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NUAD: Big and Heavy: Mesa Dual Rectifier Trem-O-Verb 2x12 Combo


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Yeah, so I keep telling myself that I'm gonna switch to all heads and cabinets, and make all kinds of weird plans that end up with me needing to own 10 different cabinets for various amps, situations, etc etc etc. And then I give up and just get a combo.  Well, it happened again.  I had been thinking about picking up a real "Rectifier" for some time now. I have a Maverick, which is technically a Dual Rectifier, but it's not THAT kind of Rectifier.  This definitely is.  It's also got one thing that I really do like having in an amplifier: reverb. I just like... spring reverb, and don't like having to plug in some type of unit to an amp to get it. The typical "rectifier" doesn't have reverb, or tremolo for that matter. If you want reverb you had to go with the Rect-O-Verb, but that doesn't have the Tube Rectifier option, which is one of the big reasons for getting it. The other options were the Tremoverb, the Roadster, and the Road King.  Well, the latter two are just insane amps, with 4 channels, tons of switches, tons of tubes, and that many more things to go wrong.

So, the Tremoverb it was. It's also got the kinda unique "channel cloning" feature, which allows you to have two of the same channel, so you have two of the 4 total modes dialed in at any given time, along with reverb, and tremolo (which is fun but of questionable usefulness).  I was on the lookout for a head, but then a combo popped up locally, original owner, in great shape, with some extra goodies and the original hang tags. Perfect for an OCD idiot like me. Original casters, footswitch, manual etc. Also came with an aftermarket custom footswitch that uses the external control jacks, so that you can turn on/off reverb, tremolo, efx/ etc.  Not sure how useful that will be for how I'll be using it, but it is nice to have.  Mesa Boogie has a history of either having a minimal footswitch, or something huge with a ton of buttons.

Currently the amplifier is set up for EL34 tubes right now, and it's got a set of "7" rated Groove Tubes EL34 -R2 tubes, which are the same as the "Svetlana" brand of power tubes made by New Sensor. Preamp tubes are a mixture of the original Beijing China 12AX7 tubes, Groove Tubes 9th Gen Chinese tubes, and some Russian.  Currently it sounds really good, but loud, though it's got an overall master volume that really helps tame it.  Now I've got to decide if I want to keep it running EL34s, or switch it back to 6L6GC tubes.  Pretty much all my amps right now have EL34s, so I was looking for something different.

 

 

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Fantastic! Congratulations.

I had a Single Recto that I Ioved dearly. Wonderful amp, that I sold when the Mark V came in. But Rectos are different from the Marks (except that I sold my Recto to a Mark, a guy named Mark that is lol). Dual Rectos are very versatile amps.

The only thing I was not crazy about is the shape of the knobs, especially true for a combo where the controls are low. Very cool looking but not very readable.

Enjoy it!

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It gets loud, and thankfully it's on wheels. I don't see it moving much out of the basement, so the weight should not really be an issue.

I still need to put the wheels onto my Maverick. I picked up the hardware a few months back, but have been lazy.

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10 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

 I don't see it moving much out of the basement, so the weight should not really be an issue.

I can relate. I have a 4x12 cab in my basement that's been sitting in the same spot for over twenty five years. It's last gig was in 1988, the year I got married. Hmm. Coincidence, I'm sure.

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I was thinking about getting a nice 4x12, but most of them weigh in over 80 lbs. The mesa boogie ones are over 100.  I mean, eventually I may start trying to sell my combos and get heads, but right now, its combo city. It's easier to get a good speaker match with a combo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

My favorite Recitifier.  I've had 3.  My 3rd one is the combo and that's the one I've kept the longest.  One thing I like about the combo is that the open back seems to diffuse out more of the sub lows and keep things a little tighter in the bottom.  It's a great amp.  Beastly heavy but great.  Casters help.  All 4 modes sound great, but for me, I live in the top channel on Vintage High Gain.  That mode sold me on the first one I bought about 8 years ago.  

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I definitely like the Vintage high gain channel so far. I also love that with the channel cloning, I can have TWO vintage high gain channels. The blues channel is also quite nice.

I've got a set of 6L6GC tubes on order, as I've already got a ton of EL34 based amps. I'll probably put those tubes in the Marshall. I used to be big on JJ power tubes, but after having issues with two amps because of them making popping and crackling noises, I think I'm going to stay away for the time being, unless they are tested by a third party like TAD, Penta, Ruby, Mesa, etc.

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Rectos are made for 6L6s.  Don't get me wrong, they sound good with EL34s and it's a nice option to have.  But they're made to thump with 6L6s.  As far as current production 6L6s go, the current Mesa's are the same as the Ruby 6L6GCMSTRs and they're damn fine tubes.  Chinese made 6L6GC variant.  They shound great and are fairly rugged.  

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Also, the channel cloning function is cool.  One thing to be aware of:  When you clone the Red channel to sound like the Vintage High Gain orange, you effectively gain two presence controls.  The presence control on the red channel and the presence control on the actual orange channel both affect the Red channel at that point.  They're in different places in the power section so they handle slightly different frequencies.  I've owned 3 of these amps and they're my favorite Recto by far.  I had a killer Revision G and a nice Single Rectifier Solo 50 head, and this version is my favorite.  

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Yeah, I had heard about the presence thing from others and in the manual.  The EL34s in it are good, and the previous owner loved them, but for me, nope. I think it still has a bunch of the original preamp tubes in it, the Chinese 7025 STRs. Also some have been replaced with groove tubes, which I'm going to pull out. I'm trying to decide what preamp tubes I want to try out in V2 and V3, which are the major tubes for the overdrive sound.

I wish I had a tube tester so I could tell how much life the 7025 tubes have left in them. They still have plenty of getter flash.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Finally got around to switching the tubes out to some nice 6L6 tubes, which seems to have allowed the high end to shine a lot more.  It's a GREAT rock and hard rock amplifier. I know that many people only see the "rectifier" series as heavy metal beasts, but they really are quite versatile. The reverb is VERY nice. The tremolo is ok. It takes some getting used to, as it is a lot more subtle than a lot of the tremolo effects out there.

With the "spongy" control reducing the voltage, as well as the tube rectifiers, a really smooth sound is pretty easy to get. I also put an amperex preamp tube in V2, and an EHX in V1, and put the stock Beijing China tubes back in V3 and V4.

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