desapointed with the dual rectifier/ blown by Orange amps.

~BURNY~

~BURNY~

Member
Apr 20, 2005
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I had recording sessions for a punk screamo hard-core band lately. I had the several amps/cabs. I tested it by myself, just pluging my own guitar and playing with the settings.
I tried those:
Modified JCM900 + 1960 A cab. (not convincing because of the cab. The head sounds pretty good tho)
Modified JCM800 + JCM800 cab. Sounded good. Just good.
A brand new Dual Rectifier + oversized mesa cab. Sounded... Embarrassing. I was really looking foward to test this one and I just hated it. I was hoping for a dark warm growling dirty grainy sound. It was way too clean, bassy, edgy for my taste. I spend about three hours setting it, nothing could do it. I know that
rectififers are told to be hard to set up but I think I did everything to get the shit out of this amp. This is one of the biggest desapointment ever. Maybe it was because of the 6l6 power tubes. I don't know. Many people are complaing about the dirt of the rectifiers sound. I was looking for dirt and I couldn't find it. Strange.
The last setup was:
Orange Rockerverb 50 + my own cheap sovtek cab (I dig this cab so much btw). This was the shit. Huge grainy sound with plenty of warmth and bite. Everything that I was expecting from the Mesa. :hypno: Strange is it? I also tried to use the Orange Head with the Mesa cab... Crap. :ill: . My sovtek cab sounds better (in my opinion).
In the end I used the Orange/Sovtek combination + the JCM800 combination.
The mics I used were a pair of sm57+ a pair of MD421 (grey).
I'll post some clips soon. Now editing and mixing. My next amp will be an Orange amp with no doubt at all. How metal is that? Oh well... Someone told me once that those are "gay amps". Call me gay. I think Orange owns. Just my taste anyway. Or maybe rectifiers are overrated (priced).
 
I would have never even thought to try Orange amps. I just figured they didn't really have a "metal" gain to them. They look stupid, but hey...if it sounds good that's all that matters. Post a clip of it if you get a chance, I'm curious to hear it now.
 
Actually, since I recently purchased a Mesa Boogie myself as you must have seen in a previous thread, I spent the afternoon with it and a TS9DX. Took me less than 2 minutes to find THE sound, and the rest of the afternoon rejoicing, playing and thinking this is best amp I have ever heard... Ever... Now I wish I could push it louder but walls are already shaking... :) So maybe yours had a problem, don't know...
 
Well, tbh I think it just wasn't what I expected. I haven't tried with an overdrive pedal though. Maybe it had some thickness.
As I said before, it was mint, so I suppose that it was working ok, and a friend o mine tested the tubes with a military tube tester device. All working.
To make things clear, my post is not intended to bash mesa boogie in any way. More a matter of taste I guess. I dind't even like the cab while many people like it a lot, so it's probably just me. Glad you enjoy yours btw. (Be careful with you greenbacks if you push the volume up, they are quite fragile. )
 
Bouhouhou, but I want to push it, lol !!! :) Anyway I can't for the moment, and I hope there's no need to push it louder than an Airbus to have a great sound tracking it. Anyway I can't wait to hear your clip as well. Cheers !
 
Cookie Cutter Recipe: PRS Guitar + Dual Recto + Gay Haircut = Current Rocker.

I am not a fan of Mesa. I think your experience with the Recto is not uncommon. MANY people feel that way. I don't even bother with Mesa stuff anymore. When I used to record direct I tried the Recto Recording Pre as a solution. What an awul, awful mess that thing was. The low end was SO loose and flabby/farty I was in a state of shock - how could this $999 piece of kit sound THIS shit? I thought I had a lemon but apparently that is how they are. To make matters worse, the sound of their supposed "5 years in the making" emulated direct outputs were completely trumped by a little $30 Behringer Ultra G. Sad.
 
The Recto's can take a little while to dial in if you're not used to them. My bandmate was playing thorugh an old Recto in GC not long ago. He'd been jamming away in the loud room for about 30 minutes, and when I came in, he said..."This thing sounds like shit. It's nothing like the one you have." So, I went over, flipped a few switches, turn the knobs a little, and in about 30 seconds, had him playing with a tone that he loved. Of course, I owen a '94 Dual Reco ("Blackface") that I like to use as my primary amp, so I've spent a considerable amount of time with them. I don't like the 3 channel models as much as the earlier models, but you can get great sounds out them. If you're cranking knobs on it, then you'll probably sound like shit. Mesa EQ's aren't designed that way. When I'm playing heavy, my EQ on the channel on my Recto is set something like:

Treble: 11 o'clock
Mids: 9 o'clock
Bass: 11 o'clock
Presence: 11 o'clock
Gain: 12 o'clock - 1 o'clock
Volume: 10 o'clock or so

Those aren't exact spots...just approximates out of memory. No overdrives pedals (only for solo boosts), and I use EMG 81's. It's one of the tightest, heaviest sounds I've ever played with. I also use the amp on Bold, Silicone Diodes, and on the Modern mode. Notice that the highest I've got any knob turned is the Gain, and it's only around 12 o'clock or a little more. If you don't like it, maybe it's not for you. Not every amp will suit every player.
 
