Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Roadster 212 Combo

oh, this amp is very versatile. it's got 4 channels with 3 modes each, diode and tube rectifier. etc etc. I'm sure you know all the features already. but you know that saying that if you put lipstick on a pig, it's still a pig? well, this amp is a pig with a lot of lipstick on it. I paid $2200 direct from the factory because I wanted to avoid buying someone else's problem buying off ebay even though I could've saved $700+. ha, what a joke. see below in the "reliability" section. If you want to blow $2000+ on a piece of garbage that has a lot of bells and whistles, this amp is for you. oh yeah, I also had to pay $200 to upgrade the tubes 2 months after I bought the thing because the stock tubes are crap.

This amp will get you "close" to any sound you're looking for, but will never get any of them "perfect". for thing, I wish someone would figure out that if you're going to have only 2 speakers, then 2 Vintage 30s is NOT THE ANSWER. Vintage 30s are too shrill in the high end. They are great if you combine them with another speaker. but alone, they are not good. The clean is good. as good as Fender clean? maybe. but just like Fender, the clean is weak with no fullness unless you put it on "fat" and add a lot of gain. and if you do that, then it breaks up too easily and it's not clean anymore. on the heaviest channels in "modern" mode, the gain is either too much or not enough, there is no "just right". I don't play death metal or anything like that, so maybe it would be good for that. but it does not get a good Alice In Chains/Pearl Jam sound. and it can get close to Metallica, but again, not perfect. the one place I will really compliment them on is the Channel 2 "Brit" mode. this one is really good for classic rock type stuff.

This is a joke. no wonder people no longer want to "buy American". The time I got this amp, I would play for awhile and it would shut off. the power light would still be on, but the other lights would go off. after a few moments, it would come on again, play it for a few more minutes and then power off again. I called Mesa. They sent me a new set of Rectifier Tubes that didn't even work. so then, I called them again and they told me to take it to the local Mesa repair man. now, this is a guy with a repair shop, not a music store. I took it to him and he kept it for a week. then, after a week, he said he couldn't find anything wrong with it. he said the first time he turned it on, it powered off like I said, but that it only did it that once. he said he took the circuit board out and couldn't find anything wrong with it. so I brought it back home and amazingly, it hasn't powered off since (knock on wood). now, it just crackles and pops like a freaking bowl of rice crispies. now, everytime I play it, it's in the back of my mind that it's probably going to knock off at some point and there's no one that really seems to care.

as I stated above, they sent me a new set of rectifier tubes that didn't work and then sent me to a repair guy that couldn't find anything wrong with the amp. do you think Mesa ever bothered to call or email to find out if the problem was fixed? take a wild guess.

boy, I do regret buying this amp. I did so much research beforehand and this is the only time I've ever been burned by something that couldn't be returned. $2200 for a freaking lemon. I mean, unless you're a working musician (which I'm not), a $2200 amp is probably going to be a once in a lifetime thing. well, I got burned. I will NEVER buy anything related to Mesa again. when I bought this, it was between this, a Marshall and a Bogner Shiva. the only reason I didn't get the Shiva was because I read over and over that the gain is not that great without pedals in front, which was what I wanted to get away from. boy, I sure wish I'd got the Bogner.

Purchased new in April 2009. This is a Four Channel Amp that has a massive number of tools for adjusting tone. My combo is sitting on top of and is also driving a Mesa Dual Rectifier 4x12 cabinet. My favorite feature is the solo function to boost volume during solos. My main amp for 15 years has been a 100 watt Marshall JCM 900 half stack. After many years of testing tubes and tweaking this Marshall has incredible lead tone but the cleans are still not so good. I also have a Fender '65 Twin Reverb Custom 15 and that has pretty good cleans but I havn't found a distortion pedal yet that can make it purr. I purchased the Roadster 2x12 combo to see if I could have fantastic cleans, warm rich distortion and raging Dual Rectifier aggression in one amp.

