Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head Triple Channel

3 channels, it's all been said... I really like the amount of features on this amp which allows for great versitilty.

I've used this amp with alot of diffrent guitars playing lots of styles. (Godin Flat Five, USA Strat, Ric 330...) I found this amp to have useable sounds for just about everything. Using the switches and eq I could get it all. This doesn't mean they were all amazing but where for sure useable. Also, an separate eq and a reverb pedal really step this amp up several notches. Having the extra control from the eq really helps. Which out it it is a bit hard to dial in but is good once you find the sweet spots. I used it mostly for harder stuff (Chevelle, Blindside..) and I liked it. I've found that a good cab is a must have.

I gigged with it for about a month and have had no problems with it. I run it with the master about half way up which is pretty dang loud (channel 1 vol at 5 oclock, 2 channel at around 3 and the 3ed channel at 12 oclock) so I would guess pushing it that hard that much would help it break if it was. No problems.

I've been playing 7 or 8 years and have played alot of other gear. I like this amp but am getting an up grade. I've got the money so I'm going a step up, something in the Bogner, Framus, Engl range...Good amp for a good used price but I can't really see paying 1500 or whatever for a new one. I'm giving it an 8 because compared to higher end amps it falls a bit short.

Take heed...
Anyone who can stand up and say truthfully that these amps sound band/terrible/awful need themselves examining. This amp gets better through experience and using the fucking thing rather than just complaining that it doesnt sound like a Marshall (which are shit anyway) and bitching that you cant get a good sound out of it.
The only bad sounds in this amp are the ones that are dialled in by inexperienced guitarists who do not really have the first idea of what constitutes a good guitar sound. Playing in a store is no good either. Let me tell you if you are considering buying this amp then go ahead and purchase it you cannot regret it.
People that get the results from this amp know how to use it and have more than likely got a bit of sense about themselves.
if you are frustrated with the sound of your Rectifier here are some suggestions which may help.
1. run the amp at 50 watts. The perceived volume difference between 50 watts and 100 watts is hardly noticable, but running the amp at 50 watts by pulling out the two center power tubes and one of the rectifier tubes will add harmonic content to your sound when turning up the volume.
2.Set the variac switch to spongy giving a looser feel to the amp and set the rectifier to valve/tube.
3. Dont scoop the mids!!!! Keep them quite a bit above half. It amazes me how many people think that for a metal sound they have to scoop the mids. This is so wrong. A good metal sound in my opinion is something that sounds downright filthy, think Daron Malakian from System Of A Down's first album before he started with all that Mode 4 crap. That to me is an awesome metal sound and i would bet my bottom dollar that he set his amp up like i am explaining. Obviously it was a Boogie too.
4. Keep the individual channel masters a bit below half, balance up the sounds from each channel keeping them a bit below half this keeps the clarity.
5. Use the amp loud and live. Open up the overall master volume for some seriously sick guitar sounds (at least past half)
6. Use a Mesa cab! Tried using it wit a mARSEshall- v. poor
7.try this setting for a really aggresive modernish Malakianish crunch/grind that is still good for solos
Gain 7.5
Bass 8.5
Mid 7.5
Treble 5.5
Presence 3
Channel Vol. 4.5
Mode Vintage
Channel 3

set up similar sounds for all of the channels by using a more mid, less treble approach. your guitar's sound sits in the middle frequency of a band situation. Cymbals etc taking up the high end and Bass Guitar and Kick drum taking up the Low end. why set your tone up with loads of bass, loads of treble and then scoop the mids??? I fucking hate stupid Fucks that set their amps up like this. All this causes is your guitar to clash with the high end and low end space that everyone else is sitting in. the MID FREQUENCY IS WHERE YOUR GUITAR SHOULD BE!! USE YOUR FUCKING MIDDLE EQ CONTROL AND TURN IT UP MORE THAN YOU ARE USING IT NOW TO BE HEARD AND HAVE A PUNCHY, AGGRESIVE GUITAR SOUND THAT SITS IN THE MIX WITH A BAND (IT MAY SOUND ODD IN THE BEDROOM! FOR ALL YOU WANNABE'S OUT THERE!) IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONIC SPECTRUM IS WHERE A GUITAR SHOULD BE SO PLEASE PUT IT THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. This amp is the best amp i have ever owned, it caters for every possible style of music, it looks cool, it sounds amazing, it is not a one trick pony, its hand made and its a million times better than all of those horrid amps out there that tend to be black and gold, and have eight lettered names in a white script font.

