Decided to tube roll the Roadster again. Ever since I got the MWDR I was egging to see if I can par up the Roadster with some preamp tubes.
Though the 212 cabs, both sounded nearly identical but that changed with the 412 cabinets. MW remained tight but the Roadster slumped a bit. Did not sound bad but some characteristics I like when palm muting or playing aggressive was not working out with the stock complement of mesa tubes in the preamp. I did have a Tung Sol in V1, Beijing tube in V3 and Sovtek LPS in V6 but replaced them with the stock Mesa tubes so I could get "as new" with the Roadster to run with the MWDR. Instead of trying to match the two amps together, why not get the Roadster sounding as good as I can get. Have a tone of different tubes to try.
I narrowed it down to using a Mullard CV4004 in V1 and the rest stock. Not bad.... had to find out were I stashed the NOS 12AT7 I got for use with the Mark V.... (reference: the saturation mod, there was discussion on the effect of the 12AT7 used in Mark IV and Mark III phase inverters, figured I would try this with the Roadster). Well now, I had a hard time deciding between the NOS RFT 12AT7 or the JAN/Phillips 12AT7. Both offered similar characteristics in the phase inverter. I decided on the RFT since the JAN/Phillips had best results when used in the Mark V. :shock: The end result was astounding. Palm mutes were not followed by blah or drone, open chords , power chords and single note playing was just as impressive. Amp still sounded great but seemed to tighten up. I doubt the Mesa 12AT7 would have the same effect due to its brighter tone. I was going to try that next if the RFT or JAN was not going to work out. This trick worked out better than I expected. Probably old news....but worth a try if you have not done so.
Though the 212 cabs, both sounded nearly identical but that changed with the 412 cabinets. MW remained tight but the Roadster slumped a bit. Did not sound bad but some characteristics I like when palm muting or playing aggressive was not working out with the stock complement of mesa tubes in the preamp. I did have a Tung Sol in V1, Beijing tube in V3 and Sovtek LPS in V6 but replaced them with the stock Mesa tubes so I could get "as new" with the Roadster to run with the MWDR. Instead of trying to match the two amps together, why not get the Roadster sounding as good as I can get. Have a tone of different tubes to try.
I narrowed it down to using a Mullard CV4004 in V1 and the rest stock. Not bad.... had to find out were I stashed the NOS 12AT7 I got for use with the Mark V.... (reference: the saturation mod, there was discussion on the effect of the 12AT7 used in Mark IV and Mark III phase inverters, figured I would try this with the Roadster). Well now, I had a hard time deciding between the NOS RFT 12AT7 or the JAN/Phillips 12AT7. Both offered similar characteristics in the phase inverter. I decided on the RFT since the JAN/Phillips had best results when used in the Mark V. :shock: The end result was astounding. Palm mutes were not followed by blah or drone, open chords , power chords and single note playing was just as impressive. Amp still sounded great but seemed to tighten up. I doubt the Mesa 12AT7 would have the same effect due to its brighter tone. I was going to try that next if the RFT or JAN was not going to work out. This trick worked out better than I expected. Probably old news....but worth a try if you have not done so.
