Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Solo Head

I bought it brand new last year(2004). 100W.
I use PRS cu24 and cu22 with it, and this baby is versatile enough for all kinds of dirt sound I want.
It has 3 channels, LOOP, LINE OUT, channel switching and you can use EL34 or 6L6 power tubes. It also features 2 kinds of rectifier types.
All those features are enough for me, not as complicated as the roadking which I own, but it's enough!

I use two PRS and one EBMM with it. I just want to say they sound perfect. I know a lot of people think dual recto sounds muddy, lacks definition and the low ends not tight enough. But IMO if the dual recto has lots of definition, as tight as the Uberschall and the Powerball, it can't be named DUAL RECTIFIER, it'll be named crap. I use this baby to play all kinds of dirt sound, like blues, hard rock, classic rock, pop, metal. The clean channel is ok, just ok. But who cares, the baby is famous for its dirt.
To compare with the old 2channels dual recto, the 3 channels dual has more bites and attack, sounds kinda cold. Two different animals.

It's never broken down.

I don't need it.

I've been playing 10 years. I've owned a few mesa amps, The dual rectifier and the mark4, mark2 C+, tremoverb, blue angel are the best mesa products IMO. They are Not as pricey as the uberschall, herbert and some boutique amps, but these amps are very reliable and sounds incredible. All I want to say is the DR is the king of distortion.

I believe i bought this amp in 1999. I allmost had to
put all my money in it to buy it, quite expensive BUT it
is a great amp.
I play different styles, Rock, hard - Rock, metal (not often), etc. For this music its a great amp, but thats my opinion.
It has two chanels, sometimes i wish i had 3 channels, but i have
solved the problem with a Duecetone from proco.

I play now on a Jackson Kelly, with hardware upgrade to EMG pickups 81, 85, with mid control. Im thinking about to buy a Fret King Corona 70, it also sound really great on this amp.
The amp suits perfect to my music style.
The variety is ok, like i sad i use a proco Duesetone with it so
i have enough variety, when u dont have a other overdrive pedal i recommend it because 2 chanels is really not enough.
I dont know what other people say but i dont think there is
a amp that sound so good clean!!!!
The distortion is really High gain!! So more than enough gain.
- One side note i have to make, the amp isnt really still, it has a low noise when my guitar volume is out.

Really great, it never broke down or anything.
Just buy new tubes when they are used up, and play!!!

Don't know, never used any service of Mesa Boogie.

I use a Jackson Kelly with EMG - Looking for a more allround guitar
-> i think its gonna be a fret King.
I use a Rat Duecetone from Proco and a Morley Bad Horsie Wha.
Still looking for a good reverb.
If it would be stolen i would buy a new one if i can pay it.

I believe I got this 2001. I think that alomst all styles can be played on this amp,I have like a latin funk rock reggae type os style and it does the job.Its a basic three channel with the fxloop.For as long as I had this amp the power and sound only gets better.

I use a American Telecaster with a lace senser,it has pretty good punch.The clean channel is crisp and clean the distortion rocks the house. I took this rig of mine everywhere to our shows and small partys and even in the rain the dualy always does the job.

I think I blewout A couple of tubes after the first two years, but ever since then no problems.I would definitely use this amp with no backup maybe a backup guitar.

One year warranty it should like five years cause you never know what could happen.The guys at the mesa shop were cool and gave me a couple tips.

Its a good amp none the less you cant go wrong.If it were stolen I would get another one no question! I would say the only amp that would probaly give it a run for its money is the OrangeAmp.The Mesa sounds pretty good running with Px4 I like to mess around with it.
All in all The Mesa Dualy is a fantasic piece of work!

My amp is a 2000 model bought new. The amp has two channels. The orange channel allows you a choice between vintage gain and clean. The second channel is the red channel which is your modern gain selection. This amp has amazing features. The effects loop is pretty nice although I dont use it much. Only modulation effects work well in the effects loop because distortion or EQ effects are too noisy. I love the spongy and bold switch. You really notice a difference in sound. The bold switch makes the sound very heavy and punchy while the spongy gives you a more van halen sound. The sound tends to sag a little (very useful for lead guitar).

I use an epiphone les paul standard with this and a fender lone star strat. Both guitars have seymour duncans. This is the greatest amp ever. The sound is absolutly perfect for everything I play. This amp can play country, blues, jazz funk and especially any kind of hard rock, metal grunge. I love the clean channel because of the gain setting. When you crank it you get an old marshall/fender sound. Great for blues. The vintage is great for classic metal and any classic rock. This is also the channel I use for all my leads because the harmonics are fantastic. The modern channel is more punchy and really hits that modern rock sound(Soundgarden, Metallica, Dream Theatre). My last band I was in played lots of styles of music and the amp hit everyone just perfectly. I play the amp through a 4/12 marshall. The amp gets very loud!! I have played it on stage many times and have had no problems being heard. I have also played the amp on several cab configs. It sounds excellent on 2/12s and 1/12 inch speaker cabs!! You need to buy this amp because it is the best that is out there and I have played a lot of different gear. Mesa will always be the best in my opinion because it is such a versatile amp.

