Bought the Roadster Head !

[stompboxfreak72]

The Boogie Board has given me one bad case of g.a.s ( gear acquisition syndrome) ! I went to GC friday to pick up a 1x12 tube practice amp of some kind. I was not sure what I wanted but I thought I'd go looking around.

GC ended up having some 1x12 Lonestars on clearance ( they were beat to hell) and I really did not find what I was looking for. I saw the Roadster head and plugged into it for giggles. I wish I hadn't ! I already have a Dual Rec triple channel and a Single Rec as a backup. I was not in the market for a new 100 watt head...so I thought.

I played the beast on Friday, went back Saturday.......and then bought the sucker on Sunday. I tried to talk myself out of it but the Roadster is an absolute upgrade from my DR. I bought an EH Holy Grail pedal to add reverb to my DR and thought maybe that would stop me from buying the Roadster. No chance! The Roadster is much more than a DR with Reverb. The channel two fat mode is the clean sound I always wanted my DR to have.

I have lived on this site daily since I discovered it. There is really excellent information and opinions on this site which really helped me decide to buy the Roadster.

Now I have a Single Rec nearly retubed with JJ's from Eurotubes for sale.....but I'll post that someplace later. Thanks everyone!

 

[siggy14]

You know half way through your post i was thinking, this guy should just sell his single now, because with the roadster head you can your main amp and then use your other rec for a back up. Come to the end of your post i see you thought the same thing!

I have been fighting the urge to get a roadster as well, what is going to make it even tougher is one of my good friends is going to order one of the heads!

But when it comes down to it, I have two older 2 channel dual rec heads, so i think my next purchase is going to be a stiletto duece for more of that EL34 rock to high gain sound and I will keep using my DC3 for cleans.

The Boogie Board has given me one bad case of g.a.s ( gear acquisition syndrome) ! I went to GC friday to pick up a 1x12 tube practice amp of some kind. I was not sure what I wanted but I thought I'd go looking around.

GC ended up having some 1x12 Lonestars on clearance ( they were beat to hell) and I really did not find what I was looking for. I saw the Roadster head and plugged into it for giggles. I wish I hadn't ! I already have a Dual Rec triple channel and a Single Rec as a backup. I was not in the market for a new 100 watt head...so I thought.

I played the beast on Friday, went back Saturday.......and then bought the sucker on Sunday. I tried to talk myself out of it but the Roadster is an absolute upgrade from my DR. I bought an EH Holy Grail pedal to add reverb to my DR and thought maybe that would stop me from buying the Roadster. No chance! The Roadster is much more than a DR with Reverb. The channel two fat mode is the clean sound I always wanted my DR to have.

I have lived on this site daily since I discovered it. There is really excellent information and opinions on this site which really helped me decide to buy the Roadster.

Now I have a Single Rec nearly retubed with JJ's from Eurotubes for sale.....but I'll post that someplace later. Thanks everyone!

 

[bluntage]

Played a Roadster yesterday... very versatile tone monster. I kind of want one now, too.

 

[stompboxfreak72]

The Roadster smokes my Dual Rectifier's clean tone. The DR new is $1699.....a Roadster is $1899. The extra $200 for a new amp is a no brainer. I love my DR but the Roadster is an upgrade.

I had a horrible time finding a " new" Roadster. I settled for a floor model because it had only been out for a few days and I had played it myself three days in a row. At least I knew that there were no popping issues when changing channels but I would have preferred a boxed up, unadultered amplifier. However, no one has them !

 

[bluntage]

I have a 2ch DR that I've been thinking of replacing. Great distortion, terrible cleans. After playing the Roadster and Roadking yesterday, I know that either could serve as a replacement and then some! I can't afford to buy one outright and would have to "trade up", that puts the Roadking out of my price range. But, to be honest, it might be more amp than I need anyway... the Roadster, however, would do nicely. Who really needs the progressive linkage and cab switching anyway, right?!

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Apparently the amp linkage scares a lot of people away from the RK. I honestly could have bought one but I did not feel I needed the El34/6l6 linkage nor all the other bells and whistles. I play in a local cover band.....how much do I really need ? Plus the cost of retubing a RoadKing....yikes. The DR is really way more than I need for what I do but I was never going to be satisfied with it again after hearing the Roadster.

On another note.....my God is the series effects loop awesome ! I never want another parallel loop again ! I had to reconfigure my board today to actually put my time based fx where they belong...in the loop! My Analogman Chorus and EVH Phase 90 never sounded so clear!

 

[bluntage]

Apparently the amp linkage scares a lot of people away from the RK. I honestly could have bought one but I did not feel I needed the El34/6l6 linkage nor all the other bells and whistles. I play in a local cover band.....how much do I really need ? Plus the cost of retubing a RoadKing....yikes. The DR is really way more than I need for what I do but I was never going to be satisfied with it again after hearing the Roadster.

On another note.....my God is the series effects loop awesome ! I never want another parallel loop again ! I had to reconfigure my board today to actually put my time based fx where they belong...in the loop! My Analogman Chorus and EVH Phase 90 never sounded so clear!

If my retube doesn't get me where I want to be, I may be looking into a Roadster. Your posts are making this difficult, grr.

 

[siggy14]

The RK's are easy, and think of it this way, when retubing it, it is only an extra two tubes, so it is not much more then a roadster.

