Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head Triple Channel

I think this amp is a 2001. I bought it recently, and love it. Very Versatile. 3 channels, Tube/Diode selector, FX Loop, 100 watt, slave out, etc.

I am running an Ibanez RG 320 through this with fender cables, Powersound pickups, and GHS strings. This suits my style of music extremely well. Despite the fact that it has 11 tubes, it is eerily quiet. The distortion is brutal enough to emulate an earthquake inside your head, and I love it.

Can't say how reliable it is, but it's a Mesa, so it has to be reliable. I would definately gig w/o a backup.

Never dealt with them, but I even get a 6 month warranty on the tubes. Not bad. I bought it from an authorized dealer/service center so I shouldn't have any problems finding one.

Been playing for about 3 years and I am never going to buy another amp from anyone but Mesa. This thing is a dream come true. A die-hard metal tone. If it were stolen, I'd hunt down the bastard that took it, beat the shit out of him, molest his eye sockets, and cut off his ass with a dull pocket knife. I doubt he's get very far though since the amp weighs as much as a small planet. Buy one of these, simple as that.

First of all, I haven't bought this amp yet, but I will as soon as I can afford it. I have played it many times in the stores. My main guitar is a Gibson Les Paul with dual humbucker pickups. This is what I've played the amp with most of the times in the store. It has 3 channels with bass, mid, treble, gain, volume, and presence for all 3 chennels. It is a very loud amp as well. It sounds best through Mesa Recto cabinets, since the two were designed to go together. I've played it through both the 4x12 and the 2x12. They both sound amazing with this amp. If you want something portable or if you just don't have the room for a 4x12, then give the 2x12 a try. It has a HUGE sound as well, pretty close to the 4x12 except maybe a little less low end response, but not much. It sounds much better than many other 4x12 cabinets (i.e. Marshall, Crate, Randall, etc.)

I must say, this amp does many differnt styles of music very well. I love the clean channel on it, even though some people hate it. It has a really full, rich, and deep tone with my setting. It's not as sparkley or as trebley sounding as Fenders, but I really don't like the Fender clean sound that much. I prefere something with a deep, rich tone like the Dual Recto. Channel two is my favorite. The Raw mode is great for blues. You can get a great B.B. King type distortion with the gain turned down some, and you can also do a Stevie Ray Vaughn lead style with the gain turned up. The Vintage setting sounds alot like a Marshall. Great for anything from southern rock to Aerosmith. The Modern setting is the best. Very heavy distortion with lots of bass response. I got sounds ranging from the entire Metallica catalog all the way up to newer gourps like Korn and Godsmack. If you want a good distortion tone, this amp has the absolute best out there. I haven't really had a chance to play around with Channel 3 yet since I don't actually have the amp yet, but I'll post another review when I actually buy the thing. It seems to be a little more sensitive and difficult to tweak, at least more so than the other channels. I really didn't think this amp was that hard to get a good sound out of. I would start out looking for a certain sound, but then I would get side tracked because I would get something completely unexpected that sounded great. This amp is very versitle in that respect. It has more power than I could ever use. Did I mention is was extremely loud? I know it's expensive, but if you love playing and you can get the money, I would highly recomment this amp.

Can't say yet.

Also can't say yet.

I've been playing guitar for about 8-9 years. I've owned Marshall all my life and I play through a Les Paul. I finally got tired of the Marshall sound, so I decided to try out the Dual Rectifier from Mesa. It is an amazing amp. Tons of distortion with great tone along with a great clean channel make this the best amp I have ever played. I've tried out all kinds of amps in the past severl months, but I keep coming back to the Dual Recto. It just sounds so much better than anything else out there. I play all kinds of music ranging from country to southern rock to blues to metal. It covers them all pretty well, except maybe not so much the country ( not twangy). The footswitch if very helpful. I can't think of anything I don't like about this amp. If you save up your money, do yourself a favor and get this amp. Especially if you love heavy music.

Completely agree with the previous post.

Randall Smith, Mr. Mesa-Boogie, if you're reading this, the prices over here in Europe are a rip-off.

