Does anyone here play a Mesa Rectifier?

[johnny q]

Recto guy here. I fell in love with it back in 1998 when a rehearsal studio owner lent me his personal amp, when I was complaining about the amp that was in the rehearsal room. I instantly knew I needed to own one! So a few months later, I bought a Recto head and 4x12 Recto cab. I gigged with the amp for about 10 years when I got a great deal on a new 2010 Rectifier "Reborn" so I sold my first Recto to some dude over on the RT forum. There are some that think the Orange channel on my first Recto head is impossible to beat, but honestly I feel the "Reborn" is a better amp in literally every single way. If I didn't recently make a conscious effort to scale down the gear I take to gigs - I would still be gigging with it.

But don't worry Marshall Heads - I still love my JCM800 2204 and 1972 Super Lead!

 

[Neptical]

Recto guy here. I fell in love with it back in 1998 when a rehearsal studio owner lent me his personal amp, when I was complaining about the amp that was in the rehearsal room. I instantly knew I needed to own one! So a few months later, I bought a Recto head and 4x12 Recto cab. I gigged with the amp for about 10 years when I got a great deal on a new 2010 Rectifier "Reborn" so I sold my first Recto to some dude over on the RT forum. There are some that think the Orange channel on my first Recto head is impossible to beat, but honestly I feel the "Reborn" is a better amp in literally every single way. If I didn't recently make a conscious effort to scale down the gear I take to gigs - I would still be gigging with it.

But don't worry Marshall Heads - I still love my JCM800 2204 and 1972 Super Lead!

Awesome! Those Reborns have been praised time and time again. Another amp I've always wanted to play! Throw that in there with Roadsters/Road Kings! These amps are just on a whole other level. Extremely versatile as well.

But surely, Marshall will always have it's place. Hard to have one, two or three flavors as they alllll do something awesome.

 

[Deftone]

How do you tell the difference between the different Mark series amps?

 

[Neptical]

How do you tell the difference between the different Mark series amps?

The Mark III? Variations can be recognized with a colored marker stripe on the back of the amp in the left corner ( black, purple, red, green, blue...and also there was an early no stripe version). There was also Simulclass vs. Non-Simulclass, GEQ or No GEQ.

I have two fully loaded ( Simulclass w/GEQ) Red and Purple stripe heads running though an old Boogie metal grill half back. Of course, both my heads match the cab in cream tolex.

 

[Neptical]

Welp, I FINALLY took the time to open up one of my Single Rectifiers to do the series mod. I'm sooo stoked to find that now running an EQ (w/ 'Verb and Delay ) in the loop is nothing short of AMAZING. Massive difference.

Getting a handle on the majority of the amps frequencies by the loop changes this amp in to a whole other beast. So clean, fat and rich with ZERO bloat. IMO, THIS is how to get a Recto to crossover in to Marshall territory. I say that as a proud owner of JCMs. In tandem with a clean boosted Boss SD-1 out front, this is where it's at! My favorite Tele through V30s.

If y'all don't know, find out. My other Rectos will be on the bench shortly.This is a treat!

 

[TheLoudness!!]

T

They sound and feel awful without a boost. It probably needs a boost more than any other app in history.

This!!!

They should include a TS or some kinda boost when you buy one lol..

 

[JSutter]

The silly thing is Mesa marketed the Rectifier as a beefed up and modded "British" amp. No one uses it that way. Modern mode changes the amp into something else and that's the sound they are known for.

 

[V-Type]

I had a single Recto solo and a Mark III Purple stripe at the same time. I gravitated more to the open raw sound of the Mark but the Recto had what I never expected which was a classic Gritty 70's sound with the gain just before noon. Very Springy an lively. I found when I used more gain it got messy and flubby but again a Drive pedal will tighten things right up.

 

[SonVolt]

The silly thing is Mesa marketed the Rectifier as a beefed up and modded "British" amp. No one uses it that way. Modern mode changes the amp into something else and that's the sound they are known for.

That's because the Recto was inspired by the Soldano SLO-100, which was a beefed up and modded "British" amp. They had to align it with something for the marketing dept to latch on to. Little did they know NuMetal was right around the corner .

 

[Neptical]

I had a single Recto solo and a Mark III Purple stripe at the same time. I gravitated more to the open raw sound of the Mark but the Recto had what I never expected which was a classic Gritty 70's sound with the gain just before noon. Very Springy an lively. I found when I used more gain it got messy and flubby but again a Drive pedal will tighten things right up.

I have couple of the Singles, RoVs and a Dual Rev G as well as two Mark IIIs ( Purple and Red stripe ). After the mod, it hangs with the Mark IIIs for tightness with even better note separation.

Yeah, Gain is never above noon. Now that I can control the freqs better with the EQ, Treble AND Mids are now off. Unreal how much better the EQ fills in those funny gaps the Recto has.

 

[rmlevasseur]

I stopped using FX loops and my tone has never been better. Unfortunately it requires 2 additional cabinets and a stereo power amp. W/D/W FTW

It's such a huge upgrade in tone & feel it's not even funny. Can have delays and reverb for days without the mush. Also stereo pitch detune (+9/-9) for that '90s EVH/Eventide thing is so much fun.

Son what effects unit are you primarily using? My old intellifex is still my workhorse for pitch shifting and reverb/delay/chorus, but I'd really like to modernize the reverb tones.

 

[Ramo]

I play dual rec and fx loop confuses the hell out of me…. So many knobs you need phd….,

I cant activate fx on/off with foot's witch … i have to go and do it on my board which makes foot switch useless…

Amp sounds good tho.

 

[SonVolt]

Son what effects unit are you primarily using? My old intellifex is still my workhorse for pitch shifting and reverb/delay/chorus, but I'd really like to modernize the reverb tones.

Eventide MicroPitch
Boss SDE-3000EVH Dual Delay
UAFX Golden Reverb

All routed in parallel through a MusicomLab Parallelizer mixer that ensures I get an analog dry path for all effects. W/D/W sounds better with dry mixed into the wet cabs IMO, so a mixer prevents phase issues.

 

[pelican]

I’ve had a triple multiwatt for a few years. Can’t say I love anything about it. Only got for nostalgia reasons such as 311 and limp bizkit and late 90’s. All the bands I like that were using them have moved on though yet don’t sound the same.