Trading my Dual Rec for a Roadster

[mikeweber74]

Right now I have a dual rec multi-watt that I'm selling on Saturday and a 2008 dual rec that I'm trading on Sunday for a roadster. Originally I was trying to trade the multi-watt for a roadster but someone offered to buy it. Then last week I traded a strat for the 2008 dual rec. I think I actually like the sound of the 2008 more than the reborn.

Is there any reason I won't love the roadster more? I know it's a little darker, but does it have the same bottom end and grit? I've tried a roadster combo in the store, but not using a boost or my guitar or mesa cab.

 

[YellowJacket]

The Roadster is a different beast yet again than the original 3 channel heads. Just be sure to try a Tung Sol in v1 before you flip it!

 

[Chester]

The Roadster is a different beast yet again than the original 3 channel heads. Just be sure to try a Tung Sol in v1 before you flip it!

+1

Tuning the preamp in this beast has been the key for me. Bottom end and grit aplenty, open and very versatile after I got it dialed in right

 

[mikeweber74]

cool, thanks for the replies. it usually sounds awesome in youtube videos but I see a lot of threads here where people are unhappy with their roadsters.

 

[Chester]

cool, thanks for the replies. it usually sounds awesome in youtube videos but I see a lot of threads here where people are unhappy with their roadsters.

Like every Mesa I have owned, the Roadster needs time to understand and dial in. None have been plug and play amps, which is why I love them. It may not be for everyone - I use it as a driven blues amp on CH3 and 4 (go figure) which I never thought possible with this thing, but it has the depth to deliver many styles and very different response

 

[Stumblefly]

I love my roadster - It is EVIL :twisted:

 

[ryjan]

Roadster/Road King amps are unique in the multi channel amp world in the fact that all 4 channels are incredible. The versatility of every channel also makes this amp a definite keeper. It covers pretty much the same ground as a standard Dual Recto but with a slightly tweaked voicing (slightly) and another channel.

 

[jbird]

The Roadster...I don't know if I'll ever need another amp in this lifetime!

 

[mikeweber74]

so, I've had the Roadster for a few weeks now and I'm loving it. The added clean channels and modes are nice. I love the tweed setting on channel 1 and the fat setting using channel 2.

One thing I noticed about the Tweed and Brit mode is that there isn't any reverb (or anything noticeable) when on those modes. Is that normal?

Love the Vintage and Modern modes. The Roadster has a warmer feel to me than the Dual Recs did. I'm glad I made the trade. Had to drive from Houston to San Antonio to do so.

 

[LithiumZero]

You have to really crank the reverb in those modes in comparison to the other modes

 

[jbird]

You have yours set up like mine!

 

[knotts]

I fought my roadster a little bit with my stratocasters. I started playing an LP through the roadster and found myself a different animal. With the strats, I found that i preferred the amp on 100 watt settings and BOLD which I think accentuates the chime of the strats; especially on the clean channels.

With the LP, it took me a few practices to dial in the 50 watt settings on Spongy. I also use an attenuator to knock off a few db, but I find that I'm liking this set up a lot because I'm turning up the output and the volume knobs. The other guitarist in my band is playing through a soldano and it sounds great. We do some guitar harmonies and trade solos back and forth my Mesa on CH3 vintage sounds every bit as good as his Soldano; to the point where our bass player said he couldn't tell who was playing which part. With that said, I still have pristine cleans in CH1 that he'll never get and a sound on CH4 modern which is all recto.

 

[robszab]

I made nearly the same trade....I had a 2-channel Solo Head, 5XXX (what is that, a rev G?). I sold it some years ago to pay off some debt before I got married. I loved that amp and knew I'd own another someday.

I ended up with a Roadster instead, and I must say it suits me a little better. The Solo Head had amazing high-gain tones, very raw and aggressive. The clean tone was pretty much useless for me, though. The Roadster's high-gain is a little more "mature" and refined, if that makes sense. The clean sounds in the Roadster are a vast improvement over what the Solo Head could do. I didn't think I'd ever own a better amp than the Solo Head, but I could not be happier with the Roadster. A nice improvement all around, at least for my playing/tastes.

On another note...two things I hear about the Roadster are how much work it is to dial in a good tone and that it must be cranked to sound great. Neither of these are consistent with my experience. I can put the knobs at 12 as a baseline and give each one a slight tweak as I'm playing, and in a minute or two have it sounding awesome. It doesn't take arena volumes to get it to sound great, either, at least not for how I play. Yes, as the master goes up the sound naturally comes to life, but I love the way it sounds in my living room at well below ear-splitting levels. Truly a versatile amp. Congrats on yours!

 

[TRENCHLORD]

^^^agreed
My experience has been very close to this, and that's a good description of the difference in gain character between the 2-channels vs the newer versions.