Roadster settings with Tube screamer

[joesackic]

Hey guys, Been viewing this forum for the last couple months about the same time I bought a Mesa Roadster 2x12 combo amp. Stumbled across it when I was looking for some good tones to help me get started with this amp. First of all this is a killer amp, best one I've ever owned, it does it all. I have noticed though, when I'm playing certain stuff the amp sometimes is a bit loose and i find myself messing with the knobs for endless amounts of time with mixed results. So I went to the internet for help and everyone out there says if you want to tighten up this amp get a tube screamer. So I did (TS9). No matter what I do though I love the screamer with my low gain settings and hate it with my high gain ones. On the high gain I can't seem to retain my sound and just tighten up the bass, the screamer always seems to change the tone to drastically. However I have no experience with one so I'm thinking this is user error and not the pedals fault based off all the reviews of the tube screamer I've read. So I'm hoping you guys can shed some light on this pedal for me, so I can get back to getting my ass kicked by how awesome this amp is.
thanks.

settings:
ch.4 modern, bold, diode, 50w
gain:11:00 treble:11:30 mid:1:30 bass:noon pres:2:00 master:noon

 

[iceman]

Keep turning the bass counter clockwise, noon seems high for loud volumes. Presence seems high as well (for channel 4). Try around 9:00 for both. I just picked up a Maxon 808, really tightens it up. The 808 sounds a little nasally though (some of that I attribute to my alder body guitar), very transparent though. I want to try the Michael Angelo Trex.

 

[Daxman73]

I use this trick when gigging...It all depends on the room, sometimes I need and other times I don't...It always depends on the room...This is how I use it and I use it to only tighten up the bass a little for that specific room I'm in at the time...I run my gain/drive completely off, my tone usually around 9 to 11 o'clock (depends on the room) and my volume usually around noon to 2 o'clock (again, depends on the room)...I will stress this though, you don't need this pedal to get a good, tight rhythm sound...Yes, the Recto's in general are a bit loose, but with subtle tweaks and really knowing the eq on them, and I stress that, you can nail a great tone with them, especially the Roadsters...Hope this helps.

 

[ltd2recto]

Well if you can mod the loop to series an EQ pedal would be just the ticket. It was easy to convert my single rectifier. Not sure on a roadster.

I cut a couple db (in the loop) at about 230Hz with a narrow Q. With the 1960av cab its almost as tight as my girlfriend. :lol:

Like Daxman said, really knowing the EQ is key. It may take some time if this is your 1st mesa. My advice is set presence to 9:00, master to 10:00, everything else to noon (not output). Then adjust your EQ in this order : gain, treble, mids, bass, presence.

If you've got 6L6's, switch to Groove Tubes GT-E34L's.

 

[Roadifier]

the roadsters loop is serial

 

[ltd2recto]

nice. I'm glad they "fixed" it. Maybe with a rack unit (or maybe I really am retarded) a parallel loop will work good. It def never worked for me. Still remember the smile on my face when i got the 4cm method dialed in for the 1st time.