Here in Switzerland this amp costs about 4500.00 swissfrancs, this is about 2800 $$$ or 5700 german mark.
What the hell are you thinking. I like your amps, but I'm not Bill Gates or a millionaire.

Besides, the distribution company doesn't have them in stock and told me that soon the prices will even increase. This is ridiculous. Even if I would, I couldn't afford this amp.

If you take a Marshall TSL, over here they sell for about 1200 - 1300 $$, more or less the same as in the states, maybe a little cheaper.

If I look at the posts in Harmony-Central, the new Dual Recto is about 1500 $ in the US. So why the hell does it cost more than twice as much over here? Do you ship your amps First Class with American Airlines or what?
I really don't get it.

Features are pretty much covered in the other reviews. I like the "Spongy" switch very much, because this is a very powerful sound tool. The solo volume switch on the floorboard is also very good for playing solos. Great for me. I love the floorboard. Excellent and very stable. Pretty much space between the single switches on the floorboard compared to these childrens' floorboards from the Nomad series. I have rather large feet, so it is important for me. Many, many features. For that big money, they could have invested in an ADDITIONAL serial effects loop, for example for noise gates...

First of all let me say that I bought the 2-channel Recto last year. And I am very happy with this amp, because it sounds great. But no big versatility. That's why I bought first the DIEZEL VH4 and then 4 months ago the 3channel Recto. But when I tested the amp in the shop, I didnt bring my old Recto. The new Recto is kind of heavy sounding (and that's the way it should be). But this is toooo heavy sounding for me. Unfortunately I have not compared my old and the new Recto in the shop. I would never have bought this new 3channel Recto. Even with subtle tweaking I couldnt dial out this harsh sounding shred without loosing too much of other frequencies.
And please keep in mind that one Recto can sound pretty different from another Recto!!! I have swapped this Dual Recto with a Triple Recto from a friend. This beast was a bit louder, but not so harsh and trebly sounding. Believe me. I AB-tested the two amps. Ok, back to the Dual Recto with 3 channels. Pretty funky and good clean channel with a large amount of attack for clean solo parts. Nice. Well, the distortion is even more than the distortion on the old Rectos. Unlike the old 2channel Rectos, this 3ch Recto gives you extra gain and distortion even beyond 3 o'clock on the gain knob. But as I said, too harsh and trebly. Very brutal distortion. To my surprise the Red channel on this baby was VERY quite. Very little noise. But this is the trade-off for not having a natural feedback like on many Marshalls. It is very hard to describe for me, but the feedback frequency (from the strings, not that loud whistle from the pickup) with the 3ch Recto is very low. Instead of a singing feedback I will get this hum-like very deep and low end growl. Sounds like a huge bear is roaring. The raw mode: I am missing the treble in this mode abit.

This amp is NOT suited for playing at home, since it sounds crap at low volumes. Way too unbalanced, no mids, just treble and sub-bass. Boom, shred, boom, shred.

A word about the effects loop. Why the hell does the volume of the dry signal decreases, when I switch on the loop??? On the Diezel for example, the parallel effect signal (the wet signal) is only added to the overall sound, therefore the dry signal does not decrease in volume. Thats the way it should be. I mainly play a Mexico Strat (HSS) with a Jeff Beck Trembucker.

Never had a problem myself. When I swapped this amp with a friend for his Triple Recto, he found himself burning the fuse a few times. Played the amp just a few times with the band.

There are very nice guys working for the German Boogie import & sales office. I think these guys have a good understanding about the over-prized amps they are selling in Germany. Didnt have a single problem with the amp, so I cannot really rate the support. They were always very helpful to me. Currently the warranty is I guess 6 months. That is a bit short, but will be changed in Euro-land starting 2002. But that doesnt help me alot.

