Dez
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You can see the very light grey cable if you zoom in. There’s another photo with the cable:
The Official TGF Mesa Rectifier Appreciation Thread.
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I just ordered this and joined the club. I’m going to order a blacked out tread plate eventually! This is my “Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day and anniversary and birthday for 2026” gift
View attachment 57282
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I really want to re enter the recto club. Badlander absolutely doesn’t count. Will likel6 snag another roadster eventually., unless a sweet deal on a multi watt or tremo pops up
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TSJMajesty
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What's a sweet deal for ya? (Just curious; not sure I'd really want to sell it. It's a dual, MW. I bought it ~2009 I think.)
Desertdweller
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Plastidip it yourself. A can of black plastidip is like $7 or so at your local hardware store. 5 light coats and it looks amazing, plus if you hate it or make a mistake, you can just peel it off and start over. Here's what I did with my Triple Rec a few years back:I just ordered this and joined the club. I’m going to order a blacked out tread plate eventually! This is my “Valentine’s Day and Father’s Day and anniversary and birthday for 2026” gift
View attachment 57282
Tape it up:
1st coat:
2nd coat:
3rd coat:
Finally complete after the 5th coat:
Final, so good:
Dez
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Yea I got to that conclusion tonight lol - but I’m gonna do the middle part as well and get black knobs most likely.
Desertdweller
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It's a moral imperative.
BTW I'll save you a few bucks and a lot of internet searches. You want the Penn Elcom M1320K Black Knurled knobs. They're the same ones that Mesa sources for rectos:
Black Metal Knob for Amplifiers with Grub Screw Fixing
Black Metal Knob for Amplifiers with Grub Screw Fixing
If you get them and you don't find them shiny enough, after you install them on the amp, rub some oil on a cloth and rub it lightly over the face of all the knobs. This will get them shiny and not mess with your fingers as you turn the sides of the knob. After a few hours they won't feel oily either on top and they will look awesome.
Dez
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THANK YOU!!It's a moral imperative.
BTW I'll save you a few bucks and a lot of internet searches. You want the Penn Elcom M1320K Black Knurled knobs. They're the same ones that Mesa sources for rectos:
Black Metal Knob for Amplifiers with Grub Screw Fixing
Black Metal Knob for Amplifiers with Grub Screw Fixingwww.penn-elcom.com
View attachment 57301
If you get them and you don't find them shiny enough, after you install them on the amp, rub some oil on a cloth and rub it lightly over the face of all the knobs. This will get them shiny and not mess with your fingers as you turn the sides of the knob. After a few hours they won't feel oily either on top and they will look awesome.
Dez
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So mine is coming in with EL34s which is cool but, I want to run 6L6s or at least play with both types to figure out what I personally like best. What would y’all suggest, JJs? My tone goal is thrash, black and 90s death metal - aggressive gain would be the best term for it I guess
Mongillo19
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0XI0
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no that's what people like to say. people who never spent half a decade. a decade. a decade and a half voicing an amp. truth is they spent that long tweaking and playing to distill the recipe, but the only way to get the actual sound is with tubes within a certain spec, same as the design. the whole thing with mesa tubes is, yeah they're rebranded, but any tube with the mesa stamp has been tested and sorted to be exactly within spec of circuit design. so with mesa tubes you get, the sound. with JJs, you get, a sound. if you get off on boogie recipe you can tell right away if it's off spec, or there's groove tubes in the preamp of a dual rec. it sounds fucked up to me until I put all mesa tubes back in it, then bam. tone town.
Mongillo19
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Yeah Ive always put Mesa tubes in my Mesa amps. Gives me more confidence and knowing I don't have to rebias is all the better
Dez
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Mesas are fixed bias though so you can’t anyway - all the more reason to go with Mesa brand I thinkYeah Ive always put Mesa tubes in my Mesa amps. Gives me more confidence and knowing I don't have to rebias is all the better
cab/speakers is easy, closed back mesa or orange with v30s. 1960A is okay. but honestly rectos are made for v30s. boost, OD808 is probably the best point-and-shoot option to tighten up for heavy stuff but, I really, really prefer something that has a proper tone stack because the recto input is so responsive to the shape of the signal you send it. that way you can get heavy without getting ultra-gainy and saturated and ending up in a loop of "boost made it too flubby so I had to boost it again to tighten it." rectos hit harder with a little less gain, esp in the studio where you can double track. I had a buddy who used a metropolous supa-boost that was just perfect, it's a clean boost with a TMB. tc spark is good for that too. the problem with the sd-1 is welp now it sounds like an sd-1.
Desertdweller
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haha also yes :)
Basically take the mix knob out of the equation by disconnecting 3 wires and jumping two of them. But then you will have to run a cable between the FX loop send and return at all times, or you will have no sound. Just FYI.
I basically did what this guy did and it worked perfectly:
In Action: Dual Rectifier Loop Mod
To the left is the previously posted alternative loop modification schematic to change a Mesa Dual Rectifier from a parallel loop to a serial loop. It’s easy. Most of the time required for …
warpedmusician.wordpress.com
I'm not sure your experience level but please be careful if you're poking around inside the amplifier. If you've never done it before, maybe do it with a tech present or at least learn how to drain the capacitors so you stay safe.
Dez
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I’ll definitely be careful - this is on the short list of things to do though lol. Amp gets here today, I seem to have caught a new amp day cold and can’t make it into work…haha also yes :)
Basically take the mix knob out of the equation by disconnecting 3 wires and jumping two of them. But then you will have to run a cable between the FX loop send and return at all times, or you will have no sound. Just FYI.
I basically did what this guy did and it worked perfectly:
In Action: Dual Rectifier Loop Mod
To the left is the previously posted alternative loop modification schematic to change a Mesa Dual Rectifier from a parallel loop to a serial loop. It’s easy. Most of the time required for …
I'm not sure your experience level but please be careful if you're poking around inside the amplifier. If you've never done it before, maybe do it with a tech present or at least learn how to drain the capacitors so you stay safe.
Dez
Rock Star
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New amp day!
Yaaaaaaas this thing slays. It needs a boost imo, otherwise I really wouldn't jive with it. The bottom end blows my Mark V 35 away, and the gain sounds pissed off, I love it. Cherry on top is the purple light. According to support it shipped from Mesa on 09/23/2002.
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