Dual vs Single vs Mini Rectifier

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I have 3 different Mesa Boogie Rectifiers. I love Rectifiers and you can never have enough of a good thing imho ;) The ones that I have are: early 2000s 3 channel Dual Rectifier, series I Single Rectifier 50 and the Mini Rectifier 25.

I wanted to do a comparison since they all sound so different and when I put them together and next to eachother the differences became even more apparent! Quite crazy how different they actually sound... The Dual sounds great to me, fat, loose and sizzly. Really over the top Rectifier. The Single is much more tight and "metal" sounding. The mini does sound "smaller" but it still has that Rectifier charm going on. All 3 are great in their own way. Anyway, here's the comparison, of course I'd be very interested in knowing which one you prefer here and why:

 
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Great video man - single and dual are different enough to own both I think.

I have a multi-watt dual, definitely intend on grabbing a single if a clean one comes around.
 
Looking forward to checking this out later tonight. IIRC the dual channel Dual Rec is more sought after. Also, IIRC the Series II Single Rec is more sought after. Neither or which affects your demo just pointing it out.

Also - I think you meant "tight" and metal, not "right" and metal. Typo. Cheers bro you are the best :cheers:
 
311splawndude said:
Looking forward to checking this out later tonight. IIRC the dual channel Dual Rec is more sought after. Also, IIRC the Series II Single Rec is more sought after. Neither or which affects your demo just pointing it out.

Also - I think you meant "tight" and metal, not "right" and metal. Typo. Cheers bro you are the best :cheers:
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Man every recent video of the Single I've seen has been the Series 1. I know they made some quality of life improvements on Series II (can run EL34, added the raw voicing, maybe a better loop) but I've yet to hear a demo on it. Those Series 1 demos are absolutely killer so now I want one but it seems like the Series II are way more readily available.
 
The odd thing is that I've heard that the Series II doesn't sound as good, but I can't confirm that myself...
 
Wow, killer comparison video (as usual!).

I'm surprised how much I disliked the mini-recto's Vintage mode. It also sounds to me like the single rectifier has slightly more "hollow" sounding mids and it really sits nicely in the mix... hard to go wrong with any of them that's for sure.
 
Very cool video, Jon. There was more difference between the Single and the Dual Rectifiers than I would have thought there would be. I wonder if the Stage II Single sounds more like the Dual. I liked the way you handled the different channels and gave thoughts on each section before moving forward.

Out of curiosity, and maybe I missed it, what level did you have the masters at on each of the amps? Also, did you have the FX loops completely bypassed on the back? Thanks man, great stuff!

EDIT: Oh, also wanted to say I would have loved to hear a 2 channel Rev G/F and/or a Multi-Watt in this comparison, too.
 
hellzington said:
Very cool video, Jon. There was more difference between the Single and the Dual Rectifiers than I would have thought there would be. I wonder if the Stage II Single sounds more like the Dual. I liked the way you handled the different channels and gave thoughts on each section before moving forward.

Out of curiosity, and maybe I missed it, what level did you have the masters at on each of the amps? Also, did you have the FX loops completely bypassed on the back? Thanks man, great stuff!

EDIT: Oh, also wanted to say I would have loved to hear a 2 channel Rev G/F and/or a Multi-Watt in this comparison, too.
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Thanks! Only the loop on the Dual can be turned off and I did turn it off.
 
Any of the recs with the parallel loop should be run with a patch cable in the loop and the mix control at min/10%.
Obviously this is for when you have no effects in the loop.
 
^ +1

Jon - the Dual sounded much more 3D. The Single seemed either not as loud or not as cutting. Could be tone curve you were talking about. I'd be curious as your thoughts on that. It would be cool to use a decibel app to ensure all amps are at same volume level. Does that make sense?
 
311splawndude said:
^ +1

Jon - the Dual sounded much more 3D. The Single seemed either not as loud or not as cutting. Could be tone curve you were talking about. I'd be curious as your thoughts on that. It would be cool to use a decibel app to ensure all amps are at same volume level. Does that make sense?
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Rather than a db meter, since he's recording directly to interface with IR's, he could use a spectrum analyzer which would show the loudness across the whole frequency spectrum - which tbh he probably already does when he mixes the audio for the video or at least it's normalized based on the peaks (usually stuff like palm mutes on overdrive tones).

The problem with using a db meter is both amps could have the same volume where the meter is most sensitive (ex. 2000-4000 Hz for dbA meter) but most of the difference we are probably hearing in the tone is lower in the spectrum.

In short: I think these volumes are already matched very closely. Any perceived difference in volume is truly us hearing the amps as they are, with some frequencies quieter than others due to the design of the amp itself.
 
TotallyRadGuitars said:
Rather than a db meter, since he's recording directly to interface with IR's, he could use a spectrum analyzer which would show the loudness across the whole frequency spectrum - which tbh he probably already does when he mixes the audio for the video or at least it's normalized based on the peaks (usually stuff like palm mutes on overdrive tones).

The problem with using a db meter is both amps could have the same volume where the meter is most sensitive (ex. 2000-4000 Hz for dbA meter) but most of the difference we are probably hearing in the tone is lower in the spectrum.

In short: I think these volumes are already matched very closely. Any perceived difference in volume is truly us hearing the amps as they are, with some frequencies quieter than others due to the design of the amp itself.
Click to expand...

Yes, the actual volumes were very similar indeed. With these types of amps I don't like to push them into poweramp saturation too hard though as I don't like how it sounds. So they are all loud, but not super loud. If that makes sense :)
 
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