played a dual rec for the first time. thoughts inside

[charvelguy]

Boutique is a pretty broadly used term.. limited made, handwired, high end, marketed amps are the usual fit to the adjective. Amps that are unique, or duplicate or better the classic originals. Blockhead=plexi Marshall, Guytron are considered boutique, yet they are rather unique and cover so many classic sounds they can't be typecast into a simple 'it sounds like this amp' catagory. Altho, when classifying amp sounds, you do have a base of desired sounds of amps that have fallen of the face of the earth in price because they become so sought after.
I hope that confuses you further.. think of it as much like eBay.. the people tend to make up their own descrption rules and it goes in waves.

[charvelguy]

On the subject of a Recto...I could sit with one for hours, and in those hours I would really enjoy myself.
As with any amp you have to really spend some time with it to tweak it in to get it to your liking, sometimes that can play with your head.. you think to yourself...it is me that is compromising what I want to make the amp work or is it the amp that just isn't what I want? and you experiement some more. I think recto's mate up well with ebmm stuff.. they're a good match.

I just seen a newer triple recto on eBay for 1500 BIN not just but a week ago.

huh.. I didn't even see MEX3 little mention of solidbodyguitar. There's another store up north here that carries some of the higher end stuff...forget the name of it tho.. they have ads on eBay all the time. I'll have to check into it.

[Deneb]

That triple recto is a good deal, because I've been watching duals go for like 1400$ used.

I personally can't believe it, but i love it. I love that Mesa amps hold their value. Limited risk getting into that investment.

[roodyrocker]

I love Petrucci's sound. I've seen Dream Theater live a couple times and his tone is awesome live as well as in the studio. I also own three amps that I could comment on briefly. I own a Dual Rectifier and its not just for nu-metal. In fact my band does mainly 80's covers. The Mesa sounds best turned up. At low levels you would think whats the big deal with this amp? I also have a Bogner Uberschall and frankly, nothing compares to the distortion channel of this thing. Its is just plain badass! Of course its priced twice as much as a Dual Rectifier so its not exactly the most affordable amp in the world. The third amp I own is a Randall MTS. Let me tell you that when price is a big factor the MTS is the way to go. Its much cheaper than the rest and sounds very good. You can buy the pre-amp modules you want and voice it to your liking. Its definetly the most versatile. I use the XTC and Blackface modules for most of my distortion and clean sounds respectively. Bogner did a great job with the sound clips on their website however Randall's sound clips are pretty weak. The MTS sounds much better live than their sound clips so don't go by those. The MTS is also widely available on E-Bay as are the individual preamp modules so you can probably find the best deal on this amp there. Thats where I bought my Randall MTS.

Rudy

https://www.wickedrocks.com

[tseegert]

Thanks Charvelguy, I have at least a general idea now

[1trussell]

Yeah, the Randall MTS series is an awesome amp for the money. If I was in the market for another amp right now, I might pick one of those up.

As far as JP, yeah his rack is pretty extensive. I think you need to have some kind of electrical engineering degree to know all the ins and outs of the thing.

My last comment on the Mesa Dual Rec, they are awesome amps if you know how to tweak and set them. They are more versatile than many people think. However, I have not had the time to personally go through and find "my" tone with one. That being said, there are tons of people out there who love the things. If you have the means, go ahead and pick one up. Spend some time with it and see if it'll do what you want. If it just doesn't satisfy you, turn it around. There's always someone looking for a Dual Rec.

[Chad]

Those Randall MTS amps interest me. However, I could see myself getting addicted to the modules and blowing a huge amount of cash on them.

How are the cleans? Are they close to Fender cleans with the appropriate module?

[Chad]

I have a 2 channel Dual Rec. I WILL NOT play that amp without a TS9 in front of it (gain all the way down, level all the way up, tone to taste). To me that makes the difference between it being an okay amp and an awesome amp. It takes away the grainy sound and tightens the low end.

[roodyrocker]

Chad, I have the Blackface module for my cleans and it sounds great. The other modules I own are more hi-gain. I check E-Bay often for some other modules such as Top Boost (Vox). I missed one earlier today, Deluxe.
Yeah, it can get addicting with all those modules and more on the way. Hoever when I played my Randall MTS live I found myself using only two modules: Blackface for cleans and XTC for distortion.

Rudy

https://www.wickedrocks.com

[Chad]

roodyrocker: Thanks for the reply. Which MTS do you have? From what I've read, I like the RM50B. I really like how it has reverb. Plus, that should be enough power for most situations. What's up with the Egnater module amps? Can you interchange between Randal and Egnater modules/amps?

[1trussell]

Can you interchange between Randal and Egnater modules/amps?

Yes

[sworn_enemy]

I have a 2 channel Dual Rec. I WILL NOT play that amp without a TS9 in front of it (gain all the way down, level all the way up, tone to taste). To me that makes the difference between it being an okay amp and an awesome amp. It takes away the grainy sound and tightens the low end.

Exactly. I set the gain on my 3 ch. Dual @ around 12:00 and I run a Maxon OD808 in front with the level @ 3:00 and the gain @ 8:00. Sounds incredible and also lets you make use of the tube rectifier and spongy mode without getting to loose and dark.

[roodyrocker]

Chad, I have the RM100 head. Yes, the Egnater modules interchange with the Randall stuff although I don't have any of the Egnaters myself. Also, the newer Egnater modules are dual channel each and from what I understand you only get one of those channels when you put it in a Randall whereas you get both when you plug it into an Egnater. The older Egnater modules are single channel just like the Randall. And in all honesty, you pay about three times as much for the Egnater modules so I just stick with the Randalls.

Rudy

https://www.wickedrocks.com

[clifffclaven]

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

Thats exactly what I was gonna say. Wahts your price range?

[Chad]

Exactly. I set the gain on my 3 ch. Dual @ around 12:00 and I run a Maxon OD808 in front with the level @ 3:00 and the gain @ 8:00. Sounds incredible and also lets you make use of the tube rectifier and spongy mode without getting to loose and dark.

I played with my Dual Rec. a little today and she was sounding pretty good. Our settings are fairly close. Thought I go ahead and post the exact settings that I played with today:

Power: Bold
Rectifier Select: Silicon Diodes
Loop: Off
Channel Cloning: Normal
Channel: Red

Master: To taste......today I cranked it up around 11 o'clock for a few minutes, but small animals and plants started dying.
Presence: 7 o'clock(all the way down)
Bass: 12 o'clock
Middle: 1 o'clock
Treble: 12 o'clock
Gain: 12 o'clock

Ibanez TS9 modded to 808 specs by AnalogMan out front with these settings:

Drive: 7 o'clock (all the way down)
Tone: 11 o'clock
Level: between 3 o'clock and 5 o'clock.

Regarding the power and rectifier switches, interestingly, according to Eurotubes the bias changes with different switch settings. The coldest bias setting is with the Tube Rectififer and Spongy....those settings should yield the warmest sounds, but the cold biasing may negate any warmness. The warmest bias is obtained by using the Diode Rectifier and Bold settings.