I was aware about the eq behaviour, no problem, there was too much basses at 10 o'clock already, I didn't manage to krank it. Gain was far enough at 10 o'clock too (my guitar's pickups are quite hot). I tried it with master volume from 10 o'clock to the maximum and didn't notice very obvious change the way I expected. It's just that I like to hear the amp growling. You know what I mean? Grrrrrrrrrr, not Krrrrrrrrr... I just could not do it whatever setting I was using. Then came the Orange Rockerverb 50 with its silly design but that's another story (just forgot to mention its gorgeous clean channel).
 
EtherForBreakfast said:
Cookie Cutter Recipe: PRS Guitar + Dual Recto + Gay Haircut = Current Rocker.

I am not a fan of Mesa. I think your experience with the Recto is not uncommon. MANY people feel that way. I don't even bother with Mesa stuff anymore.
Click to expand...
and yet many of your favorite albums that you praise the guitar tone on were done with recifiers.... strange that, eh? :hypno:
 
In order to get the best out of a Recto, you really have to turn it up some. You don't have to crank it per se, but you need to get that volume up to about 10 o'clock to really hear what it's capable of. If you don't do that, then it will sound more muffled, less powerful, etc.
 
Ok... I've been reluctant to post this for several reasons. Unfortunately, I haven't recorded my own tests that were way more significant than this. So please read this carefully:

First of all: this is not metal, this is more punk related (did I say retarded? :dopey: ), this is a bite from a very rough mix.
The playing isn't tight at all (still a young band) and I have a lot of editing on progress. Don't expect low tunings and double palm mute (as I did and enjoyed so much during my own test), nor scooped mids or complex riffing. The bass guitar is more upfront than what you usually hear in a metal mix. This is made on purpose. Still I think it sounds heavy in its own way and I think (hope) you can figure how it could sound in a metal context.
I muted the JCM8000's tracks. What you hear is only the orange head (on both sides) and my sovtek cab trough a shure sm57 (I muted the 421 aswell to avoïd phase issues still unsolved at the moment). No eq on guitars except a low shelved -3db @150 hz. Guitars are Gibson SG and Les Paul. Everything here is home recorded, no triggered drums, just acoustic sounds.
If you wanna make a real world metal test, I recommend you to try those Rockerverb amp series (not AD or Crush series) with your guitar and an apropriate cab (makes a world difference as you already know). It can sound fu##ing heavy, I swear.
So here it is. Feel free to comment and keep in my mind what I am saying.
http://rapidshare.de/files/3757546/roughmix1.mp3.html
 
James Murphy said:
and yet many of your favorite albums that you praise the guitar tone on were done with recifiers.... strange that, eh? :hypno:
Click to expand...

Well. I would not go quite THAT far, Mr. Murphy. =)

I think my fave Mesa is the MKIV. I really like those amps - they take an insane amount of tweaking, but the new L.O.G. has some ferociously delicious guitar tone on it. I have played many a recto, dual and trip, 2ch and 3ch, early production and current - they are just not my cup of tea. I am not saying they are bad, but that recto recording pre was the single most disappointing piece of kit I have ever owned. My point was, most of the full blown poser bands (too many to name) are PRS/Boogie. It's as if they watched MTV or read a Guitar World mag and decided they must use PRS and Boogie.

I think what it comes down to is that I'm a Marshall guy... always have been. Not to say I will never own a MKIV head, but for now I'll stick with my JCM's.
 
Razorjack said:
If you like Orange, you will LOVE Matamp. The best heavy rhythm sound I've ever heard came out of a 50watt Matamp, just pure jaw-dropping tone.
Click to expand...
Katatonia has those with there logo etched into the faceplate of the amps.....it looked killer....I never heard the amp's distortion tho.
 
While I still think Rectifiers can sound absoultely awesome live and in the studio, they've been the standard for almost 15 yearws (I believe they first came out in 91...). They completely revolutionized modern metal, much in the same way the Mark IIc+ did in the early 80's. Its time for a change, they still sound great, but its been done to death. Thats one of the main reasons people are branching out nowadays. You can only use the same amp so much before it starts to sound stale.
 
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