There... My two cents worth!

everything u need and way to much more

Ok everyone needs to snap out of this dual recto hype im not sayin its a bad amp it just doesnt sound like 1500 dollars mybe 900 to 1000 but thats it anyway i bought this new crate bv150 its the 150 watt version of the bv300 which i dont understand who the hell needs 300 watts hell i dont even need 150 really but anyway this new crate is definitly worth what u pay for, its 1200 dollars, sounds better than a dual recto thats for sure and has a little more tone options u might say but anyways just a thought try it and see wat u think dont get me wrong other crates sound like shit with some exceptions by the way i play finch type stuff, Taking back sunday, rage, and of coarse weezer and incubus two of the most brilliant bands out there

well they r built like a damn bomb shelter which is good, Hell they should of went ahead and made a bullet proof kevlar dust cover for it then there aint nothin that could stop this shit

they better support there customers 1 year warranty's come get the fuck outta here i want at least a 3 year and also that crate has a 5 year warranty which i feel more secure with

N/A

This is the 3 channel version. I find it hard to give anything a 10, but this is as close to it as possible. It has so many features that let you dial in a sound it is amazing. On the back there is even more options. Read the site for specifics. Downfall is that this amp needs a type of power selector to play with less watts.

VERY IMPORTANT, this amp sounds best loud. I have said it. At first I wasn't altogether satisfied with the tones, but when I really cranked it , it sounded great. I play many different styles and use this in a studio for others to use. I think that it is great with single coils and humbuckers. Yes, this is great for really heavy stuff, like Zao, Killswitch engage, etc., but is also wonderful for blues, and clean. I will play with the gain on about 4, master at 6, and power section on about 4-7 and get a great overdriven distortion. It is clean really loud to, which is a bonus for live playing. I use it wilh a mesa 4-12 straight cab with celestion vintage 30's.

so far,so good

in the past i have had success with mesa

I have been playing for about 10 years, have recorded with two separate groups and played live numerous times. This is a great head for me in all situations. I would buy a second if i could. I do wish i could have a power setting to not have to get so loud with it though. I compared it to many other amps that i would have been satisfied with, i just thought that i could get more seperate sounds out of this, and so far have been happy.

Built in 2002 this amp has served me well for a full year. You know the features.

What should it have? Reverb would be nice, as would a true master volume for all three channels. But from what I read the implement of a main master volume would effect how the channels effect each other.

Read your manual people! Having worked in a music store I realize first hand that the majority of people that complain about the sound of this amp sucks is related to a lack of knowledge on how to use the thing. Sure there are people out there that this amp is NOT built for (blues players for example) and I don't recomened it for them.

To get a good sound out of this amp I read the manual, used some of the sample settings and played with them to get MY sound. And my clean channel sounds excelent! My EQ is set to 12:00 on mid, bass, and trebel, and a bit of pressance can go a long way.

I was unhappy with the distorted tones of the second channel at first. I use it for low gain and just felt that the 6L6's didn't open up enough. I replaced the tubes with EL34's thanks to the built in bias switch and went back to work. The distortion got more saturated, sustained, and just crunchier. Exactly what I was looking for.

The third channel is pretty much set to eleven... I love screaming rock!


It's not that I play in a hard metal hair band either, I play in an alt rock band. www.rolodexmusic.net

Guitars being used: Epi ES335 with Burstbucker and 500T, Epi SG w/Seymour Duncan Super Distortions, Fender Tele Custom. Sounds good with everything.



