Mesa Boogie Rectifier Recording Preamp

[Axewielder]

Does anybody have any experience with these? I recently bought one used, and am disappointed so far. I am playing a WR1 with one through a Mesa Boogie 20/20 EL-84 amp and two 1x12 Mesa Boogie Thiele closed back cabs (C90 Black Shadows). It sounds nothing like the 50W Rectoverbs that I am familiar with. There is no gain to speak of in vintage lead mode, the gain dimed sounds like the gain at 11:00 on the Rectoverb. When I switch to Modern, instead of a kick in the face, it sounds even thinner. Very brittle. I am playing at fairly decent volume levels. The tubes are the factory original, and don't sound old to me (no crackling sounds at all). WTF? Where's the tone?

[Cygnus X1]

Try recording with it.
Sounds odd, but sometimes recording setups sound awful until you actually run it through the mix, and then play it back. I had to get used to it after I couldn't get a good sound on tape, even though everything sounded great otherwise. Turns out it was just way too hot, even with low recording levels.
Too much in the signal to get down on tape (or hard drive)...

Other than that, play with the tubes, see if you have something in there that doesn't fit what you are after. That's the beauty of tubes, you can swap them for a wide range of drive/volume/tone.

[Axewielder]

I am planning on doing some recording with it, but I am a mic'ed cab kind of guy.

I should mention that I am using the "live" outputs with the amp and not the "recording" outputs.

I have no problem swapping out tubes, if that is the correct diagnosis of the brittleness.

[slayer]

I think I see what your problem is bro!! It is only 20 watts per side and it is running EL-84 power tubes. I think the wattage is less a factor than the EL-84`s, those are vintage sounding tubes, even less gain in my experience thna 5881`s and they are weak sounding to me. Maybe some others can correct me, but that is my experince with those tubes.

Jack

[Axewielder]

I think I see what your problem is bro!! It is only 20 watts per side and it is running EL-84 power tubes. I think the wattage is less a factor than the EL-84`s, those are vintage sounding tubes, even less gain in my experience thna 5881`s and they are weak sounding to me. Maybe some others can correct me, but that is my experince with those tubes.

Jack

I've been reading up on the EL84's today, and I think you may be onto something. I guess the EL84 is like a lower output version of the EL34, and nowhere near as aggressive sounding as EL34's or 6L6's. If that's my problem, then that preamp really is not a good mate for that power amp. I did read that Groove Tubes have a version of the EL84 that provides for better distortion at lower volumes, I need to look into that as an option I guess.

[xbolt]

EL84 are a push type power tube that has a different (Vox type) sounding clip that EL34/6L6 which are push/pull which break up differently. This power amp clip is only part of the equation...albeit a big one.

The preamp will further add to the sound overdrive and colour.
For what you are looking for, I believe you may want to try a different power amp. The preamp should sound better with a EL34/6L6 driven power amp...and especially good for direct recording

[Infernal Death]

EL84 are a push type power tube that has a different (Vox type) sounding clip that EL34/6L6 which are push/pull which break up differently. This power amp clip is only part of the equation...albeit a big one.

Sorry but that's not true. Push/pull or single-ended has nothing to do with the tube itself. You can also run 2 EL84 in a push/pull configuration.
Refer here:

http://www.aikenamps.com/SingleEnded.htm

Flo