Questions about the roadster

[osakamitsu]

Hello I am new to Mesa amps but have always wanted to buy one. I now have the opportunity to buy a roadster. I am unaware of the year. I have researched them and I am confused about a few things. Are there certain roadster years that sound better or worse? Are there years I should avoid? Are the 2010's and up better to aim for. My main concern is the FX loop. I have been on google and searching many forums and I have found contradicting information on them. My understanding is to avoid the parallel and try to get the serial loops. But I have read that certain ones have parallel/serial and I have also read that all roadsters have serial and there is no concern with the FX loop in them. But that just doesn't sit we'll with me. Can anyone set me straight??

 

[LithiumZero]

To my knowledge all roadsters are the same. I have an earlier one and it has a serial loop.

 

[osakamitsu]

Oh interesting. Thanks for the info. Do the years affect the sound of the roadsters like it does with the dual rectifiers?

The one I am looking at buying is a 4 channel. Now by all the same are you talking about all the components or just the FX loops. Like no matter what year they all sound the same? All are 4 channels? Etc?

 

[wildrat666]

yepp 4 channels all sound the same. and the SOUND very good.

 

[domct203]

The only difference in the Roadster over the years is the new "cage" around the power & rectifier tubes, instead of the "bar" style protector in the earlier ones. AFAIK all current Mesa's have the cage.

This however has nothing to do with the sound, and they do sound good!

Dom

 

[Given To Fly]

I got my Roadster (first Mesa) in October and I'm impressed with the sound every time I play it.

 

[osakamitsu]

Wow thanks for all the info! I'm really really excited about getting it. Are they as noisy as the 5150's and 6505+'s? Thats what I normally play.

 

[domct203]

Wow thanks for all the info! I'm really really excited about getting it. Are they as noisy as the 5150's and 6505+'s? Thats what I normally play.

Mine is very quiet.

Here is the best advise I could give a new Recto owner- set the EQ with your ears, not your eyes and ........
Read the Manual!.

Is this a head or combo? If it's a head what do you have for a cabinet?

Do not try to dial it in like a 5150, you will be dissapointed. The amp really needs volume to show it's best, but you can still get good lower volume tones (not bedroom level, more like loud speaking level IMHO).

Use reasonable hi-gain settings, especially in ch4 Modern. Start with the ch EQ at 12:00 (DO NOT SCOOP OUT THE MIDS), Gain 2:00 or less, Presence 9:00-10:00, Ch Master 9:00-9:30, Output at 10:00-11:00 (it's loud). If there is not enough "sizzle" or "gain" use a boost pedal (back the gain down) to push your amp into saturation ol' school style. I use a BB Preamp to push the amp and my gain stays around 11:30-12:00 in ch4 Modern for rhythm & around 12:30-1:00 in ch3 Vintage for lead/solo and I'm playing Modern Rock/Metal.

The clean channels are awesome as well. Ch2 Tweed is awesome, and Ch1 &Ch2's Fat Clean modes are beautiful. I really haven't bonded with Brit mode yet.

Good luck, don't be afraid to ask questions.
Dom

 

[bigguitartone]

Dom, do you have any advice for getting a good clean sound out of a smaller amp like the Rectoverb 50 v1 combo? I've had mine for a little while now, and can't get a clean tone that I really love. It's gotten to the point that yesterday I spent a few hours shopping around for a new amp with better cleans! (I'd actually like to build my own Fender Twin Reverb or Laney Lionheart if anyone knows any good kits or schematics.) I'll admit that I haven't tinkered enough with the pots yet, and I actually found a clean tone that I sort of like, but it just isn't doing it for me yet. Maybe the 50 watter just doesn't have enough headroom for me. I actually just discovered this forum, and I'm sure I'll find a good answer if I do a little digging, but I liked your last post so I thought I'd ask.

By the way, my favorite setting is using the clean channel and cranking up the gain, and kicking on the "pushed" setting when I want to play some leads. Unfortunately I can't use that setting and still have a clean channel to use -- I may see if I can rewire the second channel into a second clean channel or something.

Sorry to semi-hijack your thread, osakamitsu; I hope you don't mind. If it's worth anything, the Roadster is the very reason that I bought a Mesa in the first place -- the company and it's products really are top notch.

 

[knotts]

Hey Dom,
I'm intrigued by your post as well. My roadster settings are very similar to yours however I have the Output and the Master volumes flipped. I have my output around 9:00 and my masters between 2:00 and 3:00. How do you think it changes the sound. I know I can mess with this myself, however my rig is at our rehearsal space and stays there because it's far easier than lugging that around all the time. I don't get much time to tweak the settings so I'd appreciate your thoughts as it may help me save some time.

Sorry osakamitsu to hop in as well. I have owned a Lonestar for years and love it. This thread made me buy my Roadster and I hate to say that my LSC has taken the backseat to my Roadster. The Roadster has what my Lonestar has in the clean channel (pretty much) and then has the Dual Rec tones on top of it. It's very versatile and just sounds great.

My advice to you; stop contemplating and buy one already.

 

[osakamitsu]

Oh its ok guys. Thank for all the great info once again! Dom, I will definitely re-read that very detailed post of how to get a nice sound out of the roadster once I have it in front of me. I mainly play heavier music along the lines of As I Lay Dying and August Burns Red but I like a very bright heavy tone thats warm. Im not a fan of the cold metal tones. Im hoping I can get that outta this incredible machine. Killswitch engage has some great tones and I know they at least used to use mesa amps. My 6505+ and Peavey are just too noisy and hissy. Too much feedback. Great distortion but rough cleans. Im not big into effects pedals. I do like delay though. My concern for the FX loop is because I have an ISP decimator. I am hoping I can get that to work properly in the loop. I have read that the parallel loops give a lot of problems to some pedals... So I was really hoping this was a serial loop. I have issue getting it to with well with my 6505+ and 5150.

