Question for the forum - Mesa Rectifier

[Jason Stout]

Question for the forum,

When Mesa uses the term "Rectifier" as in Dual or triple, what do they mean? I don't think that they are using the term as we know it, but I may be wrong, does anyone know?

The name alone has caused some confusion.

[Arno van der Heijden]

I believe it's because these amps have the option to switch between a tube or silicon power rectifier. I don't know however what a third option might be....

[Mike Burgundy]

It's basically a big pile of commercial blurb, but yes, they do offer the option of choosing between a SS or tube rectifier.
If the triple rectifier is called that because it has 3 tube rectifiers (necessary to handle current requirements), or because it has 3 channels or just because <Mesa feel it's the Dual's big brother, who knows

[Jason Stout]

Mike Burgundy wrote:

It's basically a big pile of commercial blurb

That’s what I thought. I brought this up because on more than a few occasions I have seen people referring to the "rectified sound" in reference to Mesa amps, this can be confusing to someone who knows little of commercial products but a little more about electronics.

The very first audio experiment I did (~2 years ago) involved full-wave rectifying the guitar signal, I thought this would provide a clean octave up.......well it didn't, and it sounds nothing like Mesa Rectifier amps!

[RJ]

Hi guys,  the Triple Rectifier does in fact have 3 large rectifier tubes and 2 channels....a clean channel and a choice between a vintage high gain and a modern high gain channel.   The difference between a Dual and Triple Rectifier is the additional tube and also 50 watts more output power on the Triple.  

As a lil side note, I've owned mine since the spring of 1997 and I've never regretted the purchase once.

-Ryan

[Lonestarjohnny]

Yes, It mean's exactly what it say's, they have 2 rectifier's, or 3, and this is a unknown fact, when you open up a Mig Classic 60, they are Identicaly wired circuit wize like a Fender tweed bassman, only with [Dual S/S rectifier's], and very cheap tone cap's, for a thicker tone in one I put in H/P orangedrops and some Silvermica tone cap's, then Mylay cap's on the couplers, good set of tube's and added a switch to kill one rectifier so the amp would get down and grind when it sagged, for a lil bluesier tone,
JD

[william]

Umm, a little more clarification.  The dual rectifier refers to the two Rectifying tubes.  The Triple the fact it has three.  And the single one rectifying tube.  The output of the amps are also affected.  The single rectifier is 50 watts, dual 100 watts, and triple 150.  The newer post '99 rectifiers have three channels.  A clean, red, and orange.  the clean is switchable between a normal and a pushed tone.  The Red and orange channels are selectable between a vintage (low gain) normal (med gain) and Modern (Hi-Gain).  They also incorperate solid state diodes for rectifiers and are switchable.  The solid state rectifier has a more solid tone and doesn't suffer from the "sag" that tube rectifiers exhibit.  It also features a "veriac" switch between Bold and Spongy.  Finally they have a parellel effects loop, which is good for reverbs and delays, bad for BBE's and noise gates.  Switching is done through relays, which cause a slight popping during channel switching.  Barely noticable while playing, but its there.  It can also take either 6L6 output tubes(used by fender) or EL34's(Used by Marshall)  The 6L6's have a bassier warmer tone.  The EL34's a more brittle Chimy kind of tone.  But these amps are super quiet when not playing the guitar.  Nearly NO pre-amp hiss.

All new Mesa single, dual, and triple rectifiers are built with these featuers.  

The two channel dual rectifiers are pre-99.  They have the same basic features, but the Orange channel and the clean channel are the same channel, and only switchable using a switch on the amp.  It also features something called "channel cloning" that the newer ones don't have.  Basically, if you have your orange channel set to orange, you can have the red channel sound very similar to the orange channel.  The final change that I'm aware of is instead of the Vint, Norm, Modern swich on the red and orange channels, there is only Norm, and Modern.  It uses optoisolators for switching.  It also shares the 6L6/EL34 option.  Many people comment the Two channel sound better than the three channels.  I haven't heard a two channel in a solo enviroment so I can't comment on its tone vs. the three channel.

Finally, you have the Trem-o-Verb and the Rect-o-Verb.  The trem-o-verb is no longer being built.  It is a two channel dual rectifier with a tremolo added into the mix.  The rect-o-verb is a current model, and adds a reverb.  These are available as either combo's or as head's.  

There is also the Road King.  Which is option overload.  It'd take too long to list all the switches and such for this amp.

And then there are the "childern".  The F-30, F-50, and F-100.  These are voiced similar to the Rectifier series but with fewer options.  

Finally, you have the pre-amps.  The Recto Recording and the Tri-axis.  Both are capible of getting a rectifier sound, minus the power amp.  Oddly enough, they suck for recording direct like they were designed for.    

These amps are part of a family of amps based of the Soldano SLO-100.  The other major amp in this family is the Peavey 5150.

[william]

Basically, if you have your orange channel set to orange, you can have the red channel sound very similar to the orange channel.

That should read,
"Basically, if you have your orange channel set to clean, you can have the red channel sound very similar to the orange channel."

Its also worth noting all the Rectifier series have Solo switches to bost the signal during soloing.

[Peter Snowberg]

Very nice post William. Thank you for that.
-Peter

[william]

I have a three channel dual rectifier and work at guitar center.  It helps to know the products you sell and use.