The ESP Guitar Company

Being 150 watts... I don't think it'll be overkill in a band situation, as I know a few guitarists that use them. I have to agree with you though... if I went with a Rectifier it'd be a Triple.

I can make my 50 watt Engl overkill in band practice.

I don't touch anything thats even a smidgen over 50watts, but I guess the massive headroom is what some people like.

The main thing that will make your decision is which you like more - preamp gain and headroom or power tube saturation.

I prefer the latter...hell, I like my amps to sound like they're being crushed underfoot with every EMG-laden high-output note I kick into them. But that's just me. I have the disadvantage of having less clean headroom with my (soon to be here this week, or rather it better fuckin be!) setup, but I don't mind as I love fiddling with volume knobs.

As mentioned, volume isn't different. People usually mistake the Triple to be louder because to get the fabled power tube saturation it "has to be louder" itself first.

So if you like the way it sounds at the volume you use it at the most, get it. ;)

is a Triple Rectifier usable in band practice/small gigs situations?

I still say no. Well, its usable, but a lower wattage would sound so much better IMO.

To be fair, at a mic'd gig...hell, even an unmic'd gig...I've always found enough clean headroom with a 50 watter. It depends on how hard your driving it, but if you get some grit then every guitar ever made has the solution...its a little knob which controls the volume/output of the guitar. It surprises me how many people don't know how to use one properly :p

My mate has a JVM head, 100 watts and very powerful. In band practises he gets to crank it and it sounds sweet. I was helping them out with tech stuff at one gig and he got annoyed at how much quieter it had to be for the mic.

Unless you're playing a stadium any time soon, I still insist that IMO, its very much overkill. As I said, clean headroom isn't so much a problem depending on how you dial them in - I like mine sweet and sparkly, so I tend to have very little gain on them, and I usually knock the volume knob down a touch. Nevertheless, some people like to have those warm, boomy and bold clean sounds with a neck humbucker. So your clean headroom will depend on how you set it.

Would that have EMG's then?

I'd say try some out if you can manage to arrange time to crank some amps :p Stick a 50 watter and crank it on your preferred clean setting, see how you like it, try a 100watter with the same thing.

A 100w dual rectfier will probably give you a healthy balance - enough clean headroom and a more useable power band for your drive settings. Its only a personal thing that I don't use anything more than 50watts, some people prefer the feel of a more powerful amp, whereas I prefer the sound of an amp thats constantly pushed to its limit.

And you should be more of a volume knob man. People think the EMG 60 sounds shit clean because its high output and very bold sounding. And it does sound that way, until you fiddle with the volume knob.

Seriously, mastery of the volume knob will almost triple the amount of tones you have at your fingers, which has led me to love simple amps that only have one channel. Watch Jeff Beck and Gary Moore play, see how they use the volume knob as an instrument.

The thing I like most about my Eclipse is the dual volume/3way toggle setup. What I do in a single channel setup is to get some nice crunch, then turn the neck pickup volume down so its nice and clean. From there, I have a 3 channel amp setup all controlled from my 3 way toggle switch - clean, mid gain and full drive on the respective settings.

If you have a '59 in the neck then you are sorted mate! Low output, gorgeous clean sounds - my favourite passive pickup ever. The tremoverb is a very good choice, you'll love it ;)

That is true. Hence why I think 50 watts are more than enough.

DON'T DO IT. I did the same bought a Triple Rec, impossible to tame even with an attenuator. And carrying it to jam was a BITCH. A mini 25 watt Recto will do the trick