NAD: Mesa/Boogie Rectifier Twenty-Five! (ow yeaahhh)

[wakjob]

I have no idea what version of the V-Twin pedal I had...
I bought it new in '95 I think.
But I thought there were more like 4 versions of the pedal.
Maybe changes to the outside case or logo or something?

I do know that it was the 'MIX' control that sold me on the rackmount V-Twin...what an awesome feature. I should've just spent the extra money and gotten what I wanted instead of going cheap with the pedal.

The 20/20 has always interested me.
I know there's a "depth mod" for it to thicken it up a bit.
Probably just increasing the size of the signal caps coming off of the phase inverter.

But now looking back, I wonder if that whole setup V-Twin & 20/20 power amp was more 'Caliber' or 'Nomad' inspired?

 

[c7spheres]

I have no idea what version of the V-Twin pedal I had...
I bought it new in '95 I think.
But I thought there were more like 4 versions of the pedal.
Maybe changes to the outside case or logo or something?

I do know that it was the 'MIX' control that sold me on the rackmount V-Twin...what an awesome feature. I should've just spent the extra money and gotten what I wanted instead of going cheap with the pedal.

The 20/20 has always interested me.
I know there's a "depth mod" for it to thicken it up a bit.
Probably just increasing the size of the signal caps coming off of the phase inverter.

But now looking back, I wonder if that whole setup V-Twin & 20/20 power amp was more 'Caliber' or 'Nomad' inspired?

Version 1 doesn't have the adjustments for levels on the bottom of the pedal, v2 has a little panel on the bottom you take off to adjust for clean or blues mode level. I like v2 better because of this but v1 does sound better, imo. V1 also had real metal knobs and v2 usually had plastic knobs though some still had metal knobs. Also the V1 usually had the plastic Mesa Engineering Logo with the Rack logo with the wings on it silk screened, wheres the v2 had the same plastic logo as the rack has on it with the wings logo. I'm pretty sure there was just some transitional units that still used whatever combo of knobs and logos, but there's only 2 versions. There's also a clear plexi glass version of the pedal that was a dealer display model to show the insides. It look cool too. There was a couple versions of the rack too that you can only know of by looking at the inside board which will say it on it, but the only real difference is in if it had the external switching jacks for the 6 modes. There's all kinds of little quirks about the unit and generally people didn't like them because they couldn't get the ground hum under control. It was a real pain in the ass to deal with. There's all kinds of weird stuff it does that one wouldn't expect that I've learned about over the years, that I doubt Mesa Boogie even knows about. It's pretty cool actually because you can really coax out a ton of little nuances from it to best suite your guitar and style. One big secret/quirk I'm pretty sure only I know about is that it has a lot more than 6 modes to it (3 per channel). It's more like around 9 modes per channel, and none of this includes the mix function either. There's a lot more if you include that. Guess how that's done? If you can guess I'll let you know if you're right. It's a lovely quirk.

 

[sakeido]

Really interested to hear a comparison vs. the full size head version.

I debate downsizing my rig all the time and I keep coming back to the Mini Recto but I'm just not sure if it'll scratch the itch ya know. I almost think an EL84 Recto might be superior to a 6L6 one in some respects - a little more tightness in the famous Recto low end isn't such a bad thing.

 

[c7spheres]

I really like the look of that little RectoVerb 25 Combo they got now, and also the Rack version. Kind of expensive but that's cause I don't have the money. I'm sure it's worth every penny though. Some of those tones are nice in a couple of them YouTube vids.

 

[Guitarjon]

Really interested to hear a comparison vs. the full size head version.

I debate downsizing my rig all the time and I keep coming back to the Mini Recto but I'm just not sure if it'll scratch the itch ya know. I almost think an EL84 Recto might be superior to a 6L6 one in some respects - a little more tightness in the famous Recto low end isn't such a bad thing.

The comparison is all done and ready to be released.
I guess you're right, the mini does have a bit more midrange going on and a little bit more texture/grind in the top end.
I love the sound of both but I'm curious to see what people prefer.

I put some new JJ tubes in my Dual Recto before the comparison and that made quite a big difference.
Of course I recorded some clips with the old tubes for comparison, will also make a video on that.