Roadster sounds bad with hard bypass

[ERountree]

I bought a used Roadster about 2 months ago. I have read how great this amp is supposed to sound with the hard bypass but I get horrible tone when I do this. Everything is "tinny", harsh, and the amp loses gain.

The amp in general sounds great at very low volumes if I keep the individual channel levels maxed out (with the Master Volume turned almost all of the way down), but sounds very harsh to me when I turn the master volume past about 9. I am not using any effects and have replaced the guitar cord and speaker cable. I am running the head through a rectifier 2x12 cabinet. Not sure if my issues are due to limitations with the cabinet size, tube issues, or something else going on.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[domct203]

Welcome to the board.

Is this your first Rectifier? What are your settings (EQ, gain, channel & mode, power)?

Are you planning to play at band volumes, or is this for low-volume playing? While the Rectifiers are aggressive in nature, my Roadster is far from 'tinny", and only harsh with high treble & presence settings.

Dom

 

[screamingdaisy]

The amp in general sounds great at very low volumes if I keep the individual channel levels maxed out (with the Master Volume turned almost all of the way down), but sounds very harsh to me when I turn the master volume past about 9.

You're overdriving the piss out of your effects loop, which is likely why you loose distortion when you bypass it.

Turn the channel master on channel 4/modern to 10:00.

Turn the master output up to a reasonable level, then adjust the masters on the other three channels to balance channel 4 (leave channel 4 at 10:00).

Re-EQ the channels for how the amp sounds without a slowly dying effects loop in the mix.

 

[jbird]

The amp in general sounds great at very low volumes if I keep the individual channel levels maxed out (with the Master Volume turned almost all of the way down), but sounds very harsh to me when I turn the master volume past about 9.

Turn the channel master on channel 4/modern to 10:00.

Turn the master output up to a reasonable level, then adjust the masters on the other three channels to balance channel 4 (leave channel 4 at 10:00).

Re-EQ the channels for how the amp sounds without a slowly dying effects loop in the mix.

But he wants the loop "hard bypassed"...The global output and solo boost would be out of the "loop"!

 

[screamingdaisy]

But he wants the loop "hard bypassed"...The global output and solo boost would be out of the "loop"!

No ****...

 

[jbird]

Turn the master output up to a reasonable level

 

[screamingdaisy]

One step at a time young Padewan.

 

[Stumblefly]

I have the Roadster 2x12 combo - it sounds awesome. I get comments on how great it sounds every time someone hears it - you will this love this amp- I use mine not in hard bypass mode so I can use the solo & mute, reverb functions and it frickin rocks - I only use mine at band volume and it cuts through perfectly and sits in the mix perfectly- I still want to throw a couple of pedals in front like maybe a chorus & delay - this is my dream amp but I didn't know it until I got it! FWIW