Dual Rectifier 100-watt Tube Head - Diamond Faceplate Review

The Beast

This amplifier is AMAZING. After careful consideration I finally pulled the trigger on it and I am so glad I did! So many tones and so much flexibility. You can hear the sounds of so many famous recordings using channel 2 and 3 but what really surprised me is the CLEANS of Channel 1...This Amp is famous for being a High Gain amplifier but the Cleans are great. I think you really… read more can play any music genre with this Amp.

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Mesa Boogie duel rectifier

I really like my duel rectifier. It is an absolute beast!! Thanks to my sales rep John tonello. He kept me informed of all sales process and back ordered products. Anything I needed for him to check on he was right there for me. Very professional. Thanks again John! And thanks a million Sweetwater. See ya soon!

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Supreme Tone

I admit I took the longest time to pull the trigger on one of these heads, prior I was only using peavey (which don't get me wrong sound excellent as well especially blended with this head). I was looking for a more umphy modern chug sound, that still could deliver any play style. Wahlah this head delivers. It has very excellent "normal" tone I guess you could say with the presence… read more basically turned off (around 8:00 aka the sweet spot). The good thing though is there are so many options, you can really shape the tone as necessary, but I just kind of go for a "stock" mesa sound. It'd probably be a good idea to purchase a Fortin 33 pedal to go with this.

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First Brand NEW amp purchase and Mesa knocked it out of the park!

I've always been "the guy" that sells gear to get gear. This usually led me to buying something used and never quit getting what I really wanted. This Christmas I went to another large chain guitar center (oops I mean store) and purchased the amp I've always wanted. A Mesa Boogie Dual Rectifier, of course USED. It was a 2009 and the guitar chain was giving 3 years with zero interest… read more on used equipment for three weeks only. So I promptly ordered a recto that looked super clean for only $999.00 what a barging right? I eagerly awaited its arrival from their Texas store. I got it home a week later and tweaked on it for a few hours and got, what I thought was a great tone. I wasn"t blown away but was very happy. Then I started hooking up my pedals. First a Boss GT100 in the four cable method right into the Recto"s FX loop. The 2001-2009 Recto"s FX loops are parallel, something I didn"t research a ton but knew that it had it. To make a long story short it sucked and made any/ all my pedals I used suck tone. It was just a horrible design (I think they knew). So I returned (45 day return policy which is awesome) and went with another used one (they aren"t Mesa dealers so new isn"t an option there anyways). This time I choose a dual rectifier Roadster. I mean why not it has the serial loop which everything I read was the issue with all the 3-channel recto"s except the Roadster and Road king. So I bones up about $500 more dollars and purchased a clean looking Roadster for $1500.00 but it had 4 channels and reverb for each channel. Lets do this I thought. This one came from California and they assured me it was a great amp in excellent shape. I thought I better buy the warranty ($250 for 3 years) and I left. A LONG week later I got the call and raced to go pick up my amp. I got it home plugged it in and……….nothing. No lights, sound, nothing, dead as a door bell. Since I had done a ton of research the past month I knew it was probably a fuse I pulled it and sure enough it was burnt. My first thought was how in the hell did they test the amp if the fuse is burnt. I mean it usually just means a bad power tube not the end of the world but man my wife is gonna kill me if I have to buy some new tubes ,I remember thinking. Okay no big deal I"ll just get new tubes but before all that I need to hear this bad boy and see if I like it. I put a new fuse in (per Mesa specs) and bam the amp fire right up. The guy I called to get the fuse info and make sure the burnt one was correct told me how to test and see which tube it was, he was great. After a warm up period I flipped the switch and couldn"t wait but instead I heard and awful hum I immediately shut her down and a big cloud of smoke poured out of the amp and sure enough another burnt fuse. I was so pissed and the next day drove it back to the store and got a complete refund. When I got home I explained to my wife by the time you add the warranty and new tubes I could just order a new one form Sweetwater which actually comes with a pedal (I forgot to tell you that part the Roadster did not, another $140), it also comes with a 5 year warranty, brand new tubes because its brand new, shockingly she agreed and it was straight onto the phone with my guy, Jason Koons. Remember I had done a ton of research so I had heard all the pro reviews about how Mesa perfected this rectifier and it was the best of the best. Of course you always have the people that will swear the rev G or F 1990"s, 2 channel Recto"s can never be beat, blah blah blah. Their okay but 2 channel and their clean channel sucked, they were at least serial FX loops back then though. Anyways to the whole point, my review. I got the amp he next day, which is awesome, it was packed perfect with my little sweetwater trick or treat baggie. I took it out, photographed it (just keeping it real) Then went straight to the band room. Hooked it all up, more picture lol and then started tweaking on it. In literally ten minutes I had the tone I had always searched for. Articulate, big, wide, signature recto nasty, and completely versatile. This is the best tone I have ever heard in my life.I'm not kidding. Yes overall it beat the Bogner Uberschall for me and that's saying a lot. My Les Pauls just sing through this monster and all I could do was smile. There is absolutely NOTHING I can complain about. I hooked up all my pedals and they all sounded flipping amazing with out one issue with the new serial loop (Thank you Mesa). What an amp. Mesa completely knocked it out of the park with this Rectifier. It is vastly improved in every way possible. Pristine Clean Channel taken out of their Lonestar amps, of course the nasty Recto tone in both channel 2 and 3 which does anything from blues to metal. I have never been more happy with a musical related purchase in my life. The best decision I"ve ever made. Remember my fellow guitar geeks "Buy Once Cry Once". I am just blown away by this amp. It is pure perfection IMO. Don"t even question it buy it! The Sweetwater experience was seamless and perfect like always. Thanks again Sweetwater Bill - Ohio

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No idea why I didn't get one sooner !

This amp really flies under the radar for a lot of guitarists. There's a tendency to put this amp into a "high gain", "Metal Only" category. Maybe true of the older models but the new 3 channel multi-watt Rectifiers are anything but that ! From great cleans to crunch, overdrive, etc. with this amp,the least of your worries should be about having enough gain. I use the amps gain… read more for all songs in one of my bands. The only reason you would need any boost or overdrive pedals is for tightening up the gain structure for soloing. Having said that, I have used just the amp with its foot switch for rehearsals and it sounds terrific. In a pinch I could easily get through a gig with the basic amp/foot switch and a stomp box delay through the FX loop. Channel 1 gets great cleans and overdrive. Channel 2 in the Vintage mode will cover anything from the 80's. Switch to modern mode if you really need more saturation or set channel 3 for modern mode. Dial in the Solo Boost and it's ready to bump your volume up with a tap of the foot switch. Btw, someone mentioned about the popping sound when switching channels and it does occur and it's the "nature of the beast" so to speak. First, the popping only occurs the first time channels are switched so to mitigate the occurrence I do the following, 1). power on/standby on 2). Turn master volume to "0" 3). Standby "off" 4). Switch between all channels as well as "solo" and "FX loop" 5). Bring Master Volume up till it's at a low bedroom volume and repeat #4. #5 is overkill, but as the whole process takes maybe 1 minute, figure better safe than sorry. I've paired it with the 2x12 horizontal rectifier cabinet and the sound is unbelievable. So many compliments from guests and other musicians. Probably one of the easiest Boogie's to dial in a sound you will love. It's really worth every penny. A Very iconic amp that will make you grin from ear to ear the moment you plug in.

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