mesa boogie road king

[Venomboy]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Matt is correct. The treble on a Mesa starts to act like a gain control at a certain point and all the controls interact with each other and sometimes limit the effects of each other. It's all spelled out in the manual and takes time to get used to.

[tonemonster]

Re: mesa boogie road king

OK, I just wanted to post my 2 cents on the Roadking. I am not trying to push it or rave about it. I just want to express my opinion so it may help others who are interested in the amp. Alrighty then, that being said lets talk tone. I have owned a Roadking Combo 2x12 for a little over a year now. I will split this up into two sections PROS and CONS. First the bad stuff

CONS: The amp is big and heavy. the biggest negative is mine failed the first time on stage. Long story short, it had a heat buildup problem that Mesa fixed with a heavier duty electrical component and they installed a cooling fan. When the amp was titled on a stand the cabinet built up heat. Its all fixed now though.

PROS: Extremly versatile. 4 channels. lots of options. tube switching. see the mesa website for all the tech specs. The best part about the RK is the tone. Please hear me out on this, you have to tweak these amps!!! Your not gonna find "tone heaven" in 2 minutes of turning knobs. You have to spend some time with this amp. the controls are very touchy, just a nudge on any given control will change the sound considerably, be conservative with the settings. Stay from 10:00 to 2:00 on the controls and tweak away, your sound is in there, you just gotta be patient and find it. A real big positive is Mesa is awesome to deal with. When I had my problem they were very courteous, professional and timely. They really worked with me and I am just a "John Q Customer". I have to give them big Kudos on customer service.

I hope this helps anybody out thats considering a RK. They are great amps with some awesome tone.

[Joe_Steeler]

Re: mesa boogie road king

Matt, Travis and Tonemaster are right on with their comments.
Some people are not as patient as others with stuff presented to them. Matt is absolutely RIGHT, just read the MESA booklet that comes with the amp!! Tone controls on the Rectifier series interact with each other. You can't expect to lower or raise the treble and expect the remaining to be the same. It takes time, patience and understanding.
Is the RK a great amp? yes it is
Is the RK The best amp out there? no it isn't, highly subjective area.
Is the RK muddy? no it isn't
Is it overpriced? a matter of opinion, can't believe that it is much offline as a Bogner or Diezel

Since my last post I have acquired an Engl Powerball. This animal sets a new bar for thick, ballsy, defined, kick you in the sack distortion tones with very usable clean tones. Very cool modern construction with illuminated guts to boot.

Is it better than the RK? I don't believe it is.
The RK is far more flexible (i.e. tube combinations, Reverb, better loop system, slightly better clean, cab selections and rectifier option). I you think about it the RK is roughly $700-$750 more then the PB and you get all those options and local (USA) customer support. Almost a no brainier.
I plan to A/B them and believe I have a nasty killer rig.

So, get the RK. You will not regret it.

Anyway, my two additional cents.

Joe

[tonemonster]

Re: mesa boogie road king

I agree with Joe steeler.

The RK is certainly not a muddy amp!!

ANyone who thinks this has not spent enough time with it. LIke I said before, you need to spend time with these babies. The controls are super sensative. The RK is unlike any other amp I have ever played in terms of the controls. You really have to be conservative and spend some time tweaking the RK. If you do you will be glad you did. These amps really are the "Stuff". I just hope people give them the chance they deserve because they are super amps.

As far as What is the "best" amp on the market?? That is totally up to each and every guitarist out there to judge for themselves.

[terrax]

Re: mesa boogie road king

also take into account what type of music are you going for? I'll bet most people on this board are looking for severe death metal sounds, notice i called it sound instead of tone.. there is a difference. The road king would be a very bad choice for someone in a death metal band imho, you can get stuff much cheaper that does that sound. In the road king you are paying for the ability to tweak until you puke.

same thing in the line6 camp.. vetta = tweak, hd147 = turn on and crank.

in the end it's all subjective, there is no best of breed, only best to your ears and tastes. keep in mind you get what you pay for 99% of the time, but pricey doesnt always equal better.

try as many amps as you can.

Dave