Im most likely be getting the amp this weekend. I'll post a pic!

Im really excited about the Solo BOOST for my leads in my band. So cool. And the 50 watt option for practicing.

 

[Daxman73]

They got the Roadster right the first time. It came after the Road King, which is where they worked out all the bugs from it. And yes, it's a series effects loop. It's a very clean/good sounding loop. The ISP should work great in there, I've heard good results from that set up. And one last thing, it's a very quite amp. For having that much gain, its one quite amp.

 

[domct203]

Hey Dom,
I'm intrigued by your post as well. My roadster settings are very similar to yours however I have the Output and the Master volumes flipped. I have my output around 9:00 and my masters between 2:00 and 3:00. How do you think it changes the sound. I know I can mess with this myself, however my rig is at our rehearsal space and stays there because it's far easier than lugging that around all the time. I don't get much time to tweak the settings so I'd appreciate your thoughts as it may help me save some time.

Sorry osakamitsu to hop in as well. I have owned a Lonestar for years and love it. This thread made me buy my Roadster and I hate to say that my LSC has taken the backseat to my Roadster. The Roadster has what my Lonestar has in the clean channel (pretty much) and then has the Dual Rec tones on top of it. It's very versatile and just sounds great.

My advice to you; stop contemplating and buy one already.

I found that with setting Ch4 Modern's master around 9-10:00 gives me a signal that does not clip my G-Major in the FX Loop and makes it easy to balance the other channel's volumes with it (ch3 Vintage master is around 11:00 and my ch1 Fat Clean master is just past 12:00)

Dom, do you have any advice for getting a good clean sound out of a smaller amp like the Rectoverb 50 v1 combo?

I'm not sure what your idea of a "good clean sound" is..... some players want it uber-clean while some like it with a hint of breakup etc. I never played a ROV so I really don't know what the cleans are like in that amp.

I like a strong clean tone that does not clip unless I really slam those strings. I usually roll back the guitar volume to 7-8 to help keep it clean. EQ setting are really dependent on your guitar/rig. There is so much more dimension to clean tones that it is really hard to give you EQ settings without knowing your styles & gear. Start with the EQ at 12:00, and be careful as you add treble as it will start to add clipping. Same goes for the mids, just not as much.

I will say that if you are going for a non-breakup kind of clean, IMO 50W will not give you enough headroom at band volumes to compete with the high-gain channels. Even if you could manage to keep the preamp from clipping, the power section is going to clip as you push it to get the volume level needed for a full Rock/Metal band.

Dom

 

[domct203]

They got the Roadster right the first time. It came after the Road King, which is where they worked out all the bugs from it. And yes, it's a series effects loop. It's a very clean/good sounding loop. The ISP should work great in there, I've heard good results from that set up. And one last thing, it's a very quite amp. For having that much gain, its one quite amp.

+1. The series FX Loop is excellent when set correctly. With a good noise gate in the loop the amp is dead-silent with my high-gain settings (and not very noisy without the gate either- I think that is why it works so well).

Dom

 

[osakamitsu]

Whats the proper way to connect an ISP decimator G string to the roadster? The loop looks a lot more complicated than what I am used to seeing on my 6505+.

 

[domct203]

The FX loop is not complicated at all. Start with the FX Loop Send control at 12:00. Remember that your channel masters determine how much signal is sent to the FX Loop Send, and the master Output controls the FX Return level as well as the final volume of the amp. If you are getting nasty clipping artifacts lower your channel master and raise the output to compensate.

The amp's manual fully explains how the FX Loop works.

Dom

 

[knotts]

Thanks Dom.

 

[jdurso]

Two recommendations I'll make after many happy years with this beast:
1. Keep your settings modest... I find the gains sweet spot is between 11 and 1, and the treble plays a huge part in the response of the bottom end. The presence knob also plays a huge part it nailing your tone. For instance on my channel four in modern I have my presence between 8-9 o'clock with everything else around noon and its one of the best heavy tones I've ever had.

2. Don't get caught in thinking just because you have a high gain head that an OD or boost shouldn't be used. A lot of people seem to look at using an OD means the amp is somehow lacking... to me its about achieving THE tone and sometimes the best tone can come from quality pedals paired with quality amps. Whenever I want super heavy tones like KSE or Lamb of God I just throw my OCD on as a clean boost in front of channel four with the settings above and to me the sound is perfect... brutal yet musical.

 

[osakamitsu]

So how do these OD pedals work? Do they stay on all the time or just on the distortion. Will they cause the cleans to break up or distort? I would definitely love to get a kse tone. I wouldn't have to hit the OD pedal at the same time as certain channels would I? That just sounds complicated... Lol

 

[jdurso]

If your playing kse style all the time, I'd leave it on all the time. The idea is your boosting your signal (not adding much gain if any). This then slams the preamp with a hotter signal and thus gets the preamp tubes to compress more. You can also add a bit of presence to get a little more bite. This isn't the only application of a clean boost/OD but one I like for some high gain chugga chugga especially if your guitar pickups are passive. You can get some great overtones and tighten up the low end by compressing the preamp tubes... I especially like the OCD in the high mode since it seems to add some nice singing midrange