Anyone using a roadster for country music?

[bduersch]

I recently joined a country cover band (mostly modern covers, a few re-tooled classics) and am in the process of getting my rig together... I have both a Roadster and a Mark V and have been debating which would be more "country-friendly" (without unloading them to buy something else). Anyway, is anybody here using a Roadster for country music? If so, care to share any recommended modes/settings?

Thanks,
--B

 

[fluff191]

Wow good question. I would think the Mark is more suited for country than the Roadster, and can't say I have ever seen any Mesa amps on a country bands stage besides the Lonestars and amps like that. I imagine the Roadster is an awful lot of amp for country? But hell, try it and see what happens!!! 8)

 

[siggy14]

I have seen alot of modern country groups useing dual rec's, I think they like the raw mode for the rock. So there is no reason you wouldnt be able to use a roadster. One band that comes to mind is big and rich, dont know if they still use it, but I have seen it before.

I recently joined a country cover band (mostly modern covers, a few re-tooled classics) and am in the process of getting my rig together... I have both a Roadster and a Mark V and have been debating which would be more "country-friendly" (without unloading them to buy something else). Anyway, is anybody here using a Roadster for country music? If so, care to share any recommended modes/settings?

Thanks,
--B

 

[BostonRedSox]

It is true, there are a lot of country music musicians using the dual rectifiers. There are a couple of artists on Mesa Boogie's website, plus there are some YouTube videos of Nashville recording musicians who prefer Dual Rectifiers and Road Kings. So, based on what I've read and witnessed, I would say that the Roadster is being used for country musical styles.

 

[FlapJack]

They are both very versatile so I would try them both with your new band. I wouldn't make the decision to trade them for something else until I REALLY put each through their paces during a set (practice or gig). I'm in a similar situation where I don't know if I want to keep using my RK or my new Mark V. Techinically the RK is more suited for the heavy sound I need in my cover band, but the leads are oooo so good on the Mark .

What is your role in the band going to be? I feel like both amps have fantastic cleans but if you're going be soloing I'd take the Mark for sure.

 

[Neptical]

I think the cleans on both are pretty darn good to get a nice country clean tone. You never mentioned what guitar your using into these amps either.. (?)

Also, are you doing any finger-picking/chicken-picking?

I use 2 Mark III's and do alot of fingerpicking on the clean channels and it sounds great. Very old school Fender, especially if I'm playing with my Tele.

~Nep~

 

[bduersch]

Thanks for the input, y'all... right now I'm the only guitar player in the lineup, so I'm handling both leads + rhythm, but I expect we'll recruit a 2nd guitarist at some point. I've been playing rock for years... country is a new project so I've been trying to build up the chops (so no chickin' pickin' yet). From a guitar standpoint, I spend most of my time playing G&L's (ASAT Z-3 and ASAT Special Deluxe) with a PRS McCarty thrown in occasionally.

I spent a bit of time dialing in the roadster tonight... so far I'm pretty impressed with its ability to dish up country tones... I'm using C1=tweed, C2=clean, C3=vintage, C4=raw (so from least to most gain it's actually C2 - C1 - C4 - C3). The real test will be when I get to use it at practice tomorrow night, but it's sounding pretty good on its own at least, so that's a good start.

--B

 

[droptrd]

It is true, there are a lot of country music musicians using the dual rectifiers. There are a couple of artists on Mesa Boogie's website, plus there are some YouTube videos of Nashville recording musicians who prefer Dual Rectifiers and Road Kings. So, based on what I've read and witnessed, I would say that the Roadster is being used for country musical styles.

+1 There are tones of country guys using rectos. Id start with the roadster for sure. Thats not to say the V isnt capable cause im sure its will do an excellent job.

 

[vitor gracie]

There are tones of country guys using rectos.

I strongly (and respectfully) disagree.

The majority of professional country musicians out of Nashville (the only place it really matters country-wise) are using the following:

Dr. Z
13 Amps
Reinhardt amps
65 amps
Marshall
Vox
Fenders
and for the risk takers, Buddah amps.
Matchless used to be popular but folks (in Nashville) want the modded classic Marshall sound now.

I spent 6 months touring with a huge Sony country recording artist and tried to use my Boogies for the group. I lost the gig.

I am good friends with Carrie Underwood's live lead guitarist (Shawn Tubbs) and these where his suggestions to me when I started. The rhythm player (for Carrie) had a Buddah prototype live. Shawn is with 13 Amps.

Get rid of your amazing Roadster. People hear with their eyes. Seriously. If you are Rascal Flats and you call your own shots gear wise you can use whatever, but people will see Dual Rectifier and think you don't know what your doing no matter how incredible your playing or tone is. I left the gig very bitter about the gear crap and the fact that I couldn't even choose to use my own guitars. Had to have a **** tele.

I am not trying to be negative or rude. Just trying to help. The Roadster is one of my favorite amps of all time. I owned one right before I got the gig. I sold it and bought 7 different Mesas including 2 Mavericks and a Lonestar to use for it. I still lost the gig.

