Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster 212 Combo

I'm not going to really have anything to add that hasn't already been listed. Everyone else pretty much has it covered, so I'll just briefly list the stuff I really enjoy about it. There really isn't any another 4 channel tube amp out there (besides the road king) that has all the AMAZING features that this baby has.

Independent Effects loop on/off, reverb, 50/100 watt, and "recto-tracking" PER CHANNEL. The standard Slave Out with volume. Effects loop has a great level control (VERY nice touch guys).

Foot switch "midi" style jack that goes with the mile long foot switch, also a 1/4" breakout for each foot switchable setting for custom switching rigs. Very cool!

The SOLO feature is probably worth the price by itself. Being able to have a different volume level set vs the main output volume via a foot switch is by far the best thing I have ever seen.

Also, having a fixed bias is nice for low maintenance as long as you get the Mesa Tubes. There is a nice long explanation in the manual about why their amps are this way.

A couple nit picking complaints on otherwise a perfect amp. The effects loop has to be turned on (not enabled on the channels, but the global switch underneath the volume pot) for the overall output level and solo level to work. Not a biggie, but it would be cool if it was on all the time.

The WEIGHT! This thing is probably one of the heaviest combo amps ever built. I played with a Fender Super Twin for a while (150watt tube amp) and that weighted 95 pounds. This brute is definelty heavier. But you have to kind of expect such weight from an 4 channel, all tube amp. I've had it for about 3 weeks total now and I can already see the leather handle starting to crack along the top seems from lugging it around. If you plan to move it a whole lot get a real road case built for it! You already spent $2K+ on it, might as well get it a proper home. And it will make moving it a whole lot easier with some nice wheels. Trust me, its worth the extra cash.

Finally, the power cord, it is attached via a modular plug like most modern amps, but the jack located on the bottom side of the amp, which makes it a little cumbersome to remove if you wanted to do so. Also, since they ship with the cord itself screwed down into the back area of the cabinet, you pretty much have store the cord in the open space between the amp itself and the speaker cabinet. Since there is also a reverb tank, two big transformers, pre-amp tubes, power section tubes, and a rectifier tube, you have to kind of thread the thing in and out everytime, really could use a little more room. Just a slight annoyance.

Like a said, these points are pretty much nitpicking or things you should expect from the get go, and shouldn't discredit such a greatly engineered amp. Hence the 10!

Not going to read anything new here. Like everyone else has been saying, all the channels sound amazing, and each has its own distinct personality.

I mainly play a frankensteined strat through it that has 3 semour/duncan humbuckers (Bridge to Neck, JB model-Screamin' Demon-Trembucker ) with some switches to change the personality of each of the humbuckers.

Bottom line, you can get just about any tone you would ever need! If your a tone junkie then you will love it!

Its VERY quite considering how brutally loud it can get. I can backup the guy who said there was a low hum when cranked but again, thats something that would be expected. And the hum itself is still VERY quiet. Even on full Satan mode.

Now, If your playing in a quiet setting, you can hear the cooling fan but I don't find it distractingly loud. Might be an issue for recording at quieter volumes but I haven't yet myself.

When you first fire the thing up, switching to channels 3 and 4 will make a slight pop the first time you do it. After that, switching is really quite. Also, turning on the "tuner mute" function on the pedal board makes a pretty loud popping sound, but again, only the first time you do that after you power on.

Only having it for three weeks makes it kind of silly to give an opinion on it. All I can say is that I had a Mesa/Boogie Heartbreaker head for years and never had a problem with it. It's built like a tank so I expect it to last a very long time before any problems creep up.

They get a five only because I sent them an e-mail with a question and never got a reply.

Their phone support is great, just give them a call.

I've been working in Pro-Audio for about 6 years now, and I used to work at a shop whose repair department would always would send amps back to Mesa to get them serviced.

So I have a tip: If you have your amp "repaired locally" they maybe just be sending the amp back to mesa, billing mesa if its a warranty repair, and then taking a cut for going to the trouble of shipping it in. I don't know if the end users could setup a repair directly with the factory, but I would give a shot.

Been playing for 12 years and I have found the perfect amp for what I like to do. If it ever got lost, stolen, caught on fire, or anything like that I would certainly get another.

The price vs performance is great if your looking to drop $2k on an amp. It beat out a Orange AD30 ($1800 for a two channel class A!), Vox AC30, and the Stilleto that I was looking at as other choices. This thing just simply had a huge feature set over all those others.

Only took about 10 minutes of playing a cheap SG through it at the store to know that it was the one.

4 channel, assignable 50/100 watts per channal, 3 modes per channel
Closed back enclosure. independent footswitchable reverb, presence, and tone controls per channel. Also Mesa's Recto Tracking (switch between silicon diode and Rectifier tubes) on ever channal. Built in removable casters (such a nice touch Mesa ! )
Also a nice sturdy footswitch. has Reverb, FX loop on off, Solo Boost and 4 channals.

