TheMasterplan
Creator//Destroyer
Howdy,
I'd like to thank those of you who commented on my thread in which I was looking for a new full tube high gain head. Much to even my own surprise I ended up with a used, seemingly older Mesa Triple Rectifier Solo Head:
Not sure what else to say besides, "wow". I never considered a Mesa in my wildest dreams because I could never get them to sound how I wanted. After doing an obsessive amount of research and bugging some forum members (You know who you are and I thank you for putting up with my incessant line of questioning
) I got it to sound just the way I wanted. It is loaded with EL34's and I much prefer them now that I know what I know. The studio that my band practices in has a newish Dual Rec loaded with 6L6's and no matter what I did, I couldn't bring in the mids without it sounding...I'm not sure how to put it, but it was not to my liking. That being said, having the EL34's and using the "Spongy" & Rectifier Tube settings on the back I'm getting amazingly well balanced, thick, dark tone from chords and great single note definition with better mids and I only had to sacrifice a tiny bit of low end thump. It's still there, but I noticed it more with the 6L6's in that Dual Rec I referred to earlier. It also compliments my lead guitarist's 5150 III extremely well which is neato. Still stuck with this Randall Colossus cab which I now hate because I had an opportunity to use this head with (same settings) a Mesa Stiletto and Rectifer cab and the difference in polish makes me want to set this Randall cab aflame. It's a little beat up, but she's still awful purdy and I couldn't be happier. There's been an occasional issue with something I'm jokingly referring to as "sentient channel switching" when I have it on with literally anything else plugged into the wall, but it's been very solid.
My question, however, is this:
I had ordered a Maxon OD808 as it was expressly recommended to me by damn near every individual I have encountered that knows about or has seen my new (to me) Triple Rec. After I took the head home and tried it out with the matching Mesa cabs (Stiletto/Rectifier), I felt like it was plenty heavy and tight without the boost, so I ended up returning the pedal. It was being held for me where I ordered it and told them nevermind rather, never got it in my hands. I know it sounds like a dumb question, but should I still get the OD? If I run a clean boost in front of it now will it get even better? I have the gain kind of between 12 and 1 O' Clock and it's heavy and tight as is. If I got that OD boost would I be able to roll back the gain or is there no point? I like to keep my setup trim as you can see. The fewer things in my signal chain (the Line6 POD XT Live is just there, I don't use it), the happier I am, so not having to be conscious of an OD pedal would be nice, but if it can take me even further down the tone rabbit hole it's worth the investment to me. Thoughts?
I'd like to thank those of you who commented on my thread in which I was looking for a new full tube high gain head. Much to even my own surprise I ended up with a used, seemingly older Mesa Triple Rectifier Solo Head:
Not sure what else to say besides, "wow". I never considered a Mesa in my wildest dreams because I could never get them to sound how I wanted. After doing an obsessive amount of research and bugging some forum members (You know who you are and I thank you for putting up with my incessant line of questioning
) I got it to sound just the way I wanted. It is loaded with EL34's and I much prefer them now that I know what I know. The studio that my band practices in has a newish Dual Rec loaded with 6L6's and no matter what I did, I couldn't bring in the mids without it sounding...I'm not sure how to put it, but it was not to my liking. That being said, having the EL34's and using the "Spongy" & Rectifier Tube settings on the back I'm getting amazingly well balanced, thick, dark tone from chords and great single note definition with better mids and I only had to sacrifice a tiny bit of low end thump. It's still there, but I noticed it more with the 6L6's in that Dual Rec I referred to earlier. It also compliments my lead guitarist's 5150 III extremely well which is neato. Still stuck with this Randall Colossus cab which I now hate because I had an opportunity to use this head with (same settings) a Mesa Stiletto and Rectifer cab and the difference in polish makes me want to set this Randall cab aflame. It's a little beat up, but she's still awful purdy and I couldn't be happier. There's been an occasional issue with something I'm jokingly referring to as "sentient channel switching" when I have it on with literally anything else plugged into the wall, but it's been very solid.My question, however, is this:
I had ordered a Maxon OD808 as it was expressly recommended to me by damn near every individual I have encountered that knows about or has seen my new (to me) Triple Rec. After I took the head home and tried it out with the matching Mesa cabs (Stiletto/Rectifier), I felt like it was plenty heavy and tight without the boost, so I ended up returning the pedal. It was being held for me where I ordered it and told them nevermind rather, never got it in my hands. I know it sounds like a dumb question, but should I still get the OD? If I run a clean boost in front of it now will it get even better? I have the gain kind of between 12 and 1 O' Clock and it's heavy and tight as is. If I got that OD boost would I be able to roll back the gain or is there no point? I like to keep my setup trim as you can see. The fewer things in my signal chain (the Line6 POD XT Live is just there, I don't use it), the happier I am, so not having to be conscious of an OD pedal would be nice, but if it can take me even further down the tone rabbit hole it's worth the investment to me. Thoughts?
