Unboosted Roadster Question.

[kayman121]

As I've been on the quest for a new amp, I knew I wanted something that would give me "the" recto tone I've been enamored with forever. Well, almost. The recto tone minus the harsh high end I always hear rectos have w/o studio production.

Anyways, this led me to settle on the Roadster. But before I pull the trigger, I just got a quick question. It's my understanding it's a very versatile amp. Terrific, although 90% of the time I play the "br00talz," heh. How well does an unboosted Roadster pull off tones like Strapping Young Lad and Gojira (both of which used Rectifiers for a good bit).

Call me OCD, but I don't want to have to rely on a boost to get those sounds.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[Elixir]

I've been trying to get the Gojira sound out of my Roadster. I think they use a lot of reverb and they are a bit "brown" and loose aren't they? It may be done without a boost, i'm not sure. Almost all their albums (accept for maybe the last one) was recorded with rectifiers and marshall cabs.

I read in an interview they don't use pedals and that their sound was discovered completely on accident.

 

[kayman121]

Haha, yeah i heard that too. Hell of a sound to come across by accident :lol:

 

[Melodyman]

As I've been on the quest for a new amp, I knew I wanted something that would give me "the" recto tone I've been enamored with forever. Well, almost. The recto tone minus the harsh high end I always hear rectos have w/o studio production.

Anyways, this led me to settle on the Roadster. But before I pull the trigger, I just got a quick question. It's my understanding it's a very versatile amp. Terrific, although 90% of the time I play the "br00talz," heh. How well does an unboosted Roadster pull off tones like Strapping Young Lad and Gojira (both of which used Rectifiers for a good bit).

Call me OCD, but I don't want to have to rely on a boost to get those sounds.

Any input is appreciated.

The Roadster does have a darker smoother character to the distortion, but you may feel like you need the extra edge to the palm mutes that a boost can provide for the type of music you are describing.

Will you be able to play the amp loud? That will help a bit...but still maybe not enough.

I think of Recto's and boost pedals the same way I think a JCM 800 benefits from one, they were made for each other.

It sounds like you might like an amp that has the boosted sound built in actually...

I will say an unboosted Roadster is quite punchy sounding at high volumes, which I happen to like alot.

 

[kayman121]

I play at gig volumes in my house. (Single family home, and neighbors cant hear. i use earplugs). So you think it's possible to coax out, but it might help to boost?

 

[ixoye777]

I hate the metal tones of my Roadster without an OD up front, they are loose and unfocused. With the OD though it sounds awesome.

 

[wildrat666]

use a guitar with emg 81 or emg60s for tighter sound. the fizziness you can call out if you lower the prescence.

but the roadster sounds best boodsted(my opinion)

 

[KH Guitar Freak]

The "looseness" that some people claim IMHO are exaggerated. It still sounds pretty decent in the tightness department...

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

Agreed...I would NEVER play my Roadster unboosted...way too dark, and unfocused.

I don't think a boost is a big deal though....the Roadster boosted sound much better than a standard rectifier IMO.

 

[kayman121]

I'm really not looking for a super tight sound. That's what my ENGL is for. I actually WANT it to sound a bit loose. . My only concern is amount of gain, saturation, and thickness.

 

[Melodyman]

I'm really not looking for a super tight sound. That's what my ENGL is for. I actually WANT it to sound a bit loose. . My only concern is amount of gain, saturation, and thickness.

If you can wind it out loud at your house like you said it may be fine for you then, just don't expect the built in boosted type of sound like your Engl lol.

I was suprised how punchy the Roadster sounds when you give it some volume. In some ways the Roadster benefits from volume more so than some of it's other Recto siblings imo. Probably because it's darker, smoother nature sounds almost like you don't have any treble at all at bedroom level.

 

[kayman121]

I'm really not looking for a super tight sound. That's what my ENGL is for. I actually WANT it to sound a bit loose. . My only concern is amount of gain, saturation, and thickness.

If you can wind it out loud at your house like you said it may be fine for you then, just don't expect the built in boosted type of sound like your Engl lol.

I was suprised how punchy the Roadster sounds when you give it some volume. In some ways the Roadster benefits from volume more so than some of it's other Recto siblings imo. Probably because it's darker, smoother nature sounds almost like you don't have any treble at all at bedroom level.

As long as it's not thin, dry, and lacks gain at gig volumes, I'm happy. Should I be concerned?

 

[Melodyman]

As long as it's not thin, dry, and lacks gain at gig volumes, I'm happy. Should I be concerned?

It's not thin and dry at gig volumes unboosted, at least in my experience. Talking about channels 3 and 4, you might find "brit" mode on channel 2 even with the gain control maxed out might be a bit thin/dry...of course once again a boost sounds wonderful with that channel as well.

 

[kayman121]

That's reassuring. I probably will try it boosted too, and see how that affects it.