I use Rectos for the new artist I play with (not a country group) and am in heaven. Good luck with your group bro. Hope that helped out a little.


p.s. I should also mention that you SHOULD be able to use whatever gets you the best tone. If it works out that your Roadster gets you what you want then I applaud you sir. Let me know (seriously) if it works. Part of me wants to stick it to the guys at Sony about the whole stupid gear thing and say to them, "See, I told you so" I hope your Roadster works out...that is to say I am ROOTING for your Roadster! lol!

 

[Neptical]

There are tones of country guys using rectos.

I strongly (and respectfully) disagree.

The majority of professional country musicians out of Nashville (the only place it really matters country-wise) are using the following:

Dr. Z
13 Amps
Reinhardt amps
65 amps
Marshall
Vox
Fenders
and for the risk takers, Buddah amps.
Matchless used to be popular but folks (in Nashville) want the modded classic Marshall sound now.

I spent 6 months touring with a huge Sony country recording artist and tried to use my Boogies for the group. I lost the gig.

I am good friends with Carrie Underwood's live lead guitarist (Shawn Tubbs) and these where his suggestions to me when I started. The rhythm player (for Carrie) had a Buddah prototype live. Shawn is with 13 Amps.

Get rid of your amazing Roadster. People hear with their eyes. Seriously. If you are Rascal Flats and you call your own shots gear wise you can use whatever, but people will see Dual Rectifier and think you don't know what your doing no matter how incredible your playing or tone is. I left the gig very bitter about the gear crap and the fact that I couldn't even choose to use my own guitars. Had to have a **** tele.

I am not trying to be negative or rude. Just trying to help. The Roadster is one of my favorite amps of all time. I owned one right before I got the gig. I sold it and bought 7 different Mesas including 2 Mavericks and a Lonestar to use for it. I still lost the gig.

I use Rectos for the new artist I play with (not a country group) and am in heaven. Good luck with your group bro. Hope that helped out a little.


p.s. I should also mention that you SHOULD be able to use whatever gets you the best tone. If it works out that your Roadster gets you what you want then I applaud you sir. Let me know (seriously) if it works. Part of me wants to stick it to the guys at Sony about the whole stupid gear thing and say to them, "See, I told you so" I hope your Roadster works out...that is to say I am ROOTING for your Roadster! lol!

I also strongly disagree that there are 'tons' of country artists using Rectos. As a matter of fact, when I was playing in Nashville, I don't even think I saw one. lol

Everything what Vitor said is completely true. I've been apart of the industry and have seen the same situation with my own 2 eyes. Everything is about the glamour and perception from outside looking in.

But the Roadster is still a bad machine.

~Nep~

 

[thunda1216]

I did a few country gigs in Nashville with a Heartbreaker and a Flying V. Even though I could make it twang with the best of them, I sure got some sideways looks!

 

[vitor gracie]

Just to add to this (not a negative comment) There seems to be two standard "approaches" to good old country tone by semi professionals (in Nashville).

1. is to use a standard big clean amp (standard meaning that sound companies would normally carry it ie: a Fender Twin or Vox AC30 some thing normal like that) and get all your gain tones from your over priced boutique pedals (I own some spendy ones myself) That way you are kind of sure that you have control of your sound in the sense that a Twin is a Twin for the most part. You know the amp and you know your pedal's sounds. That makes it easier from gig to gig.

2. is to use your high priced, boutique LOW wattage amp and drive the front of it with same said spendy boutique pedals and bring your own amp to the gig.

Under no circumstances is a multi channel amp rig or rack unit the norm on a country gig unless the rack is hidden and full of a units that help switch all the amps/pedals the bigger acts are using. Something like an RG-16 http://www.rjmmusic.com/rg16.php can be used to switch all the pedals but even the pros still opt for boutique looper units in their pedal boards to get all the stompboxes switched...and they ALL have large pedal boards. If I took my Roadster and Recto 4X12 on stage at the Opry (I opted to play acoustic...lol) ...the house band would have cast the devil out of me and sent me home after a good ol' southern *** kickin. :lol:

I would take that route (the pedal board one). -Nice low wattage amp that ISN'T a Mesa or a standard amp that everyone on the planet recognizes and get all your tones from your pedals. You'll be happy that you did. :mrgreen:

Just my 2 cents.

 

[davidfloyd]

It seems silly to "lose a gig" because of the amp one is using.

Anyhow, back to the original argument, I cringe over reading this stuff about what you need in order to "fit in" to the country scene...But then again, I'm guilty of falling into that too back in my time during the late '80s with hard rock. You needed a Marshall stack (or more) and/or refridgerator-sized rack setup to be considered "serious"...

 

[Supertgtr]

Out of those two, I'd go with the Roadster. If you have the head version, pick up an open back 1x12, or 2x12 speaker cabinet. You should be able to get some excellent "country tones" with combination. Or trade one of your amps in and buy a Z-wreck when they start shipping...

 

[bduersch]

So I've been fiddling with this for a few weeks now and have come to two basic conclusions...