My main guitar is a Gibson 1960 Les Paul Standard VOS but I sometimes switch to a Gibson SG Custom VOS with Maestro, PRS Santana III or various Stratocasters. I prefer lower output humbuckers for their tone and natural sustain. I usually don't use effect pedals except for a touch of chorus. My musical style goes from Peter Green and Gary Moore through Kim Thayil and John Petrucci.
My first impression of this amp was that I had made a big mistake. The clean and semi clean tones were the best that I had ever experienced but the distortion channels were terrible. Everything that I tried seemed to result in Dry, Brittle, Boomy, Fizzy squeeling noise. I knew that this had to be operator error on my part but I was very frustrated. So I selected one test guitar, backed the Amp controls way down and very slowly dialed it back in. In Channel 3 & 4 the presence adjustment, Gain, Master and Output controls seem to be interactive. A little too much of any one of them and the whole tone pallet gets twisted. Once I got the perfect Les Paul tones then I switched to a Stratocaster (which sounded dark at first) further refined the adjustments to get the maximum tone from those single coils. Then back to the Paul to make sure that the tone was still solid. This took me three weeks!!! With my hard fought settings it now sounds fantastic no mater what guitar I use. Note: I pulled out an old Boss Metal Zone distortion pedal, dailed the distorlion level almost off and use it to push the rig to Carlos Santana and the land of infinate sustain.

I picked it up from the local factory authorized retail store (1 hour from my home). It was new and sealed in its Mesa Boogie box. When I got it home, down a flight of stairs, into my music room and set up...there was no sound at all! So the next day I packed it up and hauled it back to the store where they replaced a faulty tube. Back home again only to discover that the Reverb was not working on any channel...Damn! Back up the stairs, into the car and across town to the store (this thing is way heavy). This time I left it with them to go over it completely and get it right. I picked it up a week later and they told me that a wire had come off in the reverb area. It's back now and I am pretty sure that there will be no more issues.

I had my communications with the retail store and their staff. All businesses are good when everything goes well but you can really tell who the great ones are when something goes wrong. The staff at my Mesa store were respectful, concerned and professional. I am satisfied that I was treated fairly and all issues were resolved to my satisfaction.

I bought this because I wanted an amp that could do georgous cleans, great medium gain rhythm and fluid high gain solos. This combo gives me everything that I was hoping for. Just be aware that with this level of adjustment complexity you will need to spend a long time unlocking your perfect tone. There may be a Marshall "like" setting in there somewhere but I have not yet found it. That's OK with me because I still have my Marshall half stack for those tones. This amp provides a whole new sonic pallet to play with.

2009 Model. 4-channels that do every sound except a Marshall. Which isn't a bad thing. This amp does it all. Any sound, any venue, any guitar. It has every feature someone could want in an amp. Probably more than some people desire. I counted somewhere around 50 tone/sound shaping switches and knobs. And that's just on the FRONT of the amp. It is very hard to get a bad sound out of this amp. The effects loop is clean. The reverb is quality (even though I don't really use it). I like having 2 clean channels and 2 gain channels. It allows lots of exploration for lack of a better term. The very slight delay in channel switching is the ONLY downfall.

This amp is not noisy. At really high volumes the only sound you hear is your fingers holding the strings. Especially with quality pickups. The clean channels break up real easy at high volume. With the tweed mode on channel 1 you have what is essentially a vintage Fender amp with a tad more gain. This is probably my favorite sound on the amp and this is a HI-GAIN amp. Channel 2 is my sparkly clean. It has lots of mid-range in fat mode. Lets the guitar shine through. Channel 3 and 4 are almost identical with channel 4 having more treble frequencies. The distortion this amp produces is very nice and very controllable. I usually hate guitar tone words like 'creamy' and 'organic', that one really erks me. So the best words I'll give you about the distortion is:
Beautifully overdriven signal.

I've never heard of a well-taken care of Mesa having problems.

