F-50 or ROV???

[Dunesurfer]

WEll I screwed up, I went to pick up some strings and while I was there I played a ROV. I grabed a flying V and turned it up on modern hit a F cord and was in bliss. I have a .50 caliber + I love but I can't ge a decent chug a chuga modern sound out of it.
The ROV is pretty steep pricewise. I wanted to try an F50 but it was Saturday at GC so there was no chance to really hear it with 100 kids playing everything. My question is, Can you get that same thump you in the chest modern sound out of a F50? It is more in my price range. What doyou guys think??????

 

[tele_jas]

They are a little bit different, but can cover the same style of tones. The ROV is a great amp, but it is a rectifier and some people would say it suffers from the rectifier "curse" of no real tight low end "chuga-chuga" and I'd have to agree that it isn't real tight. On the clean setting, it's a basic clean and can do clean stuff real well....

Now, the F-50..... I'll start with the cleans, I think the cleans in that amp could possibly be some of the nicest cleans I've heard in a high gain amp and maybe even in an amp with more than one channel (that and the lonestar). Although this amp doesn't have a solo boost, it does have three sounds to choose from on the fly and the distortion channel with the contour switch on is pretty aggressive and possibly tighter than the ROV and seemed to have a touch more and a tighter low end than a ROV. So basically you have 3 different tones to call up on the fly at any given time where with the ROV you have 2 that are quickly accessable.

It's a hard call, but if I had to do it again (and didn't need the solo boost) I'd probably get the F-50...... Or atleast see if I could take it home for the weekend to try out at band practice.

 

[TheRazMeister]

Dune, please give the F-50 a good workout. The Cleans are great but I for one was not particularly impressed with the gain channel. It's probably a better all around amp but to my ears has a different sound than the ROV (I own an ROV). To be honest, I thought the F-30 was the better of the 2 F amps when it came to overdrive...but you sacrifice cleans and clean headroom.

WEll I screwed up, I went to pick up some strings and while I was there I played a ROV. I grabed a flying V and turned it up on modern hit a F cord and was in bliss. I have a .50 caliber + I love but I can't ge a decent chug a chuga modern sound out of it.
The ROV is pretty steep pricewise. I wanted to try an F50 but it was Saturday at GC so there was no chance to really hear it with 100 kids playing everything. My question is, Can you get that same thump you in the chest modern sound out of a F50? It is more in my price range. What doyou guys think??????

 

[G.I.G.]

When I was looking for a 50 watt head to use at home (I already own a Dual Rec) I narrowed my search to the F-50, ROV, and the Stilleto Deuce (since you can switch to 50 watts per channel). I ended up buying the ROV for several reasons.

I tried the F-50 several times and for whatever reason, it just didn't do it for me. The distorted sounds were good but were missing something, certainly not on the same level as the Recto's, even though some people like that. The cleans are good but since I use my amps distorted 90% of the time, I moved on.

When I tried out the Stilleto, I wasn't overlly impressed with the distortion. Trying to get that classic "Marshall sound" out of the stilleto was not as easy as I would have thought. Even using it in the 50 watt setting, I could not get it to break up where I would have liked it to. The cleans were good, but no reverb and the fact that again, I hardly use the clean channel, I eliminated the Stilleto from my choices.

When I played the ROV for the first time, it was pure recto satisfaction right off the bat. I was able to dial it in quickly to get the sound I'm accustomed to from playing my Dual Rec live, but at a more reasonable volume. The cleans are good and the reverb is nice, but I mainly bought it for channel 2. This is my stay-at-home amp but I brought it to a gig once to hear it live and it sounded killer. Plenty of headroom to play medium to large size venues.

The F-50 and ROV are two totally different animals, I would try them both out to see what you like. If you like the classic recto thump though, I would steer you towards the ROV.

 

[Brewski]

Good advice given above. I have an F-50 and I think it's the better "all around" amp, but if you're looking for that specific recto sound, the ROV may be more to your taste. The cost difference helped win me over, as well. It leaves a little extra for other goodies, like pedals, that you may want.

You do have the 3 channels on the F-50, as mentioned by Tele_jas. You also have the record phone jack on the F-50, which allows you to use headphones for quiet practice. I'm not sure about the weight difference, but that may be a consideration, too.

Whichever amp you choose, make sure that you listen to both and let your ears help you make the choice.

 

[cliff hetfield]

with a tiny bit of help from a tubescreamer, you can get that recto gain from an f-50, in my opinion.

 

[Dunesurfer]

Thanks for the tips guys. I went out and played both again today. Still can't decide. I played the ROV with a LP and didn't like it as well as a tele through it. I like the ROV but it is a big beast, plus it's more $$$. I like the size of the f-50 better But I will lug around the rov if I have to.. I just havn't been able to crank up the f50 loud enough to really feel the overdrive channel........What to do... I have a 50 caliber + for cleans and a Traynor for cleans also.