Before the final verdict is produced.... BEWARE OF THE EFFECTS CHAIN! Even with trem and flange the only effects in my loop chain, when you trigger the FX using the floor board, the volume level almost halfs. You can't change the output knob on the front of your amp without effecting your base tone either! I checked with other amp owners and found the same problem.

no comment

Good guys to deal with, the mesa rep was a great source of information.

You have heard it all already; 3 channels from clean to super heavy gain. No reverb, great effect loop, many more features. 100 watts, slave out, clean channel switching (no noise).

Many people have complained about the clean channel and how no one buys this amp for that purpose, but I believe that for $1,500 you better have the total package. It does take quite a bit of tweaking, especially with the presence, but I got a great Fender-like clean out of it. The other two channels are pretty much the same. I use one for more of a vintage rock-roll sound and the other for brutal distortion (you know, the one this amp is famous for). I play many styles of music which is why I love the versatility of the head. I mostly use a 1978 Fender Strat modified with a DeMarzio super distortion in the bridge position. I have several other guitars, but they all sound great through this head. I can play everything from Jazz (I use a Holy Grail reverb in the effects loop) to Death metal with this rig (I also have the matching rectifier cabinet to go with it. I run my guitar through a Clyde Deluxe wah, Boss Flanger, and a Boss dd-5 Delay pedal. I find it better to run these in line rather than through the loop. The gain of this amp can be a bit much when run through the effects, so I find it better to modify the signal before the gain.

No problem yet, I have had it over a year.

I have never had to call them, but everone I know who did got quite a bit of help. Since I myself have not had to call I will not rate this section.

I have been playing for over 20 years. I have used Marshalls, Crates, Line 6s, and several other amps. This is one of the best ever. Every high-end amp has its own personality and the beauty is in the ear of the beholder, but I do feel this is quite the complete package especially for someone looking for versatility. I do wish it had reverb, so the only thing I can really compare it to is the Marshall JCM2000. It really comes down to the whole Marshall vs. Boogie thing which is a matter of personal preference. If this were lost or stolen I would definitely replace it with one just like it.

This amp was hand made in Calafornia. It is very versatile from muddy blues to screaming leads.

This amp has beautiful tone. I am astounded that anyone would give this amp a 1 on sound quality. It's ridiculous. This amp is one of the higher priced amps in it's class, and they have sold alot. I find it funny that people would be stupid enough to keep buying these amps at this high price if they didn't deliver. And They Are Hand-Made!

Anyways there are three channels on this amp. The first channel is for clean and crunch tones. It doesn't have the headrooom of a Fender Twin, but it isn't supposed to. The clean sounds pretty good and occasionally I like to crank the gain and the volume to get this rank yet beautiful natural tube overdrive. The second channel lends itself to mid crunchy tones beautifully.(listen to rythem guitar on Alive by Pearl Jam) It is a beatiful distortion and can stand up to any marshall on stage, i've personally done it. The third channel I mainly use for a solo channel to cut through the mix.

I fully feel that I can depend on this amp. I gig without a backup because you can easily play this amp with 2 power tubes.

Mesa customer supportt is amazing, that's all I have to say.

Grreat Amp

pretty versitile, 3 channels, vintage, raw and modern settings. ss or tube rectifier, spongy or bold setting, more features then marshalls do.

Me and 4 of my freinds worked all summer and all bought brand new dual rectifiers, mesa diamand plate 4x12 recto cabs and prs custom 24's w/ 10 tops and birds (nice!). I replaced the tubes immidiatly with jj/tesla 6L6 power tubes and 12AX7 preamp tubes, improved sound considerably, I was expecting some good tone, boy was I wrong! Three channels, clean channel makes my 10w ss crate practice amp sound like a '65 fender twin reverb, the mid gain channel (channel 2) sounds kinda like a marshall hotrodded jcm 800......after being dropped off a cliff! No sustain, even when cranked up to 6-7! The high gain channel is pure grainy fuzz crap (almost sounds like ss), this thing has no tone at all! I play hardcore/metal and I'm ashamed of my sound! People always go "whoa!" when they see me dragging in a mesa, when I turn it on and start playing it they usually just walk away, cause it's so overrated. I've been messing with the settings for the past 2 months trying to get even a mediocre tone and just isn't there.

it reliably sounds like crud. other then that nothing has gone wrong with it.

never dealt with them, I sure wish they would build dual rectifier that actually sounds good!

