Voodoo Amps Mesa Boogie Rect-O-Verb Mod Head

This is a February 2006 vintage Rect-O-Verb Series II. All the features are listed elsewhere. Yes, it's powerful (50 LOUD watts), yes it's versatile (2 footswitchable channels, 5 "modes", FX loop, Solo volume boost), yes it's got that cool Rectifier sound.

Before the Voodoo mod:

Channel 1: Clean and Pushed modes. Clean is pretty clean, but not a lot of headroom if you need Fender or Roland JC clean. Pushed is way cool. Think LZ "Good Times Bad Times."

Channel 2" Raw, Vintage, and Modern. Raw is a lot like Pushed, maybe a little darker and smoother, Vintage is a real nice hard rock setting, as close to Boogie Mark II as this amp gets. The Modern setting is pure Recto, with that "swarm of bees" sound, which I like.

I use the FX loop with a Rocktron Xpression rack unit/MidiMate pedalboard/Hex expression pedal. Other than the Xpression being very finicky about input levels using the Chorus settings, this rig is working great, so far. No complaints with the FX loop throuhg a good rack unit.

My 1976 goldtop LP carries DiMarzio SD in the neck (yuck) and Evolution (pretty good) in the neck. Both pups are quality, but the SD is too muddy for me in the neck position when playing on a distortion setting. Clean, though, it's pretty sweet for the hard rock and classic rock stuff I play. The head feeds a Marshall 1960A cabinet.

Much of this is from my recent post on the Boogie Board.

I've owned two Mesas previously and loved both of them. However, for a period of time I went to a modeling amp (Johnson Millenium) to get good Fendery clean sounds in addition to overdrive/distortion tones. It served me quite well in both the rock band and the pop country band I was playing in, but had become somewhat unreliable over the last few months. Johnson no longer makes amp, and I'm not sending this 85 lb. brick to Utah for service.

I actually looked at Marshall first. I've owned a couple of older beauties, but the half-dozen new ones I tried (TSL, DSL, 900, etc.) sounded flat and lifeless compared to what I had before (I've been playing a looooong time). Once I tried the Rect-O-Verb, I was hooked. Besides their tone, the Mesa Boogies I've owned all had a great "feel," making the guitar seem easier to play.

The amp worked fine--it sounded very tight through my 1960A with all the usual Recto goodness, but once I got on stage, the hi-gain fuzz was really getting lost in the stage mix. I tried several tone/gain configurations without much more success. That's when I decided to do a little research on Voodoo Amp mods.

Everything they write about the excellent customer service and Trace's willingness to discuss your needs is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. Write an email (even a long one), he'll write back. Call the shop, he'll answer the phone. After I was satisfied that Voodoo could help, I made a "while you wait" appointment--not too hard to do, as I live only 3 hours from Ithaca.

When I arrived at the shop with my amp, two young sons and my DAD, Trace and Anthony welcomed us and put up with us rummaging around their new shop for a few minutes while Anthony disassembled the Rect-O-Verb. Voodoo Amps has no "service counter." You walk in and stand right next to the workbench while the tech is working on your amp. HOW COOL IS THAT?

Dad, the boys and I went for breakfast and did a little shopping while the Voodoo guys worked on my amp, and when I came back three hours later, I was cranking my LP through a newly modded amplifier. I opted for the "deluxe mod" which includes the Mercury Magnetics output transformer.

It still sounded great, but different--not nearly as fuzzy. I was also surprised at how much the clean channel had improved. Gobs more headroom. I'll also take credit for suggesting to Trace that he relocate the reverb tank to the front chassis panel to accommodate the very large OT that's used for the deluxe mod. This was the first Series 2 Rect-O-Verb they'd done, and the transformer impinges on the reverb tank if left in its stock location.

Back in my studio, I was very happy with the result. Listen to the clips on the Voodoo website for an idea of what the Voodoo mods sound like in general. Trace goes for a particular character of distortion, but the basic tone still sounds like a Boogie.

It wasn't until I was back on stage with the band and cranking it up a bit that I was rewarded with leads that cut through without losing that Mesa responsiveness. Alleluia! I could hear my guitar again! The crunch was still crunchy, the thump was still thumpy, and the squeals were still squealy, but I could hear them all much better And the clean channel was AWESOME. Trace says it's the MM OT that makes the big difference there.

The Voodoo mods will change the character of the distortion coming out of your amp, but if you're getting lost in the stage mix and you'd like a little more clean out of the Recto clean channel, Trace will take care of you.

It's only been a few gigs. Both the amp and the mods are too new to make a fair determination, so I'll hold off on a rating, but my most recent gig was a concert for 1,500 people at an outdoor event-80 degrees, 80% humidity. So far so good!

I don't think anyone makes a more reliable "production" amp than Mesa. Take a look at other reviews.

The mods are expensive--no two ways about it. But for my money, I got what was promised, and quickly. The amp sounds great!

Trace Davis, the proprietor of Voodoo Amps, and his staff are very attentive, unpretentious, and down-to-earth. Trace answered my emails and calls personally, and never rushed me. They're good folks to speak with, even if you never buy a thing from them.

I've been at this guitar thing for over 30 years, so I've bought my share of stuff! This amp was great before the mods, but now it's great on stage, too--exactly what I needed.

If I ever buy another amp and it, too, needs assistance in cutting through the stage mix, I'm calling Voodoo Amps.

I'll temper my rating to a "9" because I haven't really run this amp through the mill yet. It's gotten a lot of playing hours in 5 months, though, and has been as solid as a rock.