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Dual Rectifier VS Titan V12

Best Mesa power maker

  • Titan v12

    Votes: 3 33.3%
  • Bass 400+

    Votes: 6 66.7%

  • Total voters
    9
Mesa Boogie tube bass amps (that I know about). @agedhorse for accuracy.
  • Bass 400+
    • 500 Watts @ 2 Ohms, All Tube, Class A/B Power
    • 12x6L6, 4x12AX7
  • Bass Strategy Eight:88
    • 465 watts RMS @ 4 ohms
    • 8 KT-88 power tubes and a combination of 2x Mesa 12AX7 and 1x Mesa 12AT7 preamp tubes
  • Bass Prodigy Four:88
    • 250 watts RMS @ 4 ohms
    • 4xKT-88 Power Tubes & 3x12AX7 Preamp Tubes
  • Buster Bass 200
    • 200 Watts @ 4 ohms, All Tube, Class A/B Power
    • 6x6L6-427, 3x12AX7
  • D-180
    • 180W amp
    • 6 6L6 tubes in the power section
The Titan V12 only has tubes in the preamp section, the power section being MOFSET.
  • 1200 Watts @ 4 Ohms (840 Watts @ 2 Ohms, 650 Watts @ 8 Ohms), Simul-State™ Power w/ 4 or 2 Ohm Impedance Select Switch for optimum Power/Load Performance / 22 Tube driven Power MOSFET’s, 4x12AX7
 
Mesa Boogie tube bass amps (that I know about). @agedhorse for accuracy.
  • Bass 400+
    • 500 Watts @ 2 Ohms, All Tube, Class A/B Power
    • 12x6L6, 4x12AX7
  • Bass Strategy Eight:88
    • 465 watts RMS @ 4 ohms
    • 8 KT-88 power tubes and a combination of 2x Mesa 12AX7 and 1x Mesa 12AT7 preamp tubes
  • Bass Prodigy Four:88
    • 250 watts RMS @ 4 ohms
    • 4xKT-88 Power Tubes & 3x12AX7 Preamp Tubes
  • Buster Bass 200
    • 200 Watts @ 4 ohms, All Tube, Class A/B Power
    • 6x6L6-427, 3x12AX7
  • D-180
    • 180W amp
    • 6 6L6 tubes in the power section
The Titan V12 only has tubes in the preamp section, the power section being MOFSET.
  • 1200 Watts @ 4 Ohms (840 Watts @ 2 Ohms, 650 Watts @ 8 Ohms), Simul-State™ Power w/ 4 or 2 Ohm Impedance Select Switch for optimum Power/Load Performance / 22 Tube driven Power MOSFET’s, 4x12AX7


The actual clean power of a Bass 400+ is in the range of 260-270W. AFAIK, the rest are close enough that I won't quibble.

It's been too long since I played a 400 for me to really do much of a valid comparison. The voicing of the preamp is often described as fairly aggressive, which I would take to mean bright. But of course you have a Graphic EQ so there are substantial tone shaping capabilities available. A lot of people also describe the amp as punchy, but I think you need to tweak the graphic for that quality to come out.

The basic voicing of the Titan has a strong low mid push IMHO. I own this amp and I consider it a wrecking ball. It creates more tactile sensation than any other amp in my collection of 28 amps. Even at low volume it cause sympathetic vibration in surrounding structures....in other words it causes stuff in my house to rattle.

The Titan is also way louder than any of my tube amps. I own a pair of vintage SVTs which are pretty much the gold standard. I also own multiple tubes amps that are rated at 400 to 427W, which are noticeably louder than my SVTs. The Titan is way louder than all of them, and I would say it's the tubiest hybrid in my collection.


The Titan is pretty much the perfect amp for the toxic narcissist bass player. With the right cabs you could probably clear any club and/or anger everyone in the band. I think it really can be that overbearing and obnoxious in the wrong hands. As the saying goes, with great power comes great responsibility.
 
I would expect the voicing of the Dual recto not to be something I would choose for bass, but that's a personal taste thing. The gain is also MUCH higher on the Dual Recto, so it would be a challenge to keep the preamp clean with bass instrument level (which is about 5x higher than guitar).
 
Anyone ever run a bass through a dual rec? Been curious about it for a while myself.

Was a long while ago but my buddies left their amps at my house for a bit between gigs/rehearsal and I was able to run my bass through their Mesas along with my bass amp which was an Eden at the time and it was awesome. Being able up get that blend and power was impressive and definitely sent me down the rabbit whole of dist blends. While the amps weren't dual recs, stiletto and DC5, they were higher gain and sounded great. Not a sound I'd use alone but I still had my clean tone going so it worked well.
 
I would expect the voicing of the Dual recto not to be something I would choose for bass, but that's a personal taste thing. The gain is also MUCH higher on the Dual Recto, so it would be a challenge to keep the preamp clean with bass instrument level (which is about 5x higher than guitar).

My comment about multi-amping was solely intended for someone who wants to run both a clean bass amp and a distorted guitar amp.
 
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Anyone ever run a bass through a dual rec? Been curious about it for a while myself.

There is older Versions with 2 channels and Newer With 3 channels.
Either would work for high distortion.

The Newer 3 channel would have more possibilities of getting cleaner.
Since it was the intent of the design to have 2 traditional channels for high gain.
And a new 3rd channel for less gain and cover a broader range.

I used the old 2 channel with stereo Rickenbacker, Modified to not go to separate pickups.
It worked for distortion. I thought the whole clean bass amp, distorted guitar amp would be cool.
Its better to have everything distorted. Sounds funny hard to balance with clean/dirty.
Was told Billy Sheehan uses dirty and clean, and uses different compression levels to make it work.
Special Pre with 2 separate effects loops. Makes sense. But I hate compression and dont want to deal with 2 different heads.

What is the best Mesa amp
-Titan V12
-Dual Rectifier
I looking for Bass 400+ all lamp too so Im not sure this one have the power of other two

For all tube Mesa Bass Amp I prefer the 400 not the 400+
400 is 6 tubes
400+ is 12 tubes

For a rackmount tube Amp its pretty much trouble free.
Only thing that hurts, is the 400+ is way to Hot in a Rack and Way to many Tubes.
Very Costly for re tube and not fun to current match
Compared to the Ampeg type Rackmount tube amps, Mesa is way better. Ampeg Lots random problems
and the power transformers get very very hot in a rack

Its what is great about the old 400, trouble free in a rack.

Only good Ampeg Rack Tube Amp is very very Old SVT-II
They spaced out the tubes better towards the back.
And being racked the Fan hits directly on the power transformer.
Which is the bad thing about the later models, tubes are tightly spaced near
the transformer, and everything cooks in a rack.
 
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