This amp is very reliable. I only had a 12 ax7 go out on me and had it fixed and it has never had any other problems. I have had the amp for about five years and it is a tank. The amp took a spill off the cab once from our drunk nut ball drummer. It never even scratched it in fact I picked it up and it played fine. No problems what so ever. The amp is sturdy and built very well. I have never had to change the tubes in the five years I have had it probably should some day. The tubes are excellent though because they really keep their sound and dont degrade. So except for the minor 12 ax7 the amp is extremly reliable.

I never have had to deal with the company. I heard they are nice people though. I wish the warranty was longer(1 year)

I have been playing for 11 years and have owned marshall, fender, crate and roland. None of this gear matches up against mesa. Not even the slightest bit. Great sound, versatility and reliability. I love how the amp has inspired my playing because I never get bored with playing around with different settings. I cant emphasis enough how versatile this thing really is!!! Take a lot of time and really play with this thing. It is the best sound ever. I will never sell it and if somebody stole it I would buy another one and then find the guy who stole it and take it back. Then I would have two!!!! HEll YEAH!!!!!!

This is an update to my 03/09/2005 review.

I have since re-tubed the amp with a full set of JJ/Tesla Tubes from Eurotubes.
6L6's for the power
GZ34 Rectifier upgrade - this upgrade is worth it
ECC83S in V2-V5
ECC803S in V1 - this is the secret weapon

This set up is amazing! The amp now sings with much more clarity and thanks to the ECC803S in V1 it is quieter with no loss of definition. They say that the gain is lower but i dont notice a drop in gain; instead I notice a clarity in the gain. The amp in a whole is more "warmer and rounder"

I never realized what a difference tubes can make, call Bob at Eurotubes or just read the site. The amount of information is amazing.

One thing I really love about the reveiws for this amp is that most people say they LOVE THE RECTO or HATE THE RECTO!!!!Nothing is in the middle on this amp opininion wise.When these first came out I COULD NOT DIG IT.mid 90's 2channel (orange/red).Features great"modern"rock tones that cannot be duplicated by the roadking or the 3 ch model D.R....close but no cigar.My story with this amp is simple.I went to the local g.c. to look at a roadking head that was "on sale".I know the R.K. is well built and the foo's took em to rock in rio so I figured they could cover alot of ground and be reliable..I might add,.Before their last tour they had triple recs/ac-30.Before that it was the dual recs/and a heart breaker for dave.As I was playing around with the Roadking,A kid next to me plugged in to the dual rec.He instantly had that signature higain thing those amps do so well.It was great sounding right off the bat with not much fuss.At first I thought maybie his boogie 4x12 cab was diffrent.So I plugged the roadking in to his cab and tried very hard to copy the feel and tone of the dual rec thinking it was possible...NOT!!!After fiddling and fiddling trying to get the roadking to do one thing really really well,I gave up and bought the older used dual rec and saved $800.00.Accept no substitute.There are some good tones in the R.K. but they are just good verses the one or two great tones on the dual rec.I was after the foofighters colour and the shape tones amoung others.This nails it.I like the three channel triple rec as well and the tones are in the ballpark but this dual rec has a bit of a certain magic mojo with less knobs and stuff.Features do not equall tone in this case.Has enough features even if it had one channel.

I only use the D.R. with lespauls at the moment.I bet a p-90 l.p.would be cool.The clean is not the reason you should consider a boogie in my opinion.Try a vox/matchless or a hiwatt or a fender or a jc-120.If you want to avoid spending time and money,Never expect one amp to do everything.I use this for modern heavy distortion.There might be things that kinda sound like it now or mabie the Diezel is this or that but I v'e waited this purchase out to find this is really the amp defined the 90's higain rock tone.....mxpx,blink,foo's,godsmack,creed,Rammstien,Jerryfinns productions and anything else.The recto is not like any other amp.It can be a date stamp for music at this point in time because so many hardrock hit records have been made with these.They are a genre onto themselves.

A tank.

Hot and cold.Better than most.

