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This thing screams "roadworthy"

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• Review

When we get a product like this in for evaluation, every available player gets a listen and a play, just to remind ourselves of what a benchmark really is. As previously mentioned, despite the comprehensive nature of this amp's features, it's not a complex beast to get to grips with. Literally five minutes and we had all three channels producing great tones.

The big mistake that inexperienced players make with amps like these is whacking the controls right up. Nooo! The Dual Recto delivers its best results with most set within their middle bands. There's enough range here to deliver what each channel does best and then tweak those using the rectifier and power switches, plus each channel's mode switches to taste. The boogie literature is quick to point out, too, that oscillations and potential preamp valve microphony can occur without restraint.

It's impossible to describe every sound from every channel in every mode. So we've decided to highlight three basic tones and describe how the various functions affect them. They are: clean rhythm; a strong classic rock rhythm/riff tone; and soaring lead. Plus we'll look at those all-important thrash and nu-metal tones.

Channel 1's basic tonality is sweet but strident, the controls giving plenty of scope for almost any tone you could require. In some ways it's like a huge Fender Twin, except that the four Celestion Vintage 30s give a more focused, in-your-face feel. Flick to pushed mode and you're in Thin Lizzy riff territory. It's fat and gutsy, but back off the volume and it cleans up nicely, even giving mild blues leads and chunky chords.

Channel 2 is the classic lead channel. Everything from Hendrix to Cream, Free to the Allman Brothers and the whole of seventies glam, be it Slade or Kiss, is in there. And a whole bunch more, of course – but it would be a crime to pigeonhole the amp when its offerings are so diverse. Lots of variation can be had using the three-band EQ, while the presence control is a good way to add sparkle and immediacy, without colouring the sound too much.

Channel 3 is the pokiest of all, with a hugeness that's hard to imagine. But you don't have to make it the land of gain: vintage tones work brilliantly too and yet just seem bigger than ever. That said, this is the gain fan's fix channel and it's piled on with spades. With plenty of middle dialled in and a Les Paul around the neck, the notes linger forever. But it's not flabby; it's tight and utterly responsive. Watch that gain though, because almost every tone is better when the power amp has space to breathe.

On the latter two channels the modes can be described simply thus: modern is fattest and loudest; vintage is quieter and more sophisticated and raw is a bit like that, but more scooped. Modern is huge and flattering to the player, but after a while most of us were convinced of vintage mode's inherent class – and anyway you can push the volume and EQ to get close to modern mode's punch, yet retain that vintage subtlety.

Nu-metal is sort of thrash with less of a middle scoop. We found it easiest on Channel 3, in modern mode and with a fair bit more gain. Any potential bottom end flab can easily be eradicated with judicious backing off of which ever control interacts with your guitar to cause it – with the Les Paul we found treble and gain to be the main culprits. This sound section could go on forever and still insult Mesa Engineering with its incompleteness. Let's just say that if the look of this amp excites you, book a couple of hours at your Boogie dealer and audition one for yourself.

Not all of us have £2,800 to spend on a new amp/cab set-up and even fewer would genuinely need something with this level of power and sophistication. But to the small tribe of players who can and do, the Dual Rectifier Solo head and matching 4 x 12 cabinet provides gargantuan power, awesome looks and truly inspiring features.

This side of the company's range may well have its associations firmly planted at the feet of old as well as nu-metal, but the latest innovations mean it could sit as happily on the end of Knopfler's, Clapton's, Slash's or Moore's guitar leads as those of Munky or Wes Borland. We say it's worth every penny (Compare it to the Matchless DC30 at £2700!) and advise any doubters of its range of fabulous tones to check one out urgently.

(First published in Guitarist magazine, Spring 2001)