Roadster 1x12 combo has landed!! UPDATED - Clips ADDED!

[tele_jas]

EDIT: The clips are a http://www.guitartest.moonfruit.com/

________________________________________

Well, it came today!!

For those that don't know, I sold my Road King 2x12 combo and bought a Roadster 1x12 combo.

I haven't really had a chance to play with it that much, only about 3 or 4 minutes. Enough to say I like the clean tone much better and the reverb is nicer too. The Brit mode is basically useless when running 6L6's......I can't wait to get EL34's in it in a few weeks.

I play with it tomorrow night and I'll have a full comparison review (RK 1 vs Roadster) after I play a show with it. I plan on setting up my tones tonight sometime.

Just a little FYI.

 

[shnapper]

 

[Platypus]

Sweeeeeeeeet! We wants clips/pics!

 

[tele_jas]

Well, I dialed in a few tones at a moderate volume, not gig level though....

The cleans are definately more "Fender" voiced, or Lonestar voiced and have a nice "Sag" to them that the Road King didn't have that I really wanted and I am extremely happy with that tone. The clean channel has a hair more "clip" avaiable on the gain and can get a get a bit dirty with the gain all the way up even using a single coil guitar (telecaster).

The tweed channel is a "fun" channel, It is a bit like the Brit channel in the amount of gain on tap, but more "American" voiced. It can do a "Funk 49" tone pretty accuratley with a single coil.

The Brit channel is kind of nasty sounding with 6L6's, but from "Fredsters" clips and if it's like my old Road King it sounds GREAT with EL34's. I'm getting some EL34's in a few weeks.

Channel 3 and 4 are just like 3 and 4 on my old Road King and like channel 2 and 3 on a 3 Channel dual or triple recto. The V30 speaker does make it a bit "warmer" sounding than with Mesa Black Shadow speakers.

Over all, the Roadster 1x12 combo is a bit warmer sounding than my Road King was and believe it or not it has a touch more low end. Mainly because it is pretty much a closed back amp, but I think the warmer tone also comes from the V30.

The reverb is really nice, much better than ANY Boogie I've ever owned.

Oh, and the Bold - Spongy switch is actuall the POWER switch!! You can choose on the fly which setting you want, up for Bold and down for Spongy and in the middle for "Off".. cool feature.

I'll know a lot more after tomorrow nights gig, but this is what I've noticed so far.

Here she is:

 

[francric]

Nice Combo, enjoy.....................can't wait to hear the further reviews, maybe some clips.

 

[Platypus]

Looks sweet tele, congrats

 

[MetalMatt]

Ahhh... Can you smell that?... the smell of a new Mesa, I think they should make a car scent! Anyhoo! Congrats Tele, can't wait to hear your gig review, and clips are a must!

 

[Storm]

Great, you finally got it. I'll be interested to see the difference between the RK1 and the Roadster when you do the review.

Ciao ...

 

[CudBucket]

Looks great.

 

[TheRazMeister]

That's awesome Tele......I'm glad that the 1 amp solution worked out for you. Down the road I may consider the Roadster. if for nothing else but to upgrade the clean tone on my Rectoverb. I've been looking for the "gain of a rectoverb, clean of a Lonestar" amp.... 8)

Well, it came today!!

For those that don't know, I sold my Road King 2x12 combo and bought a Roadster 1x12 combo.

I haven't really had a chance to play with it that much, only about 3 or 4 minutes. Enough to say I like the clean tone much better and the reverb is nicer too. The Brit mode is basically useless when running 6L6's......I can't wait to get EL34's in it in a few weeks.

I play with it tomorrow night and I'll have a full comparison review (RK 1 vs Roadster) after I play a show with it. I plan on setting up my tones tonight sometime.

Just a little FYI.

 

[scottkahn]

Lucky you,

Mesa just kicked me to the back of the line (cough bullshit) because I changed my order from a combo to a head.

Don't take it personally. Many people don't realize that Mesa/Boogie, despite their worldwide recognition by the masses, is still really just a large boutique shop hand-producing all of their amps.

They typically have their manufacturing line set up to produce only a handful of products, then after X number of units are built, they re-tool the line for building other products. That's why someone could get lucky ordering a Roadster right when they're going into production while someone else ordering a Mark IV Reissue has to wait 6-8 weeks.

