Cyclocross - Cx bike or Mt bike?....

To those that have been fortunate enough to own both...
I have a nice roadbike that I am having difficulty parting with to go with either a Cross or Mountain bike to replace as I still like to ride paved roads.
But for say dirt road riding and perhaps city and bike path riding, which bike makes more sense?...a Cyclocross or Mountain bike? I am not a stump jumping kind of guy so don't need a high BB but if owning a dedicated roadbike for paved road fast group rides, does a mountain bike make more sense as a second bike to ride on dirt roads and trails?
Thanks.

Monstercross.

I sold off everything and got a cyclocross bike. Take the extra dough and buy a wheelset, cassette and tires for the road...any surface in a few minutes of wheel swapping! I even bought a third set for gnarly off-road tires.

I like owning the right tool for the job. That being said, I really don't need all those tools. I don't race anything so a cross bike works for every situation that I would encounter. Not the best tool for anything other than cross racing, but does a good enough job for anything that I would pick to ride on. Like Mike said, extra wheelset and you're golden. Much less space and expense than extra bikes.

Oh this thread has been done a lot. Search this forum, and the mountain biking one.

Monstercross.

I don't know why, but I really like the term. What exactly differentiates a cross bike from a monstercross?

What frames are suitable for a monstercross bike?

>What exactly differentiates a cross bike from a monstercross?

Good question. I'm guessing it means something like "a cyclocross bike built from anything other than a cyclocross frame". Many of the bikes in this thread (http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=355649) look like mountain bikes converted to single speeds with drop bars. Big knobby tyres seem criical too.

if you're only going to be riding dirt roads and paths, a true mountain bike would be overkill.

>What exactly differentiates a cross bike from a monstercross?

Good question. I'm guessing it means something like "a cyclocross bike built from anything other than a cyclocross frame". Many of the bikes in this thread (http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=355649) look like mountain bikes converted to single speeds with drop bars. Big knobby tyres seem criical too.

Afaik a monstercrosser is a 29er (or sometimes 700c bike that can run wide tyres) with some feature that makes it more like a cross bike than an MTB, usually the handlebars - bikes will often have Midge or Moustache bars and therefore use road levers.

I think the real answer is that the OP could buy either sort of bike and be happy, if it is the *right* bike of its kind. I'd test ride a Kona Jake, a Tricross and couple of nice hardtail MTBs.