Roadster versus Dual Rectifier - what's the difference??

[InkComplete]

I know there's a lot more features on the roadster but is it any different than a dual rec really, in terms of tone? Is there any tone that the DR can accomplish that the Roadster can't, or vice versa? I like the idea of so much versatility in the Roadster but I've heard or at least I think I've heard people saying the Roadster doesn't have as much gain or balls as the dual... is this bull? Any opinions?

 

Also is the roadster effects loop as crappy as the other rectifiers?

[BadCompany89]

Have you considered this?

 

[InkComplete]

Uh I don't see your point... of course I've considered it, that's the amp I'm talking about!

 

Well actually the head version, but anyway.

[Symmetry2170]

Here's the deal, with the DR and Roadster.

 

Essentially, the Roadster is everything that the DR is. But, the Roadster has a superior clean channel. What Mesa did was take the clean channel from their Lonestar amps, which IMO can compete with Fender clean channels, and place it inside the Roadster and Road King models. I want to say that the Roadster has 2 clean channels as opposed to the DR's one clean channel.

 

The Roadster has a pannel on the back to where you can dial in reverb, select if you want the FX loop to work on each individual channel and whether you want the channels to run at 100 or 50 watts individually.

 

Those are the most important components to a Roadster as opposed to a DR.

[Slunderfungus]

 

Here's the deal, with the DR and Roadster. Essentially, the Roadster is everything that the DR is. But, the Roadster has a superior clean channel. What Mesa did was take the clean channel from their Lonestar amps, which IMO can compete with Fender clean channels, and place it inside the Roadster and Road King models. I want to say that the Roadster has 2 clean channels as opposed to the DR's one clean channel. The Roadster has a pannel on the back to where you can dial in reverb, select if you want the FX loop to work on each individual channel and whether you want the channels to run at 100 or 50 watts individually. Those are the most important components to a Roadster as opposed to a DR.

 

 

Either way their both still awesome amps. I think my Disability is going through her soon and I plan on getting me a Road KingII 2x12 combo. I've had a hard on for that amp since I saw it.

[TomCTC]

Symmetry nailed it.

 

Also, the Roadster's effects loop is serial instead of the crappy parallel loops the DR is famous for. Basically that means it does everything the right way, just as the Road King does (which has EXCELLENT effects loops, btw).

 

If you're buying new, the Roadster is a no brainer if you need a sparkling clean.

[Dewysoss]

Whats the difference between the Roadster and Road King, then?

[TomCTC]

Whats the difference between the Roadster and Road King, then?

 

Road King has 6L6s and EL34s in it, that you can mix and match on each channel called progressive linkage. Roadster you can only load one or the other in, same as a DR. Also the RK has a 2nd effects loop you can assign to each channel, and cabinet output selectors so you can send certain channels to open back cabinets and others to closed back cabs. (hence the RK cabinet's design).

 

It's a bunch of useless stuff, really. But good lord if the 2 6L6 & 2 EL34 setting on channel 4 vintage isn't my favorite Recto sound of all time.

[Symmetry2170]

 

Whats the difference between the Roadster and Road King, then?

 

 

 

The Roadster is a step down from the Road King. The Road King II, I know is capable of switching between 6L6's and EL34 tubes, so you basically have two different amps in one, due to it having different sets of tubes. The Road King II is around 3 grand and the Roadster is 2 grand. The RKII is a definitely a players amp. I definitely think Mesa is professional grade, without a doubt. But, the RK can really become complicated. I think it's foot switch has 10 buttons. From what I've read on it and looked at it briefly, you almost need a bachelors degree in amplifiers to figure this thing out. Unless you're a gigging/touring musician and absolutely DEMAND the functionality of a RK, I wouldn't invest so much money on it. If you want to spend 3 grand, get a VHT Pitbull UL.

 

I know I got off track a bit, but basically the RK and The Roadster have alot of the same features. 4 channels, serial effects loop (i think), footswitchable everything, only the RK has more to offer along with everything the Roadster has.

[tws!]

Road King has 6L6s and EL34s in it, that you can mix and match on each channel called progressive linkage. Roadster you can only load one or the other in, same as a DR. Also the RK has a 2nd effects loop you can assign to each channel, and cabinet output selectors so you can send certain channels to open back cabinets and others to closed back cabs. (hence the RK cabinet's design). It's a bunch of useless stuff , really. But good lord if the 2 6L6 & 2 EL34 setting on channel 4 vintage isn't my favorite Recto sound of all time.

 

I wouldn't call it useless, now, I could go with overkill, but if you have the dough and gear makes you happy, go with the RK. The Roadster is worth the extra against just a stock DR in my opinion. The reverb, better clean channel, and the 4 channel make it worth it for me.

[thinkpad20]

Hmmm..... this thread is making me want a roadster...

 

damn damn damn GAS.... :mad:

[Symmetry2170]

I am eagerly awaiting my Roadster to arrive. Any day now, annnnnyyy day now.

