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There's no mistaking that livery

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Long before many of the guitarists in today's metal bands had even been born, Mesa Engineering founder Randall Smith had already written his own chapter in rock history with the creation of the original Boogie amplifier. Possibly for the very first time, here was a manufacturer who was totally hip to the concept of the guitar amplifier as a musical instrument in its own right.

Players such as Santana and Larry Carlton developed a significant part of their styles based on what the Boogie could do and soon guitarists weren't only noted for being Les Paul or Stratocaster aficionados, but also 'Boogie' players.

"It's only when you hear the real thing that you realise how poor the digital facsimiles are."

That would have been enough for most amp designers, but in 1989 Randall and his team scored another direct hit with the amp that would provide the sound for an entire new wave of heavy rock music: the mighty Dual Rectifier. Just like the Mk 1 Boogie, the Dual Rec raised the bar at a crucial point in time and gave many players the tone they'd been craving, along with new styling that's become an icon in its own right.

The first 500 or so Rectifiers had two channels, after this the circuit was redesigned with three channels and a number of other component changes. Predictably, a mythology has since grown up around the 'pre-500' units suggesting that they're the 'holy grail' of tone, although post-500 users will usually disagree.

Now, after nearly 20 years of uninterrupted production, the Dual Rectifier has had another update. Is the new version going to be the ultimate holy grail of rock guitar tone? Before you read on, hear it in action in the following video: