Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Recording Preamp

If you can work an amp you can work this unit. As this is not a digital simulation thingee you have no instant recall of a patch but it does do sitching between the "clean" channel, the higher gain channel. Th footwitch also lets you get a solo mode. For each of the two channels you have nobs for gain, treble, mid, bass, presence and master. In addition there are switches for selecting the two channels, preamp voicing, -3 db and bright. On the output stage you have a recording output and two live outputs, regular and solo.

For my purposes this unit is fantastic. I use it exclusively for recording and I am getting the best sounding guitars I've had on my recordings. I sold a vg-8 to get this and I am very happy. I couldn't handle the POD sound and the vg-8 just wasn't cutting it for me. It now sounds like I'm playing through a tube amp.

Unlike some of my other equipment I think this unit would handle the road well. The build quality appears to be excellent.

THere reputation is great, I haven't had to call them as of yet.

If you want a tube amp sound that goes from the best clean you've ever heard to great sounding overdrive look no further. Highly recommended. Personnally look around (on the phone, etc.) for a good price. Mesa tends to be restrictive in how much dealers can negotiate the price. You may be lucky and find a dealer that has had one hanging around for a while that they may want to unload.

To me, this unit is so damn easy to use; but read the manual, at least once, to find out about the little details not obvious from the panels (like the vintage/modern channel switching via footswitch). The controls are pretty much self explanatory.

This is where it gets fun and tricky... (it's a little long, but I think is worth for a good reference)

First of all I'd like to point out that it'll make a HUGE difference the kind of guitar, pickups and tubes that you use. I'll give you my experience.

The style I play mostly is progressive metal and shred stuff, so I demand a lot of definition and personality from the distortions I use. I wanted this unit for live and studio situations. I felt like I could live with the live features

I first tried this unit at the store like this:

Jackson Soloist/Seymour Duncans
-> Rectifier Recording Preamp
-> Recto Stereo 100:2 (6L6)
-> Peavey 4x12 speaker (don't know the model, sorry)

and I must say that I wasn't satisfied. I went directly to the modern mode and, regardless of volume or power level, I felt no definition on single notes, specially in the muted bass. The open chords sounded great, but the heavy riff were muddy and not tight at all. After that I tried the vintage mode, it felt a little tighter but even muddier than the modern one. The clean channel was OK, but not my main purpose. Unfortunately I could not try the unit direct through a console at the store.

In spite of this, I trusted MESA and decided to purchase the unit and give it a try with my own equipment. BIG DIFFERENCE... this is what I use:

Custom ESP (mahogany body)/EMG-81
-> Rectifier Recording Preamp
-> TC Electronic GMajor
-> Marshall 9200 Dual Monobloc (6L6)
-> Marshall JCM 900 (4x12)

and totally satisfied...:D

Live, the sound is totally killer. The modern mode is open, tight and punchy; you get a good distortion with a lot of sustain and all the rectifier personality you'd expect, great for metal. The volume level is lower in this channel, this gets adjusted in the power amp stage by removing the negative feedback (Stereo Recto 100:2); I get around this with the 9200's own modern mode really well. The vintage mode is also great, the distortion feels a little cleaner (obviously) and darker, still plenty of sustain for solos and "progressive" riffs. In channel 2, the treble and presence controls play an important part in the distortion; if you can, experiment. As far as the clean channel goes, it's sweet. From the clean mode I can get soft, sparkling cleans suitable for chording; from the fat mode, I get what it takes for a clean/slightly overdriven solo; I haven't needed that much the brit mode. BTW, the channel and mode switching is quick and silent, no pops or gaps.

The only downside I see from this unit is to be stuck with the same control preset in the modern and vintage modes. This is kind of useless in a live situation because the control preset for a mode generally won't work for the other. I Get around this by re-equing, on a preset basis, with the GMajor; btw, I do the channel switching through this unit (relays) via midi, if you wanted to know. :P

Given these 2 scenarios, I'd definitely encourage people to try, at least, this preamp with a carefully chosen equipment. As far as I go, I'll never grab a Seymour Duncan loaded guitar again, but that's just me. :P

For studio purposes, I also been completely satisfied. I mostly need a direct recording box for a quick setup, and consistent tone, in every recording session. For the past 2 months I've been trying different approaches mostly with the modern and vintage modes. In this scenario, I find the vintage mode a little more useful because sounds less harsh than the modern mode on tape. Both offer great distortion and sustain, but in my case the vintage mode blended nicer in the mix. I haven't experimented that much with the clean channel on tape yet, I still need to try some different techniques for distorted guitars.

