Mesa Triple Rectifier for R n' R bass-Yes/No?

[rich18rich]

OK, let's try this again. That's basically the question. Not enough power to drive the low end? Or, a good head that, if it's cheap(!), could really sound cool. I know it's probably a question of tone taste but I'd love to hear back!! I play hard rock, verging on melodic hardcore/metal.
Thanx!

 

[Ian Perge]

Check out Amy from "Clatter" (a killer bass & drums 2-piece) in Invalid Link Removed explaining her rig. The short version is that she splits her signal three ways to fill up the sonic space in being a two-piece: Clean Bass goes to an SWR SM-900 & an SWR Henry The 8x8", Effected Bass goes through a Boss VF-1 multieffects unit into an SWR Super Redhead 2x10" combo, and the Distorted Bass goes into a Mesa Dual Rectifier head and 4x12" Cab, giving her a huge sound out of her Rics and 12-string basses.

That being said, the reason that she goes through all that trouble is that the bass amps with various distortion wasn't "guitar" enough for her, but just the Mesa doesn't carry nearly enough low-end to fulfill the "bass" side of things. I myself run a dual signal clean/effected rig, and I could never imagine playing without my "bass" signal and cab. You can try playing through guitar amp and I doubt it would physically damage anything unless you maxxed out the guitar head, but from personal experience as well as talking to others who run in similar ways we've found *just* a distortion signal isn't very satisfying as a bassist.

 

[B-string]

The power is there it's the tone shaping and how the output tubes are biased that is the question. I wouldn't run guitar cabs, you'll have to try it with good bass cabs to know. When the amp goes in for repair (if this is the same sick amp from earlier) the Tech can change some basic componets to make it more "Bass" friendly.

 

[glamrockin]

I used to play through a Mesa 100 watt head and a big, old Peavey ported 4x12 with new Black Widow speakers at practice. It sounded very good but it had a lot to do with the cab.

 

[Benjamin Strange]

I've got a prototype BassTriaxis, and I utilize the channel that's supposed to sound like a Dual Recto quite often. It sounds great, but I don't think a Triple Rec is going to be very good for bass without some pretty serious modification. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're incorporating into a bi-amp type setup.

 

[JGR]

i've run my dual rectp and JCM800 as part of a biamp setup and they work cool/are plenty loud for adding some grit to another clean bass amp, but they wouldn't work well as a standalone IME.

JR

 

[rich18rich]

good stuff
same head as other post, yep

 

[fenderhutz]

Cranking the gain on a Mesa 400+ gets a nice throaty guitar type overdrive.

A Metal Muff also can make a Peavey sound VERY close to a Rectifier.

 

[BassmanPaul]

If the Mesa is what you have use it. It will be either enough for what you need or it won't. The Question is speakers. You'll need fairly efficient cabinets as the amp is low powered for a bass amp. Try it out and see what happens and then use it or replace it.

Paul