4 6l6
2 Rectifier
and i forgot how many preamps (just look it up)

I am a relatively young player. (I am 20, and have been playing since I was around 12). I play a Custom shop 60's strat, PRS Custom 22, and Gibson ES 335. I am in to blues and rock with a little jazz influence. First off this amp has amazing ability to really bring out the tone of your instrument. I can tell a world of difference between my 3 guitars. Set the channel on 1, tweed, with a strat and tweak the tone controls and you can dial in a stinging texas blues sound. I love SRV and this amp can deffinatly give me what I want. Also the clean channals have a lot of headroom, but change the modes to either (Fat,Brit,Tweed) and get distincly different sounds and "breakups". The PRS and Gibson sound so huge on the distortion channels. I mean when I play drop D chunky riffs it sounds just like the thick tone ,on say, a nickelback record. (not my favorite band, but they have great tone). Over all this thing rocks and is so versitile it scares me. Also the soloing capability is awesome. I am no pro, but I can pull off some medium difficulty shredding and can also do some heavy blues soloing. This amp is very good at both of those. I can be covering John Mayer Trio on channel 1, and then cover Alterbridge on channel 4, cover zz top on channel 3 and then get that old vintage marshall plexi sound on channel 2 using the brit setting.

In my opinion this amp does not "replace" the old plexi's, fenders, other high gain amps, but it sure does do amazingly close reproductions of these amps. And they are all together in a nice 4 channal format. When im older yeah sure ill probaby buy other high end amps, but I expect this amp to be my workhorse for at least the next 10 years.



I play in a contemporary Christian Rock group , and occastionally go to the blues jam at a local bar (I go just for the music :) ). But our band does a few covers but mostly we do heavy rock all the way to U2-ish soaring. The overall sumation of this amp is that it is bad...... I mean reaaaal baad.

Dont know just got it. I do know this thing is built like a tank. A lot of craftsmanship went into this amp.

Havent used it yet, but i have heard good things.

I give it a 9 cause man it is expensive.If you can shell out 2099 plus tax, then this is for you. I dont think the price difference between the roadster and the road king is worth it for me. With my playing ability and financial situation this amp will suit me for many many years. I will never outgrow this amp.

I have finally achieved the pro tone i have been searching for. I can play any style of music and almost all of the time have better tone than most. I know this review is very "roadster is the perfect amp", but I mean for myself, and most other intermediate growing players, this amp is king. If it were stolen, I would try to save up enough money once again and buy another.

Hope this helps you.

This review is for a brand new 2006 Roadster 2x12 combo. It is the most versatile AND practical amp on the market. Mesa has usually erred on the side of being too versatile and, in the case of the Road King, had too many bells and whistles for my taste. This amp can handle any style of music and is probably the best amp for a guitarist gigging in a cover band. There are four channels with dedicated controls as well as assignable reverb, 50/100 watts, silent tuner out, bold/spongy select, diode or tube rectifier assignable per channel and a solo boost. There are no throw-away features on this amp??? ALL are usable. The foot pedal included with the amp controls everything. It also has extension jacks for each function if you have a rack rig with MIDI functionality. I use this amp for bedroom use as well as gigging and it can do anything. Mesa has taken all of the best features from their amps and built them into the Roadster. It even has a multi-speed cooling fan usually installed on the Mark series amps and not on the Dual Rectos. I really like that and, after being a devout Mark IV user for the last 17 years, thought that was one thing lacking in the Recto series.

The Roadster can put out any type of sound for any style of music. It sounds great with my Nash ???52 Tele. I have honestly never heard single coils sound this fat before. It???s almost worthy of playing Metal with it. The clean sounds shine with this guitar too. The Tweed, Clean and Brit channels sound great with single coils. With humbuckers it???s more of the same. Great tones all around... thick, rich and chocolaty. I play Metal and Classic Rock and it suits all styles excellent. The distortion is very thick in the Modern and Vintage modes and sufficient for Metal set as low as 1 o???clock.

I have played Mesa???s for 25 years now and have always gigged without a backup and have never had a problem. I take pretty good care of my amps and don???t kick them around which helps a bit.

They have always been helpful to me. No complaints, but it's a tough area to excel in.

I have been playing for 25 years and have owned almost every Mesa/Boogie amp made at one point or another starting with the Mark III and going through the rack phase in the late 80???s with the studio and quad preamps finally settling on the Mark IV and dabbling with the Rectos over the years. I currently own two Mark IV???s, a Soldano SLO-100, a Vox Valvetronix head/cab and now the Roadster. My other amps have not gotten a lot of play time since the Roadster was purchased. If I had to pick one amp to use the rest of my life it would be this one. Mesa definitely got it 100% right this time.

This review is for a brand new 2006 Roadster 2x12 combo. It is the most versatile AND practical amp on the market. Mesa has usually erred on the side of being too versatile and, in the case of the Road King, had too many bells and whistles for my taste. This amp can handle any style of music and is probably the best amp for a guitarist gigging in a cover band. There are four channels with dedicated controls as well as assignable reverb, 50/100 watts, silent tuner out, bold/spongy select, diode or tube rectifier assignable per channel and a solo boost. There are no throw-away features on this amp??? ALL are usable. The foot pedal included with the amp controls everything. It also has extension jacks for each function if you have a rack rig with MIDI functionality. I use this amp for bedroom use as well as gigging and it can do anything. Mesa has taken all of the best features from their amps and built them into the Roadster. It even has a multi-speed cooling fan usually installed on the Mark series amps and not on the Dual Rectos. I really like that and, after being a devout Mark IV user for the last 17 years, thought that was one thing lacking in the Recto series.