 

[thejay]

I use my Roadster unboosted... I am not a metal player though, I play rock mostly. I find the "loose" sound very benefinical, all tube, very nice. That's just me though... depending on the music style you are going for will depend on what you hook up to the amp. I would advise spending a lot of time with it as there are so many tones you can get from it.

 

[kayman121]

I'm going for a loose feel as well. High gain modern metal mania, but with a loose feel to it. Won't be used for super tight riffage. Hoping it'll pull it off well unboosted.

 

[thejay]

I've never had any issues with finding great tones from the amp, it did take me awhile to find all the settings I wanted to use on the 4 channels though! Once I found them though - tonal bliss

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I personally think the Roadster is too loose alone....like I mentioned before, whether I want a looser rock tone, or a crazy tight metal tone, I always run the Roadster boosted.

Best of luck!

Eric

 

[jdurso]

Couple things to consider when trying to achieve those tones:

1. The boost will provide extra compression in the preamp which not only smooth the top end but will also tighten the low end. So one thing you can do to reproduce that effect without a boost is to change your preamp tubes to a tube combination choosen for specific characteristics. For instance to emulate the preamp tube compression you get with a boost (especially at lower volumes) you can put something like an RFT ECC83 which has an earier breakup point and has a really aggressive characteristic but with very smooth highs. Then if you plug a Siemens ECC83 Long Plate in V2 you will add some richer harmonics and a very clear note definition. Then if you put something like a GE 12ax7a Long Plate in V3 for as very deep, defined bottom end that has a very clear punchy quality while still enhancing bass response. Then something like a Mullard 12ax7a in V6 to kill the buzzy charactersistics of the Recto and give the amp a sweeter, singing presence.

Going this route will help you further shape the way the amp sets up before you dial anything in. It really makes the amp your own and definitely sets it apart from other Rectos and other Roadsters. Case and point was this past 2 weeks i was on business trip in Cali and as usually hit up a bunch of music shops and played about 5 Roadsters over that time. None of those Roadsters could match what mine can do, and while the cab plays into that, the point is that tube change I made really set mine apart to what i wnat to hear in an amp. If your more curious about going this route check out my little experiement with my Roadster a few months back: http://forum.grailtone.com/ucp.php?i=pm&mode=view&f=0&p=81131

2. Gain/Presence/Mids settings are really important and are sometimes over looked. People tend to think to get the super heavy stuff you need to run the gain super high which isn't the case. Running the gain at and about 12 oclock or below will let your guitar's tone shine through the amp and will allow you to make the finer adjustments on the amp. if the gain is too high everything becomes mush no matter where the other settings are. The presence contols is another control that gets overused. I find the presence at or below 9 oclock will get you the punchy, smooth thump from the recto. As you get at or about 12 oclock the Recto fizz starts to emerge. Mids is the last setting that gets mis-used as people tend to scoop them which is fine for a mid heavy amp like a Marshall. Thing is the Recto is setup already scooped especially in the upper mids or singing mids. An OD is usually a great tool for adding back those upper mids but without using one, make sure you leave your mids at 11 oclock to 2 oclock.

3. Your cab and guitar pickups. To me there are 3 main pieces of gear that can make or break you tone. One is obviously your guitar and the pickups you use. A higher output pickup acts like an OD in a way by sending a hotter signal and depending on what the pickups eq curve looks like can also tighten the bass. The second piece is obviously the amp where the tubes and settings you use can dictate how your guitar translates into what we call "tone" once its outputted to the speakers. That said the last part is your cab/speakers. people tend to focus on what speakers are in the cab but i have found cab design can play just as important a role in how a cab sounds with an amp. My Mills cab to me is the perfect match to my recto and has the ability to handle any amount of bass while staying clear, powerful and strong. It is the best cab i've found for translating the tone my guitar and amp are trying to emaulate from my fingers. So my point here is your cab and pickups are just as important as your amp so dont overlook them.

4. Its been said in this post but I'll rehash the point.... you need to run this amp loud to get the tone your after WITHOUT a boost. They were built to be played loud and sound the best played loud. The reason for that is until you get to gig level volumes your preamp tubes arent at full compression which is more or less where a recto shines IMO. So unless you go with the idea of #1 or a boost, your going to need to run the sucker louder.

 

[Bobby_E]

Yeah, I play super metal (The br00talzzz) and I find that if you use these settings you'll be okay, but again...this is for me:

Guitar: Flaxwood Voima

Cab: Mesa 4x12 oversized recto

Channel 4: Modern

100w, no reverb
Silicon Diode

Ouput at 12 o clock
Master at 10 o clock
Treble at 1-2 oclock
Mids at noon
Bass at 10-11 o clock
Gain at 1-2 o clock
Presence at about 10 o clock

That get's a pretty brutal tone IMO, and I use no boost.

Just remember, as gain goes up, bass needs to come down.