Hermansson / Ground Zero Rectifier Mods

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jbru91
Active member
Hey everyone,

I've seen a few people on the forum who have had multiple versions from these guys. I.e. had a Hermansson they sold, then later got a different revision to send to have modded. I'm curious to see what people's thoughts are who have tried multiple versions of these mods by various builders. For example, do the Hermansson-modded rectifiers largely sound the same despite the revision / model being modded (i.e. a modded dual rec. rev G vs a multi-watt, dual versus triple etc.)? Similarly for Ground Zero, a Ground Zero rev G. vs rev F for example. Do the differences people hear between the stock revisions carry through with these mods?

Thanks,
Jesse
 
I first got a Hermansson modded Single Recto, then a Rev G Dual, then Triple Rev F and kept just the triple as the best one. If you just want the overall flavor they all have it, but if you want it to be as good as you can then definitely I’d say get as good of a donor as you can afford to do. The differences weren’t as huge as some Marshall mods I’ve had, but absolutely enough for me and yes even as extensive as his mods are I think the relative differences between the amps are similar to the differences in how the stock versions of the amps compare to each other, just a bit more masked by the flavor on top imparted by the mods. They all also can vary in what features they have depending on what the customer orders
 
braintheory said:
I first got a Hermansson modded Single Recto, then a Rev G Dual, then Triple Rev F and kept just the triple as the best one. If you just want the overall flavor they all have it, but if you want it to be as good as you can then definitely I’d say get as good of a donor as you can afford to do. The differences weren’t as huge as some Marshall mods I’ve had, but absolutely enough for me and yes even as extensive as his mods are I think the relative differences between the amps are similar to the differences in how the stock versions of the amps compare to each other, just a bit more masked by the flavor on top imparted by the mods. They all also can vary in what features they have depending on what the customer orders
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Exactly what I was looking for some insight on.

Thank you!
 
I have literally never listened to a recto and thought, “yea, I really need to mod this”….. blows my mind to be honest, everytime I hear people
Modding these great high gain amps (5150 comes to mind) they always 100 percent sound worse to me. That amp is perfect as it is, and it’s gonna absolutely tank its resale value as well. Get a recto and a few boosts for some different flavors without destroying that amp. Those hermansson amps sound absolutely god awful to me. Get a pepers dirty and a recto and it’ll smoke that thing, and not sound like a thin raspy can of bees.
 
Bram576 said:
For what it’s worth, hermansson mods do not retain the rectifier sound, ground zero does. Depends what you’re looking for there.
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I can get mine to sound very recto . I think that single just blows . Like people say a Hermanson Marshall is not marshally . But I get Van Halen tones all day. I swear there’s some very wrong myths about these amp. They are unique but I get and retain sounds .
 
VESmedic said:
I have literally never listened to a recto and thought, “yea, I really need to mod this”….. blows my mind to be honest, everytime I hear people
Modding these great high gain amps (5150 comes to mind) they always 100 percent sound worse to me. That amp is perfect as it is, and it’s gonna absolutely tank its resale value as well. Get a recto and a few boosts for some different flavors without destroying that amp. Those hermansson amps sound absolutely god awful to me. Get a pepers dirty and a recto and it’ll smoke that thing, and not sound like a thin raspy can of bees.
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The one that kills me is guys modding the more rare Rev f and earlier rectos... leave those ones alone and goof around with newer ones if you want to get your mod on IMO
 
I’ve owned 2 modded Hermanssons, a ground zero triple G and every revision rectifier except an E. So I’ll give my thoughts.

I had a Hermansson 3 channel triple rectifier and a 2 channel triple. They both have the Hermansson sound that’s pretty similar. I thought the 2 channel sounded better but it also had more options and tone shaping controls on it. Notably the 3 channel rectifiers do not have a tightness controls like the 2 channel. It is locked at a preset value. The amp does not sound like a rectifier to me. It sounds great but it sounds like a Hermansson. It’s a hyper tight amp and sounds very mad. It is not as thick as a rectifier but it’s also much more focused and articulate and responsive to volume changes. I do think it is kind of picky about speakers to my ear.

The ground zero triple g is one of my favorite amps. Much tighter, more aggressive, not flubby etc. I think the touch sensitivity is awesome. I think a lot of the clips really don’t convey how it sounds in the room with me. The character is intact. It still sounds like a rectifier but minus a lot of the characteristics people try to boost out.

I also would buy another triple rectifier stock just to run with a tc integrated preamp clone. I still think that tone is very hard to beat and while it isn’t hyper versatile it’s classic and a lot of fun. I think all of these things have something to offer that are unique to each other.
 
VESmedic said:
I have literally never listened to a recto and thought, “yea, I really need to mod this”….. blows my mind to be honest, everytime I hear people
Modding these great high gain amps (5150 comes to mind) they always 100 percent sound worse to me. That amp is perfect as it is, and it’s gonna absolutely tank its resale value as well. Get a recto and a few boosts for some different flavors without destroying that amp. Those hermansson amps sound absolutely god awful to me. Get a pepers dirty and a recto and it’ll smoke that thing, and not sound like a thin raspy can of bees.
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Neptical said:
IME: The best mod for a Recto is just a simple Series loop mod. I've done it on all mine.

EQ in the loop and a boost out front. You have whatever version Recto you want any way you want it.
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I just had my Rev G modded to C (Pre-500 mod) and the serial loop installed. He replaced the send jack as well to make this transition even better.

To me, it is much tighter, aggressive, clear, less flubby etc etc - and that is WITHOUT a boost. I guess I need to play with the Dirty Tree some more because my Bad Monkey just seems to be the best OD I've tried. :yes:
 
311splawndude said:
I just had my Rev G modded to C (Pre-500 mod) and the serial loop installed. He replaced the send jack as well to make this transition even better.

To me, it is much tighter, aggressive, clear, less flubby etc etc - and that is WITHOUT a boost. I guess I need to play with the Dirty Tree some more because my Bad Monkey just seems to be the best OD I've tried. :yes:
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Bad monkey is sick! Love that thing too man. Also, those “mods” are pretty light , it’s still the same amp 100 percent, I would never knock that at all personally. In fact I’d love to have a G that I could mod to pre 500 specs as well for fun.
 
311splawndude said:
I just had my Rev G modded to C (Pre-500 mod) and the serial loop installed. He replaced the send jack as well to make this transition even better.

To me, it is much tighter, aggressive, clear, less flubby etc etc - and that is WITHOUT a boost. I guess I need to play with the Dirty Tree some more because my Bad Monkey just seems to be the best OD I've tried. :yes:
Click to expand...

Right on! The modded loop is such night and day difference to be able to cleanly run EQ and modulation together.

More power to you if you can live without a boost! I love what an SD-1 out front and EQ in the loop does not only to Rectos, by also to my Marshalls. Additionally, using a noise gate as well. It makes everything a pummeling rhythm machine.

Still never tried a DT or a Bad Monkey to this day!
 
Wayne’s screamer 808 kills with a recto. The Chiron does as well. I boosted my ultra plus with the Chiron and it sounded crazy. I also only had the ultra’s gain on one or two….thicc as a bowl of oatmeal….
 
Neptical said:
Right on! The modded loop is such night and day difference to be able to cleanly run EQ and modulation together.

More power to you if you can live without a boost! I love what an SD-1 out front and EQ in the loop does not only to Rectos, by also to my Marshalls. Additionally, using a noise gate as well. It makes everything a pummeling rhythm machine.

Still never tried a DT or a Bad Monkey to this day!
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I normally would not spam someone else's (@jbru91 ) thread with pics or clips but I'll make a small exception this time.