The Roadster can put out any type of sound for any style of music. It sounds great with my Nash ???52 Tele. I have honestly never heard single coils sound this fat before. It???s almost worthy of playing Metal with it. The clean sounds shine with this guitar too. The Tweed, Clean and Brit channels sound great with single coils. With humbuckers it???s more of the same. Great tones all around... thick, rich and chocolaty. I play Metal and Classic Rock and it suits all styles excellent. The distortion is very thick in the Modern and Vintage modes and sufficient for Metal set as low as 1 o???clock.

I have played Mesa???s for 25 years now and have always gigged without a backup and have never had a problem. I take pretty good care of my amps and don???t kick them around which helps a bit.

They have always been helpful to me. No complaints.

I have been playing for 25 years and have owned almost every Mesa/Boogie amp made at one point or another starting with the Mark III and going through the rack phase in the late 80???s with the studio and quad preamps finally settling on the Mark IV and dabbling with the Rectos over the years. I currently own two Mark IV???s, a Soldano SLO-100, a Vox Valvetronix head/cab and now the Roadster. My other amps have not gotten a lot of play time since the Roadster was purchased. If I had to pick one amp to use the rest of my life it would be this one. Mesa definitely got it 100% right this time.

Mesa Boogie DUal Rectifier Roadster made in 2006. I play everything from Wes Montgomery to Metallica. The amp includes 4 channels, all with independant reverb, gain, volume, bass, mid, and treble controls. As well, each channel has seperate controls for 100/50 watt control as well as two types of rectification (diode and tube tracking). The amp has an effects loop, a mute button for tuning breaks, and a solo boost selection where you can actually set the boost in volume however you please. The amp is seriously loud, compared to a friend's marshall 4x12 stack it could hold it's own quite well (of course the marshall wasn't cranked) and the sound sits very well in the mix. The sound is never lost in the mix, it always cuts through with excellent clarity. Now, to consider the various channels:

1 - 3 modes, clean, fat and tweed. Each mode basically increases the amount of gain in the sound. I personally quite like the clean channel, it is emaculately clean, no break up unless you specifically dial that in. The sound is quite glassy, which I personally like. Very sparkly. Not soft, full bodied wes tone but think nothing else matters by metallica. I would not reccomend it for jazz for playing as it is not "soft" enough, but I quite like it for strumming.

2 - clean, fat and brit. I personally have this channel set for crunch. Using the brit mode, turn the gain up to about 4-5 o clock and you're into AC/DC territory. Again, the sounds cuts through beautifully. The crunch has that somewhat smoothed edge sound to it, as most mesas do, not as edy or growly as a marshall, but I personally like this sound better.

3 - raw, vintage and modern. The warmer of the two high gain channels. They both contain similar amounts of gain, but channel is 3 is more midranged and growly. It sounds somewhat like a heavily overdriven marshall but again slightly smoother. I use this channel for leads as it just screams.

4 - When I really want to kick it. This channel is like 3 but has a more scooped voicing. It is punchier, but more sterile sounding. Perfect for heavy metal riffing. Think early metallica and up to the black album. Very clear sounding, and really cuts through.

I play a brian moore i9. The pickups are an alnico 2 in the neck, then a jb junior (single coil) in the middle and jb in the neck. The guitar is a slim cut and I play 9.5 gauge string set, so needless to say it does not put out massive, thick tone. However, the mesa is a very thick and bass heavy amp so the combination is perfect. Where alot of people find the bass excessive, I find it compensates nicely for my guitar's shortcomings in that area. The amp is unbelievably quiet. THere is the low tube hum of course, but no excessive screeching, only occasional feedback when the srings are left u dampened for a long time. If the strings are dampened not a thing cna be heard. When I jam with my friends we play a large variety of music and all 4 channels take me anywhere I want to go. When the amp is turned right up there is no deterioration in sound quality. It simply sounds fuller and louder, as a tube amp should. It cuts through so well in the mix I cannot beleive it. I can hear every note I play, even when really shredding it up. THe distortion is simply intense. It makes that wonderful deep throated mesa distortion rumble when u nail the deep power chords, mesa owners will know what I mean, and for those who aren't, simply smack a powerchord and feel the sustain and power.

I have not owned it long enough to know for sure, nor do I tour so I cannot say how it will hold up on the road. However, mesa has a great reliability record, and the amp came with a 5 year transferable warranty on parts and labour. This truly shows mesa stands behind their product.

I have been playing for 10 years and have owned alot of gear. As well, my guitar teacher is quite the collector of amps so I always have the chance to play on the finest guitar gear. I would deffinitely buy this amp again. When I play through it, I just get this wonderful feeling, the feeling of achieving the tone you've always wanted. I played a ton of other amps and nothing else is as well rounded as this amp. It covers so many styles and all so well. Not perfectly of course, but excellently. I cannot think of anything else I would wwant on the amp.