Interesting...Mesa Rectifier Revisions Myths?

[angelspade]

Please don't buy the roadster unless you are an experienced tech with loads of free time and money.

Ask me how I know

Seriously?

 

[DanTravis62]

Seriously?

They sound quite good but both the road king and roadster have a very common known fault with the channel switching relay

Basically it's supposed to temporarily silence the "pop" when you switch channels

The relay commonly goes bad and the amp powers on fine but makes no sound whatsoever - Its a well known and documented fault with this series of amps that is an absolute nightmare to fix

Only buy it if you have a good tech you can take it to (that will actually work on boogies) that really knows what he's doing

I know these amps sound great but there's a reason they go so cheap - that relay is a time bomb

 

[Beyond Black]

Even more than our old Rev C? The vintage high gain mode of the orange channel still haunts my dreams.

As great as the C is, I do prefer the RI, it’s all around more balanced.
It’s tighter, the lows are less boomy, more usable, and the mids are juicy and richer.
Also, they really improved the red channel. With every Recto I’ve had I’ve lived on orange and had little use for red.
On the RI I actually love them equally.

 

[LP Freak]

The lowly three channel Dual that I had was a vicious beast.
The Dual RI that I now have is my undisputed favorite, Mesa knocked it out of the park.

I still need to grab one of those

 

[vultures]

I agree that Rectos can vary quite a bit, but unlike LPs, I’ve never played a dog.
I’ve had everything from the three channel Dual to the Rev C, and they’ve all been very good to great.
If a Recto’s a dog, my money’s on shit tubes or it’s an old two channel in dire need of servicing.

Right on the money. The really bad Recto's I've played needed new filter caps and/or had those leaky sprague caps eating the board Crazy to think some Rectos are 30+ years old at this point and need new filter caps. Makes me feel old.

 

[Beyond Black]

I still need to grab one of those

Did I have one last time you were over?

 

[LP Freak]

Did I have one last time you were over?

Nope

 

[Beyond Black]

Nope

Gonna have another ampfest likely around September, I’ll hollar

 

[skoora]

This is true to a certain degree. But when I go to amp fests, it is generally not the amps I think I will like that are great. A lot of times it is the amps I don't even want to try that end up kicking major ass.

When you get to play multiple amps back to back, all the myths go away. Memory of amps can be strong, but when you put them back to back, there is no color

Ass to A….I mean, Back to back is the only way.

 

[skoora]

They're sufficiently identical that I would be against anyone being able to consistently identify them blind.

Which reminds me I should run down a Triple Multi-Watt before they become hard to find.

Surprisingly I don’t see them very often on GC used. Almost always when I see a 3 channel one on there it’s the first gen.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

Multi-Watt Rectos >>>> Roadster

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

As great as the C is, I do prefer the RI, it’s all around more balanced.
It’s tighter, the lows are less boomy, more usable, and the mids are juicy and richer.
Also, they really improved the red channel. With every Recto I’ve had I’ve lived on orange and had little use for red.
On the RI I actually love them equally.

 

[Sick Michael]

Ha, Wizzard of Oz....you're still around...ha...nice

 

[Tone Monster]

lol. Give us your thoughts! The Rev C is a unicorn I never got around to. The RI is the best version I’ve played….

 

[JackBootedThug]

I have not read the thread but for me…and in my humble opinion there’s only one reason to get a rec. And that’s to get your rec on. That being said the various models do vary slightly. My favorite being tverbs and my next is single recs or rectoverbs. I never really got into the 2 or 3 channel debates. I honestly don’t think it matters. Whatever model you play once you crank it and start playing the grrrrchuggachuggas you ears are shot anyway… my least favorite was a road king series one. Hated it. I just couldn’t gel with that one….

 

[JackBootedThug]

They sound quite good but both the road king and roadster have a very common known fault with the channel switching relay

Basically it's supposed to temporarily silence the "pop" when you switch channels

The relay commonly goes bad and the amp powers on fine but makes no sound whatsoever - Its a well known and documented fault with this series of amps that is an absolute nightmare to fix

Only buy it if you have a good tech you can take it to (that will actually work on boogies) that really knows what he's doing

I know these amps sound great but there's a reason they go so cheap - that relay is a time bomb.

I heard they had many issues breaking down and were a nightmare for techs…

 

[DanTravis62]

I heard they had many issues breaking down and were a nightmare for techs…

Yeah it's a well known fault for both the road king and roadster amps.

Which sucks because they are among my favorite mesas, tonewise

 

[PiggySmallz]

Yeah it's a well known fault for both the road king and roadster amps.

Which sucks because they are among my favorite mesas, tonewise

Never knew that. My roadster popped a bunch but I sold it once I got the ground zero triple Rev G. Really miss that darker roadster tone though. I thought it was the coolest amp when I first got into guitars. Didnt know shit about amps but during that metal core/nu metal era I just knew Rectos were what all the cool kids used.

 

[DanTravis62]

Never knew that. My roadster popped a bunch but I sold it once I got the ground zero triple Rev G. Really miss that darker roadster tone though. I thought it was the coolest amp when I first got into guitars. Didnt know shit about amps but during that metal core/nu metal era I just knew Rectos were what all the cool kids used.

yep plus the road king and roadster are super versatile as well as having the signature recto sound

It sucks though because those relays are a fucking nightmare

check out the guitologists channel for what the repair actually looks like, but ive done it before and i literally dont fix boogies anymore because of it

 

[PiggySmallz]

yep plus the road king and roadster are super versatile as well as having the signature recto sound

It sucks though because those relays are a fucking nightmare

check out the guitologists channel for what the repair actually looks like, but ive done it before and i literally dont fix boogies anymore because of it

Ill check it out thanks!

The clean channel from the lonestar and channel 2 were really cool to me. Then channel 3 and 4 with your recto tones, a little darker and a little less gain. Pretty underrated amp, but everyone used to shit on them during the 2000s and people still seem to be afraid to use them. The maintenance aspect probably doesnt help.

Might pick up another in the future, but ive got GAS for a monomyth modded Jubilee