How do the mids work on the Roadster?

[Given To Fly]

With most amps I find have a good amount of mid range in the signal helps the sound cut through but with the Roadster (Channels 3 and 4) I pretty much have the mids at 7 or 8 o' clock to get good lead and rhythm tones. The sound does not resemble a mid scooped Marshall in the least. I'm still tweaking while reading the manual but can anyone explain why the mids seen to function differently on the Roadster (and possibly Mesa amps in general) compared to other amp manufactures?

Or, if you have some settings that use a lot of mid range I would like to try those out. Thanks!

 

[screamingdaisy]

The treble knob is the most important control on the whole amp.

Tweaking the treble knob will shift the amp's mid voice. More treble gives a higher frequency voice and a thinner overall midrange. Reducing the treble shifts the mid frequency lower whist also increasing and thickening the midrange present in the signal. The trick I to play with the treble until you find a balance that works for your style of music.

Additionally, when the bottom end is up too high it over powers the mids and muds up the response. Reducing the bass will allow the mids to dominate more produce better cut in a band mix where the bassist should be filling in all the low end anyway.

Lastly, presence is upper midrange punch. Too little and you'll get a muffled response with no edge.

 

[knotts]

Daisy is right. I run CH3 with the treble around 2:00 and and the bass at just past 9:00. The mids sit just above the bass and the presence is past 1:00, gain just past noon and volume up there too. It works for me, but you'll need to play with it depending on your guitar and the sound you're after. I also run this on the vintage mode.

 

[domct203]

To get a feeling of what screamingdaisy is saying:
Turn your Treble to Zero, and use the Mid for thickness & the Presence for sizzle. Don't push the Bass past 11:00-ish, start around 9:00-10:00. I love this setting in Ch4 Modern with the gain around 12:30-1:00, pushed with a BB Pre.

Get the amp up to band-volume, then start slowing turning up the Treble. You'll notice the Mids & Bass will begin to fall back in the mix which in turn gives you more Treble, and a thinner sound.

Dom

 

[biddi4]

First post here.
I have to say after owning a roadster for almost 2 months, this was the most helpful info I've found. I already replace V1 with a tungsol and I didn't notice a dramatic difference in brightness. I owned a dual rec for 10 years and kept setting the eq the same as my recto and it was to dark. But now with the bass at 9, mids at 8, treble at 1, and presence at 1:30 I have the tone I was looking for. Still a tad different then the dual rec, but almost better in a way. A little jucier.
Question though, can tubes get brighter with age? The amp is 2 yrs old but was barely used by original owner. Except for v1 all the other tubes are original. It seems the more I play it, the brighter it gets

 

[Given To Fly]

Thank you for the replies! I read the manual (a few times actually) and understood the hierarchy of gain then treble but was never able to get the mids quite where I wanted. I will try your suggestions later this afternoon.

The Roadster is my first Mesa amp and I'm really happy with it but found there was more of a learning curve for dialing in tones compared to other amps I'd owned/played. Is this the case for all Mesa amps? Do they have any amps that are truly "plug in and play?" I know the Road King and Mark series do not fit in that category but I haven't played many of their other amps.

 

[YellowJacket]

The Electra Dyne is 'more' plug and play than most Mesa amps but even it can be a bit tempermental to dial in.

 

[Given To Fly]

I tried out the settings you guys suggested and I was impressed! I noticed a huge tonal shift when the treble was set to 1 or 0. I also didn't seem to lose any gain with the treble off and the mids cranked. To be honest, I understand this amp less now that I have tried these settings but I'll figure it out eventually. At least now I can dial in a strong mid range high gain sound that I previously thought was impossible to get on a Mesa.

As for the gear I'm using with the Roadster, I simply plug my Ibanez RG2228GK with EMG808x's straight into the amp. No pedals or effects of any kind but I do keep the foot switch active because its useful and I would like to keep my ability to hear. I'll use the hard wire bypass when I'm in a studio and the amp is in a different room!

Feel free to add any other information that may be relevant to the Roadster's EQ.

 

[domct203]

Glad to help. You should really try a good OD pedal and boost the front end of the amp. My favorite with my Roadster is the Xotic BB Preamp, but a Digitech Bad Monkey can be had on the cheap and sounds quite good. A good boost cannot only add sustain and compression, but help to tighten the bottom end response.

Dom

 

[knotts]

Dom is right. I use an Xotic AC booster primarily as my OD. I have a BB as well but I like the lower gain from the AC booster better.