Rectifier Badlander 50-watt Tube Head Review

Not Your Father's Rectifier

When I was looking around online for reviews, I saw a lot of negativity both in forums and on YouTube. Generally, this seemed to be mostly coming from high gain metal players. After I got the amp fired up today, I can see why so many people hate it. It doesn't sound like any Recto I've played. This may be the most versatile amp I've owned yet, and I've owned a bunch. Every single… read more mode is great. The Clean mode is a whole amp in itself. Everything from sparkling clean, through neutral pedal platform that takes overdrive and distortion pedals exceedingly well, through edge of breakup, to rock crunch. You could easily set up both channels on that mode and have a great classic rock amp with two different flavors for a whole gig. Crunch picks up somewhere before Clean leaves off and goes all the way through to high gain. Me like. This could be my home mode. I can easily imagine Channel 1 being Clean and 2 being high gain Crunch. If I had only those modes, I'd be thrilled. Crush (totally stupid name), to me, is just MORE of Crunch. I hear and feel it as similarly voiced, just more. So usable. So easily playable. I am in love with it in a way that I was never in love with my Mark V. And why is that? Because this is the first Mesa high gain amp that I've owned that isn't tweaky. So easy to get a great tone. The EQ is extremely active in such a way that it eliminates the need for that Mark 5 band graphic. You just dial the knobs until you hear what you want and you're done. That isn't saying you can't add an EQ in the effects loop. The Cali Q Graphic in my Helix turns this into something of a wholly otherworldly high gain monster. Crunch and Crush both LOVE boost pedals. Klon style, Timmy, clean boost, 808, whatever. It does that thing where it melds with the amp distortion and just gives more. The Cabclone is totally fine, but I threw out the IRs that came with it as I didn't like any of them and just loaded my Ownhammer Mesa recto cab and GNR greenback cabs. Sounds amazing with either, but I'm leaning toward the recto V30 cabs. Level is kind of low until you crank the output knob higher, but it totally works. Now...Variac mode. Flip that toggle and you suddenly have a brand new, totally different amp. It scoops out a bit, has a nice give to it, and the whole thing kind of re-voices in a British way. It is an addicting feel, and if I were playing just Clean and Crunch, I'd do it in this mode. And probably will. My setup will likely be my Helix Floor in 4CM, or my Strymon loaded pedalboard, same configuration. Amp is totally a keeper. I'll pair this with a 212 vertical rectifier cab, or a custom 112 cab with a Creamback M65. Anyone that's been looking for a channel switcher that will do it all, and without compromise, this is the amp. Rare for me to give 5 stars, but I'd give this one 6 if I could.

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Very Good Amp, But...

I'm a big fan of Mesa products. I bought this amp, but soon realized it was not for me. I think the strengths of the Badlander 50 are its clean, crunch and even OD tones. The Cab Clone speaker options are excellent and are a real strength of this amp. Great for DI applications! However, I basically agree with a point made in the review by FJK1138. In terms of "live" speaker applications,… read more the OD tones don't have the same grit, bite, and intensity of the Triple Crown 50 or Mark V 35-watt.

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Great High Gain Amplifier

The Mesa Boogie Badlander is exactly the amplifier I hoped it would be. There is more than enough gain on tap and strikes a perfect balance of saturation and articulation. It's very low-midrange focused, which is easily tamed with the presence dial. I was looking for an amp that I could play death metal on, and this amplifier is perfect for that.

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Perfect in every way.

Have a Randall Satan 120 that weighs 80 lbs. Needed a smaller option with a minimum of 50 watts - which surprisingly is hard to come by these days for whatever reason. My expectations would have been met if it matched the Randall 70%. I was expecting a slight downgrade in volume and gain. Wow was I wrong. This thing beats the Randall in basically every way. The sag is glorious… read more in 20 watt Variac mode. But the modern tightness of the Bold channel is everything a modern player would want. I have one channel set to Clean and the other set to Crunch being the rhyme player that I am. Clean channel has plenty of headroom, and takes pedals really well. Oh, speaking of pedals - this amp is so good I am about to ditch my 9 pedal board setup for just a Tube Screamer in the front, and Delay and Reverb in the loop. Just got a RAT 2 too, but the dirt of this amp really makes that pedal redundant. I also feel like there are just a couple more layers to the tonal onion that other amps. Another great layer of nuance in both gain and saturation. This amp is simple yet the options are many. I have nothing bad to say. This thing is a gem. Thanks for getting me on the list for one of these Brenton!

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Amazing Amp

All I can say is wow. I bought this amp to pair with my Kiesel Aries 7-string and my Suhr Modern for metal tones. To the other reviewer who said this isn't a metal amp - dude needs to get his ears checked. This amp delivers the goods. I honestly for the life of me can't imagine somebody plugging into this and thinking it's not metal enough - you've got to be kidding me. The clean… read more channel is fantastic and covers everything from super clean to broken up clean to slight dirt. I personally like the gain set a little to give the clean a bit of a broken up feel - sounds absolutely gorgeous with ambient reverb and delay. The crunch channel is where it starts to get fun - sounds fantastic for chugging rhythms and leads. The crush channel takes the crunch channel and adds more filth and man does it sound amazing. The best part about this amp is how clear even the distortion sounds. Even with max gain (how I run it) on both the crunch and crush channels, I can hear every note I'm chording - there is no mush - it's clear, yet crushing all at the same time. Again, to the other reviewer who said this amp is better suited for "AC/DC" tones - we must be playing completely different amps...I have a Friedman Dirty Shirley - now THAT I'd consider an AC/DC type territory amp. The Badlander 50? It's not even on the same continent as AC/DC tone. The Badlander 50 is a fire breathing monster.

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