Playing since 17 years. This is the heaviest sounding amp I ever played. Sold it last week to a (now) very happy guy in Bavaria. Instead of this, I bought the last imported Trem-O-Verb top available new in Germany. By far the better amp for me. I am looking forward to hearing the new Road King. And last but not least: Dear Mesa Engineering Sales people, your amps are so fuck off expensive! If there was an alternative, I would boycott your brand! I am serious, your prices in Germany are so ridiculously high. Hey, I just want to have a decent sound. Why do I have to spend so damn much money! That leads to the overall rating of 'only' 8. Oh well, I know I have to spend much extra-money due to that hype around the Recto. Korn, Limp Bizkit, Creed etc. have made this sound THE best and hence the most expensive grungy heavy sound (at least in Germany). I own an Diezel VH4, the Maverick, Blue Angel and some Marshalls. There is no real alternative to the Modern channel on the Rectos. Please feel free to send me an eMail, if you have questions about the Recto. I have made quite some experiences with the Boogie Rectifier series amps. And they are all way toooo expensive, did I mention this???

My Dual Rectifier was built in either 2000 or 2001. I play metal, jazz, pop and shredder style music. This amp is suprisingly good at all styles. It is great for Nu-metal but don't be fooled by urban legend. You can play any style of music with this amp.
This amp has 3 channels and 8 possible modes ( modern,raw and classic). The footswich allows you to switch between channels but not the different modes. The effects loop of the amp can be tricky but if you play with it enough you can achieve great results. The fx loop can also be turned on/off from the footswitch which really kicks ass.
I do wish that the amp had built in reverb. I run a digitech 2101 thru the fx loop but it can drain the tone the the amp delivers. This amp has enough power to make your neighbors head for higher ground. You could never possibly need half the volume that the amp can deliver.
I would give this amp a 10....but I need some reverb for that.

I play an Ibanez prestige and an Ernie Ball Musicman through the amp. I have a Charvel/Jackson with a Screamin demon that sounds awful through the boogie. The screamin demon is an awesome pickup but does not sound ballsy enough through my setup.
This amp is a little noisy when you start running effects and overdrive pedals through it. A Hush Super C unit will solve the problem but I have mine under control without a noise gate. I never turn the gain past 6 on either channel 2 or 3 and it is awesome sounding. For additional gain for solo's or sustain I use a Mesa/Boogie V-1 Bottle Rocket pedal. I also use a Boss OD-1 pedal that has been modified by AnalogMan. Throw these both on at one time and you can have more fun that the law should allow. It gets noisy like this but it can be controlled.
Just do not expect to plug into a Rectifier and Sound like Tony Rombola ( Godsmack) or any other nu-metal artist. I actually hated this amp for the first 2 weeks I had it. You have to ignore the hype and the stigma this amp has. I can get great lead tones and great clean sounds after much experimentation. Just take your time and be patient and this amp will be Tonal Nirvana.

This amp could be used as a bomb and dropped on Afghanistan. It is built like a Sherman Tank and weighs more than your Jenny Craig drop out sister. I have had no problems so far.

No support needed so far.

I have been playing for 17 years . I have owned Digitech 2112, Line 6 Pod Rackmount, Digitech Valve FX , Digitech 2101 and various Marshall poweramps ( 9100's.) The Boogie gives me my best sound yet. The distortion is the best and the tonal possibilities are great. I do hate the fact that it has no Reverb. I will trade mine in for a 3 channel with reverb model. Until then, this sucker smokes!

Not sure what year the amp was made in. Obviously either 2000 or 2001. Or did they make them in 2000? Anyway, it's fairly new. It's crammed with features, too many for any one person to use on a regular basis. Gives some digital amps a run for their money as far as features are concerned.