Never dealt with them

I've played for 13 years. If later down the road I decide I want something different then I'll get something different. But I'll never get rid of the Roadster. There are other amps out there. NOT better amps, just other ones. It gets a 10.

been listed before, but 4 channels, 3 modes per channel, bias selecter, 50/100 switchable, v30s, independent reverb on all 4 channels, can assign fx loop on/off for each channel, fan-cooled... etc

the second most versatile amp out there, the first being the road king series II. this is a mini roadking.

i'm using an old school Fender Jag-Stang, nothing special by far,normally a very thin sounding guitar, but who has money left over after buying these amps?

i do not find this amp noisy AT ALL, i had all the volume knobs maxed (has to be done at least once!) and had very little feedback, which surprised me.

this amp is versatile! channel 1 has the cleanest cleans out of all the rectifiers. they are Lonestar cleans, and can get anywhere from a fender twin reverb to a bluesy clean. channel 2 mimics Marshall's british tone. channel 3 and 4 are your high gain monsters (very ballsy, doesn't sound tinny or like a can of bees)! each channel has an individual eq which is great. the reverb on this amp is fantastic too!

my only issue with this amp is that i find it to be a tad boomy, which is only an issue when playing clean-light gain/bluesy stuff. but the presence knob can help bite some of the boom, as will a 10 band eq i assume.

it's about 8 months old, and i bought it used off the original owner. it is built like a tank, and looks to be in great condition. hopefully all goes well. but it is safe to assume that this can be gigged without needing a backup.

5 year transferable warranty. with my luck something will happen 2 days after my 5 years are up haha.

i guess i'll deal with customer support when the time comes, but i've heard they're decent.

i have a 1974 fender twin reverb 210, a fender jag-stang and an epiphone acoustic electric. i also have various effects, like a multi-effect pedal, and a dunlop 535Q wah.

this is my dream amp! i had originally wanted a Marshall JVM410 head but when the sales guy told me to try this i was blown away immediately. it is MUCH more versatile than the marshall, is entirely american made, and has MANY more features. my main stipulation for buying an amp was that it HAD TO HAVE AMAZING CLEANS. if i was going to to shell out huge ammounts of money it must be as versatile as humanly possible, as i play anything from metal to pop rock covers. this amp does it all!

i had been wanting this amp for a year, until i bought it used (8 months old and in MINT condition) for $1500 CDN. it goes for $2800 new.

if it was stolen i'd get the head and a 4x12, just because insurance would cover it.

I am an idiot. Ignore the previous post.
After all that bull****, we finally tracked it back to a bad Carl Martin Delay in my effects loop. As soon as I took the delay out and added another one the pop and volume issues disappeared!

I recently retubed with Eurotube Goldpins in V1-3, and V6 and a matched set of powertubes and new rectifier tubes. The mesa tubes weren't bad, but these really smoothed it out!

Carl Martin Delay...bad...Mesa Roadster...good.

nothing is perfect

after figuring out you are the idiot not the amp, I'd say a 8. There is still a pretty noticable pop when engaging Channel 3 the first time (a common problem with the roadster) and the tuner mute pops load when you engage it.

If you are reading this you probably know the features. I really love it thats why I bought it.

Again, outstanding. I really loved the 4 separate channels and multiple voicings on each. Clean to high gain and everything in between. Awesome flexibility but complexity comes with a price (reliability)

This is where it goes SOUTH! I owned it for about a week and had it dialed in to exactly where I wanted it. Then it started having an issue with the FX Loop. Everytime you engage or disengage the FX loop there was a load "pop". Second, if you engaged the FX loop it sounded nice, but as soon as you switched channels you would lose volume on the assigned channel until you disengaged the FX loop. Then the selected channel would return to the assigned volume. I tried a new cable, new footswitch, and hard assigning the FX to each channel. This caused decreases in volume with every channel switch. The only thing that worked was placing all effects in the chain before the guitar input. But this defeats the purpose of having an effects loop and assignable FX.
I took the amp back to a different Guitar Center and we found the same exact issue on the Roadster they had in stock. I couldn't figure it out! So it went back. I decided to go with a Lonestar while I work with Mesa to figure this mystery out. If we do then i would trade the lonestar back in for the roadster. i liked the sounds that much.

