mesa boogie road king

[charvelguy]

Re: mesa boogie road king

The Road King has had some tech problems from what I've read. I used to plug these as they have alot of little perks for tone shaping and such, but for the money, there are probably better options.

[ August 19, 2003, 08:21 AM: Message edited by: charvelguy ]

[prsk87]

Re: mesa boogie road king

how do diezel and vht compare.which is a better amp in your opinion?where can i find sound samples of both

[slayer]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Yep, my 1993 VHT Pittbull CL-100 has the gain from hell!! I run EH EL-34 Big Bottle tubes thru a Madison 4x12 and it is just a crushing sound and the VHT is built so heavy duty. I reccomend a VHT Classic 100 head and run her thru your favorite cab, you will get blown away I promise you that [img]graemlins/headbang.gif[/img] Make sure you get it with the EQ, and the Reverb is an option also, mine don`t have it thank God, or I wouldn`t have the Depth knob, which is one of the coolest knobs I have ever used. Jack.

[DerekB]

Re: mesa boogie road king

[/QUOTE]Ok for one , untill you own one dont talk about them . 2nd , metallica scoopes the crap out of theyre sound and dials they'res completly different. 3rd the ones they use is a vh4 , not the almighty herbert which i own and i will put my herbert against any amp and will destory it and i even own the new 1.4 verson of it and it is the updated version with better mids and warmth. I have owned many many many amps including a mesa dual , and that thing i didnt like one bit but thats my two cents. Oh and one last thing about distortion . Most of your nu-metal bands play top of the line amps but dont dial them right at all and everyone on this board will always complain about bands tone like korn or slipknot , or even SOAD. ( and please forgive my spelling my keyboard is on its way out and the buttons dont work half the time ) [/QB][/QUOTE]


How about some clips? I use to have one and didnt like it but I hear this new version is totally different.I have been waiting forever for someone to post some clips preferably of the heavy side of the amp. When I had mine it didnt take to recording to well at all and I hope that is one thing that has changed.

Derek

[ColdVayne]

Re: mesa boogie road king

I have been trying to get some clips , i have to buy a mic though ( if you read my previous post for asking the best mic for recording guitar). The new version is way better then the old ones , the old ones lacked alot in some areas but the new final version just kills. My one friend owns a bogner urberchall ( if thats correct ) , and my herbert has way more powerfull mids and has much more punchier gain sound , its hard to explain. I dont know about the recording part but i will soon find out when my mic gets here.

[ColdVayne]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Diezels , have better mids and warmth and sometimes power , while VHT is more sharper around the edges and has a very different tone ( in a great way ) compared to anything on the market.

[eaeolian]

Re: mesa boogie road king

While I wouldn't say the Road King is the "best" - that's so subjective it's a joke - it IS a quality tube amp. Having used one, and hearing one a regular basis (the other guitarist in my band uses one), I'd say it has it's good points and bad points, just like any other amp.

It's a compromise to get great flexibility out of a four-channel tube amp - you can go from Recto grind to a great Fender-y clean very easily. It's very flexible, and my favorite mode is with two EL34s and two 6L6s, and "modern" voicing - sounds like the nastiest Marshall you've ever heard.

As for the "muddy" issue, well, I've never had that problem with any Mesa Recto series amp - my TripleRec is very clean and articulate, despite the insane amount of distortion with my settings.

All of the amps mentioned - including the 5150 - can sound really good, and I've heard all of them (except the Herbert, which I've only heard clips of) sound like ass in the wrong hands. The Road King has specific strengths, and sounds really cool in all of it's modes, IMO, but it takes some "tweak time" to get it right.

Oh, and I can assure Madhuskey that my Mesa doesn't hide my mistakes. They're right out there for everyone to hear. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] I like some of the VHTs, but I personally think the Ultra-Lead I played sounded like crap. Just goes to show...

Mike

[madhuskey]

Re: mesa boogie road king

[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Nice one Mike!

I'm not trying to flame Mesa's i was very fond of mine, i just found that the VHT was had much more definition when soloing. The Mesa seem to lose its ability to hold single notes at really high crunching volumes and started sounding mushy ( maybe it was just the Sovteks )

The thing i like about the VHT UL is how it retains a seriously heavy crunchy sound but sings like an angel at all volumes when soloing.

