New here, with a question...

Hey guys!

I got a roadster 2X12 for christmas, and so far it's been bittersweet. I'm looking to try and get closer to a Steve Vai tone with the amp, and yes, while I know there are MANY other factors involved in getting that tone, I was curious if there is anyone running El34's in the roadster. That is the direction I'm thinking of going, but I wanted to see if people have tried that and what sort of results they got. Thank in advance guys!

I ran my Recto with JJ E34Ls for a little while. It gets you a better lead tone for sure; the amp will be tighter with less bass, it'll have more mids, and should be closer to Vai than with 6L6s.

I switched back to my 6L6s though. I use my Recto as a rhythm amp, and it was definitely less brutal with the E34Ls. I liked them, but I just don't think the amp was made for that type of tone.

Maybe the Roadster is different enough from my TR to where you could pull it off, and it's absolutely worth a shot because I think you'd like the EL34s or E34Ls, but the Recto series in the end is just different from Vai's tone.

ebmmjp7 said:

Hey guys!

I got a roadster 2X12 for christmas, and so far it's been bittersweet. I'm looking to try and get closer to a Steve Vai tone with the amp, and yes, while I know there are MANY other factors involved in getting that tone, I was curious if there is anyone running El34's in the roadster. That is the direction I'm thinking of going, but I wanted to see if people have tried that and what sort of results they got. Thank in advance guys!

Click to expand...

I've tried JJ el34s and JJ kt77s aside from the stock 6l6s and i found both improved leads, but the kt77s retained the low end and cleans that the 6l6s are known for. Think of them as an el34/6l6 hybrid. BUT.... i dont think changing your power tubes will get you a Vai type tone. If you want something like his tone i would first start with using a similar guitar with similar pups as he uses and as far as an amp goes, either the Mark IV (or V when its released) if your staying with Mesa. Or you can just get a Carvin Legacy.

I dont know if your just looking a lead tone similar while retaining the rest of the amps tones as is or if your going for all of Vai's tones out of the Roadster. if its the latter i'd get a different amp (Legacy, Mark IV/V or even a Stiletto). if its the former look into different preamp tubes because they will make more a difference in your tone than changing the power tubes. Also have you tried an OD infront of the amp or an eq in the loop? They can help a lot in tone shaping to something very specific.

Also, what are your settings and what guitar are you using?

right now, I'm using a Music Man 7 string petrucci guitar plugged into a ds-1, which is then ran to the amp. I use the ds-1 primarily as a boost and not actually for gain purposes. Right now, my clean sound is great! Channel 2 I have a nice british sounding overdrive, but 3 and 4 are where the problems are. My settings are as follows, using 1-10...10 being highest

Chan 3:Recto Tracking, Vintage setting (for lead sound)

Gain-4
Treble-7
Mid-3
Bass-5
Presence-3
Master-4

Chan 4: Silicon Diodes, Vintage setting (for rhythm sound)

Gain-3
Treble-8
Mid-2
Bass-5
Presence-7
Master-4

This is really my first time owning a decent amplifier...maybe I just have things set COMPLETELY wrong? I don't know much more than what the manual says for dialing in my settings. At times, I also play a strat through the amp, but I typically don't use chan 3 or 4 for that, so i'm not concerned about that strat...just the petrucci. I'm sure a Jem is somewhere in my future, I just would rather not get rid of the petrucci for only a jem (buying a jem right now financially is out of the question).

ebmmjp7 said:

right now, I'm using a Music Man 7 string petrucci guitar plugged into a ds-1, which is then ran to the amp. I use the ds-1 primarily as a boost and not actually for gain purposes. Right now, my clean sound is great! Channel 2 I have a nice british sounding overdrive, but 3 and 4 are where the problems are. My settings are as follows, using 1-10...10 being highest

Chan 3:Recto Tracking, Vintage setting (for lead sound)

Gain-4
Treble-7
Mid-3
Bass-5
Presence-3
Master-4

Chan 4: Silicon Diodes, Vintage setting (for rhythm sound)

Gain-3
Treble-8
Mid-2
Bass-5
Presence-7
Master-4

This is really my first time owning a decent amplifier...maybe I just have things set COMPLETELY wrong? I don't know much more than what the manual says for dialing in my settings. At times, I also play a strat through the amp, but I typically don't use chan 3 or 4 for that, so i'm not concerned about that strat...just the petrucci. I'm sure a Jem is somewhere in my future, I just would rather not get rid of the petrucci for only a jem (buying a jem right now financially is out of the question).

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i would bring up the mids closer to 5 or maybe 6. your settings are pretty scooped and may lack the pop of a lead tone like vai's or petrucci's. also i would recommend leaving the presence around 3-4 as too much and things start to get too brittle.

What i would recommend doing is trying the settings in the back of the manual and see if one gets you close to what your after. once you get close make very small tweaks to bring out certain frequencies.... and make sure you dont scoop out your mids too much, especially for a lead tone.