triple and dual rectos...

[MF_Kitten]

what is the actual difference between a dual recto and a triple recto? and also, a single recto?

is it in the sound of the amp, or just the power?
i read about meshuggah using dual rectos in the beginning, and i found it a little weird that they didnīt use triples, like KoRn did (they use the road king now)

iīm sure there are mesa boogie owners in here... enlighten me? :P

[eviltwin]

I'm not a boogie owner but I know a fair deal about amps.

Recto refers to the rectifier section in the amp (making DC out of AC)

before ca1966 almost all amps had tube rectifiers (as well as tube pre-amps and tube poweramps) after that, due to demand for greater power (Hendrix, the Who) amps started to get equipped with solid state rectifiers.

Tube rectifiers suffer from a lot of sag and compression.

Mesa tought it was cool to offer both, so they came out with a Dual Rectifier amp: switchable from solid state to tube rectification.

Single Recto and Triple recto is just marketing BS.

- The 'single' recto uses solid state rectification (like ~99% of amps, tube or not)

- The Triple recto is a three channel dual rectifier (like the regular dual rectifier, which also has three pre-amp channels) the main difference is power, the triple is 150W (the dual 'only' 100W )

[sugizo_esp]

the triple and dual's difference is just power, 150w vs 100w respectively
they all have 3 channels and 2 dist channel and 1 clean channel..

it was said that the triple rect with more W allows better detuning, but i dont know about that...

[Stygian]

I bet you're going to get all types of varying opinions. The Single is 50w (without rectifier tube, as mentioned), while the Dual is 100w and the Triple is 150w. But since you're concerned just about he Dual and Triple, I believe they both have 3 channels, the same amount of gain, just the Dual Rectifier takes 4x6L6 tubes and the Triple takes 6x6L6 tubes plus the rectifier tubes in each. The Triple Rectifier is NOT heavier sounding, just louder! My understanding of it, through reading, is that unless you're playing a stadium, you're not going to need to crank a Triple Rectifier. It can work to your detriment, and I've heard many describe it as "harsh" and more "buzzy"/"fizzy" or whatever term there is for it. Your average player who wants a Rectifier would probably opt for the Dual Rectifier, since it'll be warmer and allow the power tubes to shine through and provide warmth at normal volumes. And for most of us, 100 watts is going to be plenty. So, in short, just power differences between the Dual and Triple, as I understand it.

[MF_Kitten]

makes sense then, why many artists use the dual one... incubus and meshuggah (they used them before) to name a couple... thanks for the help!

[Team J Crafter]

It's already been said above but here you go:
Dual = 100w
Triple = 150w