Mesa must be paying alot of people to use there crappy amps, I sold my head a week ago, planning on buying either a marshall dsl 100 or a bogner ubershall. two of my freinds have already bought dsl 100's and are getting much better tone. I think the fact is most people think because they see so many guys using mesa's they just think they're good and once they buy them they just get used to that sound and get defensive everytime somebody tells them how crappy they sound.
I wish it was stolen when I had it, that would've been a miracle.

Mine's a 2003 triple channel solo head. I don't play a wide variety of music but the amp itself is so versatile that you can do so many different things with it. It's 100% tube tone (with the option of solid-state rectification instead).I typically play rock / hard rock upto metal and the Dual Recto certainly delivers. As everybody else has already said, it's got 3 channels - 1 clean, 2 distorted channels - but I prefer the Orange distortion channel in a band situation typically (its generally less fuzzy than the Red Channel and compliments my second guitarist's rig better). It would have been nice to have some reverb but the FX loop is great so that makes up for it. The solo function of the head (to allow for an immediate boost in volume when required) is without a doubt an extremely useful feature of the amp and is just such a great idea. The amp is damn loud also, so it can be hard to crank.

The amp has so many sounds in it that it's really difficult to dial in the sound you want (even though I've had this amp for almost a year and didn't want to review it until I had used it sufficiently). I use an Ibanez RG770FM and the pup's aren't overly hot, but with slightly hotter pickups such as my friend's Duncan JB or Dimarzio Tone Zone, the amp distortion really smokes. That isn't too say that the stock pups on my guitar are bad (I like them a lot) but hotter pickups certainly give a more full sound. Warning: You will not get a good distortion sound out of it unless u crank it until at least 25%... anything less than that is just buzz. Some people complain that the FX loop seems to make the amp more fizzy... in my experience this isnt the case and as long as the amp has sufficient volume going through it, it sounds fine. However since the amp is so loud, turning up the master volume past 25% can be a problem. The speaker cable used to connect the head to the cab is important also (make sure its a speaker cable not an instrument cable like people are often conned into! It actually makes a HUGE difference and instrument cables will damage the amp). My cleans are generally set for a spanking-clean kinda sound (you can't get Fender cleans out of a Mesa obviously though), the orange distortion channel can get a really nice Marshall-esque boogie town, and the red channel provides the well-known Mesa all out high gain distortion. If you crank the amp, you won't need ridiculous amounts of gain. The amp can get quite bassy.

Well since it's a tube amp it's always best to have spare tubes, but I've used the amp at two gigs (without a backup) and had no issues. Treat it well and you won't have any problems.

I haven't properly dealt with Mesa/Boogie but I once sent a general question about the amp via their website... it took them around 2 weeks to respond. However I don't live in the US so maybe it's just their international services that aren't so hot!

I've been playing for over 3 years, and this is now my main amp, and would recommend that anyone should try out the amp at a respectable volume in order to see whether they like it or not. In truth it sounds very similar to bands that use the amp on commercial album's so as a general idea of what the amp sounds like, merely listen to a band that uses them. However, it's extremely versatile and can do a wide variety of styles of music, so don't believe that since the majority of nu-metal/pop/mainstream rock bands use them that they're only good for super high-gain. The price is rather high, but then again since I haven't had any problems with it and like the sound of it, I can't say that it wasn't worthwhile. Mesa should fix their prices in Europe however, because they're absolutely insane!! (almost three times the cost of it in the US, which is why i bought my amp from Chicago). If it were stolen or lost I'd be tempted to try out other amps first before buying it again (just to experiment with new sounds and amps obviously) but if I had another spare $1500 then I'd buy it again!