I have many amps and I want to break it down to a few that are the best of a class.This was a landmark amp for mesa...some would like to forget that it ever happend im sure.Nothing else is like it.Not even the mesa triaxis can do it with its"recto mode...come on!!Who are they fooling?.I own a hiwatt dr 100w custom,matchless hc'30 sn#007..victoria deluxe..a rockaforte 18w and daniel 45.I play many styles.The bottom line is women need many shoes and purses and men need many diffrent guitars and amplifiers and effects.

Take a look at one. Damn that for fun. I uesed to like farting around with all this. Not really my bg, but I think the idea was god. I Love options, but more they add value - and for the sounds thing dials up - well... It's overkill and selling hopes to fools... If you get sold on all the buttons, knobs and lights that is.

Teh Good features were, the retifier switching, and Bias switch for quick tube tastes... The rest, well I thought just thinned the sound out.
8 for features (1 lost for no Class A A/B selection, the other lost for no neg feedback selector) - but a 4 for anything that "SOUNDED" good.

I have 1 Ibanez seven String, 2 RG's with Evo's. 2 Les Paul 58's prems, 1 Strat, 1 Tele, 1 Rickenbacker. No FX. Just a cable.

The only thing that could work this amp was the Gibbo's.
Channel 1 (Clean):
Way average. Not impressed. Flat, basic EQ shape. no sparkle no shimmer. I ahve heard marshalls sound better than that. Rated: 5

Channel 1 (Pushed): Better, but not really bluesy. Not chewy sweet, a bit more brittle bite. Rated: 6

Channel 2: Raw and vintage are just diluted versions of the modern option. Basically I just trashed this channel. I am not sure what it is trying to imamate, or create but it was not really good for any style ? sounded cheap. Again, just flat. No honk or guts.

Channel 3: Same as above for Raw and Vintage. Useless!!! But, The Modern channel , with the Solo boost on, fu*k around with the FX loop pots, and power it as ?BOLD? and you have you Boogie sound. This is where you money comes home. Still not great, really some punch and sparkle on the lower to medium mid?s.

This amp has bass, and power, but not rich ballsy punch. Rated: 8 Nearly perfect for sound I bought it for.

Seems sold. Always a bit dubious about that many features screwing with tone, my tech's head and my wallet. But had it for 8 months and hit it hard twice week for 3 hours a hit - solid.

Who knows. Not even sure Mesa support anything outside the US. Most American companies shoot themselves in the foot by voiding all ther Warrantees outside the US. Why make em power rated for another coutry and sell them when you're not even confiedent enough to warrantee the goods. Gives me faiths in the product too! NOT.

For a real vanilla flavoured all-round stage beast that has the saturation and really basic clean sound, this is really it. No extra OD pedal required. Not a great lead amp. God knows why anybody thinks it is. Nu-Metal ? Just smooter you sound in tin foil.

Mine was stolen ? I will not another one. I tried the Stiletto and that has some reasonable sounds to?more in the channels I wasn?t impressed in with Recto, and fail miserably on the channel where the recto shines! Go Figure!!! HA!

They?ll get a tight mix one day. So Stiletto is out, again unusable in most cases. The Recto has a boutique price but not a boutique sound. I am buying a Bogner Ecstasy head and quad as a replacement.

NOTE: Make a Marshall sound fatter ? USE THESE QUADS! They are great. Leads me to believe that the head might have sounded average through a standard market quad!

mine is a 1998 model. There are so many features on this thing that it first scared me. I always thout that the more features you have the more it sucks out tone. I was pleasantly surprised here. The dual rectification option is kick ass I can brown out the sound and crank the mother fucker. The fact that it has a el 34 option is also ideal to me I have been useing groove tube e34ls and they work great here which I was also concerned about. Are there features I wish it had NO!
Is it versitile I would say so.

The sounds are what I was looking for a long time ago. The clean is cool it is in a whole realm of its own (its kinda fat and a little gainy it works with my sg in a good way.)The vintage gain I don't use
I use the modern gain channel. Ok heres the kicker I don't play Nu-Metal,Power Punk or Faggoty AfI shit either(I honestly thought the lead singer was a chick he sounds like one). I play rock inspired by
Zepplin, Sabbath,Purple, The Clash, Bad Religon and Metallica. So why am I useing a rectifier instead of a marshall. Simple That amp has my sound. As soon as I heard it I knew it was the perfect companion for my Sg. I also use les paul classics for back up. It compliments each guitar and makes each one sound unique. Oh yeah here's another tip
don't crank the eq (read the manual). I never have any of the eq past
1 o'clock including the gain. I think the rectifer has a cool unique
sound it may not a apeal to everybody but it does to me.

