I Got My New Roadster. First Thoughts...

[jtroska]

UPS delivered my new Mesa/Boogie Roadster while I was at work. I get home from work late and only have time to eat a quick dinner and go to bed. But how can I sleep when this is sitting there? It actually looks much better in reality than in these quick cell-phone snap shots. There's more color variation in the texturing. And it's darker and richer looking than what you see here.

I've been using a Line 6 digital modeling amp for about 8 years before getting this tube amp. The Line 6 has served me well but I wanted to treat myself to something special.

Now I understand what people refer to when they talk about the "feel" of a tube amp. I used to get frustrated that my playing had a "clicky" quality to it while other players seemed more fluid. This Roadster has given me that fluid quality and I actually feel like a better player as my fingers slip and slide effortlessly playing slushy notes.

And I like that I can stay on one channel for so much musical territory. I've had the amp for a couple of days and I haven't even ventured out of Channel 3 Vintage much. First I dialed in an old-school Judas Priest / Motorhead -type sound. Today, I discovered that I could do Kings Of Leon / U2 stuff on that same sound with my guitar's volume backed down. And I jammed through Katy Perry's "Waking Up In Vegas" all on that same channel using just my volume knob.

The Line 6 models couldn't do that so well. It seemed each model only captured the sound of an amp in one static state. So I ended up with, say, one model being great for chugga-chuggs; and one model being better jangly chords, etc. The Mesa/Boogie doesn't do as many sounds, but I find I don't need as many as each covers a wider range. And, heck, I still have 6 other sounds to explorer.

So I'm loving the amp head. The jury is still out on the little Roadster 2x12 cabinet that came with it. The cabinet has a pronounced nasal quality and I'm not sure if it's going to turn out to be the good mid rangenthat cuts through well or if it'll just sound nasty. I won't know until I try it loud with the band. But I already have a few other cabinets at home. And the little Roadster cab will be fine for bedroom practice, which is what I needed.

 

[ryjan]

Wow! Thats an awsome looking amp. It's pretty fun going from a modeler to a real tube amp.

 

[domct203]

Before you give up on that beautiful cabinet you may want to consider a speaker swap. V30's can be a bit peaky in the mids giving you that nasal quality you describe.

Dom

 

[fluff191]

Oh and give the V30's a chance. I hated mine before they were broken in.

 

[Metaghius]

+1 Fluff

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

I've only tried a Roadster combo, which has a closed back for the speaker cabinet section AFAIK. Sounds too boxy, and perhaps like you've said, too nasally. If you can, I would recommend you try the Stiletto or Rectifier 4X12 cab instead...

 

[thejay]

awesome man!

I would let the V30s break in if they don't have any hours on them

I use the oversized recto 4x12 and I think it sounds awesome with the Roadster. I did try the Traditional 4x12 and that sounded good as well; oversized had more ooommmppphhhh to it

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Let the speakers break in before you bear judgement.

Sick looking amp :twisted:

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

awesome man!

I would let the V30s break in if they don't have any hours on them

I use the oversized recto 4x12 and I think it sounds awesome with the Roadster. I did try the Traditional 4x12 and that sounded good as well; oversized had more ooommmppphhhh to it

Yeah, I just didn't like the extra low end with the Recto cab. To me, it was looser, so the attack wasn't as immediate, and some modes like the tweed mode had too much low end that I couldn't dial out (hell, the poweramp section already yields quite a lot of low end). A preference of mine really...

 

[Heritage Softail]

first thoughts.... that is one dead sexy looking amp. You better be a good player to set that on stage and stand next to it....

 

[jtroska]

Thanks, everybody.

Well it seems I've figured out the cabinet.

I was having a hell of a time trying to balance the sounds through that little closed 2x12 this morning. Tweed and Clean were sounding pretty good but then Channels 3 and 4 were sloppy with too much nasal low-mids. I knew it wasn't the fault of the head because the head sounds fantastic through my Palmer PGA-4 (load box / speaker simulator). The problem was clearly being caused by some nasty resonant frequency at the cabinet's end.

So I figured I'd remove the back of the cabinet in an attempt to lessen the weird resonance and give it a more neutral voicing. If that worked, I could make my own back with some opening. I lowered the cabinet off the wooden chair I had it elevated on in preparation to remove the back. But my A.D.D. kicked in and I had to play through it again while it was flat on the floor. Like magic, the sloppy low mids were gone and it sounded like a well-tuned box. Was the wooden chair contributing that low mid nasal sound?

I fetched a milk crate from my garage and sat the teeny stack on top of it. Problem solved! I'm guessing/wondering if having the back of the cabinet pressed against the backrest of the wooden chair was the culprit.

As it sounds now, it should br perfectly suited to small bar gigs with my party-pop band. The metal shows may still call for a larger cabinet.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

Lol. I've never believed in putting a cab on a stand, much less on a wooden chair...

 

[thejay]

My cab is actually in a roadcase on 4" casters so I with that being said it loses some of that omph I was talking about, which is OK. I wanted the option to have it, I have used it in the roadcase and out of the roadcase to record for different songs.

 

[gradyogle]

The V30s won't get rid of that quality. I don't care for them either. They were the worst speakers I've tried with my Roadster. Try your other cabs.

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

YMMV, but I've found it to be the exact opposite. The V30s with the Roadster is one of the best combinations ever. There are others such as H30s that are great too...

 

[jtroska]

I think I just had to get used to it because it doesn't sound like the cabinet I've been using so much before this.

I had been using an over-sized, front-vented 2x12 cabinet that had A LOT of extra low end for a 2x12. I just got used to feeling that extra low end. So when it was missing from the little Roadster cabinet, all I heard was the relative nasally-ness of the Vintage30 speakers. That, and having it up on a wooden chair seemed to boost a troublesome low mid frequency.

But I ran some test recordings to get a different perspective. After hearing the playback, I've concluded that the little Roadster cabinet actually sounds way better than the old front-vented 2x12.

If I elevate it off the floor, it doesn't have the big lows of the front-vented cab. But the mids and highs are much much better than those of the old cab. And mids and highs are more important for a guitar in a band mix. If I sit it flat on the floor, I can get huge lows. But that setup usually results in a mushy stage mix.

So I can use this little cabinet up on a milk crate for smaller gigs and I think the band will sound great. If I start playing bigger rooms again, I'll just invest in a 4x12.

But now that I've gotten used to this Roadster cab, I don't like the old front-vented cabinet so much. The front-vented FEELS good to play, but it SOUNDS a little nasty compared to the better-tuned Mesa cab.

 

[endless_mike03]

That's one of the most beautiful amps I've ever seen!

 

[dbsens03]

Oh and give the V30's a chance. I hated mine before they were broken in.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Anonymous]

Post removed.

 

[EleventhHour2139]

:lol: :lol: :lol: Couldn't have said it better.

+1000!!!

I laughed so loud it scared my roommates :lol: