Got a Roadster.....pretty cool head.

[PRS_Guitars5]

Fairly new here. I've played Marshall forever. Finally decided to try something different. I wanted an amp with many tones. The roadster (so far) seems to do the trick. I have a question about tubes. I have read a few posts about combining 34's and 6l6's in this head. Is this possible and if so how? Can any damage be caused? I love the roadster but being a Marshall player for so long I kinda miss that 34 crunch. Any inside info. on this would be great.


Mesa Roadster DR head
JCM 800 50w combo
JCM 900 100w head
TSL 60 head
1960a vintage 30w 4x12
1960b vintage 30w 4x12
PRS Single cut 10 top/birds
PRS 20th Annie CU24 Artist
PRS CE24
PRS Single cut trem/birds
PRS Tremonti (wide thin) on order
1974 Les Paul Standard
(2) Robins (early 80's)
Boxes of stuff collected over the years.......

 

[Monsta-Tone]

Hey,

Welcome.

Here is a link to another thread about this. Hope it helps.

http://forum.grailtone.com/viewtopic.php?t=9888

 

[Storm]

The Roadster is a pretty cool head. It's the first Mesa I have bought and I would stab someone if they stole it from me :lol:

Ciao ...

 

[PRS_Guitars5]

Yes the foot switch has a popping noise when you turn chanel 3 on for the first time. But it doesn't do it after that. What do the 34's do to the clean tones on the amp?

 

[Storm]

Channel 3 on vintage gets the amp popping a bit. I've got used to it though and seems to pop more when on low volume rather than high.

Ciao ...

 

[Monsta-Tone]

The 34's will lower the Headroom of the Clean channels a bit. You may have to turn the Gain down on the Distortion channels too, the 34's add a lot more Power Tube Saturation than the 6L6's.

 

[PRS_Guitars5]

Now I don't know what to do. I have the tweed setting perfect to my ear. Very Fenderesqe cool slightly overdriven blues tone. I can roll the volume on the guitar a little and it cleans up great. Channel 2 I have the brit mode tone set up perfect as well. Example: My current band covers Hotel California. The tone matches the first lead (Don Felder I think) to a tee. I reach down and click the sweet switch on my PRS to split the bridge humbucker and instant Joe Walsh Tele tone for the second lead. So that channel sounds great. (atleast to my ears)

The distortion of 3 on vintage is ok but can't come to terms with it just yet. The modern tone on both 3 and 4 are fun for a bit but sound a little muddy for my taste. I want that EVH brown sound out of one of these channels. (who doesn't right?) My JCM 800 set on 11 gets real close! I think I can get closer with the 34's but don't want to screw up the first 2 channels. What the hell. I guess I'll buy a set of 34's and give it shot.

I guess I'll buy the Boogie 34's?????

Now the popping noise when changing channels. Sounds like a relay slamming shut to me. I know this has been discussed to death but any word from Mesa about the problem? Other than "it's normal?"

This amp has a ton of potential. The amount of "controlable" power this thing has blows my mind. Sorry for the long winded post, but like I said earlier I've played nothing but Marshall my entire guitar playing life so this is a entirely new world for me. :lol:

 

[PRS_Guitars5]

I bought the Mesa 34's. My dealer gave me a great deal on them. He should I just spent a small fortune with him. I'll plug em' in tonight and see what happens.

I agree with you about the newer Marshall stuff. I don't care for my TSL60 too much. I really don't like the JCM900 stock. Mine has been moded by VooDoo mods so it screams. My 800 is probably my favorite. But it just has one tone.

Oh yeah. I talked to my dealer about combining the 6l6 and 34's and he said "not a good idea."

 

[oyster]

You can combine 34s and 6L6s...however,
buy some 6L6s from JJ's, tell them you intend to run them on the EL34 setting on your Roadster, they will make sure the bias will match then you can use them with the EL34s. Otherwise, your dealer is right (don't use normal 6L6s in EL334 setting).
Remember to match the tubes (ie. far left + far right and middle left + middle right) or else your push-pull circuit will go awry.
I have done the combined EL/6L6 setup and some mighty cool tones arose. 8)

 

[PRS_Guitars5]

Put the 34's in and cranked her up. Much closer to what I'm after. I think a week or so of tweaking and I could learn to really like this amp.

Let's talk Boogie cabinets for a minute. The larger cab produces more low end right? What does it do to the highs and mids? Are the vintage 30's made in China? Or are they British mad Celestions?

Thanks everyone for your help.