Re: Mesa/Boogie 2-Channel Rectifiers Or Mesa/Boogie 3-Channel Rectifiers?
It depends.
The newer Recto's have a much better cleans (the older one's don't even have a clean channel, just two rhythm/lead channels).
The Oldest 2 channels have a slightly different transformer, which some believe is superior.
Mesa continually makes changes and improvements to their circuits. So the older ones don't have some of the tweeks that the newer ones have.
Since Mesa hand builds their amps, they had trouble keeping up with demand and I've heard of some amps having questionable build quality. However, I don't know if this is true, or if it's just some Mesa haters starting rumors.
The newer ones have more options, and the vintage voicing on the lead channel, which many users seem to prefer over the modern voicing, which was the only voicing available on the older amps.
Personally, I don't go for that older is better thing. I've seen a number of people insist that the older ones sound better, and I've seen a number of people say that they don't like the 90's tone and lack of options on the older ones.
My suggestion; listen to both, then decide.