year-2000
The mesa works great! for the style of music we play: Hardcore (Madball/Terror/All out war/By my will etc.)You will also find it is very versitile for other sounds & types of music.
This amp comes with 3 channels (1-Clean/2-80's Rock/3-GOD LIKE!)
I use the effect loop for a Flanger, excellent option keeping pedals off the floor. As far as features I wish it had? Well, maybe a chorus/reverb options would have been cool on the clean channel- no big deal, a pedal can remedy that.
As most know(Should know)Its an all tube amp (4-Power tubes-6L6 or EL34 choice) (2-Rectifier Tubes with the option to switch to solid state)

I use an ESP Viper 400 with EMG 81 Pickups. 11 Guauge strings.(Not to twangy no too muddy- just right!) ADVICE for that someone who has a Recto and is experiencing some frustration on getting a great sound.
I have a check list for you!
FIRST-Make sure you have a good Quality Guitar w/great pickups(Seymours/EMG etc.)Guitars? I suggest (ESP/LTD) (Epiphone) (Schecter) The Price is decent & they are all setup with quality items(with the exception of pickups-depends if they come with quality ones-dont buy it if not). If you have a Recto, you obvioulsly can get a Guitar (If not! use your damn credit card & spend $700).

SECOND-What kind of cab are you using, it matters, I use a 4x12 Peavey MS cab, I get the sound I am happy with. Some use Marshall cabs, or even the cab the amp is designed for the mesa cab. Cabs give different sounds (Crisp/Deep/Crappy etc.) Just dont use a cheap homemade cab with Jensens speakers (Yes I have seen it!)

THIRD- EDUCATE YOURSELF ON TUBE TECHNOLOGY!!! It is the life source of your amp, ther are LOTS of variations to the topic, LEARN THEM!!. Purchase some quality "Groove Tubes" or any other topline Tube maker! Why? it sounds better!!Thats what you want! The mesa tubes work fine,just as the stock rims on your car work FINE! Put some custom wheels on it & you will turn heads and increase performance, same with the amp-better tone/sound.
Go to the site review/understand all sections of the tubes category:
Preamp/Power/Rectifier. Email tech support for questions they will answer them. I use (GT-21AX7-C Preamp)(GT-5ARU/GZ34 Rectifier)(GT-6L6S Meds(4-7) YES!! Power tubes come with 3 different Distortion/volume levels. RESEARCH THIS OUT LEARN LEARN LEARN!
IF YOUR AMP SOUNDS WEAK & SCRATCHY WITH NO CUT THROAT POWER, YOUR TUBES ARE TIRED-REPLACE THEM- SIMPLE!!! If you hit the road have backup tubes/tool/batteries/strings etc.

FOURTH- Use quality speaker cables! Quality Gutar Cables! Keep power cables & speaker/effects/guitar cables away from eachother, otherwise it will humm-hiss an all that crap! Keep your speaker/effect cables short as possible. Dont use a 20ft guitar cable from your amp to your head. Use a SPEAKER thick Guage 5ft cable instead. Get IT!

FITH- Mesa has a manual for suggested sound settings, try them out! Then tweak them to your desired sound. TAKE YOUR TIME TO DO THIS!
Once you find your sound then mark them! OH! Use the rectifier Tube setting Much better than "Hi-Power" Solid state better feel, otherwise buy a peavey "Mesa" wannabe.


All the above is from my HARD learning experience with the setup.
I hope this help you!

I cant afford a back so I dont have one, but its a good idea to do so with any instrument (YOU NEVER NOW!)

I blew a diode & personally drove the amp from Oakland to Petaluma & the mesa folks fixed it Free! Thanx to the Mike Wolf at MESA. I have delt with mesa a few times in my research to better grasp the operations of the amp & the tubes used in it. Special thanks to Mike Wolf & Kevin at Mesa Boogie, SUPER freindly I could of gone & had a beer with these guys! They FULLY Backup there product & will take all the time they can to help you out!

I have been playing for 14 years I started at the age of 14.
If it were stolen, Yes I would get another one & probably insure it!
There are allot of high quality amps out there, this one fits my needs well. so far it is my favorite.
Feel free to contact me for any help or tips on this amp, I have been through hell & back with my guitar setup. Its not a bad thing its educational. vavasssc@gene.com -Stephan www.bymywill.com/index.htm