Question About Pre-500 Rectos

[braintheory]

So I've tried pretty much all the different rectifier amps except the pre-500's. I tried a tremoverb once but am not sure if it was a rev F or G, so I guess I also may have never tried a rev F or G, but my question basically is how compressed are the pre-500 rectifiers? None of the rectos that I've tried have been for me because they are all way too compressed for my taste. To give you an idea of my taste, my Engl Artist Edition is about as compressed as I'm willing to put up with, and even that can be too compressed for me (even though it's probably they're least compressed amp). That's why for my taste I really don't like amps like the Herbert or any of the Uberschalls

 

[steve_k]

With the rectification set to solid state/bold ssettings, none of the recto's compress very much at all, which is the purpose of the feature. Difference in pre-500 and F's is more about the gain structure and saturation of the amp. Tremoverbs are all based around the Rev. G.

 

[cardinal]

Wow, I thought the Rectos I've played where maybe the most uncompressed of the high gain amps I've played. Guess we all just describe or hear things different. The Recto is very touch sensitive with a lot of high and low extension, all of which I would consider uncompressed (as opposed to something that feels and sounds the same no matter how hard/soft you pick and that has a maybe unnatural high pass/low pass-type thing going on).

 

[JamesPeters]

Hi Sam.

We all think something a bit different when we use the word "compression". Technically all high gain amps--even the least compressed ones--have a fair bit of compression. So what Sam hears as compressed, someone else might not. It depends on exactly what they're listening for.

If you've already used Rectos and found the sound to be "compressed", I doubt the earlier ones will change that. They'll "bloom" a bit more in the mids, in any case. But they'll still sound like what you've heard in general. I'm not sure if that's what you're after, if that change in feel is what you're looking for. If it is...it probably wouldn't be hard for most techs to swap the output transformer with something more like a classic Marshall transformer (and use EL34 more specifically at the right impedance while you're at it); so seeking out a "pre-500 Recto" isn't necessary. I'd heard the differences were mostly in the transformers...unless there's more in the rest of the circuit that's significantly different, I guess? I don't know.