HELP ME! Roadster vs Dual Rectifier 3-channel; distortion

HELLO! I still need some more info from those who own these amps and who have compared the two. I need to know what the consensus is so I know what to expect before I buy my first Mesa.

1) Is the distortion voicing similar if not the same on the two? If not, what about the sound is different? I play mostly hard rock and punkey stuff, and in particular, I love the sound that Jade Puget has from AFI. I know he uses a Dual mostly, but the Roadster looks more inviting because of the clean channels on it and the versatility and overkill of four channels.

2) Is there any other amps people would advise me to look into as I chase this style of tone?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Honestly, I love to play, but I am not a gearhead, and this is going to be the biggest purchase I have made with an amplifier to date. A far cry from my B-52 AT-100. If it matters, I play out of an American Deluxe Fender Strat HSS and my backup is an Epiphone Junior Les Paul.

Thanks again!

-Bud

I have owned both... Roadster has a tighter bottom end to it. they both have TONS of gain... I thought my 3 channel recto had a tad more. Roadster has ALOT more features but I liked the 3 channel recto better for myself because it sounder larger to me. Not as thin as the Roadster.

Hope that helps...

They are both KILLER amps... I just preffered the 3 channel recto more...

Which AFI tone are you talking about? the older stuff was a rackmount recto, the newer stuff is all marshalls, boosted plexi's to be exact.

As to the difference between roadster and 3 channel, the roadster is more towards the sound of the older 2 channel recto's but smoother.

I Think the roadster would probaly be your best bet out of the two, I prefer my roadking 1, i do kinda the hard rock/pop punk/rock type thing and it suits me fine, listen to foo fighters live tone and that is also roadking 1's.

However for a more metal sound, the 3 channel recto's just slay in terms of aggression. They do have more gain then the roadsters however you dont need that much gain anyway.

civicbud said:

HELLO! I still need some more info from those who own these amps and who have compared the two. I need to know what the consensus is so I know what to expect before I buy my first Mesa.

1) Is the distortion voicing similar if not the same on the two? If not, what about the sound is different? I play mostly hard rock and punkey stuff, and in particular, I love the sound that Jade Puget has from AFI. I know he uses a Dual mostly, but the Roadster looks more inviting because of the clean channels on it and the versatility and overkill of four channels.

2) Is there any other amps people would advise me to look into as I chase this style of tone?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Honestly, I love to play, but I am not a gearhead, and this is going to be the biggest purchase I have made with an amplifier to date. A far cry from my B-52 AT-100. If it matters, I play out of an American Deluxe Fender Strat HSS and my backup is an Epiphone Junior Les Paul.

Thanks again!

-Bud

Click to expand...

I found the Roadster to be more tight, the rectifiers sounded a bit fuzzy to me. Also, the clean on the roadster (the lonestar clean), is worlds better than the rectifier.

i own both amps and i play both amps in my setup.
you can clone the sound of the (3-channel dual recto) orange channel (modern) with the red channel of the roadster perfect.
it´s right, that the recto has more gain, but you really don´t need it, both amps have more than enough gain for every style of music.
overall the dual recto is a bit more aggressiv sounding and the roadster is a bit smoother. but this seems to come from the poweramp section of the amps. the recto poweramp sound more scooped (like the classic 5-band EQ "V") and the roadster poweramp gives you more mids to the sound.

if clean is important for you as well, go for the roadster!
if options (watt change per channel, reverb per channel, diode recto or tube recto per channel....) are important for you, go fot the roadster!

the roadster is an awesome amp and you can achieve nearly every sound you can think of....for me the better amp.
don´t get me wrong, the dual recto 3-channel is as well a great amp with a lot of options and great sounds, but the clean isn´t as good as with the roadster.

thanks for all of the feedback everyone. i think i have made up my mind and will pursue the roadster. i definitely want versatility for the cost of this purchase, so having a decent clean channel is a must. wow, all of you are all so helpful. i am very excited to get my first boogie!

-bud