5 year warranty and a 30 day no questions asked money back guarantee from GC.
Guys at Mesa were friendly and called me back, but they couldn't pinpoint the issue.

Check out the "boogie board" online forum. There are several documented problems with "pops" and volume issues listed for the roadster. Mesa needs to figure this out. No reason a $2200 amp should have issues!!

Great features and sound, but who cares if it isn't reliable in a live setting?

great features, assignalbe effects loop to be on or of for which ever channel. assignable reverb and assignable 50/100 watts output per channel.4 channels. would be nice if the modes were footswitchable as well.

awesome. beautiful mesa boogie tone. great cleans, and goregeous distortions.

You can read other reviews for the features. I give a 9 because I would like to have 2 effects loops. But I guess I should have bought a road king to get that.

I think the sound quality is outstanding. I have not met an amp that you can do so much with and it does it all so good. Channel 1 is perfect, Channel 2 can use some more gain. Channel 3 and 4 are REALLY REALLY good. For my taste I would prefer to have a more tight bottom, it breaks up too much when you crank it. I just put a compressor between the guitar and amp to get that sweet tightness out of it. With the compressor I have met my holy grail tone.

Can't say yet, Owned for 4 months.

Don't know, never called

Been playing for 23 years, I have only owned a few amps. My main guitar is a music man axis. My workflow consists of MM axis, Dime bag Darrell wah, boss noise suppressor, BBE orange squash compressor, amp with Boss digital delay in fx loop. I compared this amp to a boogie road king (too expensive), EVH 5150 III, peavey 5150 (original) and a Marshall all tube halfstack (Don't remember which one). The only combo was the roadster. It does everything I want and lots of room for playing for playing around with my tone. I would without a doubt buy again, unless I find something I like better :)

Amp is loaded with features. 4 channels, solo function(to boost leads during solos, every amp should have this)reverb, effects loop(a problem area discussed later),footswitch to change channels(another problem discussed later),bias switching made easy, power switching from 100 watts to 50 watts,rectifier choices, slave out which is very effective.

Really have to explain this rating.Bought this Combo brand new from GC because of their 30 day satisfaction guarantee. When I tested at the store I fell in love with it's versatility and sound. But NOTHING sounds the same in the store as it does on stage!! Bottom line, this would be a great recording amp where you can add effects after you record! But for $2300 I wanted an amp that can pull off great live sounds as well as record, so I took it back. After a month of really testing this amp out at STAGE volume( something that's hard to do at a store, after all who wants customers playing at stage volume all day long)I found flaws in the sound. First of all, VERY boomy. I had to take the back off to reduce the Boominess(which helped). Running this amp dry, it sounds beautiful. But it does not take to pedals well. So you need to run them thru the effects loop which produces headaches. Now you can turn the effects loop off, which oddly enough makes the amp sound it's best, but you can no longer use the solo button feature(?)when doing this and you then have to run your pedals in front which we've already talked about. The other annoying part of this amp is the footswitch. There is a delay when switching channels which for a live application would be very distracting. It's only about a half-second delay(trust me, it's enough to make it annoying), but again for this kind of money it should be instant. But the basic sounds that this amp produces are killer. You can dial in any sound you want and they sound great when you use no effects and have time to sit there and fool with the knobs a while. Hence , the great recording amp.

I've seen some issues pop-up with the Roadster, but only testing for 30 days ,can't really rate.

Good reputation, but no personal experience.

After reading all the spectacular reviews here on HC, I decided to give the Roadster a try. After fully testing, I thought others out there should here some of the negatives about the amp. Again as a recording amp, I rate a 10. As a live Amp, I rate a 6 or 7. Just too picky in this area to be a great live amp. Plus it weighs a TON! So if you've got the money and time to fool with the knobs, you've found the ultimate recording Amp. But for this dough, I want an amp that does it all. Guess I'll keep looking.

