Easy. Get whichever one sounds best to jessy. Not necessarily the one that "most professional musicians" use. Not necessarily the one that a "Mesa Boogie sales representative" recommends. Not necessarily that one that anybody here might receommend on this thread. Just use your ears.

Let your ears decide. I have owned a dual recto since 1992 and the thing has never let me down... There are several tweak nobs on the back (Silicon Diodes vs tube, spongy vs bold..etc) They all should have an Orange channel. I like that one best for rythym.

The Rectifier 4/12 cab is also a bit darker sounding than your typical Marshall cabs as well. It has some serious low end and I recommend you try the cab out with the head.

Again, let your ears decide for you. Anyone of them are a winner in my book.

If you are just using it for recording, you might want to check out this as well
http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/Rectifier_Series/RectoPreAmps/RectoPreAmp.html
I had a dual rect head from the 90's and i loved it, sold it for a Univalve
It really comes down to what you like, you arent going to please everyone which whatever your choice is. Mesa has been building great stuff ofr years, you might want to check out some of their older stuff as well

cheers

I think the volume you will be recording at has alot to do with whether or not you want a single,double, or triple. Your likely to get a good distortion at lower volumes with a single vs a double vs a triple because of the wattage driving the speakers.

justin

Got to agree. If you are using it in the studio less is more.

I've got a single rectifier and it sounds excellent at all volumes.....unlike the JCM 800 I have that has to be cranked to all hell to really get the sound out of it. I just finished recording a nu-metal band with the Mesa and now soon to record a death metal band.

All three are good amps, but the single is a bit more different than the Dual/Triple. My main amp is a Soldano SLO, but I've got a Triple Rect as a back up that I use occasional, and often as a slave when I record.

Things to consider:

- Single doesn't have Rectifier Tubes, only a solid state rectifier (which is how most ClassAB amps are), so unlike the Double and Triple you can't switch the rectifier between Rectifier Tubes and Silicone Diodes. Of course, maybe you don't need it.

- This is more or less a live application situation, but if you're in a loud band, the Triple has a lot more head room. If not then it doesn't matter. Mesa Rects are some of the only amp heads that you don't have to crank to get "that" sound out of them, the downside of that is if you dime 'em they turn to mud. My Soldano (rebiased for KT66's pushing around 120Watts) is considerably louder than my 150Watt Triple, as you turn Soldano up it sounds better where as the Mesa's reach diminishing returns really fast. If you need head room on a clean sound the Single won't cut it, but simply for recording it's not much of an issue.

- A nice thing about the Dual is it's got the 100Watts, but you can also yank a Rectifier Tube and two Power Tubes (don't forget to cut the Ohms in half) if you want to get a maxed out sound at lower dB's.

They all sound similar, but slightly different depending on how much of tone snob one is. IMO the Triple is fuller and fatter with more bottom getting thinner as you go down to the Single. If you're shooting for a sound with bottom end like Korn then I'd go with a Triple.