Rectifier??

[King Elvis]

Can someone explain to me what a rectifier is or what the word means??

Thanx
Mike

 

[scottboyher]

I think it lets you get a hotter sound at a lower volume without drop outs and other ill sounds.. I think it is used mostly in the recording world..... Remember.. I think.

 

[mekkab]

To make it short: a rectifier is what takes an AC and makes it DC. Hunh?


Check it- so you have an AC wave- looks like a sine wave, it goes up, maxes out, then goes down, and maxes out on the negative side-

basically going positive to negative.
A rectifier diode will totally cut out the negative hump of that sine wave.

So what you would see would be the first hump that goes up, maxes out and comes down, but instead of the second hump (keesp going down, maxes neg, and then comes back up) you just get zero. Then the positive repeats again.

If you make a swanky little bridge of rectifiers, you can flip the negative voltage to positive- so instead of getting a positive hump and a flat line, you get two positive humps.

Then you can add a capacitor to act as a voltage buffer, and instead of humps you almost get a straight line at your maximum voltage level.


Now this is all well and good if you are trying to build some electronics at radio shack, but is that what you want to know?!

 

[King Elvis]

I was just wondering because I see this term in relation to guitar amps a lot and I was wondering what it was.

 

[Kramer]

Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier
http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_I...riple_Recto_Closeup/triple_recto_closeup.html

 

[GONZO-X]

i fail to see how posting a picture of an amplifier answers the question......

on the other hand, that's a great looking head, eh?

 

[mekkab]

okay, I understand the "triple" part of its name- it has three channels you can mix and mess with, but the "Rectifier" part?


From the product main page:

1989 was the fork in the road here
at Mesa/Boogie. It was the year we embarked on a mission to Rectify
high gain guitar and reintroduce MESA Engineering to the world.

(after that, they start talking about hott lixx and smokin' amps... blah blah blah)


Hmmmm, rectify, reintroduce...
are they using the word "rectify" to mean "correct a problem with high gain guitar amps, because OBVIOUSLY the world is inferior to MESA BOOGIE?", or to mean "resurrect the sorry-ass state of high gain guitar?" So is "RECTIFIER" just a fancy marketing term for that line of amps? Like "Accord" or "Civic" is for Hondas?

I'd love it for someone to clue me in.

 

[DonF]

Maybe this will shed a little light on the subject: http://acruhl.freeshell.org/mga/main/rectifiers.html

 

[mekkab]

Good link, Don!

Some more info from http://www.rru.com/~meo/Guitar/Amps/Kalamazoo/Mods/ssrect.html


Why convert to a solid state rectifier? There are several potential (pun intended) reasons. First off, you will get higher voltages and very little ``sag'', resulting in a punchier, cleaner sound until the volume is really cranked. Additionally, solid state diodes will probably outlast everything else in your amp. They run far cooler than tube rectifiers, and don't pull any heater current, so your amp wil run quite a bit cooler.

If you like the way your amp starts distorting now, and the volume level this happens at, you may not want to do this conversion. Of course, you can always convert back by simply removing the diodes and replacing the rectifier tube! If you do, leave the standby switch in; it's still a good idea.

 

[Jblount]

Not to mention that your amp will weigh less!

 

[Outlaws]

All I can say is that when I dig into my strings on my SuperReverb it blows away a Twin. I Also have a BluesJr. I love it, but the only one that has a Tube Rectifier is the SuperReverb. I can't explain it, I don't think it is possible, but it acts as allmost a volume compressor........but its not a compressor by anymeans.

I think it is most felt is those nice open rythym chords. Everything just seems to blend better.