Mesa Boogie roadster 2x12 combo, made in 2007, has 4 channels each of them with 3 different modes, this amp certainty has enough power to play almost anywhere. Talking about versatility, this amp has almost it all, it has a really nice clean sound kind of lone star tone and can reach to a true crunchy and punchy dual recto, except that the roadster distortion is less frizzy and a little bit cleaner than the recto giving it more clarity and definition both in harmonics and regular notes.

as sound quality you guys know that if you are looking for a mesa boogie kind of sound, you will most likely find it in the roadster.

* Channel 1: Pure cleanness, incredible bright tones, but if you push the gain a bit it also can be nice for low saturated blues.

* Channel 2: Nice cleans a little bit more aggressive, I almost never use the fat mode, but the brit mode is kinda nice, you can play some cool ACDC riffs there, and reach a nice organic Marshall voicing, I wish it had a little bit more gain though!!

* Channel 3 and 4:There you find the recto voicing, but you also can find a little bit of the nomad dirty sound if you keep your gain around 12 and 1 o"clock and use the vintage mode with your presence at 2 o clock and use the recto tracking at 50 watts.B ut going back to the recto sound, use channel 3 with your presence kicked in, (best performance for the presence knob) and put the channel 4 with diodes at 100 watts keep your gain between 6 and 8.5 and you will find John Petrucci kind of sounds as well Lamb of God and between the buried and me among a lot others!!

I dont gig that much but this amp was made to last for a long long time,
just take care of it, dont crank the gain all the way up, be careful with dust it is not good for your speakers or tubes!! dont hit it to much!! keep it clean, let it warm up for a minute before playing, dont keep it in hot humid places!!

I didnt deal with mesa boogie directly, but one of their dealers ( guitar center). Actually the first roadster that arrived had the whole left side torn open, you could even see the wood,it had a bunch of scratches on the sides and on top, came with a busted power cord and no manual or certificate whatsoever, but than the second came new in a box with everything ok, so my problem was not with mesa boogie but yes with guitar center!!

I have been playing for 8 years, I came from Brazil, so this is my first mesa, but I tested almost every mesa boogie such as ( triaxis, dual rectos, road king, DC, F,NOMAD, MARK( EXCEPT FOR THE IIC+) EXPRESS, LONE STRAR, STILETTO >>) I had a peavey bandit 1x12 with a boss gt 8 back in Brazil and I still have a Fender frontman 15 watt. Now i play with a Ibanez rgt 220 the roadster, a dd6 with a 535 cry baby and a earnie ball volume pedal.
I like the punchy and crunchy mesa sound, so this is one of the top amps for this kind of sound, of course you have Diezel, Heghes, Bad Cat, Engl and a lot others but for Dream Theater sounds which is 80 per cent of what I play boogies are the best!!

You know the features. That is why your here. You want to know what people are saying that own the amp.

I have tried everything to reach tone nirvana. Thought I was nearly there with my Marshall + Semour Duncan Mid boost + Voodoo labs Sparkle drive, etc etc. This amp is everything people say and more. I have a $1400 Fender and a $1,400 Gibson. Not to expensive but not real cheap either. I was completely shocked. I heard tones and harmonics that I did not even know were there. The tuner in feature is very very usefull. This amp actually has features that you will use. I have dialed in 4 great tones as I play in a bar band doing classic rock from 60's to today. This amp is worth every cent. Buy it if you can. I no longer use my pedals other than my waa and delay.

built like a tank

N/A

2007 Dual Rectifier Roadster 212.
Usable versatility is key with this amp. All the features were listed on the previous posts... I would just be redundant at this point. Having full access to each channel, boost, fx loop, and tuner mute function through the footswitch leaves me nothing else to desire in a live situation.

