Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

I've never been fond enough of the rectos to want to own one. I did play arounnd with an early 2 channel dual recto that was kinda cool but I ended up sounding like someone other than me when I played it. I didn't have enough time needed to tweak it. I'd like to pick up a 50 watt single just to dick around with it..

[sworn_enemy]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

[ QUOTE ]
I love my Dual Rec, but lately I've been thinking about trying some different tubes and trying it with a Marshall cabinet instead of the Mesa cabinet...my friends in Hopesfall are switching to Marshall cabinets, and I think it might get rid of some of that harshness that Mesas sometimes have.

[/ QUOTE ]

Honestly I think my 1960a is more harsh than the recto traditional cab I tried. I haven't played them back to back so I couldn't say for certain.

[sworn_enemy]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

[ QUOTE ]
I just got a dual recto rackmount and love it. Anyone want to share any settings?

[/ QUOTE ]

Here are the settings I was using this morning jamming out on some Lamb of God riffs. Got it somewhat close to their Ashes of the Wake tone.

Channel 2 / vintage mode/ bold / diode / loop bypassed
Pres - 1:30
Master - 9:00
Gain - 3:00
Bass - 11:30
Mid - 1:30
Treb - 2:00

MXR-ZW as a clean boost(output-2:30,tone-10:30,gain-0)

Stock LP Standard / Marshall 1960a

[Endrik]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

I like to use the modern mode with boogie oversize straight cabs w/ V30s.

[khabibissell]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

If you guys find the treble freqs piercing when using the V30 cabs, turn the treble/presence to 0 (or very low). The speakers provide enough treble themselves, To my ears anyway.

Custom 90 equipped cabs sound very different. More warm and round, to me anyway.

[Boxcar Willie 84]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

Yeah I dunno. I think I need to mess with my settings some. I just haven't had time to do anything with it, and I can't really get to the practice space right now unless someone takes me. I will probably try out Hopesfall's when they get theirs.

[LRGman]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

Yea i hate prescence anyway-never used any on my marshalls for gain and justs a little on the triple maybe 9-10 o'clock

[TommyD]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

> A close friend has a 3 channel Dual,but said something was missing. He found out that Mesa biases the amps cold on purpose,and replaced the stock tubes with much "hotter" JJ's,and did some kind of mod on the inside of the head,that he claims makes all the difference in the world. Here is the link to exactly what he did,he has some other cool stuff on his site.


http://home.mchsi.com/~dualrecto/mesabias.htm


> I have no reason to doubt that this works,if you can pull it off. He is a Yngwie-type talent when it comes to electronics,which is why he does Defense Dept contract work for Rockwell-Collins. Tommy D,.

[Deneb]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

I spoke to a person, who used to engineer for Mesa Boogie, and is an amp repair person. He is also the head of electronics for Penn State Main Campus. He is by far, one of the most intellegent people I know.

That said, I mentioned this to him. He said the "values" on Mesa tubes, are not exactly "close". Meaning, how Mesa biases their amps, then says use their tubes, the values actually aren't as close as you would think.

I mentioned about Dougstubes or whatever the site is, that meantions this. He said that while it is true the tubes run colder, it makes no sense to buy an amp, and use it in a way it is not intended for "IE, taking the fucking thing, putting it in EL34 Bias mode, and putting 6L6s in it".

He said, that tube salesmen are going to be the ones to sell you on this. While it is not really not true, it's not needed. As long as your tubes are quiet, and sounds good, no sense in replacing them.

He also said that, changing the internal reworking of the amplifier, makes it operate, different than it was designed for.

Basically, you can do this, and it may not hurt it, or harm it, but there's really no reason to, since the amp works fine, when used the way it was designed, with whatever tubes you put in it.

Oh, and 6L6s run colder than EL34s.

I didn't type his things out verbatim, because I don't recall them 100%, but I'll be seeing him soon, since he's replacing the filter caps in my friends Mesa Mark II C. I'll let you know after I talk to him.

