Mesa Boogie V-Twin - HOW "rectifier-ish"?
Paul M. Sanders
I've been reading the reviews of the Mesa Boogie V-Twin.
I have a 2 input JCM800, and am currently evaluating a Mesa Boogie
Single Rectifier 50watt head. I suppose it does that modern Mesa Boogie
thing, well, like a modern Mesa Boogie would.
I'm wanting that sort of sound for my list of choices, but having a hard
time with spending >$1000 to get it since that's not necessarily the
only thing I do.
In the reviews on Harmony Central for the V-Twin, many say it's NOT a
rectifier sound, some say it's basically the preamp section out of a
Rectifier, which I find hard to believe with only 2 tubes!
My question is:
Just how much of that rectifier sound will the V-Twin give me? Should it
sound closer than the "California" setting of the Tech21 TriAC I've got?
Will it give me that ultra-compressed scooped mid sound?
Most importantly of all, once I mix it as a texture into a tune, will it
be obvious that it's a V-Twin and not a rectifier head?
Thanks in advance,
Paul
Jim Anable
> rectifier sound, some say it's basically the preamp section out of a
> Rectifier, which I find hard to believe with only 2 tubes!
I'm not sure whether it has the same sound or not, but keep in mind that the
rectifier doesn't use all five tubes at once. There is channel switching going
on.
Paul M. Sanders
Ahhhh, very good to know. Pardon my ignorance of how the preamp stages
of these amps
work. Scary to know that I retubed and rebiased my JCM800 myself! :)
Paul
Matt McNabb
box it is definitely not for getting a "rectifier" sound. According to a
tech at Mesa, it is based on a different circuit than the rectifier preamps.
I believe he said it is based more closely on the Formula circuit or
something like that. In my case, it is obvious that it is not a rectifier
to those that know the difference and so far I cannot get a decent "scooped"
sound out of it without the low end turning to mud. I get a better scooped
sound running a Digitech RP2000 with the preamp set to rectifier emulation
than I do with the V-Twin. The JCM800 2210 I have gets a better scooped
sound by itself that with using the V-Twin. These are just my observations
based on the limited gear I have, YMMV.
Lastly, Mesa has a rectifier preamp now that you might look into.
Good luck.
Matt
"Paul M. Sanders" <p...@sgi.com> wrote in message
news:3CE18E12...@sgi.com...
Paul M. Sanders
>
> I've got the V-Twin rack unit and while it may not be the same as the stomp
> box it is definitely not for getting a "rectifier" sound. According to a
> tech at Mesa, it is based on a different circuit than the rectifier preamps.
> I believe he said it is based more closely on the Formula circuit or
> something like that. In my case, it is obvious that it is not a rectifier
> to those that know the difference and so far I cannot get a decent "scooped"
> sound out of it without the low end turning to mud. I get a better scooped
> sound running a Digitech RP2000 with the preamp set to rectifier emulation
> than I do with the V-Twin. The JCM800 2210 I have gets a better scooped
> sound by itself that with using the V-Twin. These are just my observations
> based on the limited gear I have, YMMV.
>
> Lastly, Mesa has a rectifier preamp now that you might look into.
Thanks for the input Matt.
Are you talking about the Rectifier Studio Preamp? If so, that looks
interesting,
but it's limited to direct recording unless you have a power amp or an
amp with
an FX loop so you can just use it's power section. That takes away the
mic placement
and speaker cabinet flexibility which is sortof a bummer.
Are you talking about somethign different that could go into the
instrument input
of my Marshall or Superbaby?
>
> Good luck.
>
> Matt
>
> "Paul M. Sanders" <p...@sgi.com> wrote in message
> news:3CE18E12...@sgi.com...
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I've been reading the reviews of the Mesa Boogie V-Twin.
> >
> > I have a 2 input JCM800, and am currently evaluating a Mesa Boogie
> > Single Rectifier 50watt head. I suppose it does that modern Mesa Boogie
> > thing, well, like a modern Mesa Boogie would.
> >
> > I'm wanting that sort of sound for my list of choices, but having a hard
> > time with spending >$1000 to get it since that's not necessarily the
> > only thing I do.
> >
> > In the reviews on Harmony Central for the V-Twin, many say it's NOT a
> > rectifier sound, some say it's basically the preamp section out of a
> > Rectifier, which I find hard to believe with only 2 tubes!
> >
> > My question is:
> >
> > Just how much of that rectifier sound will the V-Twin give me? Should it
> > sound closer than the "California" setting of the Tech21 TriAC I've got?
> > Will it give me that ultra-compressed scooped mid sound?
> >
> > Most importantly of all, once I mix it as a texture into a tune, will it
> > be obvious that it's a V-Twin and not a rectifier head?
> >
> > Thanks in advance,
> >
> > Paul
--
___________________________________
Paul M. Sanders
SGI Network Engineering
Email: p...@sgi.com
Matt McNabb
would do running through the input jack of the Marshall. Didn't think about
not having an effects loop. What's a "SuperBaby"?
Matt
"Paul M. Sanders" <p...@sgi.com> wrote in message
news:3CE1AFDE...@sgi.com...
Paul M. Sanders
>
> Yes, I was talking about the Rectifier Studio Preamp. Not sure what it
> would do running through the input jack of the Marshall. Didn't think about
> not having an effects loop. What's a "SuperBaby"?
The Superbaby is from Emery Sound (http://www.emerysound.com)
It's a single ended class A tube head, only 8 watts. You can interchange
rectifier, power, and preamp tubes to alter the tone of the thing. It's
sortof
like the THD Univalve, but this little unit is a bit more purist than
the Univalve.
It's very minimal, and it sounds very sweet.
I really didn't mention in the posts I've done in the past two days that
this little
guy produced a sound that when recorded stood up to the Marshall JCM800
AND the Mesa Boogie.
I use it for about 60% of the guitar tracks I record, playing it through
a Jenkins Highway 61
2x12 cabinet.
It's lack of controls though sometimes cause me to reach for something
else. It's just got
the volume control and a bypassable tone control, which I always leave
bypassed. But, in most
cases, I can get the sound I'm after just by swapping tubes around and
selecting
the right guitar/pickups/tone/volume settings.
It just doesn't do high gain very well. Dirty and overdriven yes, but
not high gain, an no,
it doesn't replace my Marshall. But not everything needs a marshall.
Mephi
>
> Just how much of that rectifier sound will the V-Twin give me? Should it
> sound closer than the "California" setting of the Tech21 TriAC I've got?
> Will it give me that ultra-compressed scooped mid sound?
>
> Most importantly of all, once I mix it as a texture into a tune, will it
> be obvious that it's a V-Twin and not a rectifier head?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Paul
Paul,
I'm running a V-Twin pedal through an old 1978 100 watt marshal JMP head, I
chose it more because I needed a valve preamp to give me a second channel
than anything else...
It makes a good second channel, but I have to use a metal zone to get the
full metal sound. It's not a rectifier head, and it wont give you that level
of tone, it is a good valve pre-amp, and it does drive well, but I don't
think its the box your looking for...
Mephi
Paul M. Sanders
I got a V-Twin and sat in next to the Single Recto head.
Playing the V-Twin into the low sensitivity input of the JCM800
and playing the Reco. straight.
There ARE differences, but this V-Twin does a damned fine job of that
rectifier style distortion IMO. And much to my delight, it's EQ seems
to be more responsive than that on the head. Nice bonus.
I'll spent some time going back and forth trying to make the
V-Twin/Marshall
sound like a setting I had dialed in on the Recto. I never got there,
but what
I'll say is that for my needs, I thing this V-Twin hits the rectifier
sound close
enough, and actually may be a bit MORE usable. I guess the marshall
power amp is
thickening the low mids a bit. Seems to have more "substance" but still
a good
job of the scopped mid thing.
By jove, I think I've found my combination to give me two of the
industry standard
sounds.
--
Simon H. Garlick
Hash: SHA1
I seem to have arrived after the party's finished, but your final
assessment comes pretty close to my experience. I have a 94 Dual Rectifier,
and also have a V-Twin which I use with a JTM 45. The V-Twin and the
Marshall together produce a tone which is close the Recto, but with some
Marshalliness thrown into the mix. To tell the truth, I think I've actually
come to prefer the V-Twin+Marshall sound over that of the Recto :)
shg
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Paul M. Sanders
>
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> Hash: SHA1
>
> I seem to have arrived after the party's finished, but your final
> assessment comes pretty close to my experience. I have a 94 Dual Rectifier,
> and also have a V-Twin which I use with a JTM 45. The V-Twin and the
> Marshall together produce a tone which is close the Recto, but with some
> Marshalliness thrown into the mix. To tell the truth, I think I've actually
> come to prefer the V-Twin+Marshall sound over that of the Recto :)
I sortof developed that feeling myself, right away. I played around with
trying
to get it to sound EXACTLY like the Recto head, but never really got
quite there,
but I'd have to say, to my ears, the differences are in favor of the
V-Twin/Marshall.
That's a real relief because I truely didn't want to have keep the MB
head at it's pricetag.
Now I need to see how well the V-Twin records direct, though that's just
a bonus.
I'm comparing it to the new Rectifier Recording Preamp. That think looks
like a monster.
I REALLY hope it doesn't get me hooked! Maybe I shouldn't even take it
out of the box!
Paul
>
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>
> Simon H. Garlick <"simon" at "garlick.net.nz">
> PGP Keys available at www.nzgames.com/pgp.html
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