Aside from a plethora of sparkling clean sounds as mentioned effectively in other reviews, let me emphasize the excellent amount of articulation you get when playing with saturated gain!
I've been an avid Mesa/Boogie player for over 12 years, and for the first time I find myself able to get a TIGHT and WELL SUSTAINED sound out of a rectifier. Mesa owners might agree that with a dual or triple rec, sometimes we may have sacrificed tightness and focus for sustain, and vice-versa... well this amp means no more sacrifices. I play both rhythm and lead, use PRS Custom 24, Gibson LP Studios, Ibanez Prestige, and Ibanez Jems, and this amp can actually enhance the individual characteristics of each guitar!! Try that with a digital gadget!! My favorite characteristics of the tonal quality of the Roadster are the ability to hear each note when playing a heavily saturated chord, and the liquid feel you can achieve when soloing. My styles of playing range from ultra clean to absolute mayhem... imagine Pink floyd, Dream Theater and Lamb-of-God over at Fear factory for a barbecue! Although I don't play covers, this amp has become an inspiring arsenal of ultra responsive sounds. I own other Mesa amps, but this has become my recording AND live performing amp - at least until I get the Roadster Head for live...

Experience and luck have though me when you own a Mesa, as long as you have spare tubes and fuses (as you should with any tube amp), you can trust it without a backup. Reliability was never an issue with ANY of my Mesa amps.
This Roadster has been in my possession for 5 months, and so far, no problems whatsoever.

Aside from the sound and reliability, this has been a deciding factor in my long history with Mesa/Boogie. Those guys and gals out in Cali have always treated me with all due respect, diligence, and prompt attention. If an E-Mail may slip through the cracks, I just may write another... I am aware that I am not their only customer, ya know?
Where I am in NJ, I can find plenty of authorized service centers, although I have NEVER had the need for one.

I've been playing for 25 years, semi-professionally for 15. Have worked at a musical retail corporation from 1998 to 2004 where I had access to try, research, be trained on and own amplifier brands such as Marshall, Mesa Boogie, Fender, Vox, Crate, Randall, Matchless, Rivera, Buddha, Ampeg, Line 6, etc... Although each brand has its strong points whether being price, versatility, sound and so on, as a serious musician, my choice was always Mesa.
From Mesa I've owned a V-Twin, Mark II, Rectifier Recording Preamp, Rectifier Solo 50, Triaxis, 50/50 Power Amp and a DC-3. Have sold them all through the years. I currently own a Dual Rectifier Solo Head, Oversize Rectifier Cabinet, and now the Roadster. For recording, nothing has sounded as natural and close to my live sound as the Roadster through an AxeTrak (look it up!!!), hence I sold my preamps.
The weight of this amp can and will become a hassle if you're a busy musician, but it is nothing but a small price to play for total satisfaction!!! I cannot wish anything from an amp that the Roadster does not already feature. Mesa has finally put my dream amplifier into production. The grueling quest for my sound has arrived to an epic triumph.

This is a brand new mesa roadster 2x12 combo! Year: 2006. The amp is more than versatile... it is as flexible as a rubber trumpet! 4 channels including switching, one FX loop, built in spring reverb (fantastic). Use it for gigs and general playing, more than enough power for all situations. I have tried other mesa products (dual rec, triaxis, quad) , marshall, carvin, peavey, fender and many more... this is as good as it gets!

4 channels each with 3 different modes. Basically Clean (nice clean) fat clean (good with od pedals), tweed (fender), brit (a bit too coarse), vintage (SOLO heaven), modern (heavey heaven). I have a RG550 and Gibson LP both stock with no mods. I believe if you buy a Mesa then you know that your playing sty??le (specifically picking style) can have more of an influence on your sound that which pick-ups, what cables etc blah blah. If you buy this amp and your still not satisfied then you need to practice more or you like jazz.

Built like a tank (weight is not considered in construction!)

Don't need them

Playing over 23 years... lost myself 2 years ago in the search for "the tone". Spent lots of time and money trying everything available and I can certainly say I have found it. The only things that sometimes bother me are that it is heavy! and the Brit sound is a little too coarse. I wish it came with a roady to carry it!