It is frustrating because they "appear" to be just like a Marshall or Fender or Peavey type of company thanks to the outstanding brand recognition, but they are MUCH smaller operationally. If you adjust your thinking to remember that they're one of the best hand-built amp companies, it can make the waiting game a little more tolerable.

I cut them slack on lead times.

Of course, you can call around for a local store that might have a stock unit available without customization of the order. I know that here in the NY/NJ metro area, you can find almost all the popular Boogie models in stock at Guitar Center as well as some specialty shops.

Scott

 

[shnapper]

Lucky you,

Mesa just kicked me to the back of the line (cough bullshit) because I changed my order from a combo to a head.

Don't take it personally. Many people don't realize that Mesa/Boogie, despite their worldwide recognition by the masses, is still really just a large boutique shop hand-producing all of their amps.

They typically have their manufacturing line set up to produce only a handful of products, then after X number of units are built, they re-tool the line for building other products. That's why someone could get lucky ordering a Roadster right when they're going into production while someone else ordering a Mark IV Reissue has to wait 6-8 weeks.

It is frustrating because they "appear" to be just like a Marshall or Fender or Peavey type of company thanks to the outstanding brand recognition, but they are MUCH smaller operationally. If you adjust your thinking to remember that they're one of the best hand-built amp companies, it can make the waiting game a little more tolerable.

I cut them slack on lead times.

Of course, you can call around for a local store that might have a stock unit available without customization of the order. I know that here in the NY/NJ metro area, you can find almost all the popular Boogie models in stock at Guitar Center as well as some specialty shops.

Scott

Oh no I'm good now, I just needed to calm down a bit. I'm going to wait it out knowing ahead of time that this is the amp I want.

Now back to tele's thread how bout some sound clips of that sweet roadster ya got................

 

[tele_jas]

Allright, I've played 2 shows with it (and one was a 6 hour show)

Anyways, I'll start out by saying WOW!!! Channel 1 on Tweed is everthing that I've been looking for in Dr. Z, and other Botique single channel clean amps!! With the:
* gain maxed
* treb on 12:00
* mids around 11:00
* bass around 12:00
*pres around 11:00
With a Telecaster, the Tweed mode is almost clean but has a gorgeous breakup that sounds like a cross between a Fender Deluxe and a Vox AC30 about to blow up (in a good way). Very warm, chimey and a nice rounded, full bottom end. I run this at 50wts

Channel 3 I run on Vintage, and I seem to have to run the Gain a bit higher than with my Road King..... On the RK I kept the gain around 3:00, but on the Roadster I keep around 3:30 or close to 4:00. It does sound a bit thicker than the RK but basically the same, still a Dual recto tone. I run this at 100wts

On channel 4 I found a really cool "classic rock" setting using the RAW mode with the gain around 3:00. With a Tubescreamer, it tightens up nicely and pushes it in to a nice higher gain that works great for 80s "hair metal". I run this at 50wts.

Channel 2 is the only disappointing channel on the amp, more specifically the BRIT mode. On my old Road King, channel 2 Brit mode with EL34's was one of my FAVORITE channels and I was hoping it would be the same with the new Roadster......... It isn't!! I even went out and bought some EL34's to run in the amp on Saturday night and I can't get it to sound like my Road King's BRIT mode no matter what I do - I think the EQ is voiced differently. On my RK, I ran the gain and trebble at 100% and the rest of the settings around 11:00...... on the Roadster, with the trebble at anything above about 1:00 is too bright and ice-picky and with a single coil, the brit mode just won't get in to that "Marshally" tone the Road King could get in to (didn't have a Humbucker guitar with me to try). I woked on it for almost 25 minutes and finally put 6L6's back in the amp (I liked channel 1 better with 6L6's).

Over all, this 1x12 Roadster combo has more low end than my Road King 2x12 combo had...... The cleans are much more 3-D than any other Recto I've ever played (very much like a Lonestar) and quite possibly the best cleans I've ever had and are quite possibly in the same "greatness" as my AC30. Channel 2 is a copy of channel 1, but has Brit instead of Tweed... Channel 3 and 4 are all Recto.

Finally.......I love this amp much more than my RK 2x12 combo: Better cleans, Dual recto tones, a tighter fuller tone, a little bit lighter package....... but I'm disappointed in the Brit mode. I'm going to play with it a bit more and try my humbucker guitar with the EL34's this coming next weekend.

