Finally!

Overally, this amp rocks!

I use channel 1 clean with some coloring effects in the loop. Sound is awesome. I have channel 2 set up with medium gain and use a couple distortion pedals in front for when I want a pure metal sound. Channel 3 is what I have been search for...that perfect mix of high gain with tonal quality. Tons of adjustability to hone in the sould your after.

I actually use it in a spare bedroom at a master volume setting of around 8-9 o'clock. It sounds great cranked and backed off.

There are a few nitpick complaints I have (location of knob text is a pain to read, no real marker on the knobs to see what they are set at - only a chromed dent and I wish the foot contoller cable came out the back), but the sound quality more than makes up for the minor inconveniences.

I am using the amp to play 80's rock, hard rock and heavy metal.

Still my favorite

I've owned my dual rec for almost 12 years now. It's still my favorite. There were times when I thought "I have my dual rec for high gain, now I need a little warmth and a cleaner clean." After experimenting around with it over the years, I found I didn't need to go to multiple amps to get those qualities. It is certainly the most versatile amp I've played through, and I've played them all. As a plus, these things are built like tanks, and if something did go wrong Mesa's product support is exemplary. This truly is the "God of all amplifiers" for me.

Impressive Amp!

This amp sounds great! There are so many sounds to choose from, the cleans are very nice sounding and even up to the higher gain settings this thing roars. I recommend that you crank this amp to get the best tone, at lower volumes it does not have as much control over the tone and with the higher gain settings, there is a fizzy sound that once you get the amp to a certain level it meets in volume with the rest of the full body tone. This is meant to be a quiet amp. I bought a RockCrusher power attenuator for my amp for studio and practice volumes as this amp is mainly for studio use.

mesa dual rec

great sounding amp all the way around. ONLY bad point is the EFFECTS LOOP, it is useable but trying to foot-switch the loop and maintain proper levels is a total waste of time. Too bad on an amp that sounds this good

No Quiet Channel Changes

I have owned a few of these over the years. It is a very impressive for Distortion in the Ultra mode. I actually prefer Channel two which is more of a master volume vintage vibe. Channel one would probably be better without the master volume setup in my opinion. The" big secret" about these amps is that the channel switching is not always silent. Sometimes a load pop can be heard when switching channels either by the foot switch or on the amp directly. This may be due to the Relays used in the design. The older 2 Channel versions do not have this problem. The recommended fix is to rotate thru the channels a few times which only seems to diminish the issue rather than correct it. Great amp but if you want silent channel switching look somewhere else. I feel a hand-built amp in this price range should be silent. I only post this here as there seems to be little information out there regarding this issue and Mesa will not reply to my emails.