This is a 2006 Roadster 1x12(vintage 30). The features on this amp are just amazing. 4 channels with each having a 3 way toggle switch for more tone. Each channel has its own reverb, own effects loop, own 50 or 100 watt switch. Master for each channel and a global volume level. Also, a solo boost. The foot switch is amazing also, switching between the 4 channels. turn the reverb on or off, turn the global effects loop off or on, turn on the solo boost. AMAZING

Oh my, how I love this amp. Its the first amp out of a total of 50 tube amps where I can get a great clean and great overdrive. I don't use OD pedals with this amp, not necessary. The OD channels are MIND BLOWING. I can't believe how BEEFY. Another big suprise with this amp is the Reverb. The reverb to me is PERFECT. I don't like reverb with a long tail. Mesa has really improved their reverb. the lone stars I believe were the first to have great reverb. Before that, i thought the older mesa's had crappy REVERB. Channel 1 is a beautiful warm clean. I use the toggle in the most up position. Channel 2 I use the toggle in the mid position. Its a little more driven. Channel 3 is a very SMOOTH OD. I really love this channel for ROCK BLUES. Channel 4 is BAD ASS, heavy OD. This is a very fun channel. Very Very thick Very CLASSIC DUAL RECTIFIER. Another thing I've noticed is this amp sounds great at low volume. When I play at home, I turn it down and it still sounds warm and thick.

I've had this amp a year and I play it quite a bit. No problems with the amp.

MESA has the best customer support. I've had at least 5 Mesa amps and every time I call they're very helpful. They are the BEST.

I can't express enough how much I love this amp. This amp will be a keeper. Honestly, I have had about 50 tube amps and about 5 were mesa. I really didn't care for the DC-3 and the Stiletto Ace. I did like the lone star. I was always looking for the perfect amp, which consisted of a great clean and great OD amps and great Reverb and great options. This amp is all of that.... For the first time I have lost the desire to hunt for the next amp. I do have two complaints about this amp. I don't like a fan on an amp. Another, the amp is HEAVY. LOVE the amp MESA, thanks.................

I'm not going to mention all the features that everyone else has mentioned over and over. If you like Mesa Rectifiers, it does all that -AND anything else you would probably like. All the features are useable. Everything works. The Roadster is NOT a Road King, but if you read what I posted in the "Overall" section of this review, you'll maybe agree that this is a good thing! For someone who loves the sound of a Rectifier, The Roadster has all the best features of the Road King -and none of its drawbacks.

This amp sounds incredible! Over the years, I???ve gone thru a lot of equipment??? I guess, in some ways doing what everyone else is doing ???searching for the ???holy grail??? of guitar sound. There has always been some kind of drawback with whatever I currently owned at the time??? including the TripleRec Half Stack I most recently owned ???which I loved ???size and weight.

I had to start traveling around the US for my work, and found that it was a lot harder to move my rig in a Dodge Stratus vs the band truck I used before!

I tried to find a way to get the sound of my TripleRec without the size, and it seemed no matter what I tried, nothing sounded close. I tried to keep an open mind, hoping that newer technology would come thru??? I tried the Mesa Rectifier Pre-Amp, thinking I could do everything from a rack ???and play thru a PA system, but it just didn???t get it. I tried modeling amps??? Vox and Line6 amps??? the POD XT, Mesa Rectoverb, Mesa Lonestar, several Peavey 2x12 combos, Fender, Marshall, Marshall, Marshall, Crate??? even an old Tom Schulz Rockman! I felt doomed. If I wanted it to sound like the real thing, I probably needed to get the real thing??? which was impossible to use, in my current situation

About that time I heard about the Mesa Road King -2x12 combo version??? It sounded PERFECT for me! Playing for maybe 5 minutes, the bottom dropped from my heart. It sound nothing like my half stack ???not even close??? cranked or quiet??? just a completely different animal.

I thought maybe it was dialed up wrong, and worked with it for awhile ???keep in mind that I???m comfortable working with Mesas Rectifier EQ. While talking with a salesrep, the problem hit me in the face! All the gear I tried ???INCLUDING the Mesa Rectifier Pre-Amp AND Road King 2x12 combo, had the exact same problem???

