Very, very pleased.
I had an unimportant, low-paying gig in a sleazy bar so I figured I'd use it as an opportunity to road test my fairly new Roadster amp.
I was playing with a classic / pop rock cover band and set my channels to (1) Tweed ; (2) Brit @ 50 watts ; (3) Vintage @ 50 watts ; (4) Modern @ 100 watts. I used a Paul Reed Smith SC250 guitar with the stock hot humbucking pickups. The only "effect" I used was an ISP Decimator Noise Reduction pedal. And I didn't even need that as this room didn't suffer from much noise interference and the guitar/amp weren't generating much noise of their own.
Now I expected the high-gain sounds to be excellent. But the real surprise was the gorgeous, twangy clean I got out of my humbuckers from the Tweed mode. I had considered my guitar's clean tone to be merely utilitarian before this amp. But the Tweed mode's bass control is so perfectly voiced that I easily dialed out the woolly humbucker tone and got an inspiring twang. I should note that Paul Reed Smith guitars are typically bright and that most likely contributed to my ease in getting that sound. I don't know how well, say, a Gibson would do the Tom Petty thing.
The Brit mode was the only sound I used that wasn't 100% perfect that night. I know the tone is there but I have to tweak it a little more. Either roll back the Treble or Presence or boost the Bass more. I have to experiment. But I already had a usable sound from it the first time out. And my other guitarist smiled at the authenticity of the "You Shook Me All Night Long" vibe. She never smiles about anything so that was a good sign. :lol:
Channel 3 Vintage is my most used sound and I found it sounds even better at 50 watts. I use it for that bluesy high gain rock sound a la Buck Cherry. I love how it sits in the mix. It effortlessly cut through the 5-piece band at a comfortable decibel level and didn't smother any of the other instruments. It's like a brick that fits perfectly into the wall of sound. Best mix we ever had.
Same goes for Channel 4 Modern.
Cons:
I love the Solo boost switch but wish it could also select the desired lead channel. For example, some songs require me to go from clean to ripping lead solo in an instant. As it is, I have to switch to Channel 3 or 4 and then hit the Solo switch at the far end of the foot controller. Then reverse it to go back to clean. It would be great if the Solo switch could select the lead channel, boost it, and then return to where I was when released. What can I say? I'm still spoiled by the programmable switching of digital amps.
The various modes in each channel are not balanced volume-wise. I chose Tweed from channel one because it suites most of our rock songs. But some songs--like, say, Everlong--may have sounded better with Clean. But if I merely flicked the mode switch to clean for that one song, the volume and tone would be mismatched.
Other than those two minor gripes (for which there are work-arounds), I'm very pleased with the Roadster. I'm especially happy with the way it made the whole band sound better by fitting into the mix so perfectly.
I had an unimportant, low-paying gig in a sleazy bar so I figured I'd use it as an opportunity to road test my fairly new Roadster amp.
I was playing with a classic / pop rock cover band and set my channels to (1) Tweed ; (2) Brit @ 50 watts ; (3) Vintage @ 50 watts ; (4) Modern @ 100 watts. I used a Paul Reed Smith SC250 guitar with the stock hot humbucking pickups. The only "effect" I used was an ISP Decimator Noise Reduction pedal. And I didn't even need that as this room didn't suffer from much noise interference and the guitar/amp weren't generating much noise of their own.
Now I expected the high-gain sounds to be excellent. But the real surprise was the gorgeous, twangy clean I got out of my humbuckers from the Tweed mode. I had considered my guitar's clean tone to be merely utilitarian before this amp. But the Tweed mode's bass control is so perfectly voiced that I easily dialed out the woolly humbucker tone and got an inspiring twang. I should note that Paul Reed Smith guitars are typically bright and that most likely contributed to my ease in getting that sound. I don't know how well, say, a Gibson would do the Tom Petty thing.
The Brit mode was the only sound I used that wasn't 100% perfect that night. I know the tone is there but I have to tweak it a little more. Either roll back the Treble or Presence or boost the Bass more. I have to experiment. But I already had a usable sound from it the first time out. And my other guitarist smiled at the authenticity of the "You Shook Me All Night Long" vibe. She never smiles about anything so that was a good sign. :lol:
Channel 3 Vintage is my most used sound and I found it sounds even better at 50 watts. I use it for that bluesy high gain rock sound a la Buck Cherry. I love how it sits in the mix. It effortlessly cut through the 5-piece band at a comfortable decibel level and didn't smother any of the other instruments. It's like a brick that fits perfectly into the wall of sound. Best mix we ever had.
Same goes for Channel 4 Modern.
Cons:
I love the Solo boost switch but wish it could also select the desired lead channel. For example, some songs require me to go from clean to ripping lead solo in an instant. As it is, I have to switch to Channel 3 or 4 and then hit the Solo switch at the far end of the foot controller. Then reverse it to go back to clean. It would be great if the Solo switch could select the lead channel, boost it, and then return to where I was when released. What can I say? I'm still spoiled by the programmable switching of digital amps.
The various modes in each channel are not balanced volume-wise. I chose Tweed from channel one because it suites most of our rock songs. But some songs--like, say, Everlong--may have sounded better with Clean. But if I merely flicked the mode switch to clean for that one song, the volume and tone would be mismatched.
Other than those two minor gripes (for which there are work-arounds), I'm very pleased with the Roadster. I'm especially happy with the way it made the whole band sound better by fitting into the mix so perfectly.
