which Mesa rectifier to buy?

T

Tommy24

New member
Hello,
Let me start by saying I was an active member years ago, and credit this forum for most of the techniques and wise purchases I had learned over the years. Now, after being away from music for a while I've got the itch again, and want to redo my rig. I mainly want to downsize and play at low to medium volumes. My goal is to play for my personal enjoyment, record again, maybe jam with some friends, but I'd like to maintain a rig that I could use for small shows if I went in that direction. I have limited experience with amps, mainly because I found the tone I loved and never strayed, until now...

Anyway, was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the best rectifier for me? I like the new Mini's but seems like I can ebay a single (or even a dual) on ebay for about the same price. 50w its probably overkill for me, but does anyone have experience with the Mini's or even maybe the Recto Recording Pre-amp? Can they get the gain that the other heads can? Can you remove tubes from the single recto's and run at half power? Would probably get a 1x12 or 2x12, but the rest of the rig will be determined by what head I get. Thanks!
 
I have not tried the minis or the recording pre, but I did want to say that a friend of mine had gone through all 3 solo rectifiers (working down triple, double and solo) and what I learned from his money was that I will never need more than 50 watts. The triple was the beast that could not be tamed! Although out in the country, we took it outside and aimed it towards the fields and woods, then cranked it to eleven. Long story short, he kept the solo head the longest, a little over a year. To me those things are straight modern metal and rock. But you got me thinking and I went with him on 2 of those shopping excursions and remember being drawn to their tremo-verb. I think it was 100 watts, but it felt like you could control it more. That was over 10 years ago, but I recently noticed their recto-verb in 50 watts and wondered if it would be everything I remember the tremo-verb being. I think you're on the right track with keeping the wattage low!
 
I REALLY liked the Mini Recto, but it's a very different beast than a Dual. Great clean, great bluesy leads, and awesome heavy hard rock sounds, but it just doesn't have the same chunk as a Dual - a lot of that comes from the headroom, and the Mini is just designed to break up earlier.

Also, paradoxically, don't necessarily be afraid of the 100 watt heads. I'm a former Rectoverb owner who jumped up to a Roadster, and honestly I found it a lot easier to dial in a good "bedroom" tone on the Roadster. Part of it is probably because the Roadster can be switched down to 50 watts and the "Spongy" setting further lowers the output, but paert of it too is just that the 50-watt Rectoverb's poweramp seems noticeably brighter than the Roadster's at lower levels, and darkens only as it gets pretty driven, whereas the Roadster stays pretty dark and fat throughout. Long story short, go play a bunch of 'em at low volume and see what you like.
 
I have a 2 ch dual that I got for less than a new mini and love it. There is definitely a volume at which it has to be to run right though, so low volume may not work out for you.

If I ever decided to gig again I would probably snag the matching 2X12 cab and rock a quarter stack.
 
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