Still wiping the tears from my eyes - JF Recto Mod and Erect

[Big Daddy]

JF Modded Recto and Erect Opinions

Here?s the back story, me and LoD21 go back a million years. I?m and Egnater junkie from 1988 ? I commissioned his first ever 3 channel pre-amp and own his M4 Prototype serial number 00001, yes the one that toured the world lives in my rack ? and have had the pleasure of working with Bruce to zero in on my tone ever since. My stuff is heavily modified and always turns heads when we gig.

I have been looking for another amp for a few years. Something smaller than my rack of death ? appropriately named by the crew who has to carry it ? something easier to move around so I can ***** with other bands and jam with buddies. In December I had the opportunity to buy an RM100M, so I did. I wasn?t loaded, but my boy LoD21 had a zillion modules and he said I could borrow a couple while I figured out which ones to buy.

At the time he was using a JF Modded XTC, a Mr Scary and a Grail. His tone was pretty cool, but kinda ?dark?. The other guys in our band preferred his Egnater modified Marshall ? which is spectacular ? but I always liked certain characteristics about his Randall and thought that If I could just spend an hour or two tweaking it I might really like it.

So we dug through LoD?s box of misfit toys and come upon an early JF Moded Recto. The second I put it in my amp everyone else in the room?s heads turned. Like always the rest of the guys in the band were ignoring me and LoD while we tweaked knobs, but the second I fired this guy up everyone took notice. LoD started pulling his preferred modules out of his head and putting them in mine. One by one this Recto was takin? ?em out! Down goes the XTC, Down goes Mr Scary, etc?

I immediately told him I would buy that Recto, but knew I wanted to try a few more modules to be sure, so I started buying from you guys. I bought some stockers for donors and then got deals on a Mamba SE, a Dragon and an JF Erect ? damaged in shipping.

The Mamba SE is a formidable module. The saturation and gain levels are quite ridiculous. Kudos to Anthony on a great, great module. I would like to try more of Anthony?s modules, but, unfortunately, they tend to be a little cost prohibitive for me and the wait to get a fresh one from overseas is more than I can bare , so at LoD?s urging, I started talking to Rob. I know this doesn?t need to be said, but I feel obligated to say it? what a GREAT guy! As most of you know he volunteered to fix and update my broken Erect for the cost of shipping ? since it was shipped with several other modules the shipping was drastically reduced, so he basically did it for free ? very, VERY generous

Like Bruce, Rob was very open to my ? our ? input, but a little hesitant ? or so it seemed ? to really push the gain to the levels we were asking for. Once we made a few points for our side he embraced our insanity and began coming up with ideas to get these custom recto mods where we wanted them. The result has exceeded my expectations in every way!!!

We cloned LoD?s ?A-Recto? our working title for the module and added gain and saturation pots internally and a mid-sweep knob on the face. We did some tweaking with the tight switch and a few other things Rob could clarify, because I am not remembering everything at this moment. We were very careful to make sure that we could always dial this mods back to the original A-Recto tone and what we ended up with is, in my humble opinion, the best sounding recto mod I have ever heard.

I also, finally, got to hear what a JF Erect is supposed to sound like. Rob?s description on his web site doesn?t do it justice. He really nails two different recto tones with this mod. If I hadn?t just received the module I have been dreaming about for years, I would be gushing about that module for sure! Our singer, who also plays guitar in another band grabbed it for his Lynchbox so quickly it made my head spin We played around with the Erect for a while and it is a great module on its own, but my JF Custom Recto is truly a work of art! It all works out well though, Billy got a cool new module that suits his needs, while LoD and I got what were hoping for and more 

Rob? thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!!

It was great working with you and I look forward to our continued quest for tone I can?t wait to hear the Trilogy, get to work!!! LOL

H

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Great review! I never had the pleasure of playing a JF Recto...

 

[LoD21]

But can we get just a tad bit more gain? Just kidding. The Recto kills everything MTS or not for me so far.

 

[crankyrayhanky]

^ Don't you have a Baron? You're digging on the JF Recto even more? Wow :shock:

 

[LoD21]

^ Don't you have a Baron? You're digging on the JF Recto even more? Wow :shock:

Not sure who you are asking but neither of us have a Baron. We have a ton of other great gear though.

 

[Big Daddy]

^ Don't you have a Baron? You're digging on the JF Recto even more? Wow :shock:

I have a Dragon, but there's no comparison. There seems to be an unwritten rule here that we are only supposed to post positive reviews about the mods we like. I'm sure the Dragon must have it's fans and it does have it's merits, but I prefer the Recto I just got, the Mamba SE and JF Erect. Hopefully that was honest, but not slanderous

H

 

[crankyrayhanky]

Yes, no one wants to disrespect and diss one modder over another. At some point, many of these mods have become such hi level handwired works of art, it becomes just a matter of preference. I tend to play and flip almost everything out there :lol:

 

[Whoopysnorp]

I don't see anything wrong with expressing negative opinions about mods, as long as it's done in an honest and respectful way. I owned a Dragon for a little while, and like Big Daddy, I didn't think it measured up to the best mods out there, so I flipped it. It does have its merits, and for some people it's the right choice, but it wasn't for me.

 

[JeffHenneman]

I don't see anything wrong with expressing negative opinions about mods, as long as it's done in an honest and respectful way. I owned a Dragon for a little while, and like Big Daddy, I didn't think it measured up to the best mods out there, so I flipped it. It does have its merits, and for some people it's the right choice, but it wasn't for me.

I agree. If you give valid reasons to why you don't like the module then there is no problem. I think this unwritten rule has actually been good tho. When someone here says they don't like this mod or that mod they are usually very good at describing what they don't like. In fact I think those reviews are very helpful.

 

[Mike361]

Nice review on the recto and Rob's excellent service. I liked hearing the full story of your quest for the tone you want. As far as modders go, it is a unspoken thing here to not diss anyone but ok to say if a module is just not what you wanted. That's why the rest of us get good deals without the wait.

 

[Whoopysnorp]

Well, the nice thing about this scene is that there isn't anybody out there putting out crap. I suppose there are probably people around ruining modules with bad modifications, but you never hear about those people, because their stuff doesn't catch on. Nobody's work catches on that doesn't deserve it. Even the Dragon, which I didn't ultimately like, was undeniably a well-made piece that does certain things very well. I own two modules each from Salvation, Jaded Faith, and SacredGroove, and each one is a work of art. When I jam on these things, I can't believe every guitar player doesn't have an MTS rig.

 

[LoD21]

Quick update on the Recto's for the guys who have PM'ed about some of the Recto upgrade specs. As H mentioned, Rob had recently added an internal adjustable gain saturation pot to Recto A and Recto B ($10 no brainer). Kind of interesting the variety of break up and tone we can achieve. H is running his internal saturation pot all the way up but backing off the gain knob on the module a bit.

I'm running mine with the internal saturation pot at 2/3rds but leaving my gain knob cranked. One would expect a similar or more/less gain result but there is a noticeable difference in the feel, teeth, and cut going on between the 2 approaches.

Both sound great but it's kind of cool how that little extra option gives us even more versatility than we initially realized. Really helps based on which guitar/pickup combo we go with (H with a Duncan SH6, mine is MCP Custom Super Ceramic). Also if you run any sort of OD pedal it's nice to be able to adjust to suit one's taste.