Mesa Roadster tubes?

[kannibul]

I'm 99% sure my new Roadster came with JJ's in the preamp. Not sure what the 6L6's are...

I'm thinking I may go with Ruby (Shuguang) 6L6GCMSTR's in the power section (I'll just get them from MF, keep reading) and TungSol 12AX7's, which I really dig in every amp I've tried them in (Marshall-type preamp sections)...

I'm sure it'll liven up the sound in the front - but with Shuguang...how do those sound? I'm going off how I like their EL34BSTR in a JVM 410H, as well as a TSL 100, as well as a DSL 100, as well as a TSL 602...or any other amp I've put them in - lol...

Lastly, has anyone looked at a bias pot mod for the Roadster? - if so, can someone point me in the right direction? I figure I could get it biased to 60% idle on Bold/SS, then I'd have it better off than what it likely is now which is probably under 50%, given what I've read so far...

if not, then I'm stuck paying twice as much for pre-matched tubes (Ruby matches them...not sure why Doug's Tubes bumps the price up 2x as high as MF...same with Lord Valve (who I prefer...he suits me a bit better...I guess))

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I love the Tung Sol 12AX7 in V1...I use the Mesa Russian 12AX7s, which are just relabeled Electro-Harmonix 12AX7s, in the remaining positions.

As for the power amp, I REALLY like the Tung Sol EL-34Bs. I've tried so many times to go back to 6L6s with this amp, but IMO, all the channels sound so much better with these EL-34s. I seriously recommend you try them.

Eric

 

[kannibul]

I love the Tung Sol 12AX7 in V1...I use the Mesa Russian 12AX7s, which are just relabeled Electro-Harmonix 12AX7s, in the remaining positions.

As for the power amp, I REALLY like the Tung Sol EL-34Bs. I've tried so many times to go back to 6L6s with this amp, but IMO, all the channels sound so much better with these EL-34s. I seriously recommend you try them.

Eric

Yeah, I'll probably pull out my SED's that came in my JVM and stick them in there to see how it sounds. I don't want it to go too "marshally" - and I kind of dig the 6L6 sound...makes me wonder if my JVM could handle 6L6's...more like if 6L6's cound handle what the JVM would push into them...bias voltage being the big difference, AFAIK.

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

EL-34s in the Roadster really don't make it Marshall at all. IMO, it keeps the Rectifier sound, and only makes it better. Angrier, punchier, yet still HUGE sounding.

Eric

 

[kannibul]

EL-34s in the Roadster really don't make it Marshall at all. IMO, it keeps the Rectifier sound, and only makes it better. Angrier, punchier, yet still HUGE sounding.

Eric

Thank you, curious, I noticed you have the Stilletto and the Mark V in your sig - which amp is your go-to amp or your favorite, and why?

I went with the roadster because it's a 4-channel amp with 3 modes per channel, much like the JVM410H, except they'd all be "mesa flavored"

The Stilletto is something I tried out when it first came out, and I liked it a lot - if I didn't have a Marshall at the time, it would have been a good medium that would appealled to me a lot. The Mark V has some appeal only because the Mark IV, but has more knobs, and knobs are good - lol

 

[ibanez4life SZ!]

I owned both a Mark IV and a Stiletto Deuce II twice....owned them for a while each time.

I actually sold both...I still have the Roadster though, and it's been my longest run with an amp. It's an AMAZING amp, and really does it all for me.

So I'd say Roadster, without a doubt

 

[Big Rich]

i miss my roadster very much, i always used the mesa branded 6l6 tubes in my roadster just cuz i didnt notice a big diff with alot of other brands of power tubes and honestly

rectos are made to be played with 6l6s....

imo i feel preamp tubes shape the voice of an amp more than power tubes....as long as you use a decent brand of power tube they all sound similar imo

when i had that amp i switched the tubes in v1, v2, and v6 to tung sols. i left the rest of the preamp tubes stock cuz i thought the whole set sounded amazing, the mesa branded tubes really arent too bad honestly when ther paired up with something else to complement them.

honestly i tried a few diff preamp tubes in all the positions and this was the only setup i felt didnt throw the amp out of "phase". it had a nice response and feel and it sounded bigger/thicker overall

this preamp setup really opened up the amp

v1; tung sol
v2; tung sol
v3; mesa chinese
v4; mesa russian
v5; mesa chinese
v6; tung sol