played a roadster tonight!!

[tempest1226]

well all this fx loop, g major headache got me thinking about how much i really enjoy my dual rec. Im not even that fond of the tone. Always a little too mushy for me until i added my zakk wylde OD. So i drove to guitar center and played a roadster head. AMAZED. Sounded so tight for a rectifier and unlike any other rec ive played the roadster is decent sounding at low volumes as well. The only thing i couldnt try was teh clean channel (green) because it was like broke. (THATS WHY U ALWAYS ORDER AND NEVER BUY OFF THE SHELVES AT GUITAR CENTER, TOO MANY PEOPLE ALL DAY LONG TEARING UP EQUIPMENT. HAHA) Im definitly considering selling my dual rec and getting a roadster. I just want to make sure though, DOES THE ROADSTER HAVE A SERIES OR PARALLEL LOOP. If it is series, will my g major finally once and for all sound good and have a strong signal even with all the modulations such as the pitch, phase, chorus's?

 

[LnTh]

I think it's series on Roadster but don't quote me on that. (I own one and I'm not sure lol)

But I can tell you that G major sounds GREAT in it's loop. I love it.

 

[tempest1226]

anyone else on the board have roadsters, opinions, etc. compared to a dual rec i suppose or in general?

 

[chemten]

according to the site, its series with a hard bypass.

 

[TheFullNelsons]

Effects loop is definietly Series. My Roadster sounds great with G system using 4 cable method ( never tried G major )

If you didn't get to try the clean (green ) channel on Tweed you missed out on one of the truly outstanding features of the Roadster so if you are already impressed this will only increase your joy.

 

[tempest1226]

what does hard byspass mean in reference to the series loop. is that good or bad? sorry for the newb question

 

[twostring]

Roadster owner here. Like I've said a few times before, I'm probably one of the few recto owners that doesn't use the roadster for anything associated with rectos. Channel 1 and 2 were more Fendery than my Fender HRD. So off goes the HRD. Channels 3 and 4 have a ton of range to them as well.

I've got to give Mesa credit on this amp. To my ears, the Roadster has a wider range than the Mark and the Road King (my personal opinion...others can dial in more from their Marks and RKs, I cannot, but I'll admit my experience with both was rather limited). The cleans are full and can range from sparkle to fat jazz to spanky country and slightly gritty blues (the last two settings shine with a blues driver or similar overdrive). I've had the pleasure of borrowing a friends G-Major for the last few months and can tell you it shines in the Roadster effects loop. Again, very full on the clean channels, and the delay works quite nicely on the high gain settings. You will need to keep in mind that the channels need to remain balanced with each other, or you'll run the risk of switching channels and slamming the effects loop with higher levels, causing louder echos from delays or more overdrive from the output of the device. This won't be a problem if you have patches set up to work specifically with certain channels and use MIDI switching to change channels and patches at the same time.

I've heard the amp really opens up on both sides of the clean/dirty fence with some KT-77 power tubes, so I'm going to order some to try soon. The amp is already great, but if I can improve it, then the day is mine!!

 

[rizboog]

With all due respect to another boogie fan, and I do mean that. The roadster and the roadking are identical except the roadking has more options.

 

[twostring]

With all due respect to another boogie fan, and I do mean that. The roadster and the roadking are identical except the roadking has more options.

eh...it could have just been the fact that the floor model RK had been beaten to hell and back, but it sounded different to me. I know on paper they're identical (with exception to the extras the RK has, which can be disabled or just ignored), but with the same settings side by side they both sounded very different to me.

Again, I'll just chalk that up to the abuse the RK had seen.