Another important point is tubes. I usually replace my preamps' stock tubes with Sovteks 12AX7LPS. In the case of the Mesa Triaxis and the M

I've owned this unit since November 2003 and no problems. I haven't had issues with any Mesa product so far. I use it live with backup tubes and behind a Furman Power Conditioner; I wouldn't go live without, at least, those 2 things.

I haven't contacted Mesa directly, everything has been through my dealer in Arizona. But he states that the Mesa people are great and they've answered all my questions so...

Overall, I never rate 10 just because I feel that there is no such thing as a perfect unit, but this one gets really close. It doesn't produce all the sounds in the world, but it's fine and acurate Rectifier replica; what it does, it does great.

I just want to encourage people to put special attention on the equipment being used around the preamp, and not just this one; I've had great experience with other preamps rated as shit from many people (aka Marshall JMP-1)

Very straight forward and easy to use. I plugged in and was able to dial up my main session sounds instantly. The manual was good...but, IT HAS TO BE READ to get the most out of the unit. This isn't a conventional preamp. There are things that we may be use to doing with other amps---throw all that out of the window and start from scratch with the manual.

If Direct Recording is your thing--especially where distortion and overdrive tones are conscerned--- I'd highly recommend this unit. I heard some positive stuff from peolpe and I heard some negative stuff--so I was skeptical until I plugged it up. I plugged it straight into my DAW which is basically: MOTU 828mkII, ALesis M1 powered monitors, DELL Dimension 4550 at 2 GHZ and Cakewalk Sonar 3.1. With no added processing, I was able to get the full, round, thick lead tone that I was hoping I'd get. It felt great under the fingers, and the way I heard it through my monitors when I was recording was the same way it sounded during playback. There was none of that 'buzzy' sound that others mentioned and it sounded way better than any direct signal I've ever used. It has outdone my Pod Pro too.
Another good thing is that it offers more sound choices than a standard Rectifier amp. It offers more options in the clean tones, and there is a variety of Distortion sounds that can be obtained. I certainly don't consider it a one trick pony.
Nothings perfect...and for me, the only downside is a lack of low end beef when palm muting and playing fast, shred style alternate picking runs. I found though, that that could be somewhat corrected with some EQ-ing....but, it sounds okay as is.

I'm using 2 Schecter C-7 Seven string guitars with Duncan pickups and a Strat with Lace Sensor pickups as my primary axes.

It's heavy, and seems built like a tank. The tubes also seem nice and snug.

Haven't had to deal yet.

My background is in Jazz/Funk and R&B and I do plenty of session and hired gun work in that area...but I'm also involved with a lot of Progressive, Hard rock and instrumental guitar stuff. I started studying music when I was seven years old (20 years ago) and have been playing professionally for 9 years. I've been through my share of gear. I also spent the last two years in Digital Modeling world. This unit covers all the bases for me. It's turning out to be the all in one box that I hoped it would be---allowing me to dial in great tones for sessions and still be able to use it as part of a live rig. I highly recommend it. There is no reason people shouldn't be getting great direct to tape sounds from this box.

This product is a very easy to use unit, when you turn this unit on you almost immediatly can get a great sound but it all depends on what you are using with it. No stupid editing patches like the POD or a Digitech 2101, 2120, or 2112. Those things take a while to dial in settings that you like, although the presets on those units arent so bad, but i find myself tweeking the hell out of those to get my tones. this is a straight forward unit with out fearing your unit will crash. Mesa manuals are great and give example tone settings.

Gibson les paul standard (2000)
Boss octive
Boss OS-2
Boss Blues Driver
Juice goose
Digitech 2120(effects and gate)(J12) mesa sp12ax7 tubes
Mesa recording preamp
Beringer tube ultrafex
BBE sonic maximizer
Mesa 50/50 with sp12ax7 tubes
all monster cables
marshall 1960A 4x12
Johnson millenium combo amp Vintage 30 speakers

Not noisy considering i have a gate, Beautiful fat tones from this amp,cleans are nice, although the bright function does do little to the sound unless you are playing at louder volumes.I do switch this unit with the 2120 that i use, for my older songs in the band i will use the 2120 with the 0s-2 and the amp distortion wich if you tweek for a while you can get it to sound pritty good.The digitech distortion i use is pritty close to the raw mode on the rec pre. I use mesa Sp12ax7's in the digitech 2120 and they are low noise ballsy sounding tubes that will enhanse distortion. i gavent yet replaced the rec pres tubes with the sp12ax7 tubes yet but i plan on it. This unit will work well with any mesa boogie power amps especially. My bbe just cleans up the muddiness. and sometimes ill remove the berhinger from the set up becuase i only use it to warm up my 2120 sound. I play emo/punk/metal/reggae/the clash/ramones/311/ and my bands stuff and ive been looking for a pure tube sound and this unit provides it, be carfull not to put the gain up too high or the sound of the distortions will get buzzy. Low end for palm muting is good and not muddy if you set the gain round 12 o clock and have a bbe. Threw vintage 30's you will get a nice brighter sound from these speakers more then a marshall with gt75s. choose your rig carefully. if you like more of a muddier tone just use the rec pre with a mesa power amp
but if you want to clean it up do your self a favor and let those 3d tube sounds shine with a bbe.

digital and stuff with tubes you have to be carefull with becuase spikes in voltage may mess with your sound and may hurt the amp, get a monster power conditioner, it is specifically designed to intake your digital and analog plug ins. i trust this unit but i dont really use it durring practice, due to the tubes wearing down and the possiblilty to damaging the unit due to poor voltage. I use my digitech at practice and it sounds good,, but i prefer the nice tubeness of the rec pre. i havent recorded with it yet , but ive heard this thing is amazing. Aparently you cant rely on this unit always being in the store for sale, because many people have gone crazy buying these as soon as it gets in the store. i had to have mine ordered. hasnt given me any problems yet

Mesa are fucking incredible products no matter what style you play. everything ive bought from them have been fucking tuff, i love their tubes(sp12ax7), the last longer they are warmer, help get my amp to the amount of distortion desired, and have lo noise. from what ive herd mesa gives very good support if you contact them. i kid i knows tripple rec blew up like 3 times and they sent him all this free stuff sets of tubes and a brnd new 3 rec. they also personally helped him threw this tragety. A rare thing for a boogie to blow up but, they supported him 100%. Ive never gotten help or needed it yet. Parkway music in clifton park (albany, NY) gives tremendous servous, and let you jam on boogies, they will personally set any thing up any way you want, and i will always buy mesa products thew them becuase i support smaller business, like parkway and mesa boogie.

I use analog distortion, digital distortion and tube distortion, nothing beats a rec distortion except for maybe a tsl or a ubershall which are just about on the same plain as the rec. tube distortion just sounds more full and 3d, and and doesnt sound too thin or scrappy like a digitech or a boss. fat fat fat, clean is fat, digital cleans are boring and lack some fat. This unit is relatily expensive but in the long run you wont care because your quest for tone is a at a hault.Only a 9 beacuse of the price but do your self a favor, work more hours so you can afford this, and support mesa boogie as they are still a small company with a huge repuatation. You wont be disatisfied!

This unit is very easy to use, I spent about 10 minutes turning knobs and flipping the various swithches and I was good to go. This does not mean you will take 10 mins to dial in 'your tone', that could take weeks or months (yes months) depending on how picky you are and how often to experiment. The user manual is very well laid out and explains everything in very clear terms, you can't go wrong!

This thing, though lacking a power amp, is pure Boogie. It sounds like a Boogie, so that is either a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. For myself, I never thought I'd buy a Boogie, they were dark and forboading and generic sounding amps (Creed, anyone?) but buying this preamp has changed all that for me forever! The clean channel is crystal clear with no hint of crackle or buzz (unless you start cranking up the volume and gain for that channel, but what the hell would you expect??) and supplies a very pleasing full bodied tone. No cold digital signals goin' on over here! I haven't used the effects loop yet, but oddly enough Mesa recommends not using it and just putting your effects processors and anything time based AFTER the pre...the key here is to experiment and fool around with your chain in order to establish your desired sound. It's in there, no doubt about it!

Ok, here's my deal, I use this preamp as it was designed for; to record direct. My chain is simple and straight forward, Fender Strat w/mix of Dimarzio and SD single coils and my main guitar is a Tokai '84 lawsuit strat, heavily modded, with Kinman pickups. The Dimarzio's and Duncans are going in the garbage as soon as I scrape the cash together for more Kinman's...

Guitar's into an Expandora - Tonebone Hot British - Mesa Preamp - BBE 482 Maximizer (on it's way out of my rig too) - into M-Audio Firewire 410 soundcard and of course into my computer.

I'll be buying a speaker simulator (probably a Palmer) soon enough and plan on adding a TC Electronic 2290 and their higher end reverb units as well.

It looks like it is built like a truck and if you take care of your gear it should last a heck of a long time. I'd gig without a backup, but I'd have spare tubes on hand of course.

Haven't dealt with Mesa, but they are well known to have great customer support. I'm giving them a 10 because the info package that came with the unit was superb.

The simplicity of this unit along with it's stellar sound make it a nessecity for me to have in my rig, it was probably (next to the Tokai for $300 Cdn) the best buy I've ever made. Thank you Mesa!!