To my ears this amp is awesome, however, just like a Mesa you've got to play around with it to get the sound you want, but with 3 channels and all the options for Gain-Stacking and EQ i dont see how you can't get a seriously good sound out of this thing ( read the reviews on HC )

Just goes to show, tone is an individual appreciation to each guitarists ears, so always try before u buy folks [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

Steve

[Joe_Steeler]

Re: mesa boogie road king

I owned a D.R. for quite a few years, owned a KH and still own a Rivera KHR-55. Owned a 5150 and currently own a Road King and have to say that it is an evolved and mature D.R.
I would not say or suggest that any of you guys know how to (or not) dial in this amplifier because that would be an unjust and absurd. But I do have to say that IT IS hard to get around.
The selection of rectifiers, tubes and combinations thereof, reverb or not, cabinet selections, voicing and proper loop selection could be and it is daunting.My two cents.

Joe
I would not be surprised to hear such a breadth of opinions about the RK since there are SO MANY possibilities and have to say that it is a great amplifier. Just be patient dialing it in and perhaps take some notes until you get the hang of it. I holeheartedly believe that a shred session at the store will NOT display the full capability of the amp.

[Matt Crooks]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Since I am the other guitarist Mike refered to, I thought I'd add my opinions on the R.K.

There are two aspects to the R.K., the clean and the crunch. The crunch is very reminiscent of the Rectifier series. In fact, with all four 6L6s pumping, I am hard pressed to hear a difference between the R.K. and the Dual Rectifier. However, you also have the ability to switch to the EL34s (which you can do with a recto, but you have to re-tube the amp). With just the EL34s the R.K. sounds like a "throatier" rectifier, like a really nasty Marshall. Using one set of 34s and one set of 6L6s, the distortion really opens up. It has the nastiness of a EL34 amp with the articulation of a 6L6 amp. I personally love this sound, but the settings I use are not very forgiving - I would find it difficult to believe that anyone could accuse me of hiding my mistakes.

The clean sound is where this amp really shines. The distorted sounds are really good, but not so different from a regular recto to justify the cost. The fourth channel added to the R.K. is a second "clean" channel. The first clean channel does an amazing impression of a Fender Twin, nice a sweet with tons of headroom. It also has two other settings, which are variants of the Fender sound, but aren't as useable in my application. The second "clean" channel has a "brit" mode, which sounds very Marshally. With the pair of El34s running this sound it gets a nice brittish sound, it can be very clean, but adding a touch of grit is easy as well.

For flexibility this amp is the best I have ever played. All of the tones are outstanding and are all very useable.

Is the distortion as good as a Bogner 101 for rhythm guitars? For my use, yes. Is it as good as a Uberschall? I don't know, I haven't played one...

Is the lead sound as good as a SLO? No, but close (the SLO is my ideal lead sound...).

Is the clean sound as good as a Twin? Again, no, but prtty damn close, plus it might be just as good if I used an open backed 2x12 instead of a closed back 4x12...

Is the grit sound as good as a Marshall? To my ears, yes, and it won't blow up like a Marshall.

I can't compare the R.K. to a Diezel, since I've not played one. The R.K.'s distortion is different from the VHT - I won't say either is better, just different.

So if you're looking for an incredible flexible, great sounding amp, the R.K. is a perfect match. Would I like to have an SLO, Pitbull, Plexi and Twin? Sure, but it would be a ***** to carry around six amps everywhere I wanted to play.

[travis bickle]

Re: mesa boogie road king

i had the pleasure of trying out the road king two or three weeks ago. i heard and saw god. i kid you not, this amp is the best thing ive ever heard, believe the hype. full bodied gain with crystal clear articulation. i heard every nuance ot each pick stroke with full throtle gain. my concept of what a good amp sounds like has changed completely. nevermind the fact i was using one of those new ibanez ax things with the aluminum pickguard and stock crappy pickups.

i now have a dream. i might have to settle with the triple rectifier for now, how do the high gain channels of each of these amps compare?

another thing, has anyone tried the new marshall mode 4 amps? i would love to try one.

[toddstaples]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Mode 4= Overgrown Valvestate

[travis bickle]

Re: mesa boogie road king

i guess that is not a good thing. thanks.

[prsk87]

Re: mesa boogie road king

dooes the road king sound as muddy as the dual recto.i tried the marshall jcm2000 tsl 100.it sounded the same as the boogie but with less gain.theyre both muddy.can somehow mesa boogie tweak it a little to get rid of the mud

[Matt Crooks]

Re: mesa boogie road king

I've used a dual recto, a triple recto and the road king - none of them are muddy - ifyou know how to set them up. If the bass is much past 9 or 10 o'clock (3-4) there will be too much bass and the amp will get muddy. The tone controls on the mesas don't work like a Marshall, Rivera, Fender, etc. With those amps you can crank the bass and it still sound pretty tight. The mesas have so much bottom end that you need to leave the bass down. Also, you need to put a lot more treble in to the sound than with other amps because of the way the tone controls interact with each ohter.

If you spend some time with the recto you'll be able to get some killer sounds out of it, you just can't approach it the same way as other amps.