Agreed on SD1, NS2, MXR 10b and a Digitech Bad Monkey is no joke. Very transparant imo and has some EQ control. Not pictured is my Koko boost, MXR Distortion /78, and a few other things. PS: I won't be using the top row (loop) this with the Dual Recto but I do use it on the Single Recto and Splawn. I WILL probably get an EQ for the Dual loop but for now it will just be patched.

8WeoBoC.jpg
 
311splawndude said:
I normally would not spam someone else's (@jbru91 ) thread with pics or clips but I'll make a small exception this time.

Agreed on SD1, NS2, MXR 10b and a Digitech Bad Monkey is no joke. Very transparant imo and has some EQ control. Not pictured is my Koko boost, MXR Distortion /78, and a few other things. PS: I won't be using the top row (loop) this with the Dual Recto but I do use it on the Single Recto and Splawn. I WILL probably get an EQ for the Dual loop but for now it will just be patched.

8WeoBoC.jpg
Click to expand...
No spam here! All good with me.
 
311splawndude said:
I normally would not spam someone else's (@jbru91 ) thread with pics or clips but I'll make a small exception this time.

Agreed on SD1, NS2, MXR 10b and a Digitech Bad Monkey is no joke. Very transparant imo and has some EQ control. Not pictured is my Koko boost, MXR Distortion /78, and a few other things. PS: I won't be using the top row (loop) this with the Dual Recto but I do use it on the Single Recto and Splawn. I WILL probably get an EQ for the Dual loop but for now it will just be patched.

8WeoBoC.jpg
Click to expand...

Sweet board!
I was kind of expecting an OC-2 ( ? )🤟
Love my Dual Rev G, but there's really that something about my Singles and RoVs.
 
itsgoodnow said:
I’ve owned 2 modded Hermanssons, a ground zero triple G and every revision rectifier except an E. So I’ll give my thoughts.

I had a Hermansson 3 channel triple rectifier and a 2 channel triple. They both have the Hermansson sound that’s pretty similar. I thought the 2 channel sounded better but it also had more options and tone shaping controls on it. Notably the 3 channel rectifiers do not have a tightness controls like the 2 channel. It is locked at a preset value. The amp does not sound like a rectifier to me. It sounds great but it sounds like a Hermansson. It’s a hyper tight amp and sounds very mad. It is not as thick as a rectifier but it’s also much more focused and articulate and responsive to volume changes. I do think it is kind of picky about speakers to my ear.

The ground zero triple g is one of my favorite amps. Much tighter, more aggressive, not flubby etc. I think the touch sensitivity is awesome. I think a lot of the clips really don’t convey how it sounds in the room with me. The character is intact. It still sounds like a rectifier but minus a lot of the characteristics people try to boost out.

I also would buy another triple rectifier stock just to run with a tc integrated preamp clone. I still think that tone is very hard to beat and while it isn’t hyper versatile it’s classic and a lot of fun. I think all of these things have something to offer that are unique to each other.
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Agree with this great advice.

I owned a Hermansson MW Recto and while it was cool, I really wished I had gotten a 2 Channel because of the tightness knob. Having the preset value (or I think he claims it's "integrated into the sweep of the gain control") was not very useful. It made Channels 2 and 3 basically identical. He said that Ch3 was supposed to be voiced "a little looser" for soloing but I couldn't hear any discernable difference.

The way I would think of a Hermansson Recto is like a Recto and a Trainwreck had a baby. The amp is very responsive to your volume knob, just like a Trainwreck (or a Carstens Grace for that matter). You can go clean to mean with just a quick twist. That said, I didn't think the "in between" were as good as a TW or the Grace. Point is, to get the most out of the amp, you need to use your guitar's volume and tone controls.

The amp did not sound much like a Recto at all, probably why I thought it was cool. Ultimately I didn't keep it though because it's just soooo tight it felt "choked." If you're looking for a super tight, kind of filtered sound, you will like it.
 
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