[tws!]

I am eagerly awaiting my Roadster to arrive. Any day now, annnnnyyy day now.

 

You lie in your sig :cop:

 

 

[Symmetry2170]

Haha, well, when you put it THAT way it seem so negative! but I've already paid it in full, so I consider it mine.

[tws!]

Haha, well, when you put it THAT way it seem so negative! but I've already paid it in full, so I consider it mine.

 

I'm just joshin' ya man. I can haz a Roadster?

 

Did you get it new or used?

[Symmetry2170]

haha, i figured dude.

 

Yep, got it new. I have a hard time with used gear. It's taking so long for it to arrive in shop because Mesa is believe it or not ,a small company with only about 60 employees and they only make a certain quota for each of their dealers per year. And my local shop is a new Mesa dealer, so they are trickling in one by one. They got a Road King head in actually for another guy who ordered it and I saw it sitting on the showroom floor and it was inside this HUGE box. I flipped out, I thought it was for like a 2x12 cab or something.

[MojoFilter]

 

But, the RK can really become complicated. I think it's foot switch has 10 buttons. From what I've read on it and looked at it briefly, you almost need a bachelors degree in amplifiers to figure this thing out.

 

 

I would disagree with Tom Van Deven in his statement of "alot of useless stuff"...that stuff is VERY useful...provided that you have a use for it. Switching between a closed and an open-back cabinet may not be useful for a metal gig, but it makes a big sonic difference in an R&B/Funk/Hard Rock scenario.

 

Ditto for the ability to select 6L6's and/or EL 34's per channel...enormously useful, depending on the gig, and your style.

 

Ditto for having 2 serial effects loops instead of one.

 

Also, I would disagree with the above statement that it's a difficult amp to figure out...simply put, it's not...provided that you read the owner's manual once or twice, which is exactly what you should do with any Mesa.

 

How to operate the additional options on a Road King is very easy to figure out. I found it only marginally more difficult than a 2-channel Dual Recto, which is what I owned before the Road King.

 

However...it is very easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of options that you have at your disposal...meaning, how to put these sounds to use, and in what situation. GETTING to those options is not difficult at all, though.

 

One piece of advice for the dude that wanted the Road King 2x12" combo: DON'T. It weighs an absolute ton...it's probably the heaviest 2x12" ever made. In my opinion, you'd be much better off getting the head, and a separate 2x12". Just my .02.

[tws!]

 

haha, i figured dude. Yep, got it new. I have a hard time with used gear. It's taking so long for it to arrive in shop because Mesa is believe it or not ,a small company with only about 60 employees and they only make a certain quota for each of their dealers per year. And my local shop is a new Mesa dealer, so they are trickling in one by one. They got a Road King head in actually for another guy who ordered it and I saw it sitting on the showroom floor and it was inside this HUGE box. I flipped out, I thought it was for like a 2x12 cab or something.

 

 

Yea man, they are huge. I know a guy in a band that is from Canada that comes down this way sometimes, and he has a RK. It's in a road case and they have two people carry it. A retube would have me saving up for 3 months. Since you are getting rid of that XXL cab, what are you going to run that beast through?

[MojoFilter]

 

I know there's a lot more features on the roadster but is it any different than a dual rec really, in terms of tone? Is there any tone that the DR can accomplish that the Roadster can't, or vice versa? I like the idea of so much versatility in the Roadster but I've heard or at least I think I've heard people saying the Roadster doesn't have as much gain or balls as the dual... is this bull? Any opinions? Also is the roadster effects loop as crappy as the other rectifiers?

 

 

Oh, yeah, to answer your original question:

 

The two high gain channels on a Roadster can be made to sound just about identical to a Dual Recto. The difference was not noticeable to my ears. The voicing is near identical.

 

Some people have claimed that the Roadster's high gain channels are somewhat smoother and less "fizzy", but I don't hear a major difference, and I've played the two side by side in a studio, with identical settings.

 

As far as a lack of balls? If you think a Recto has balls, the Roadster does to...since, in essence, it is the same circuitry. If you don't think a Recto has balls, then...look to another amp.

 

As mentioned before, the Roadster is probably worth the extra money just for the clean channel options, which simply put, blow the standard Rectos out of the water.

 

IF you are going to be doing a considerable amount of clean playing, and want the best that Mesa offers in this department, go Roadster. If clean playing is irrelevant to you, the standard Rectos will fit the bill just fine.

[tws!]

 

haha, i figured dude. Yep, got it new. I have a hard time with used gear. It's taking so long for it to arrive in shop because Mesa is believe it or not ,a small company with only about 60 employees and they only make a certain quota for each of their dealers per year. And my local shop is a new Mesa dealer, so they are trickling in one by one. They got a Road King head in actually for another guy who ordered it and I saw it sitting on the showroom floor and it was inside this HUGE box. I flipped out, I thought it was for like a 2x12 cab or something.

