Anyone use the Brit mode on your Roadster???

[gumbymage]

I just bought a Roadster head today and was playing with it and a Boss MD-2 pedal which I also just bought, tapping the pedal on and off. I saw the Brit mode on the Roadster and decided to try it. Wow, it sounded like a Marshall! I loved it! It was crunchy and full. I played classic rock, Cream, AC/DC, etc. I then looked at my MD-2 pedal and realized it was on (no gain boost, middle distortion, level at 11:00, mid settings for tone and bottom). I switched off the MD-2 pedal and noticed the Brit tone immediately became quiet, thin and tinny :? like most are saying here. I was confused a bit, but shrugged and turned the pedal back on and jammed on with the Marshall tone. I thought, "Hmmmph. OK... I guess that works..."

Now, I know people will say not to use a cheap pedal in front of such a great amp, get your distortion from tube saturation, yada yada yada, :roll: but the Mega Distortion pedal with no gain boost and mid settings really crunched up the Brit mode for me. My channel 2 settings were all pretty much at 12:00 across from master to gain maybe bass at 1:30. I think this is how I'll be getting my Marshall sound until I find a comparable way without a pedal. I might even be able to ditch my Marshall amps I've been hanging on to... Maybe even return my Stiletto which I can't seem to dial in well.

 

[MusicManJP6]

It's not uncommon for Mesa users to boost their amps with a distortion pedal of some kind. The gain on the pedal at zero is the usual approach, so you're right on cue! I'm really thinking about getting either a Maxon 808 or Ibanez TS9 for boosting my Roadster into devilish territory! :twisted:

 

[mattmurray8]

I actually love the brit setting. I use mine to get some killer delay sustain sounds, you really got to tweak the mids and treble though. I basically try to make it compliment the cleans in my first channel.

A lot of you were saying in a live setting, you were suprised about how good it sounded. Well, its because even though by itself it sounds maybe tinny - in a full band setting it really stands out and compliments the other instruments. I've found this too. That's the magic of getting a good mix! Things change completely when you aren't in your bedroom playing by yourself.

 

[gumbymage]

It's not uncommon for Mesa users to boost their amps with a distortion pedal of some kind. The gain on the pedal at zero is the usual approach, so you're right on cue! I'm really thinking about getting either a Maxon 808 or Ibanez TS9 for boosting my Roadster into devilish territory! :twisted:

So, I'm not offbase with the distortion pedal. That's great. It does sound like a Marshall (sort of) with the MD-2 with just a touch of distortion. My Stiletto gets closer to a Marshall sound than the Roadster, but I can't get over the lack of reverb and I don't want to use a pedal. The Roadster is a little too deep and it's hard to brighten it up, where the Stiletto is naturally brighter.

I'm thinking I'll need to get a Road King to be more flexible for the sounds I want instead of switching between the Stiletto and Roadster. Switching between EL34's and 6L6's in the same amp just sounds awesome for what I want to do.

 

[MusicManJP6]

Although the Road King has progressive linkage, don't expecti t to sound like a Marshall when using the EL34's!! Only a Marshall sounds like a Marshall.

 

[vertigo_]

Although the Road King has progressive linkage, don't expecti t to sound like a Marshall when using the EL34's!! Only a Marshall sounds like a Marshall.

and only marshall loves the sound of marshall...just kidding. The new jvm 410H looks awesome. It can be MIDI CONTROLLED!!!!

 

[gumbymage]

Although the Road King has progressive linkage, don't expecti t to sound like a Marshall when using the EL34's!! Only a Marshall sounds like a Marshall.

and only marshall loves the sound of marshall...just kidding. The new jvm 410H looks awesome. It can be MIDI CONTROLLED!!!!

Hey, I love the sound of Marshalls especially for classic rock like AC/DC.

I own the JVM 410C combo, and while it looks awesome as you say, I think it's a piece of junk. I thought it was cool at first with all the channels (3 gain modes for each of the 4 channels), until I found that all the modes in channels 3 and 4 are nearly unusable because of noise. Maybe the green mode in channel 3 is usable for some things, but it's still noisy. It also sounds boomy to me. I'm going to try to sell it locally since shipping the thing would cost an arm and a leg for whoever bought it.