Everything is pretty straight forward.

I find that the major part of the Recto sound is captured in this unit, even though Recto power is absent. I use a racked Mark 4 as a (fx loop return) power amp for all my preamps, which include an ADA MP2, and Marshall JMP-1 as my main tone. I am making a record right now, and am VERY focused on good tone. I have a 4x12 Marshall cab with a mixture of Celestions, all miked. I am very happy with the addition of the Recto sound to my palette, and it sounds excellent through the Mark 4. In fact I prefer it to Recto power. I find the the sound to be a little creamier, and less harsh, but with the snarl and attitude of a full Recto head. And one key ingrediant is the 5 band graphic on the Mark 4, which works excellent with all my preamps! I use custom Strats with Sustainiac and Duncan SH6 pickups, and Floyd's, and one stock Strat. I also run my Wal bass though it for effect! (Very sick)!

The direct recording aspect of this unit is highly usable. No it doesn't replace a cab and mic, but is killer sounding on it's own. I have yet to here a speaker emulating circuit that is as well voiced as this.

My main clean tone comes from a Fender Twin Amp. The clean channel on the Recto Pre doesn't quite touch the Twin, but is very pure sounding. I do find it to be a little bland, and somewhat lacking in character though, compared to the Twin. As far as the Recto Pre goes, it's all about the distortion, which is not very versatile, nor does it have the tight focused bottom of the MP2, or JMP-1. It's just that there is a certain something special and unique about the Recto Pre's distortion character that I love. And when I layer tracks with it, along with my other pre's, well it's just plain freakin' wicked sounding.

Important tip: The Radial Tonebone Classic distortion really does amazing things to the Recto Pre. It changes the character into a much more smooth liquid distortion, that I find better for soloing. As it stands, the Recto Pre is very good for soloing, but kick in the "Bone", and it literally sounds like a different amp, but with much of that Recto goodness. By the way, this calls for setting the Pre on Vintage, gain around 2 o'clock, and medium drive from the Tonebone. This sound is as intense as anything out there.
Beautiful AND ugly!

Noise is not a problem, very reasonable! I do use a Boss NS2 at the end of my effects chain which helps.

One more very interesting point; I set up a crunch sound on all my Pre's with about the same frequency content and drive to compare the essences of each Pre, and for some strange reason, while viewing the meters in ProTools, the Recto Pre sounds apparently louder, even though the meters were showing the exact same levels as the MP2 and JMP-1 were. This translates into recorded tracks from the Recto Pre being very "present" and "forward" in the mix. Amazing! I can tell it's going to be a keeper!

Too soon to tell.

I have had good experiences so far with them regarding information, but no repaires yet.

I would have to say that I probably fall into the heavy Prog Rock catagory! I have been playing for around 30 years.
This device is an expensive one trick pony, but worth it for what it brings to the party. Very distinctive pleasing tone, but not exactly my primary tone. I find that the vibe of the sound actually influences the way I play through it a little bit. Sort of in a good way. My music incorporates tight, muted riffing and leads, among other techniques, and that's not exactly what the Recto Pre does best (although not bad at all). Instead it compells me to play more thrashy, blasting metal chords. But the Radial Tonebone really makes this thing fit into my style better, and makes leads more satisfying. I like to try and get my lead tone to be round and thick while still screaming. It takes a little effort to get that with the Recto Pre alone, which seems a touch thinner than say a JMP-1 for leads. A little "Bone" seems to make a big difference. My sound was plenty intense before, and now with the addition of the Recto, it goes to another level. I dig this thing!
I wish they would make a scaled down, less expensive version with no clean channel, no fx loop, and no recording out.. Just dirty Recto Pre color.

Straight forward to use although reading the manual helps (which you can do ahead of time at the mesa site) it works pretty much like the Rectifier heads do. Although there are no Rectifier tubes...

I am a professional musician that's been playing for 20 years and I am extremely picky about my tone. This preamp sounds Excellent thru a rack system (I'm using a Mesa 20/20 now ordered a VHT to compare) in the Modern high gain mode. (if you use the tube rectifier setting on the Dual or Triple series amps you might not be able to duplicate the same tone on this preamp since there are no rectifier tubes- only the 12xa7 preamp tubes) I prefer the Modern/Silicon diode setting as it is more punchy and tight in the lower end. A tube rectifier gets saggy loud and in live settings. I've spent a great deal of time dialing in my Dual Recs (owned about 8 so far and still own 1 older one) and this preamp sounds as good if not better than the heads in a live setting and at home. If you prefer a rack system go for it!! I like the recto tone better on the recto pre than the Triaxis recto tone. (owned 3 of them) I also use a Bogner FISH preamp and a Marshall JMP-1. I like the Recto pre for the Recto tone!!

Mesa is a great American company. The Harley Davidson of Amplifier products.

I plugged the preamp in direct and was surprised to hear it was great sounding. More full and real sounding than the POD/Line 6 stuff. (owned a Pod Pro and recorded an entire CD using it) I wouldn't sell the POD but would use both the recto pre and the POD. The Mesa gets that recto tone in a different way than the POD does. It sounds best thru a cabinet though obviously.

An addendum to a previous review I had submitted...I ran 3 different effects units - one at a time - through the effects loop of the rec-pre to horrid results. The beautiful tone I had going direct into my recording system vanished. A dull thuddy sonic blur was the result. I removed the units from the loop and the sound returned to "sparkling" once again. I now use all effects through the aux send/returns of my console and apply them after the fact - recording direct and dry - adding reverb/chorus/pitch/flange/etc as needed. It may not be the right, or best way to record electric gtr, but the tracks sound "wonderful"!!! Crisp/gutsy and perfectly balanced! 3 months since my first 4 star review and I am still in love with this unit....even more!!

Takes a bit of while to tweak it to perfection. No upgrades or any of that digital shit. Perfect Manual, explains everything.

Now, some people are complaining about this product. It may be because they are running it through a peace of shit power amp. PEOPLE, USE THE MESA 2:100 RECTO POWERAMP, IT SOUNDS GREAT. No noise when recording, a tiny bit when playing live. No effects, just great tube tone. It can go from Blink 182 to Mudvayne.

Never broken down, neither have my 2 Triple Rectos.

Answer all emails

Ok, here is my amp setup. (All Mesa Gear)

Rectifier Recording Pre-AMp
Recto 2:100 Power amp
Triple Rectifier 3 Channel
Triple Rectifier 2 Channel
Dual Rectifier Rackmount

Im finding myself using the Pre-amp more than anything else

I have a Les Paul Studio Gothic and Vintage Charvel(loaded with Dimarzio Tone Zone and Virtual Vintage)---> Boss NS-2 loop (Digitech Compressor and Morley Bad Horsie 2 Wah ---> Mesa Boogie Rectifier Preamp ---> TC Electronic G-Major (Behringer MIDI Foot Controller) ---> Rocktron Velocity 150 ---> Avatar 2 x 12 Stereo Cab (Lead 80 and a Vintage 30).

I am a big fan of the Mesa Boogie sound. I love my set up and I love the preamp. It is so versatile that you can find any tone you want. However, there has been unexpected surprises along the way. For starters even though the unit is called a Recto preamp you CAN NOT achieve the Full recto sound without the Recto Power Amp 2:100. I am not sure that you can actually use any other amp and expect the recto sound (i.e. 2:90). So waht you are getting is something like a MARK series in steroids! if you are using it through a solid state amplifier. I am gigging a lot and think fro what i do it surpasses my expectations. The other surprise is the volume drop when using the modern setting either yo record or to go live. If you switch to vintage or raw it gets louder due to the negative feedback. This will hopefully correct itself if I hook it up to the Recto 2:100. Other than that the preamp is awesome. Currently I am playing with a cover band. We have over 40 songs on our set (I mean thats a lot of sounds) I can nail each and avery one of them. Latin Jazz, jazz, blues , ...petrucci sound... anything. Check it out, you won be dissapointed.
Since you have to get the 2:100 to get the full spectrum of its versatility. I'll take a point from here. I will update my review later on when I buy the 2:100

This preamp has 2 channels (3 by defeating the solo feature). Each channel has 3 modes: Green Channel (clean, fat and british), Red Channel (raw, vintage and modern). It has independent gain settings for each channel and 2 submasters, 2 Masters (1 for recording and 1 for live applications) and a solo boost. Bought it new from Guitar Center. For I/O it features a parallel effect loop with the mix button Live stereo out, recording stereo out, negative feedback trigger and is driven by 6x12AX7 mesa tubes. I think as far as the options go this thing rocks. I have used it to gig and for recording. I got tired of modeling amp and wanted to get a preamp that is real and this was it!

So far so good and going strong. Time will tell...

Very helpfull. I've trying to plan my rig for sometime (Addition of the 2:100 stereo) and they have been really helpfull in providing information and talking with me on the phone to help plan it.

I have been playing for 17 years. So far in this journey, I have not encountered a more versatile box for my taste (old school guitar rig). I used to have a Flextone II XL and the thing just does not compare... This preamp is the real thing! I would replace if it was stolen...