 

 

Yea man, they are huge. I know a guy in a band that is from Canada that comes down this way sometimes, and he has a RK. It's in a road case and they have two people carry it. A retube would have me saving up for 3 months. Since you are getting rid of that XXL cab, what are you going to run that beast through?

[MojoFilter]

 

I know there's a lot more features on the roadster but is it any different than a dual rec really, in terms of tone? Is there any tone that the DR can accomplish that the Roadster can't, or vice versa? I like the idea of so much versatility in the Roadster but I've heard or at least I think I've heard people saying the Roadster doesn't have as much gain or balls as the dual... is this bull? Any opinions? Also is the roadster effects loop as crappy as the other rectifiers?

 

 

Oh, yeah, to answer your original question:

 

The two high gain channels on a Roadster can be made to sound just about identical to a Dual Recto. The difference was not noticeable to my ears. The voicing is near identical.

 

Some people have claimed that the Roadster's high gain channels are somewhat smoother and less "fizzy", but I don't hear a major difference, and I've played the two side by side in a studio, with identical settings.

 

As far as a lack of balls? If you think a Recto has balls, the Roadster does to...since, in essence, it is the same circuitry. If you don't think a Recto has balls, then...look to another amp.

 

As mentioned before, the Roadster is probably worth the extra money just for the clean channel options, which simply put, blow the standard Rectos out of the water.

 

IF you are going to be doing a considerable amount of clean playing, and want the best that Mesa offers in this department, go Roadster. If clean playing is irrelevant to you, the standard Rectos will fit the bill just fine.

[glenecho]

 

Ditto for the ability to select 6L6's and/or EL 34's per channel...enormously useful, depending on the gig, and your style.

 

 

While I think both the Roadster and the Road King are great amps, I really disagree with the overall value of the 6l6/EL34 option on them. I played through a Road King II for many many hours with the intention of walking out of the store with it but to my disappointment found the power tube switch was very subtle at best. It could have been my fault...granted...but I left the shop feeling that the majority of the tone of the amp was in the preamp section and that mixing and matching the tube stages really didn't do as much as I envisioned in my mind. I was maybe a bit swayed by the ad copy on Mesa's site perhaps...they'd have you believing these things are modelling amps when the truth is that they are beefed up and slightly more versatile Rectos.

 

Still again...great amps...don't get me wrong.

 

As far as the Roadster or Road King not having balls...not in a million years.

[MojoFilter]

 

While I think both the Roadster and the Road King are great amps, I really disagree with the overall value of the 6l6/EL34 option on them. I played through a Road King II for many many hours with the intention of walking out of the store with it but to my disappointment found the power tube switch was very subtle at best. It could have been my fault...granted...but I left the shop feeling that the majority of the tone of the amp was in the preamp section and that mixing and matching the tube stages really didn't do as much as I envisioned in my mind. I was maybe a bit swayed by the ad copy on Mesa's site perhaps...they'd have you believing these things are modelling amps when the truth is that they are beefed up and slightly more versatile Rectos. Still again...great amps...don't get me wrong. As far as the Roadster or Road King not having balls...not in a million years.

 

 

I was a little skeptical of the Progressive Linkage as well...it makes a difference, but not a huge one, at bedroom volumes.

 

The differences are very pronounced at higher volumes to my ears, though.

 

Give you a real life scenario: I was running into problems in one of my bands onstage when we first started playing together...the other guitarist was using a 6L6 based head, and it seemed to both of us like I was always treading on his "sonic territory" so to speak...the rigs sounded similar, but I was always a little heavier in the stage mix, even at comparable volumes. During our second set, I changed the two high gain channels to the EL34's, ran them on "Vintage" mode, brought the bass, treble and presence down a little, switched the rectification to "Tube" and the power mode to "Spongy", and that completely ended the problem. I was sonically higher in the mix, cut through on leads without a problem, and it seemed like the two rigs "meshed" a lot better, without my rig being overpowering in the least. I run it exactly the same whenever we play together, but whenever I'm a solo guitarist in a band, I typically revert back to the 6L6's, or the 2 6L6+2 EL34 option...

 

I left Channel 1 on "Tweed", hooked up to the open back, running 4 6L6's, though...

 

Again...those little, subtle changes become noticeable when you start turning up the volumes. In this case, I found it to be invaluable...it allowed me to adapt to the setup of our band, but then allows me to go right back to any number of different options.

[InkComplete]

So could a roadster get me this tone then

 

zTNu0qTGIyg

 

I heard they used boosted rectos on this album...

[Symmetry2170]

 

Yea man, they are huge. I know a guy in a band that is from Canada that comes down this way sometimes, and he has a RK. It's in a road case and they have two people carry it. A retube would have me saving up for 3 months. Since you are getting rid of that XXL cab, what are you going to run that beast through?

 

 

I'm either going to get a mesa recto 2x12, Orange 2x12 or an Avatar 2x12 with V30's. I'm tired of having a 4x12. It's too much for me anymore. I don't play out anymore so there's no need for it.