My Roadster Won't Get Clean Enough (Does This Sound Right?)

[BostonRedSox]

I get the exact same sound with my road king with the master past 12 oclock. It is a very different type of distortion. Maybe its distorting at the phase inverter?

I've learned to keep both channel 1 and 2 master below 12 oclock to minimize this

Yeah, I don't think it is a tube issue, although I didn't experiment with the phase inverter. I just swapped V-1 and 2 to see if I could minimize it. I did notice though that channel 1 is better a staying clean at high gigging volumes than channel 2. I think the amp is obviously still usable, albeit this issue is a bit annoying. I like to swap to the brightness of the bridge pup without any distortion.

 

[b0nkersx]

I get the exact same sound with my road king with the master past 12 oclock. It is a very different type of distortion. Maybe its distorting at the phase inverter?

I've learned to keep both channel 1 and 2 master below 12 oclock to minimize this

If you're using the fx loop, make sure your loop send level isn't too high.

 

[espboogie123]

Maybe it can vary from roadster to roadster. I keep my gain and volume about noon and it stays pretty clean at loud volumes unless i hit strings with force. I use passive duncan pickups. My friends roadster's clean sounds way dirtier than mine.

 

[BostonRedSox]

Maybe it can vary from roadster to roadster. I keep my gain and volume about noon and it stays pretty clean at loud volumes unless i hit strings with force. I use passive duncan pickups. My friends roadster's clean sounds way dirtier than mine.

Maybe your Roadster is the sheer minority in attaining a completely clean tone at high volumes. Even the Foo Fighters, with Road King IIs, used Lonestar's as their clean amps. I never understood why they did this, but now I totally get it. More so, the higher gain channels of the Roadster must affect the clean channels' ability to stay clean. After all, they have a circuit lifted from the Lonestar for the cleans, yet Andy Timmons can push his clean gain up to 1:30 with no break up at high volumes. He hits the strings fairly hard at times and you never hear breakup on his sound unless he is purposefully pushing his amp. I envy you and your Roadster! The breakup is annoying, even if it is something that is realistically manageable.

 

[espboogie123]

Not sure if its the combination I run, but yes, I do envy my clean as well. I run winged c 6l6s w/tungsol v1 and mix of others. I also run passive pickups. My buddies roadster's clean sounds like the way I have my 2nd channel setup. Brit mode w/ low gain, like a slight dirty. Maybe others can chime in and discuss their clean as well. They all probably react differently. Some clean, some slight dirt.