Dual Rec? vaccum/silicon and spongy/bold

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crankyrayhanky

crankyrayhanky

Well-known member
2channel Dual Rectifier (Rhodes modded)
Flipping through the settings, the tonal changes are clear, but I'm curious- how do people set the switches: vaccum/silicon and spongy/bold?
I typically play angry aggressive metal detuned stuff, so I am told silicon bold is the way to go (?) seems to sound great, but check me on this...also, does this mean the big bottle tubes are being unused? I know, total newbie questions

I like all kinds of music, so if anyone can give me an example of the type of music you may play in each setting, such as "brown mid gains, 80s west coast happy metal, pop mid gains" etc.....that would be a big help. Combinations include:
  • vaccum spongy
    vaccum bold
    silicon spongy
    silicon bold

If you're feeling frisky, you can comment on the above with the orange/red & vintage/modern combinations
  • orange vintage
    orange modern
    red vintage
    red modern


I think I have this red/orange down pretty good, but the spongy type settings I would love to hear comments...thanks in advance!
 
Those are all very good questions sir. Definitely a worthy cause. Like for the Amp tone bible etc. This will be good for everyone wanting a quick reference on their Mesa Rex (yes my reborn triple rec is called Rex).

I myself employ Bold, silicone clean and diode on channels 2 & 3. I too play drop tuned heavy, aggressive shit. The reborns give you the option on all 3 channels concerning diode or silicone.

Flav-
 
I tend to use vacuum spongy..... I just like how the amp growls in this setting. But I use all 4 combinations depending on what I am doing.
 
Those are all very good questions sir. Definitely a worthy cause. Like for the Amp tone bible etc. This will be good for everyone wanting a quick reference on their Mesa Rex (yes my reborn triple rec is called Rex).

I myself employ Bold, silicone clean and diode on channels 2 & 3. I too play drop tuned heavy, aggressive shit. The reborns give you the option on all 3 channels concerning diode or silicone.

Flav-
Click to expand...


diode= vaccum? Which = the big bottle being employed?
And this is for your hi gain approaches? Interesting...
 
When you use diode rectification, the rectifier tubes are taken out of the circuit but the tube heaters are still on.
For anything heavy I prefer diodes and both channels cloned to modern, just a faster tighter response out of the amp.

The rectifier tubes introduce a slower response and more sag/bloom from the amp, which in turn works well with both channels cloned to vintage with the cleans and vintage rock tones.
I mainly play metal these days but will go clean every now and then.
 
The rectifier provides the spongy feel, whereas the solid-state diodes provide the tighter, less-forgiving feel. The reason for this has to do with both voltage sag and voltage drop. A 5U4G tube rectifier has an automatic voltage drop of around 40 volts, which increases as the current demand by the amp increases (which does so under signal). This is why you get that squishy feel when you dig in or hit a power chord.

Contrary to popular belief, the Dual Rectifier is not named so because it uses both solid-state and tube rectification. Rather, it is named so because it employs two tube rectifiers to supply its 100 Watt circuit. For further explanation, the Triple Rectifier is 150 watts, yet still only uses two types of rectifier. It simply uses 3 rectifier tubes. The reason for this is because these rectifier tubes are typically only capable of supplying enough current for a 50 watt circuit. So when you have a 100 watt amp, paralleling two rectifiers makes the rectifier circuit able to handle the current demands of a 100 watt power section.

Silicon diodes, on the other hand, have almost 0 voltage drop, and are capable of much higher current, both average and instantaneous.
 
the responses here helped a lot, thanks :rock:
I just spent some time jamming...I think I like employing the big bottle (and the sponge) a little more for my style- it seems to take the edge off a bit and compress just enough to make the low string pinch harmonics swell and bloom longer. Was it mental? I was missing a lot of pinches on the bold/silicon, but nailing them with vaccum...I like angry metal but my style probably has more groove than precision. The bold silicon is surgical & tight, with my slop technique that may be a bit unforgiving, lol

All my KPA Rhectos were with bold silicon, so it looks like I have more profiling to do...
 
On My Stiletto all those settings sound great, you just tweak it for what feel you're going for. I tend to settle on Diode and spongy. There's something about the way the mids and treble seem to sweeten up when on spongy that I like a lot. I've noticed this on Roadsters and Roadkings for CH's 1 and 2 as well. Ch 1 on those I like Tube rec and spongy with the gain up to rock. I have a tough time getting a sound I like out of CH 3 and 4 of those amps so I can't comment on good results for the typical recto high gan tone. Diode and Bold seems too stiff and harsh but anything less has no attack.
 
I bought a Tverb brand new back in 1995. I was a vacuum / spongy and orange channel guy. Could have been because it helped to hide a bit of sloppy technique but that sounded best to me playing AIC'ish and Metallica'ish stuff back then.
 
spongy/bold affect the voltage. bold is higher voltage than spongy. If you want a little 'browner' tone, go spongy.

Diode and vacuum rectifiers affect how much B+ voltage you have - a vacuum rectifier isn't as efficient as a diode, so you lose some voltage. I don't think you really are going to hear the effect of vacuum rectifiers other than the voltage drop until you are really cranking the hell out of the amp.

If you run spongy and vacuum rectifiers, it cuts the wattage down to about 75 or so. If you do that and pull two tubes, you're looking at 38 watts, which is enough that you can crank it up a little more and maybe get more of the vacuum rectifier effect - the louder you crank the amp, the more it manifests. If you have a hotplate, try that too. Mesas aren't really meant to be cranked to get the tones like a marshall IMHO because so much of the tone comes from the preamp section. In older amps like vintage marshalls, the power section has a LOT more to do with your final tone.

Oh, and I always liked bold and diode red for rhythms, you can get a really expressive lead tone by running spongy and vacuum orange.

Pete
 
I forgot to mention I have KT66's for power tubes and 5AR4's for rectifier tubes. These make the amp tighter and thicker. Also, a RFT 12ax7 in v1 sounds killer. Better cleans and darker, clearer distortion.
 
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