Apparently the amp linkage scares a lot of people away from the RK. I honestly could have bought one but I did not feel I needed the El34/6l6 linkage nor all the other bells and whistles. I play in a local cover band.....how much do I really need ? Plus the cost of retubing a RoadKing....yikes. The DR is really way more than I need for what I do but I was never going to be satisfied with it again after hearing the Roadster.

On another note.....my God is the series effects loop awesome ! I never want another parallel loop again ! I had to reconfigure my board today to actually put my time based fx where they belong...in the loop! My Analogman Chorus and EVH Phase 90 never sounded so clear!

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Sorry Bluntage ! Retubing......I went through that around Christmas. I bought JJ's from Eurotubes and put them in my DR and SR. In the end they still sounded like Mesa's.

Even worse...I spent over $1,500 in pedals in the last year! Delays, Overdrives, clean boosts, true bypass tuners....... I now think that I was just fighting my DR to get what I wanted. Maybe the new will where off my Roadster and I will not think so highly of it later but really what I was missing was the great clean tones and the series loop. Hell, I bought a $399 TC Electronics Delay pedal because I thought I hated my Boss DD-20. I tried them both in the Roadster and the Boss was so much better in the Roadster than it was in the DR. The TC is still by far a better pedal......but I would not have bought one had I thought that the loop was the problem.

by the way....I still have the JJ's. Used for 1 gig and now collecting dust. If you want to experiement with a retube you might like em.....

 

[bluntage]

Thanks, but I have a full set of JJ's in route right now. It's the clean tone and the extra channels that have me GASing. To be honest, even though I know I don't need all the bells and whistles, a part of me wants a RK II head and a matching RK 2x12.

Is it weird that I won't spend more than $1K for a guitar but I'll break the bank for a good amp? :roll:

 

[stompboxfreak72]

Amen brother....great cleans and an extra channel. Thats all it is.

 

[Storm]

Congratulations on the new Roadster. It certainly is a beast of an amp!

Ciao ...

 

[Iwar]

Hey Roadster owners! Would any of you mind stating what kind of music you play, and what settings you use for channel 3&4. I'm (still) having touble getting a nice overdrive/metal sound out of this amp.

Here's a pic of my setup:

 

[stompboxfreak72]

It will sound like blasphemy to many but I use an Xotic BB preamp overdrive in front of all my rectifiers. Also, these amps sound better loud at gig level. Home or bedroom use of a 100 watt head is going to sound lifeless at low volumes.

 

[Mercury25]

No worries Stompbox. I use a Boss SD-1 or Fulltone OCD in front at times to tighten up things.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

Congrats on the new amp. I too made the plunge..but for the RK II..and am glad I did, because I love the sound with EL34s for some songs and the 6L6s for others...and it's all available with the tapping of a footswitch. :wink:

 

[bluntage]

Your statements are worsening my GAS! Please stop.

 

[jdurso]

Ordered my roadster a couple of weeks ago after visiting Mesa Hollywood on a business trip that took me out to CA and being blown away by the sure brilliance of that amp. I was actually looking into an ENGL SE and was passing by on my way to the BASSEXCHANGE in sherman oaks. I'm glad I stopped in and got to play that amp. I eventually played the ENGL but nothing about it could justify paying $3500 for it when I could get a tone just as good if not better from the Roadster. Plus as good as the ENGL was it doesn't sound like a Mesa obviously, and if you're into the Mesa sound (which I always have been) there is no replacement for the real thing.

On another note has anyone here used an Amp Gizmo as a midi switcher? They make a special cable for the Roadster/Road Kings that control all the channels, fx loop, solo, and reverb in the amp as well as sends midi signals to any midi controled fx unit. I'm thinking of grabbing one and using a rocktron xpression for my effects. Then with a simple midi controller like a midi mouse i'll be able to bank 128 different patches using the amp gizmo with my roadtser/xpression. Any opinions?

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

Congratulations on your amp dude the Roadster is a great amp. I've owned mine now for about 5 months and love it. I went through a period where I didnt dig as much and now I'm dumbfounded. Theres something about the amp that makes me feel comfotable and proud to own it. I've found an excellent lead tone in the channel 3 Vintage mode thats nice and gummy. The BB preamp is a godsend for channel 4 Modern also it really tightens it up with the gain at zero on the pedal and gain at 1:30 on the amp. Theres plenty of sweet spots with all of my guitars too. I run the Roadster with a Ace through a Recto 4x12 and its a blessing man. This amp is definately an amp to be patient with and focus on the playing and the tones come through.(for me) A tube swap brought out a lot of character that was lurkin' in there. Jazzgear I know what you mean having EL-34s by stepping on a footswitch only my footswitch is a Headbone which switches to the Ace! GEEETER DONE!!! Mesa makes phenominal amps in my opinion I look no further and proud to represent!

 

[jdurso]

Anyone (i cant believe i'm about to ask this) use a combination of tubes in the roadster? I've heard of people swapping of the 6L6s for EL34s, but i recently was told of swapping out 2 of the 6L6s for 6V6s..... if that works can it be applied to any tube that has the 6L6 bias? This concept is new to me as I have always played with 6L6s.... or i dread to say modelling amps (although the vetta is a good alternative for covers or if you cant afford the real thing).