1) The roadster IS a killer country amp in disguise: The cleans have sufficient twang factor & are nicely compressed, the raw and tweed modes add a nice amount of grit, and the leads (vintage mode) simply sing. (I actually started with some of the "suggested settings" in the manual and dialed the gain down a bit for a less modern / aggressive vibe; 50 watts/channel + tube recto across the board.) Having fiddled around with a handful of other amp & pedal setups during this time, the Roadster still sounds best to my ears and feels the most natural.

2) Honestly, (and this is not directed at folks who replied above...) I don't give a f@#$ about what other bands / club owners think, but I probably don't have to, because I'm in Cincinnati not Nashville. Generally speaking, most of the bands playing around here have crap gear, the club owners are pretty clueless, and few people in the crowd would ever notice / care that I'm not playing a Nashville-worthy rig. Worst possible case is that I get called out by another guitar player who actually knows his stuff, but nothing real would come from that (back to the club owners... all they care about is the amount of $$$ you can bring in). So I don't foresee losing gigs because I don't have the "right gear".

(Actually a few years back I was working the jazz scene around here.. played a gig where a couple guitar players in the audience came up after the show to compliment me on my tone and see what I was using. Turns out my amp of choice at the time was a Hughes & Kettner Edition Tube - not a jazz standard by any stretch. But it did sound pretty d#@$ good.)

--B

 

[BostonRedSox]

Well said! I 100% agree! This has been my findings too with the clean and fat modes, with the gain turned up on 50 watts. If one reads the Helpful Hints section of the manual, and turns up the individual channel volume to 3 o' clock, one could get some outstandingly bright and natural sounding grit and chime.

 

[bduersch]

I guess the other thing I should've mentioned is that I'm a total Axe-FX junkie, and I can only imagine how many awkward stares I'd get showing up with it at a country gig. That definitely makes the Roadster look much safer in comparison.

--B

 

[Heritage Softail]

I agree with the posts along the lines of using a smaller amp on clean and driving it a bit into power tube distortion. I have a Zinky Velvet 25, play a Parker, use the neck pup coil tapped, there is an OCD in front of the amp for occasional use. I have a few good amps at my disposal but that Zinky design (Bruce Zinky of Fender) is great. The /by13 and DrZ are also that great class A amp tone. The Matchless Chieftan is also a sweet country amp too. Great for blues.

I could drag my SLO and the OCD in front of the clean channel sounds good, with 2 power tubes pulled, but still it does not get where a lower wattage quality amp will.

To the OP, I agree on the Roadster being a great amp. Those Rectifer based amps can get a good tone. My Single Rec Series II sounded pretty good with EL34's and a strat/tele. Pretty good, but did not have the sweet tone and inspiring bounce of the Zinky.

I would start with the MKV. It can get closer to a blackface tone IMO. Low output pups, single coils would be a huge part of the equation.

In the end it is what you like. There is such a huge width to new country. Jason Aldean has a new song that sound like 80s metal in parts.

 

[b0nkersx]

There are tones of country guys using rectos.

I strongly (and respectfully) disagree.

The majority of professional country musicians out of Nashville (the only place it really matters country-wise) are using the following:

Dr. Z
13 Amps
Reinhardt amps
65 amps
Marshall
Vox
Fenders
and for the risk takers, Buddah amps.
Matchless used to be popular but folks (in Nashville) want the modded classic Marshall sound now.

I spent 6 months touring with a huge Sony country recording artist and tried to use my Boogies for the group. I lost the gig.

I am good friends with Carrie Underwood's live lead guitarist (Shawn Tubbs) and these where his suggestions to me when I started. The rhythm player (for Carrie) had a Buddah prototype live. Shawn is with 13 Amps.

Get rid of your amazing Roadster. People hear with their eyes. Seriously. If you are Rascal Flats and you call your own shots gear wise you can use whatever, but people will see Dual Rectifier and think you don't know what your doing no matter how incredible your playing or tone is. I left the gig very bitter about the gear crap and the fact that I couldn't even choose to use my own guitars. Had to have a **** tele.

I am not trying to be negative or rude. Just trying to help. The Roadster is one of my favorite amps of all time. I owned one right before I got the gig. I sold it and bought 7 different Mesas including 2 Mavericks and a Lonestar to use for it. I still lost the gig.

I use Rectos for the new artist I play with (not a country group) and am in heaven. Good luck with your group bro. Hope that helped out a little.


p.s. I should also mention that you SHOULD be able to use whatever gets you the best tone. If it works out that your Roadster gets you what you want then I applaud you sir. Let me know (seriously) if it works. Part of me wants to stick it to the guys at Sony about the whole stupid gear thing and say to them, "See, I told you so" I hope your Roadster works out...that is to say I am ROOTING for your Roadster! lol!

You didn't lose the gig because the Roadster is a bad country amp.. you lost the gig because it's Sony.

Even if you were a country star and you scored a #1 country hit, if you were under a Sony contract, they would make you hide your Mesa backstage and they would put a big-name recognizable amp out front. That's what they do. It's not because Sony thinks "only THESE amplifiers sound good for country", it's because of what they do for your image. Such is the power of marketing.