Greetings

[user 19273]

Hello - (Boogie) noob here
Just bought (at inflated UK prices) a Roadster. Looking forward to a long & happy relationship (at that price, my wife'll kill me if I get rid of it!)

Anyone got any useful settings (apart from the manual)?
I got it last night & used it at rehearsal - so no playing around, more getting it usable for tonight & Saturday's gigs.
I have channel 1 on Tweed, gain on about 12 o'clock, set to 100W
Channel 2 is set to Brit, gain pretty much on full - seems to just break up.
Channel 3 is Vintage, gain at about 1 o'clock
Channel 4 is Modern, gain at about 3:30-4:00pm
Can't say channel 4 sounds really Recto - not like it did in the shop. But it's early days.
Also I had a multi fx in front of the amp, whereas in the shop it was jsut the (same) guitar.
One thing I did notice was that the solo button didn't seem to increase the volume as much as it did on a combo version in the shop. I presume I'm missing something obvious - and I'm sure the tone controls need to be tweaked. Carefully.
So all help & comments greatly appreciated

 

[94Tremoverb]

What cab are you using? The same as in the shop, or different? If different it could make a big difference to the sound of the amp, and to the perceived volume... although less likely that it would affect the amount of boost on the solo setting. Multi-FX units can really kill tone and dynamics too, although the solo boost should still do the same as before since it comes after the FX unit. But if you're only just getting breakup on channel 2 with the gain full up, I would suspect a problem here... try it without the FX and see what happens.

 

[user 19273]

What cab are you using? The same as in the shop, or different? If different it could make a big difference to the sound of the amp, and to the perceived volume... although less likely that it would affect the amount of boost on the solo setting. Multi-FX units can really kill tone and dynamics too, although the solo boost should still do the same as before since it comes after the FX unit. But if you're only just getting breakup on channel 2 with the gain full up, I would suspect a problem here... try it without the FX and see what happens.

In the shop I used a Combo, but I'm putting the head through a Marshall 2 x 12" 1936

 

[YellowJacket]

1) Marshall 1936 2 x 12 I'm pretty sure has Celestion G12T - 75 speakers. They have lots of grind, and a characteristic scooped sound that emphasizes the grindy / scratchy highs. Lots of speaker breakup.

The roadster combo uses Celestion vintage 30 speakers which have much more present mids including a much discussed mid spike. At low volumes they can be buzzy and ice picky but at louder volumes they really ROAR!

The different speaker types are most likely the source of your complaint. A speaker combination I like is a Celestion v30 combined with a Celestion c90. You get the crunch and roar of the v30 combined with the meat of the c90 which mitigates the ice pick highs and gives a much better lead tone. Of course, v30s give that classic recto tone!

Solution: DO RESEARCH. Take your guitar and head to a music store and try different cab types to find out if the speakers are a problem. Once you determine the problem, there are a couple of solutions.
i) Buy a new cab. If you do this, don't buy a Mesa. I hear they charge FAR too much for their cabs over there. I'm pretty sure it is easy to find a v30 box that sounds good. Orange makes them.

ii) Build a cab. Depending on the tone you want, you can build a cab which will give you much more of the tone you are looking for. I've done two projects so far, both of which were very successful. For hard rock / metal, I'd definitely recommend an oversized 2 x 12 with a ported centre baffle a la Mills Acoustics. (an american cab builder)

iii) Change the speakers in your Marshall. This is probably the most cost effective and the last I checked, the Marshall 1936 2 x 12 sounds pretty good. You can even sell the original speakers and make a bit of cash back after the fact.

2) Plug in guitar directly into amp when dialing in tones. This will minimize your headache. Once you get your tone dialed in, add different pedals one at a time. This will allow you to identify any potential tone sucks.

3) Gain 3:00 - 4:00? That sounds awfully high. I run my gain at 2:00 - 2:30 for lead tones and that gives me plenty of headroom. What sort of guitar / pups are you running?

 

[94Tremoverb]

I don't like to disagree with Yellowjacket, but I think the modern Marshall 1936 cab is garbage, and probably at least partly the cause of the problem, The speakers are Celestion G12T-75s, not a good choice for a Mesa because they scoop out the mids where the Mesa voicing needs them and add more loose bottom end and buzz at the top end where it really doesn't need it! - and are less efficient than the ones Mesa uses so you get less volume and punch. Worse - and what really kills it for me - is that the cab is made from MDF not ply like the Mesa cabs and combos (or even the full-size Marshall 4x12"s), and won't sound that great even with much better speakers. The MDF makes it sound hollow and unfocused and stops it projecting properly - MDF is really not that different from very heavy cardboard.

Sorry... you might not like to hear that, but you really need a much better cab. I do completely agree about not buying a Mesa cab new in the UK unless you enjoy setting fire to money though. You can get the same quality of cab for less than half the price, especially if you get a small custom maker without the fancy brand name - then you can load it with your choice of speakers, like Yellowjacket said V30s are a good place to start for the classic Rectifier sound, but you can often get better results by mixing different types. You may find Mesa C90s hard to get in the UK, but the Celestion Classic Lead 80 is a reasonable substitute.

 

[YellowJacket]

I don't like to disagree with Yellowjacket, but I think the modern Marshall 1936 cab is garbage, and probably at least partly the cause of the problem, The speakers are Celestion G12T-75s, not a good choice for a Mesa because they scoop out the mids where the Mesa voicing needs them and add more loose bottom end and buzz at the top end where it really doesn't need it! - and are less efficient than the ones Mesa uses so you get less volume and punch. Worse - and what really kills it for me - is that the cab is made from MDF not ply like the Mesa cabs and combos (or even the full-size Marshall 4x12"s), and won't sound that great even with much better speakers. The MDF makes it sound hollow and unfocused and stops it projecting properly - MDF is really not that different from very heavy cardboard.

I stand corrected. My Peavey 112 cab is made of MDF and it sounds like absolute garbage. If you are wondering if the cab is plywood or MDF, you can always open it up and check!

Sorry... you might not like to hear that, but you really need a much better cab. I do completely agree about not buying a Mesa cab new in the UK unless you enjoy setting fire to money though. You can get the same quality of cab for less than half the price, especially if you get a small custom maker without the fancy brand name - then you can load it with your choice of speakers, like Yellowjacket said V30s are a good place to start for the classic Rectifier sound, but you can often get better results by mixing different types. You may find Mesa C90s hard to get in the UK, but the Celestion Classic Lead 80 is a reasonable substitute.

Local no name cab builders are awesome! There are some guys building cabs in Winnipeg and they let me tour their facility. I got to see the build quality first hand. Plywood is definitely the way to go!

 

[user 19273]

Right, mostly it was to do with tone & gain settings. Friday's gig sounded OK, Saturday's (after I played with the knobs a bit) was much better!
Now just need to a) fine tune the high gain channel & b) play around with the clean/ breaking up sounds.
But much better than it was