Peavey Triple X vs Mesa Boogie Rectifiers

Killjingle · Post by **Killjingle** » Tuesday Sep 20, 2005

My brother has brutal guitar tone. Perhaps not enough of u have heard it but it really screams PROFESSIONAL when u hear it. He uses a Dual Rectifier. A lot of music stores and gearheads claim a XXX can run with a Dual Rect. I wonder half the price, half the product. I understand good tone comes from a good guitar player that understands his instrument, but lets say apples to apples, do u think its even in the same league? If u get the chance check out House of Cain, even if u dont like that particular style of music, I really believe u will enjoy his mucisianship and fantastic guitar tone. He has mentioned a Single Rect to me, but I would like to stay 100 watts or more, not that I will ever need it, but I might want it.

Please advise

Matt_22 · Post by **Matt_22** » Wednesday Sep 21, 2005

Chad, you know I play the same thing as jason and I personally think anything peavey shouldn't be on stage let alone used for a guitar amp. The mesa tone crushes for metal. The new stilleto model sounds really good. NOt only does the tone crush with mesa the things are built like rocks. I had my mesa cab roll out of the back of the trailer while driving down the road and it looks or sounds no different at all. Can't wait to see killjingle let us know when you want to do a show.

orangekick · Post by **orangekick** » Wednesday Sep 21, 2005

Everytime I hear one of those Peavey XXX amps, it sounds like a fizzy mess. Mesa Dual Rectifiers are great for bottom heavy metal. I actually like the sound of a Marshall and a Mesa at the same time, but I have been getting ridiculous with my amp lately. I'm rocking 2 half stack all the time. hahaha...

Killjingle · Post by **Killjingle** » Wednesday Sep 21, 2005

I am having the hardest time committing to spending the bux on a brand new boogie head though. It really comes down to the fact that I just dont know how much I will play in the next upcoming year. I dont want the damn thing to just sit in my basement and corrode away. I could handle an 800 dollar head MAYBE corroding, but I dont know about a 1500 dollar head. That prob sounds stupid.

I recently been using a GT-6 loaner thru an AOR 50 head and it has some potential, but it aint the real deal. It's missing character and balls. But it does have some pretty decent sounds coming out of it. I am looking to upgrade but not spend what I could get a used car for. I never truly heard a marshall that had the sound I was looking for. I say nothing better for hard punky rock than a marshall and a paul, but thats not exactly the sound I am striving for. I am however looking for something that provides a warm clean sound as well, because that has become an important part of my playing as well. Please advise some more.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Wednesday Sep 21, 2005

I generally don't like the sound of a simple head/cab setup or a combo setup. It's one thing if you're doing all original music and that's what makes "Your Sound", but if you cover a variety of material, I just don't think a head and cabinet provides enough versatility. I think that stomboxes are also limiting because it's hard to adjust them on the fly.

old sKool runs a DigiTech processor in his rack, and it's a big part of how we sound. Whenever he learns a new song, he'll tweak both the actual effect of a patch and the EQing of the patch itself. So if a song has a scooped-mid thing happening, he can nail the scooped-mid sound with the push of a button on his pedal board.

I've heard a lot of guitarists that run preamps in front of their heads/combos and have Godly tone. Then when they just run the amp straight, their tone sounds stale and weak.

Not putting down anyone's preferences in amps - just talking about what I like.

Deviance, you may want to check out some of the Hughes and Kettner stuff. They're gainy (is that even a word) like a Boogie, but they have a cleaner, more compressed sound. Also, if you're looking for something that's like a Marshall but is't a Marshall, have a look at some of the Laney stuff. Laney's have that warm nasally Marshall thing going on, but they are fuller sounding and sit really nice in the mix.

orangekick · Post by **orangekick** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

If you are patient, you can find a Dual Rectifier on eBay for around $1,000. They really are worth it even if you aren't going to be playing a lot. You never know when that situation might change.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

Try tweaking the GT-6 some more, especially the R-Fier simulator. While its a good box, its only about 90% of the way to getting a good Rectifier sound.

The GT-8 has more settings, including a Marshall Mode 4 simulator that kicks ass--not your daddy's Marshall sound. You can combine two amp simulators, and it is about 99% of the way to getting a good tube sim for any amp listed. It also has a solo mode that gives any of the simulators more balls.

I gave up on Marshall and Boogie heads because they were just too limited. I even had a Triaxis thru a 2020 power amp. That rig is about as versatile as any tube arrangement I ever had, but I had trouble getting a solo sound that I liked. If you like Boogie solo sounds, you may want to investigate the Triaxis--it really does all those tones in one box.

I am extremely pleased with my GT-8 and am working on the optimum amp/speaker cab to run it. It runs much better on a solid state amp--with a tube amp, its like wearing a patch and continuing to smoke cigarettes. I'm going to build a powered speaker cabinet and see how that works. Its funny, nobody makes a clean-powered speaker cabinet for guitar processors....YET!

Matt_22 · Post by **Matt_22** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

There is no substitute for the original dualy. Hughes and Kettner stuff is ok but I've seen them break down alot. As for a personal sound. You get your sound through your eq and the type of guitar you play the pick ups and the onboard guitar eq. I don't feel you need a 3,000,000 sound pedal to get an original sound. Just my opinion though. I also love the way a marshall and mesa sound together in the mix. As long as the marshall is tube.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

I'm not so much saying that you get an original sound through a lot of effects, but I just feel that a simple head/combo unit limits you on what you can accomplish. A high end processor or amp simulator allows you the luxury to change sounds on the fly. You can't be fiddling with knobs between songs and pickup selectors and tone knobs can only efffect your sound so much. It's also nice to have patches for rythmn playing and patches for lead playing.

I'm even more anal about bass equipment. I don't know if it's a product of growing up in a later period, but I've never been much for more traditional tones. I'm into hifi sounding gear like SWR, Epifani, Eden, Kern, ect. I'd like to have the option to obtain totally different tones on the fly. I've even thought about running a Sansamp RBI in front of my BBE just to have two different preamps at my disposal.

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

Matt_22 wrote:There is no substitute for the original dualy. Hughes and Kettner stuff is ok but I've seen them break down alot. As for a personal sound. You get your sound through your eq and the type of guitar you play the pick ups and the onboard guitar eq. I don't feel you need a 3,000,000 sound pedal to get an original sound. Just my opinion though. I also love the way a marshall and mesa sound together in the mix. As long as the marshall is tube.

The GT8 can be had for <$400. After owning 4 of their amps, $3,000,000 is what I'd use to describe anything with the word Boogie written on it (or PRS for that matter).

Before the GT-8, I agreed wholeheartedly with you that nobody really produced a good tube simulator. The GT8/GTPro changed all that. With a good power amp and cabinet, its almost impossible to feel or hear a difference. To get balls-to-the-wall metal sounds, however, you have to have a balls-to-the-wall power amp and cabinet.

Anybody have an empty Boogie vertical 2x12 halfback cab laying around?

Matt_22 · Post by **Matt_22** » Thursday Sep 22, 2005

Never had a chance to play with a GT-8. However from my post I'm sure everyone can tell I'm a meat and potatoes kind of person when it comes to running a bass rig or a guitar rig. The only thing I use to alter my overall tone is a noise suppressor.

old Skool · Post by **old Skool** » Friday Sep 23, 2005

I've always been partial to Boogie. To me they always had that pro sound. Yes Boogie gear is expensive but I learned a long time ago that you usually get what you pay for. I'd say go for a used head cause I feel you could probably get your money back out of it. I've never played the Peavey & it may be ok but I know what that Boogie can do. As bassist_25 said I use programmable rack gear for versatility. I run a Sansamp preamp, Digitech TSR-24 for effects (really cool because you can control the amount of effect & dry signal at the output), a Hush and a Boogie 2:90 power amp feeding a pair of Boogie 2x12 split cabs. Over the years I've covered everything from Elvis to Disturbed. For metal though it's tough to beat a Boogie (although VHT makes some killer gear too).

Killjingle · Post by **Killjingle** » Saturday Sep 24, 2005

my biggest pet peeve right now with the GT is that my pinch harmonics have no depth to them. I wont say that the rig sounds bad that I am running, and I do appreciate havin some fx at my feet. There again I dont need enough fx for an entire tool album, I believe with rolling the tone knobs on your guitar and changing the way u attack with the plectrum you can create enough different tones for my particular flavor of metal. I am not interested in reproducing cover songs, so I was just curious I guess what most ppl thought of the XXX. The thing I hear too commonly is that Duals break down and are expensive to fix. XXX's have a 5 yr warranty, what does the Dual have?

Punkinhead · Post by **Punkinhead** » Saturday Sep 24, 2005

It depends on what kind of tone you are looking for. If you want a super saturated sound, the Boogie is the best. For the metal I play I prefer a Marshall JCM800 w/ a distortion in front of it or even an old 5150 head (NOT the 5150II). It gives you more room for dynamics to use something like the JCM800 plus it's got more thickness on bottom than Roseanne Barr. I always figured whats the sense of using different intervals and what not to sound evil if all you get out of it is full blown saturation....

But to answer your question Chad, no the XXX can't run /w a Double Rectifier. I've always thought the Satch model did a better job with high gain when I was demoing Peavey's stuff (other than the first 2 series of 5150). You're better bet would be to find an old Marshall head and have it modded.

But like I said, it's all in what style you want too...

Matt_22 · Post by **Matt_22** » Monday Sep 26, 2005

The dual has a lifetime and a 1 year on the tubes. I heard the triple rec. had some problems but the dual was known as the workhorse. Punkinhead nailed this entire thread with his post. Nicely put...........