[Deneb]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

It was Eurotubes, not dougs tubes. Sorry.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

Well, many dealer mechanics aren't hip to hotrodding cars either, but, there is a big following for that pastime. And the people that do it, feel they are improving upon the vehicle. So, I guess there's a logic in doing that sort of thing.

I modify many things I own, eith to improve them, or make them more suitable to my neeeds.

We used to get a laugh on my friends dad, an electronic engineer from the old school. He could never understand why we would want to make a beautiful tube amp "distort" and always try to thwart my friends efforts to bastardize his plexi into crunchdom.

He spent his life try to keep tube amps from distorting, and we begged for it!!!

[Shawn Lutz]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

I agree with the general concept that if a modification improves the sound to your ears and your happy with it that is all that matters... regardless of the original intent in the design phase. Changing a value of a resistor here or there to suit you tone preferences is no big deal, not like its gonna go up in smoke [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

[siggy14]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

[ QUOTE ]
I spoke to a person, who used to engineer for Mesa Boogie, and is an amp repair person. He is also the head of electronics for Penn State Main Campus. He is by far, one of the most intellegent people I know.

That said, I mentioned this to him. He said the "values" on Mesa tubes, are not exactly "close". Meaning, how Mesa biases their amps, then says use their tubes, the values actually aren't as close as you would think.

I mentioned about Dougstubes or whatever the site is, that meantions this. He said that while it is true the tubes run colder, it makes no sense to buy an amp, and use it in a way it is not intended for "IE, taking the fucking thing, putting it in EL34 Bias mode, and putting 6L6s in it".

He said, that tube salesmen are going to be the ones to sell you on this. While it is not really not true, it's not needed. As long as your tubes are quiet, and sounds good, no sense in replacing them.

He also said that, changing the internal reworking of the amplifier, makes it operate, different than it was designed for.

Basically, you can do this, and it may not hurt it, or harm it, but there's really no reason to, since the amp works fine, when used the way it was designed, with whatever tubes you put in it.

Oh, and 6L6s run colder than EL34s.

I didn't type his things out verbatim, because I don't recall them 100%, but I'll be seeing him soon, since he's replacing the filter caps in my friends Mesa Mark II C. I'll let you know after I talk to him.

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is Randall smith designed the amp to basically be a preamp distortion monster, as with most of his amps he makes the power section very clear and with plenty of headroom so it does not distort. The side effects are a flubbier bottom end and no output tube distortion. To truly make the recto's more versitile it would be more suited to have a bias mode done so if i do want to use very little preamp gain i can crank it and get that tube distortion.

The one reason the Uber sounds tighter then a mesa rec is the fact that it has an adjustible bias and is biased what it is suppose to be. I have thought about getting an uber for this reason, playing the newest version it does have crushing distortion and is sounding better, the only downside is it is just not verstile enough for me.

So my plans are after i catch up and get rid of some more equiptment i am gonna get a used dual 3 channel cheap by watcing Ebay and then have it professionly modded with an adujustible bias.

My second option is getting a little more weird, but i am gonna make an iso cab so i can really up the volume on a dual, then have the line out going to a carvin power amp with adjustible bias to see how much it would improve the tone.

[Cleveland Metal]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

Flubby bottom end? I think you hit upon my dislike for MESAs.

Interesting about the reasoning behind the cold biasing of the MESA power amp section.

I also use preamp distortion and also want a clean, yet tube driven tube power amp. But, use the VHT2150 to do so. So, I guess that gets me past the iffy power amp section setup. And those KT88s aren't gonna distort too easy, hehe...

[siggy14]

Re: Confessions of a former Recto hater.....

[ QUOTE ]
Flubby bottom end? I think you hit upon my dislike for MESAs.

Interesting about the reasoning behind the cold biasing of the MESA power amp section.

I also use preamp distortion and also want a clean, yet tube driven tube power amp. But, use the VHT2150 to do so. So, I guess that gets me past the iffy power amp section setup. And those KT88s aren't gonna distort too easy, hehe...

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah but you can also clear up some of that flubby bottom, actual most of it also by using a OD in front of the mesa, temp fix if you are on a tight budget.