For comparison, I also have a Marshall DSL 401 combo and I plugged it into my Road King cab today and it was beautiful! Half the price of the 410, but sounds much better IMO. Better than my Stiletto or the Brit mode on the Roadster. I also plugged the DSL 401 into my Stiletto cab but did not like the sound -- it seemed thin. The RK cab was much better, heavier but still very well balanced (I used both speakers). Incredible, IMO.

I'm definitely keeping the Marshall 401 for my Marshall toned playing and maybe keep the Roadster for heavier modern stuff or maybe trade up to the Road King to get better cleans, tweed, and various other tones the Marshall can't do. I don't know about this Stiletto... No reverb, thin sound, almost shrill sounding to me... I dunno.

Oh well, GAS on! :lol:

 

[jdurso]

i may be one of the few that actually use he brit mode on my roadster a lot..... BUT i dont use it to cop a marshall-esc sound...... i used it for more of a punchy slightly broken up clean..... if i could compare it to anything its like an adam jones tone when he pulls down the volume on his guitar. if i pick lightly its like a very definined/punchy clean.... if i pick hard i get some nice break up and a lot of punch..... it sits nice in a mix when you siync up with the drums/bass to create that very percussive/slightly clean tone.... its hard to describe but i love it. here are my setting (picture a clock):

100 watt mode
diode
bold
gain: 2:30
volume: 11
bass: 10:30
mid: 12:30-1
high: 2
presence: 10

i use the output as my volume so i balance all 4 channels first as adjust the output accordingly

 

[jdurso]

Although the Road King has progressive linkage, don't expecti t to sound like a Marshall when using the EL34's!! Only a Marshall sounds like a Marshall.

and only marshall loves the sound of marshall...just kidding. The new jvm 410H looks awesome. It can be MIDI CONTROLLED!!!!

looks cool and great functionality but its not as versitile as it sounds (no pun intended)..... before i got my roadster i demo'd the jvm and wasn't impressed. I liked the fact that it was advertised as having 4 channels with 4 modes on each (big time lie)..... there isn't as much variety on each channel as they market..... also channels 3 and 4 sound identical.... basically its like a tsl with an extra channel and midi controlled (which is the saving grace of the amp)...... doesnt sound as good as the dsl/tsl and the cleans to me leave more to be desired..... thats why i went with the roadster..... a ton of variety in each channel with the 3 modes and the sensitivity of the eq..... if only mesa would get on the midi train. if you want a killer el34 tone go get a vht cl50 or cl 100..... they to me are one of the best sounding el34 amps out there.... plus you can find them used for around 1200-1400

 

[scoden]

Just wanted to add my experiences with Brit mode on my Roadster head going through a Rect 4x 12.

I was avoiding this channel like the plague but after trying out an Ace Combo in GC ,I started getting urges for having a useable MArshallesque crunch at my disposal (esp since Im in a classic rock cover band). I love MArshalls but they can get ear fatiguing due to there brightness at gig volumes.....which is why I didnt get the Ace Combo.

I set it on Bold , 50 w recto and turned the Presence off...everything else I dimed except treble which I had at 9 0 clock.

Now I was not at gig volumes...but it sounded nice crunchy with more than enough gain. It had some nice chunk to it ...not thin at all...seems like it will cut through a mix well...responds nicely to pu changes and volume roll offs ( I was using a Ibanez JS).

I will try it out a bunch of tunes live this Sat and let you guys know the results.

Hope this means I dont have to buy a Stilleto (yet)...lol

 

[songrider]

I like my brit mode. I get a great classic "brit" tone out of mine...

100 watt mode
tube rec
bold
gain: 3:30
volume: 10:00
bass: 2:00
mid: 2:00
high: 12:00
presence: 9:30

 

[vertigo_]

Although the Road King has progressive linkage, don't expecti t to sound like a Marshall when using the EL34's!! Only a Marshall sounds like a Marshall.

and only marshall loves the sound of marshall...just kidding. The new jvm 410H looks awesome. It can be MIDI CONTROLLED!!!!

Yes I said it looks awesome :wink: Hopefully some of you guys got what I am saying. When the other guitarist in my band went for amp hunting we tried out JVM and it was complete garbage. It just looked awesome with all those knobs and midi control feature. We decided to get a mesa ace head and he couldn't be happier. I think the mode 4 marshall had better tone compared to the JVM 210H.