MESA/BOOGIE

Mini-Rectifier

$1,407, mesaboogie.com

Despite its 25-watt rating, the Mini Rectifier will surprise you with its volume, poise and sheer size of sound — even through a single 1 x 12 cab. Featuring “two-channels with four modes,” channel one has a Fender-like clean response with a goodly dollop of high-end presence and full, extended bass. You could happily twang out “Sultans of Swing” here with a Strat, or get into funky choppy rhythms. The clean mode will overdrive if you push the gain pot, but the “Pushed” mode immediately ups the signal’s gain for a punchier clean tone. With a Tele, and in 25-watt mode, the combined thump and sizzle from open-position chords is a sound you’ve heard on countless records, from the Stones to the Georgia Satellites. Channel two’s “vintage” mode sounds like a heavily modded classic rock head — fat and saturated — with plenty of loose bottom-end resonance. The “modern” mode gets much closer to the “Rectifier” name with more presence, tighter bottom-end response and more cutting mid-range.