Sell Heartbreaker for Roadster?

[fredmullegun]

I have had a heartbreaker for a while now and its great. Its sounds great except I cannot get Recto sounds out of it.

Can the Roadster do all my HB can do but also deliver Recto sounds?

I saw it also has tube reverb like my HB so I'm thinking the reverb is just as good? What about the cleans and overdrive sounds?

 

[AdmiralB]

The Roadster won't do either of the HB channels. It can emulate the "Lust" channel to a degree (it has more gain stages than the HB, no matter how you set it up), but it doesn't have anything like the "Love" channel.

 

[fredmullegun]

So anything my HB can do on the Love setting (the place it is 95% of the time for me) the Roadster should be able to handle?

 

[AdmiralB]

Ummm...no. I said, the Roadster has NOTHING like the "Love" channel.

If you like the "Lust" channel, the Roadster can get in that neighborhood. Not exactly, but similar. But it won't do "Love" at all.

 

[fredmullegun]

Ummm...no. I said, the Roadster has NOTHING like the "Love" channel.

If you like the "Lust" channel, the Roadster can get in that neighborhood. Not exactly, but similar. But it won't do "Love" at all.

Yeah I completely mixed those up. I always just think of them as left and right.

 

[kingster911]

haven't played a heartbreaker but

NO

 

[mdortona]

Hi!

I've owned both amps and actually sold the HB for the Roadster. Bad idea in retrospect. While the Roadster had very good clean and "over the top high gain sounds", it couldn't do that elusive middle ground of overdrive tone, which was where the HB excelled. AS much as I tweaked the Roadster, it still sounded "too Recto" to me. Just my two cents. To solve the problem, I traded Adam (another board member) for his Mark IV head. Both of us are very happy clams!!! Nonetheless, I still miss the Roadster - it was closest thing to a "Fender Twin Boogie" (at least to my blown-out ears) 8)

Have you considered look into a used Recto Verb or Solo 50 Head and use both? Good luck!

Matt

 

[scottkahn]

The Heartbreaker was a reissue of the Mark I, basically. It won't sound like a Dual Rectifier, and the Roadster won't sound like a Mark I. That said, the Roadster has incredible clean tone and great heavy tones, but even playing its non-recto-ish heavy tones (it has plenty) it will still have a different character than your Heartbreaker.

Personally, I'd take the Roadster for its superior cleans and heavier tones. The reverb is better, too, but then the Heartbreaker has a vintage tone whereas the Roadster is more of a modern sound.

Scott

 

[AdmiralB]

The Heartbreaker was a reissue of the Mark I, basically.

The "Love" channel is more or less a Mark I with a lot of tone and gain options. The "Lust" channel is a tweed Bassman, again with multiple tone and gain modes.

It's somewhat unusual in recent Mesa history, as it truly has two separate audio paths, each with its own set of preamp tubes. Most of the rest of the line is really one audio path with lots of LDR switching of EQ stacks, gain modes, etc.

 

[Monsta-Tone]

I've had both. The Roadster didn't last long.


The Heartbreaker is a great amp that is very tweakable with a few mods.

I don't know of a mod that will get you the Recto tone though.

Have you tried using a pedal in front of the HB to help get you that tone? I just got a Fulltone Fat Boost that sends my DC-10 into hyperspace. It doesn't give me Recto tone, but rather, a tone all it's own that sings and rocks at the same time.


I have made the mistake of trading or selling my amps for more complex 3 & 4 channel amps both in the past and just recently.

I now currently have a Mark IV, DC-10, DC-5, DC-3, & Blue Angel.

The only ones that get any play are the DC's 10 & 3, and the Blue Angel occasionally.

If you really like the HB, try the pedal in front of it before selling it. You may be seriously surprised.

If you want some mods for the HB, send me your email address. I work out of town and sometimes it takes a few days, but I'll get them to you.