Other than the guitar, effects and etc., the sound of an amp comes mainly from mainly from four different things.
1. Pre-Amp (Mesa Rectifier Pre-Amp)
2. Power-Amp (Mesa Rectifier Power-Amp)
3. Speakers (Celestion V30 Speakers)
4. Speaker Cabinet (Mesa 4x12 Closed Back Cabinet)

If you replace any of the four with something else, the sound will change. It just will.

The TripleRec Half Stack had all four, while none of the others had more than one or two. The Mesa combo amps did not have the same speakers or cabinet. The Pre-Amp didn't have the Power-Amp, Speakers OR cabinet. I was NOT going to buy another 4x12, because I could not move it around the country with me -I felt completely screwed.

Sitting there with the Road King was a very demoralizing moment??? and I began to feel I???d have to just settle for something different ???which sucked!

I read about a new amp ???the Mesa Roadster, maybe a year later??? and when the ad mentioned that it was a ???scaled down??? Road King, I more or less blew it off ???I didn???t like the combo version of the REAL Road King??? so why would I like a scaled down version of it?!

Talking with a friend, it hit me??? and I read about the Roadster again, in more detail. Hope came back ???the Roadster had the same V30 speakers as the Mesa 4x12 that I loved so much ???The Road King used C90 speakers. The Roadster also had a full, closed back cabinet vs an open back for all the other combos. I felt a new excitement coming??? wondering if the speakers and cabinet would make that much of a difference in the sound.

HOLY GRAIL!!!

In less than 2 minutes??? the Roadster did its thing??? The demonic, full throaty roar of channel 4???s modern mode ???that no other amp had ever matched, was screaming in my face! ???and the amp was not cranked! Driving it a little more it slapped me upside the head and hit me in the chest!

I sat down to play it more and found the best clean (Tweed) I've heard from any Mesa short of the Lone Star! Great crunch from channel 2 -FAT mode. Velvety smooth leads on Channel 3 -Vintage... Meltdown on Channel 4 -Modern... with all the bottom end

Mesa builds GREAT amps. I've never seen one I wouldn't count on. On the other hand, tubes go bad... having a few extras is a good thing. Maybe taking care of the amp would be a good thing too?

I've never had any problems with a Mesa product that required customer support. The times I've called with questions, they've been very helpful... nice... actually very cool with me.

None of this computerized voice mail... They have PEOPLE who actually answer the phone and talk in english! AMAZING!

The Road King combo seems to be more of a ???Lonestar??? that has a ???Rectifier??? lurking inside. Its open back, C90 speakers, and various tube and power options lend itself to many things ???anti??? Rectifier ???which I guess can be a good thing, depending on what you want???. I???m guessing that Mesa might see it the same way ???the Metal Diamond Plate that screams ???RECTIFIER???, is replaced by cloth on the Road King.

The Roadster combo seems to be more of a ???Rectifier??? that has a ???Lonestar??? lurking inside???. Pretty much the opposite of the Road King. The V30 speakers and closed back give the Roadster a completely different voice ???MUCH more body and bottom end... The "Lonestar" sound probably isn't as clean as the Road Kings version -an open back 2x12 with C90's would fix that (actually, that would be roughly the same as a Roadster Head with a Road King 4x12 cab)

The Roadster is built like a tank -with obvious quality. It's not a Road King, but for someone who loves the sound of a Rectifier, this is a good thing! It DOES have some great features BEYOND the other Rectifiers -a VERY GOOD clean sound, additional USEABLE modes, a fourth channel, tuner out mute, reverb-per-channel, switchable power for each channel, a Series effects loop, selectable tube or diode rectifier -per channel, and more...

It's portable, sounds great, looks great... with a transferable 5 year warranty, how can you go wrong? Add a 2x12 and it's a half stack... 4x12 and it's more.

What more could anyone want?!

It's not cheap, but you get what you pay for.

It's not expensive either, considering it's a handbuilt -in the United States, kick-ass set of multiple & versatile amps... backed up with a 5 year transferable warranty.

I've owned and played many other Mesa, Marshall, Peavey, Vox, Randall, Line6, and more amps... I've never played another amp that could hold a candle to a Mesa Roadster. If anything happened to it, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

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.