I didn't A/B it with my AC30 this weekend, but I may do so this coming weekend to compare the clean tones. The Roadster isn't as chimey as the AC30, but the clean quality is right up there with the AC30, Deluxe, Twin, Lonestar, Riveras, Dr. Z, ect....

That's my "real world - real gig" review, hope it helps someone out.

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

WHATS UP? gLAD YOU LIKE YOUR ROADSTER, I HAVE THE HEAD AND 4X12 STILLEO.FOR ME TO GET THE BEST SOUND OUTTA THE BRIT MODE I WOULD RUN MY MIDS JUST ABOUT ALL THE WAY UP AND THE GAIN TOO, WITH THE BASS DIALED LIGHTLY.ALSO I HAD TO ACCEPT I NEEDED A PEDAL IN FRONT OF IT.THE PEDAL I USED AND LOVED IS THE OSD-FULLTONE.+
WITH THE DRIVE KNOB AT ZERO, THE LEVEL MAXED, THE TONE KNOB ABOUT HALFWAY AND THE TOGGLE IN THE HP SETTING I CAN GET A HAPPENIN MARSHALL TONE FOR SURE. THIS IS WITH MY 54 OXBLOOD LES PAUL WITH A BURSTBUCKER IN THE FRONT AND SEYMOUR DUNCAN IN THE BRIDGE.ALSO HAD TO HAVE EL-34S, I SWITCHED TO KT77s-SMOKIN'..DUDE WITH THE OCD IN TWEED MODE ITS CREMEPUFF....... GOOD LUCK BRO -----PROPS TO YA FOR BANGIN OUT A 6 HOUR SHOW!!! OH YEAH SEYMOUR JB IN BRIDGE

 

[tele_jas]

OH YEAH SEYMOUR JB IN BRIDGE

Can't do that...... I need the single coil sound for country music, I have 2 tele's with single coils, a Wolfgang copy with a Dimarzio X2N in the bridge and a Strat with a JB jr in the bridge, so I've got humbuckers but I just didn't load up on guitars this weekend because we had a pretty big ice storm (for our area it was big) and I was using minimal amt of gear.

Thanks for the info!

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

I FORGOT TO MENTION I HAD TO SWITCH BACK TO 6V6S FOR THE CHOICE TWEED MODE.WITH MY STRAT WITH TEXAS SPECIALS IN FRONT AND MIDDLE AND A VANDT ZANT ROCK PICKUP IN THE BRIDGE I COULD FIX UP A GROOVIN TONE WITH THE BRIT, ESPECIALLY PERCUSSIVE RHYTHM WORK AND FUNK. ALSO KILLER FOR WAH STUFF.COUNTRY? IM SURE ITS IN THERE SOMEWHERE. GOOD LUCK BROTHER!!!!

 

[hal9000]

Well, it came today!!

For those that don't know, I sold my Road King 2x12 combo and bought a Roadster 1x12 combo.

I haven't really had a chance to play with it that much, only about 3 or 4 minutes. Enough to say I like the clean tone much better and the reverb is nicer too. The Brit mode is basically useless when running 6L6's......I can't wait to get EL34's in it in a few weeks.

I play with it tomorrow night and I'll have a full comparison review (RK 1 vs Roadster) after I play a show with it. I plan on setting up my tones tonight sometime.

Just a little FYI.

Cool Review!

BTW, have you thought about running an integrated quad (2x6L6, 2xEL34 that draw the same natural plate current) with your Roadster? That way, if you put the amp in 50 W mode, it'll only have one tube tube running.

 

[francric]

Can that be done? If you can, what are the advantages or disadvantages to running one tube and how does it only use one tube?

 

[shnapper]

One tube running or one of each type of tube running 6L6/EL34??

I'm curious about the answer to this also??

 

[cant play pool with a rop]

whats up??? to my knowledge the only tube you can run solo is the rectifier tubes..However; I've used the 2 KT77's + 2 6v6's = GZ34s and discovered that in 50watt mode you used the TWO outside tubes only which in my case with this kit were the KT77s---killer for Brit Mode!!!!!Ive just ordered my Stilleto Ace head today---stocked!! I already have the Roadster head. I plan on running them both through my Stilleto 4x12----NOT AT THE SAME TIME!!! I'm gonna run a Radial Headbone Amp Switcher.This way my Roadster is all 6v6 and the Ace is El-34s..I'm gonna be slaying some dragons dudes!! When it arrives I'll send pics of the complete setup!!