I finally figured out why I can't get along with a Mesa Recto

hellzington said:
Partially agree. You can absolutely get great sounds out of a Recto plugged straight in. With the way I described setting up my Recto Rev F above, I don't need any boosts. Maybe with a Rev G or something, you might. That said, I am 100% aware that boosting a Recto is one of the "THE SOUND" sounds from this amp. It's absolutely an awesome way to use your Recto. But I don't agree that "Recto plugged straight in = flubby, awful." That's only true if you don't know what you're doing and don't know how to set it up (or maybe if you have a Rev G or 3-channel 2000's Recto).
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Fair point.

It doesn't have to sound flubby and awful necessarily. I should amend my statement to say that I don't really think a Recto can naturally do anything like insane 5150-style gain levels without turning into a flubby mess. You can dial a Recto in to not be flubby and also sound great, and big and mean as hell, but it's not going to be the typical "searing high gain" sound some people imagine modern metal guitar to be without some help.
 
VESmedic said:
Dude exactly this. Older Marshalls do this, none of the newer high gain amps do this. It’s very hard to explain without being in the room to show you what I’m talking about, but it is much more alive. Yes high gain is compressed and blah blah, but it’s not the same. Newer high gain amps definitely have more going on and are very… interesting sounding for lack of a better term. Like the Herbert is very complex sounding and it’s amazing don’t get me wrong. But the older amps just have a lot less going on with them, which makes them more dynamic in a track. I was pretty blown away when comparing, and that was a huge thing that stuck out.
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Exactly. I still find my stock 1979 JMP2203 boosted with my Klon a pretty tough amp to beat. I had it modded originally, but had it put back to stock and prefer it that way with my Klon so much more

I honestly always like your Rev F clips by far best vs the others, but maybe just my taste. I kinda had a similar experience to you with my Triple Rev F/C. I’m a novice with recording, but my friend knows his stuff, so we used it for his re-amp and of all my amps for high gain we both had that Triple and Naylor as our 2 overall favorites. I was surprised how well it sat in the mix. I was worried that since it’s dark and so fat sounding it might not work well, but was great. Never came off muddy, tubby or not cutting and no boosts were used. His music was more punk-ish for what it’s worth, but still
 
That flubbiness is the issue with most rectos, even multi-watts which I really like. A boost in front and EQ in the loop and WOW! It is a game changer for them. What's nice then is if you want a little sag or looseness you can go back to it. I really like the multi-watts, from high gain to mid to low gain to clean they are more versatile than folks give them credit for.
 
TheGreatGreen said:
Fair point.

It doesn't have to sound flubby and awful necessarily. I should amend my statement to say that I don't really think a Recto can naturally do anything like insane 5150-style gain levels without turning into a flubby mess. You can dial a Recto in to not be flubby and also sound great, and big and mean as hell, but it's not going to be the typical "searing high gain" sound some people imagine modern metal guitar to be without some help.
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Totally with you 100%. I think a lot of people buy a Recto because they want super-chugga modern djent-type sounds and that just isn't really what the Recto is built for (buy a 5150 for that).

You have to remember Rectos were built for hair metal! They were developed in the early '90s when hair metal bloat was at it's peak, so that's the type of sound for which they were originally envisioned. Once the musical tides turned in 1991-1992, Mesa re-voiced the amp to be darker and moodier, which made it catch on with the hard rock acts of the early '90s (Alice in Chains, Candlebox, Bush, etc.) My point is to say, the amp was never built for chugga-chugga, even though that's what a lot of people do today. That's where the "you must boost your Mesa" mentality came from: chugga-chugga people trying to make a Mesa do something new; and that's fine, but you can get great late '80s and early '90s sounds simply by plugging into the front and knowing what you're doing with the weird-ass controls.
 
I gotta try an eq in the loop again on my recto, but I don’t think I’ll love it. I’ve wasted days trying to do that and make it work ( for me), but the rectos loop, Atleast on the rev F’s like mine, just isn’t that great for doing that kind of thing. It just always looses punch to me for whatever reason, just never comes out the same. Also we’ve pointed out that the issue with the recto ( not really an issue, but you get what I’m saying) isn’t in the post section of the amp, it’s in the front end. But at the same time, when they start messing with that ( cough cough badlander cough) it ruins everything about the amp that makes it special to me.


The Herbert on the other hand, that’s a great secret. Parametric eq in the loop doing the midcut on the EQ in the loop instead of using the amps midcut, is quite amazing. Do a similar cut as the Herbert’s midcut ( 400hz, Q of 1.4 I believe is what it is) and that’s…. Flat out amazing. Makes the midcut on the amp sound fake.
 
I really like my 3 channel recto from 2004 :censored:

The loop sucks and I always leave it hard-bypassed and its damn loud as hell, but other than that its basically the perfect sound for me. I can totally get how some people hate them, they really have a unique sound and feel. Personally I love how huge they sound, in the room they sound like a natural disaster. Its super thick and chunky with a tubescreamer, but I like how can use a super tight boost like a tc integrated preamp and have a very fast and sharp attack but it doesn't sound thin, palm mutes still ring out with a massive bass resonation. Depending on how its set up and what kind of boost (if any) is being used, they can be very saturated or very dry and percussive. I also only use modern mode, for what its worth.
 
jasonP said:
Ive owned a couple different rectifiers both 2 and 3 channel, not the mulitwatt or Badlander. For me they were always fizzy in the top end and loose, tubby low end with a dark overtone that for me I couldn’t dial out. The recorded tones some people get are in my opinion amazing and sound crazy good. I never figured them out.
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Prolly soviet glass and classic Mesa overbias/low idle.
 
That's the thing with Mesas, the EQ is such a different 'reactive' part of the circuit vs a Marshall. Each knob affects the other. Going 'minimalistic' with the EQ can work wonders.
More than any other amp I own, as I turn my Triple up it needs to be darkened in a hurry...gets brighter faster than even a Marshall.
 
Never understood the fuzz comments about the recto either… it’s one of the least fizzy amps I own, absolutely no fizz the way I mic or use it
 
VESmedic said:
Never understood the fuzz comments about the recto either… it’s one of the least fizzy amps I own, absolutely no fizz the way I mic or use it
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hellzington said:
It's people who don't know how to setup, EQ, and use them properly
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As a resident recto hater, I can confirm you guys are right. Fizz is not gonna happen as long as youre at a reasonable volume.

I have a feeling this experience is because people are dialing the gain up until the palm mute sounds right (like you would do on a marshall style amp) and it simply doesn't work like that with mesa stuff.

I still don't like rectos, but you guys are right, lol.
 
fearhk213 said:
I haven't played a recto in years, although I used to gig one in a couple of different bands. It was an older 2 channel revision G that I bought back in '98 or something. They can get pretty flabby in the lows when you start pushing the bass and gain, but this does sound a bit more blown out in this clip.

A couple of things I learned with that amp is it LOVES EMG 81's. I'm a passive guy and still think the 81 was the pickup to beat with that amp when I had it. Also, you can actually do a lot with an eq in the loop even before boosting. I used to put a Furman PQ-3 and later a Boss GE-7 to suck out some to the flubby frequencies, and it worked great. Not surgical tight, but much better than it was. I sometimes found I didn't even need to boost it doing that once I got up to gig/practice volume. When I did boost I used a Boss Metal Zone. This was before I heard about Cannibal Corpse using them w/their Rectos hahaha. That tightened it up further. But again, always have to be easy with the bass and gain. Even then though, they're still a thicker "wall of sound" type of amps and not a super focused and percussive thrash amp. Different tools for different jobs and players. I haven't had a recto in years, but I do want to revisit one again at some point.
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This. Recto's absolutely LOVE EMG 81's. My ESP Eclipse with EMG's was my best sounding guitar when I was still using a Triple Recto. I switched to an Engl Powerball II a few years ago and while my Eclipse still sounds great with it, my passive pickup guitars sound much better with the Engl then they did with the Recto.
 
Apex1Rg7X said:
Most people that dislike Recto's are the one's that can't dial them in correctly. I also think some people want them to be something they are not. The super tight riffing and single note triplet type shit is not really Recto material, that's why guys like Petrucci and the guys from Lamb of God use Mark series amps. The Recto has a huge wall of sound that is impossible to duplicate and very much its own thing. Some of my favorite bands growing up used Rectos and their live tone is anything but muddy and shrill.
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When i was still using Recto's i used the red channel on modern with all the tones pretty much straight up at noon for my main/rhythm tone, and then for leads i switched to the orange channel on modern with the treble all the way to zero, lows at noon and the mids all the way up and used the presence to add some top end. And i used an MXR 10 band EQ in front to boost. That tone worked for me for years, but i got sick of using a boost and switched to Engl. If i ever go to a gig with backline provided and they have Recto's, I know I can easily dial it in for what i like.
 
VESmedic said:
The longer i own my rev F and hear it mic’d up in a track next to other amps that are often more expensive or the “flavor of the month” so to speak ( cough cough omega, cough), the more I get convinced it is simply the greatest high gain amp ever built…. I’ve got 13 of the best high gain amps ever built in my studio right now ( not all mine) from Friedman to Diezel, 2 KSR’s, omega, all kinds of shit… the recto often just smokes them all in a track. Im
Constantly blown away at how dynamic and punchy it is compared to other amps I own. For instance on one part of a track where it’s just bass and drums and the guitar comes in on the drop, the recto is just on another level for punch and weight. But what’s interesting is that it isn’t as compressed sounding as the other amps, it sounds more alive and almost dances around in a way, constantly sounding interesting and interesting. It’s not like it just dies out after the initial transient, it continues to bounce around and stay dynamic and interesting for the entire section. While, the driftwood for instance, sounds amazing absolutely, but after the initial hit it’s just kinda…. There. Hard to explain. the recto just has more going on dynamically for this track anyways. I’m going to put up some clips later of some tracks we did, and the recto just smokes in a mix with its low end punch and it’s focus. I love that thing, no doubt about it.
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Which recto, what tubes?
 
Nigel said:
Which recto, what tubes?
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Mine? I have a rev F. Tubes are always TAD 6L6s, which are literally the same thing as the Mesa SRT 440s. Nothin special at all there. I forget what’s all in the preamp in the moment but there is for sure a gold lion 12ax7 in V1 or a TAD 7025. That’s the money right there.
 
Some magical rectos out in the wild it seems...

Makes me want to dust off the ones I have and try it again.
 
VESmedic said:
Mine? I have a rev F. Tubes are always TAD 6L6s, which are literally the same thing as the Mesa SRT 440s. Nothin special at all there. I forget what’s all in the preamp in the moment but there is for sure a gold lion 12ax7 in V1 or a TAD 7025. That’s the money right there.
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They are a Chinese tribute to the Philips/Sylvania 6L6 that block letter 5150's and OG Recto's shipped with. Not a bad tube!

I bet it would pop even more with the real glass.
 
Always liked this Recto tone. It’s a Rack-tifier version running EL34s on Silicon Diode mode (not recommended!)

 
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