Oh my god. I play grind/metal, and this amp is a perfect match for it. Really, this amp was built with distortion in mind every step of the way. No matter what flavor you want, it's in here. Even with my not-so-great equipment, it sounds incredible. As far as volume goes, I really don't think you'll have any problems keeping up with the rest of the band, unless you have another guitarist who has a triple rectifier. Anyway, I didn't really like the sounds I was getting out of this amp at first, but I had read that Boogies were sensitive, and that you really had to tweak them, so I spent about three hours one day tweaking the hell out of it, and I've got "my settings" dialed in pretty well. The manual says not to turn the gain all the way up, so of course, that was the first thing I did. Not quite as much as I was anticipating, but still impressive, especially with my weak pickups. I also turn the treble and presence controls up pretty high, even though the manual warns against this when using extreme gain settings. I'm probably asking for tube problems later, but it just sounds so good, I don't care. Besides, I have a whole set of preamp tubes ready to go in case of a failure. One of the things I like best about this amp is that even with the phenomenonal distortion all the way up, the amp is remarkably quiet. Ahhh... I just love that ultra-brutal distortion. It's almost repulsively extreme. I just can't wait until I get my EMG 85 to go in the bridge. Moving on, the clean channel is really not bad either, even though I usually despise clean guitar, I really spent some time on channel one. Channel two is equally seductive, and I use it on its vintage mode. I'm probably kind of weird, because I use channel three as my rhythm channel, and two as my lead channel. Oh well, sounds good. I think I'll give this a nine, because there's always something that could be better. Well, maybe not.

Haven't had it too long, I bought it off eBay, so I'm not sure whether or not the warranty still applies, but I really couldn't care less. It's like buying a used BMW or a Mercedes; they're so well made that the fact that it's used doesn't detract from it's value.

Haven't had the pleasure of dealing with them.

Overall, this a fantastic amp, able to do anything, but made for metal. As for the lost/stolen thing, I'd probably cry, because I'm completely broke now that I bought it. If I ever found the guy, I'd crucify him and light the cross on fire.

OK it has 3 channels and all have modes to their channles clean has clena and pushed whereas the 2 distorted channles have raw vintage and modern. Raw being the least distorted up to modern being very intense each mode actually sounds differnet and the orange channle and red channel have differnt charictaristics as well. It has a bad ass Fx loop. I can bypass or access the loop with the foot switch or I could set the loop to be on constantly on any one of the 3 channels and when switching to another it cuts off immediatly. Should I want to turn the loop on this new bypassed channel I could by using the foot switch. OH, I wish it had reverb somtimes but thats where fx units come in right?

I heard people say this amp isn't versitile and I must beg to differ. I play anything from funk to Rock to jazz and metal and I can pretty much get any sound I want. The hardest thing to get out of this amp is a smooth lead tone. I use either an American Jackson Soloist with 2 seymour duncans or an American Fender Stratocaster. I use the 2nd channel for my main Crunch. I have it set to modern and the gain at about 7 it is incredible and For leads I use Channel 3 on vintage with the gain at 5.5-6 and low trebble but it still isn't as smooth as I'd like it. I sold my marshall head and I miss that Crystal like Clean it had, But I didn't have the loop options this amp has, or the 3 independant channels. This amp suprisingly isn't noisy even with all the gain. A triaxis in comparison would completely drown this amp out with that adjitating HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS. The worst thing I could say about this amp is when I take off stand-by the first time only when I switch from channel 2 to channel 3 there is a very audible pop?? only that one time after that it does it no more.

My Friend has a tripple recto and he puts it in the back of his truck and takes corners at 50 mph with the amp slamming in the side of the bed!!!! He plays out with his band frequently and the only time he had a proble was when somebody back stage unpluged the speaker cable! I have a lot of faith in this amp but I wouldn't subject it to beatings like that.

Even if the leads arn't that smooth and the clean isn't the sparkliest their support is second to none. I had mine on layaway for a while and when I went to pick it up at Mars the sales person told me that it had been recalled?? and that the new one will be in in 2 days. So I go Home and Email Mesa Boogie to find out what is going on. They call me back the next day (I didn't even leave my number) they went through Mars to get it and were outraged that anyone would tell a customer there was a recall when there was not and hasn't been in their entire history. They conducted an investigation why the guy said this and even followed up with me to see how the amp was working out and told me that if I had any questions at all just give them a Holler. I have to say too that Mars handled the situation very well. Their Head office called me in an act of appology for the incompitant staff member and were professional in how the situation was handled.

