This is gonna be a long post. I hope it helps.
There are not many guys who have been TOV owners since when they where first released. I got mine new in the store in '96 and have had it as my main rig. I have only "not owned one" for 2 years. In that two years I got a Roadster.
Starting with the cleans.
The TOV's cleans sit at a higher range to my ears then the Roadster's. There are plenty of highs on the Roadster but I think they where going for more of a Lonestar "type" of clean. It's a "warmer" slightly rounded sound. The mid frequencies are what turned me off about the Roadster's clean channel and settings in that. It is in a lower range to my ears then the TOV's. It also scoops a lot of your sound out to me like an old Twin, where as the mid knob on the TOV is more tasty and yields to brighter cleans with more top end attack. I know that there is a bright cap on the TOV's cleans but it's the actual mid knob that turns me on. Lastly, the Roadster's clean channel has way too much low end for me. For work, my money is in the R&B type sounds. I do a lot of percussive stuff with my cleans. I get paid to get the sounds a strat gets but have to be able to switch mid-song to a rock tone like a Gibson. The TOV's clean sits perfectly in the mix with all my guitars. I have only had one guitar sound bad through it and it wasn't the amp, it was the pickups. I replaced them and it was fine. I just found myself turning knobs all the way off or up all the way on the Roadster to get out frequencies or boost what wasn't there, and with my TOV everything is almost all at 12'Oclock. The only thing I adjust is the treble with the different rooms.
On a side note about the Mark cleans, I have had great success using a producer's Mark IV in the studio for cleans. He liked my tones so much that he jammed on my guitar through his amp for 30 minutes after we tracked. It was really funny. It's as if he didn't realize his studio amp (the Mark IV) could sound like that. He had a Roadster there, a pre-500 Recto (he said it was like #107 or something...) a Mark III Colosseum, a studio .22, and the Mark IV. I didn't have my TOV so I used his Mark IV and loved the cleans.
Channel 2 on the Roadster.
Best channel! My favorite mode on the channel is the Brit mode. However, here again, I was turning the gain and mids up all the way to get more out of it and think thats not a good thing. Your amp should adjust to suit your needs accordingly. If you are turning stuff all the way up, when you need a little more it aint there. I ended up getting a one-off custom pedal in Nashville that effectively gives me what I was looking for in the Brit mode on channel 2 of the Roadster. Its a gain box that allows an adjustable amount of your clean to come through like what a Tube-screamer does but instead of the gain being smooth and rounded and warm, this one has more of a crispy high end thing going on like an old Marshall cranked up. It's clear and tight and has enough gain for me. I actually like it more then channel 2 of the Roadster and have used it effectively in the studio. It was pricey but worth it.
Chanel 3 and 4 are no-brainers. If someone where to say, "The Roadster is tighter then the old Dual Recs", or "Has more highs" or whatever...That is an easy thing to remedy with my TOV. Just turn the treble up a little, or move the mic closer to the cone. If people thing the opposite, "Roadsters have more low end" then I can just boost my lows a little. I try to keep it close to 12 O'clock when recording so I have room to get more or less on my TOV. The bottom line is it's a Recto. TOV's are gonna track close to Roadsters on the orange and red modes. I have no opinion on which is better for high gain in the studio. They all do well with my guitars including my seven string.
TOV's BLUES MODE! This is the big killer right here. This is the only amp that Mesa makes/made that has a sound like this. No Mark amp can do what this mode does. It's as if a Mark IIc+ and a Recto had a love child. I have tried all the older Mark amps, and all the Rectos except the brand new ones and nothing does what this can do. Recto's have notoriously scooped out mids even on the Orange mode. The Blues mode on the TOV acts like Mesa left all the big gooey mids in there, and gave you the squishy lows that older Mark amps are known for (Think Carlos Santana) but gave you more gain like a Recto. Lastly, the presence knob on this mode has a HUGE curve allowing you to go from a completely muffled tone to almost a piercing high end. It's REALLY responsive. It lets you get some modern high end in the sound to cut a little. Lonestars don't even come close to the way the gain is. It's my favorite sound in the amp. The problem with the blues mode is that it has so much frequency coming through that it's easy to make the tone really muddy. you can't really do anything percussive with it but it's perfect for lead lines and fills out your high notes beautifully. I can easily get modern fusion style leads and Santana type sounds with more gain on this mode. And that is what pays the bills for me. My dream Mesa amp would be the TOV's clean, Recto 2nd channel for high gain stuff with it switchable from Red to Orange (Vintage Hi-Gain) and Channel 3 would be just the Blues mode. I would die and go to heaven on a rig like that.
So that's my ranting and raving about a TOV doing what a Roadster can (in the studio) but not the other way around. I would just like to re-itterate my point about live usage being a no brainer if I had to pick. Roadster hands down. I would have to rack my brain a bit on my lead tone for this group I'm in currently, but 4 channels is no joke. I do use my TOV but I suppliment the sounds on the records of the artist with some boutique pedals. It works well enough. For my Rock/Metal stuff, I would choose a simple pedal free set up with just some delay in the loop and maybe a comp pedal for the cleans with a Roadster head. For me to use TOV's live on my stuff (which doesnt make me money yet) I would need two of them. That's a very difficult rig for live use. I tried it, it sucked. LOL! I would do a Roadster for my record (live) any day.
P.S. I am thinking of getting a CE FET Dream pedal. There are some great sound clips of it. Anyone have one? I also looked into an Ethos Overdrive and have one on order.
Hope all that helps.
94Tremoverb (the guy with that as his user name), feel free to chime in here.
