get that nice smooth, tight (yet, no where near over-processed) distorted sound.