Mesa Boogie Roadster questions...

Hello. I am new to the BoogieBoard and will soon be owning my first Mesa Amplifier. I play a wide variety of music, from punk to rock to blues to classic rock. I was looking into getting a Mesa Boogie Roadster, Stiletto Deuce, or a Lonestar. Does anybody have any good advice that they could give me as to which amp I should go for. I am looking for something very versatile, being that this expensive purchase will only be made this once, unless of course, I can make some career from playing. I know that the Lonestar does not have the biting distortion that the other two have, but I was contemplating pedals to alleviate that, considering it's clean channels. Are the Roadster cleans really as good as the Lonestar's cleans? Is there really a popping problem when switching channels on the Roadster? What about the Stiletto? Is the sound as thick as the Dual Rectifier Roadster, in terms of distortion. I know one uses EL-34's, and the other is 6L6 based. Has anyone switched out the 6L6's on the Roadster for EL-34's?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Happy rockin'!

-Bud

yes the roadsters rules with el34's in it,and the roadsters cleans are the same as the lonestars so its a no brainer!

Hey:

Thank you for the information and for the swift reply to my post! So you have put EL-34's in it? What would you compare the distortion to on the Brit channel of the Roadster to? Plexi? Stiletto? Also, any pops when changing channels on the Roadster?

pops happen on most rectos, just hit the foot switch a few times when in standby and it will be fine

I have had great success getting any sound I want out of my Roadster head with EL-34s. I really have never played an amp that crosses over so many musical styles as a Roadster. I think that Roadster owners on this forum will tell you exactly the same thing, it is an all in one tool box and an amazing amplifier. I would eventually own other amps to do that "One thing that they do" for a specific studio sound, but nothing does everything more convincingly to my experienced ears as a Roadster does.

I have used it for Grind-core, Funk, Jazz, Roots Rock, Grungy 90s stuff, Soul-full blues, Fusion with a bunch of older more experienced Jazz players, and very complicated techy math rock and never had anything but great tones out of it. I prefer EL-34s in my amp but the Recto series is really a 6L6 kind of amp.

The other Mesas you mentioned are super amps and stand by themselves but for me and what I need one amp to do, it is by far and away the greatest amp I have played through, and I have plugged into most. :mrgreen: