UAFX's Knuckles DSP Preamp takes on the mighty 1992 MESA/Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision F Amplifier - with separate secondary Overdrive voicing also

Universal Audio have definitely been busy these days, and following their ANTI 5150 take - they’ve completed an almost identical exercise for the MESA/Boogie Dual Rectifier Revision F.

The controls are pretty much identical bar the Channel Selection and Cab assignments - and including the 3-Band EQ + Presence, and the 3-controls secondary Overdrive (TS808).

This is essentially the second of its High Gain Preamp pedals - I presume there will a third variant some day too - as most of these seem to come in waves of threes! Will be interesting to see which further Digital Preamps UAFX adds to this range.

I have a few Dual Rectifier pedals in my Full Metal Racket collection, and am broadly satisfied with what I have already - so I’m not really considering adding this one as a priority. Where at some stage I will definitely be trialling the Ruby and Lion ones - but need to save up for those and wait for an opportunistic moment to pounce! Pricing is identical to what’s come before - where these go for $399 / €429 / £379 - and rarely if ever appear on discount - so I’m going to have to be super opportunistic on the acquisitions trail. I always look to get discounts on the pricier pedals!

Controls - Gain [Room], Presence [Gate], Output, CAB : UK V30, CA V30, White 75, Mode : Alt / Amp / Store, Channel : Clean, Original, Red, Low [Overdrive], Mid [OD Tone], High [OD Level], On Footswitch, Preset Footswitch.

Bonus CABS - 1x12 EV12, 4x12 Celestion 80, 4x12 Brown [upon registration]

Rear Ports - IN } 1/Mono, 2/Stereo, 9V DC, USB-C, OUT } 1/Mono, 2/Stero, Pair button switch (Bluetooth).

We’re all familiar with the format by now, and it’s minimal latency output. The modelling here is about as good as it gets for the current state of the art - and several pro musicians are already using these as their preferred live playback devices - including U2’s the Edge - who supposedly particularly favours the Lion Preamp.

I personally don’t have any issues with the JFET and Opamp variants of these amp topologies - as many of those sound superb too - and some of the recent conventional High Gain Pedals are blisteringly good. All of these choices have their own pros and cons.

I will undoubtedly dip my toes into this area eventually - while it’s a somewhat pricey route, and takes up a disproportionate amount of real-estate. These could easily have harboured more conventional 1590BB dimensions - while Universal Audio went for something somewhat elongated and oversized - beautiful enclosures mind.

If I were to drop down this route - the Ruby and Lion would be my first choices, followed by the recent Enigmatic, then ANTI and Knuckles - while all of those make for something of a sizeable investment - and my MO is always to get in around 20 new pedals or so each month to share with you all - so the pricier they are - the fewer their number - there’s only so much money to go around!

The MESA/Boogie Dual Rec is definitely one of the most enduring High Gain amps - I wonder what we will get next - Diezel VH4?

In any case you can read up more on the Knuckles Preamp on the Universal Audio website.