I've been playing 5years and have gone through a lot of guitars and a couple amps. Marshalls mostly. I still use a Marshall cab that rattles (ugghh) I love the distorted channles and the clean is an 8 of 10. I love the loop opions they are great. I A B'd it with a triaxis and 2:90 power amp and the recto was much more focused and resopnsive and it changed channles immediatly where the triaxis had a 1/3 second delay between channels. It doesn't sound like much time but when you're in a song that needs to be ON that 1/3 second makes a huge difference. This was also a lot more pocket friendly because I didn't need to Buy a midi controller a rack or a poweramp If I went for the Triaxis I still wouldn't have it. If It were stolen I would get another. I don't think I could live without the sounds I get from it.

has everything cost $1500 great deal compared to Soldano and Bogner etc. I have had the slo and the bogner they are great amps but not that great.

has every sound cost $1500 great deal compared to Soldano and Bogner etc. I have had the slo and the bogner they are great amps but not that great.IMHO

Tank, Tank did I say Tank unless you use 34EL power tubes then watch out.

They call you back. great all you can ask.

27 yrs/ fender, marshal, soldano, 5150,. if stolen I buy another one for sure. I do like the tsl marshall but it breaks I had 3 of them all went bad and were taken back. I love marshall tube sound but the quality on the new stuff is bad. I never realy liked the mesa sound this amp is different I went to the store to check out a guitar and I played thru this amp because it was there and I couldn't belieave how great the amp was so I took it home and have played it for a year now and for sure it's a great amp. love the new raw setting that's the marshall sound or close to it that to me mesa never had now it does and also has the recto rip your head off sound. Check it out it's not just a meatal head. open your mind and turn up the mids please.

This amp has everything.

I am using les paul standard with jb and jazz p/u's also a PRS McCarty with stk p-90's and a PRS custom 22 stk p/u,s also a mex 50's strat with lindy fralin p/u,s. The amp can do metal to classic to funk to what ever.It is not just a metal head.My band does mostly classic rock, the amp suits me fine. It is not noisy at all even with my strat unless you max out the gain which is not nessary.The distortion can go from a clean just breaking up sound to a brutal make you smile rip your head off shake your boudy sound. This to me is key to this amp also the solo switch so you can use for rythm and leads.I have had other mesa amps and have not been happy. I had the single rectifyer combo (50 watts two channel) when it first came out and I liked some things but overall it was a diapointment also I had the tremoverb combo and a DC-5 all are gone now. I went from a Soldano SLO 100 to this amp the SLO was great but the boogie for the money and the features kicks its ass. And I loved the SLO 100 and again it is a great amp but it is two channels foot swichable only and it is over $3000 new the mesa is half that so no contest IMHO. The new raw sound on the mesa is great I can get the marshall sound I want and the recto melt your face sound and also a good clean to crunch sound and I can solo on any channel.You must use the mids on this amp the factory setting always keep the mids realy low I don't know why. Keep the bass low the mids at half or a little less and dial in the treble and presence to taste. Give the amp a chance and you will be very happy.

They are built like tanks and customer service is great.

Great may take a day to get back ,but they get back thats what counts.

playing for 25 years if stolen I would buy again. I love all the options and the look of it. I hate nothing about it. I compared and have owend 5150,jcm 800 (great but need more)tremoverb,dc-5, fender 65 twin(one trick pony )Line 6 AX2, Trixas, Soldano SLO 100, hot rod 100,. I once thought mesa was good but to expensive, no more all the amps are too expensive. The mesa is becoming a good value for the price. I had three Marshall tsl heads and combo all broke within three weeks or less I love Marshall but the quality is terrible and Marshall will suffer for it if they don't wake up soon and the new AV valve state total crap. Don't believe the hype. Marshall puts all its money in bull shit ads IMHO. Buy A used good old Marshall I did, thats my back up.

It has been reviewed.

This is the amp that made NU Metal, what a Joke. It sounds muddy, and just doesn't cut it. I'm suprised so many people like this amp. Wheres the great tone? The Mark IV is a lot better amp.

I got a Soldano SLO instead. It eats the Rectum finder.