It hasn't broken down so I gues it is reliable. I droped it out of my car once and even the tubes were still good (oh shit I forgot Im using groov tubes)

They know their product very well and will always tell you some cool things you can do with it. Except for one qirp They will only recomend their tubes (Go to eurotubes.com they are the supplier of JJ tubes my groove tubes are actually repackaged JJ tubes. groove tubes dont make their own tubes.) Buy from Euro tubes they can make you're rectifier sound dynamite)

I have been playing guitar for 12 years. I used to own a marshall jcm 800 (cool amp not my sound I heard in my head) I am not in a professional touring band but I do play shows and I will tell you this amp has not let me down. Any one who complains about this amp being muddy (wow are you kidding me It has a fat sound but muddy where are you're settings on 10). I use it with a mesa tradional 4X12 and a marshall 4X12 lead at the same time and a dunlop cry baby classic. Im happy.

Distortions - As usual mesa did a great job with the distortion on the amp. The problem is that for the price it is basically a 1700 dollar distortion pedal.
Clean - It sounds like you are playing through 2 plastic cups attached to a string, dull and boring.
Channle swithing - The biggest joke on the amp. Nothing sounds sweeter than that loud pop through your cabinet, when you change from one channel to the next. I contacted mesa and even has the amp at a service center to be checked and they stated this was normal. They even had the balls to list some of the famous people who are using there amp. But I bet for damn sure they are not being sent to a service center.

DIstortion - Awesome for power chords but does not generate clean solos or single notes.
Clean - Empty and Hollow Like the tech i spoke to at mesa
Channel Switching- Pop POp Pop need I say more.

They state how these amps are built like tanks. Remind the army never to purchase from mesa. Amp was broke from day one and because the lack of supply of thier product have a nice ride to your local service center.

There is no reliability for a company that doesn't stand by there product. The employies at mesa are worthless except their Secratary who seems to be the only person whose voicemail you do not get.

Just 2 things 1 for anyone thinking of buying a boogie amp and one for mesa themselves.
1. Don;t just buy this amp because everyone you see on tv is playing it. Just remember they are playing through multi million dollar systems and any flaws with the amp is the least of there worries because they have seven back ups and pro techs. Do not buy in to the hype just go to a guitar shop and play wha tsounds the best .
2 For mesa I hope a company never come out with a distortion effect that matches the rectifier ditortion because if they do mesa better try making pop corn machines.

This review is for a 2 Channel (1995).

2 Channels (orange & red), effects loop, channel cloning (a great feature), Bold / Spongy switch. Everything a normal guitar player needs.
I mean honestly folks, what else do you need. I love when people say "well it could use another channel or maybe 20 more tubes", or even the kitchen sink. Be for real. Guitar players use 2 sounds - Clean or Dirty and the good players mostly use one, so think about it.

I have had this head (and recto 4-12 cab) for over a decade and have finally figured out how to use it - seriuosly. This is for all the idiots (including my self) who say "This thing sucks and has no tone" Have any of you people actually read the manual??? The tone controls are VERY dynamic & will dramticaly alter the tone from bad to worse if you think you can set this thing up traditionaly (with everything at 10 as most people do). PEOPLE THIS IS NOT JUST A METAL AMP!!! It can do anything, you just need to understand how the controls work with each other - thats right each other. I now get huge clean tones & mild crunch tones as well as over the top high gain modes.

I play mostly Rock & blues, and run the head via a 4-12 recto or 1-12 cabs. Guitars are the standards Les pauls, Strats & a 335.
Effects are plenty, Boss trem, chorus, delay, phaser, ts-9 & a budda wah. all very quiet, and the effectsloop is dead silent as well as the amp itself in either mode.

I used to get a very harsh distortion/overdrive until i took the time to read the manual, there i found out how the presence controls actually work inconjunction with the gain & treble controls. Now gone is the harsh distorions, and the clean is clean, loads of headroom & clear. I can get SRV tones with my strat out of this thing now, as well as very cool Santana like lead tones. I can also get some very cool Larry Carlton tones with my 335 (although i know no one will belive me). Mesa actually states that if you crank the gains to the max you are basically bypassing all the tone controls, most likely resulting of the bad tones everyone below is commenting on - again please take the time to read the manual!

10 years of gigging and playing at home with no issues.
Only thing that i have done is change the tubes.
very reliable

Everytime I called or emailed with questions, they have always returned my call/email.

I was on the verge of getting rid of this amp for something else, until i went to the Mesa web site. It made all the differece. I have a new love for this amp, and i wish everyone would stop calling it a "Metal amp", it is simply not true. I have seen country players using them, as well as other non-metal players. the fact is the Most Mesa's are over-engineered and thats fine, you just need to learn how to use it once you have it. If you are not getting a good tone, you're not being patient.