MESA road king! any good?

[randyvanmalmsteen]

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_In...g/roadking.htm

if it sounds as good as the description! [img]graemlins/drool2.gif[/img]

[Dreamland_Rebel]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

VERY

[Matt Crooks]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

Yes - if you like the Recto sound. The crunch sounds are basically the same as the dual rec. except you can switch between EL34s and 6l6s, or both, at will. The clean sounds are the best cleans I've heard out of any Boogie and I've owned/played TriAx/2:90, Triple Rec, Dual Rec, Mark IV, Mark III, .50 cal.

The downside is that the amp is heavy as hell and quite expensive. I think it's worth the price/weight, but if you are mainly playing distorted, and the tube switching isn't a big deal to you, a dual rec sounds basically the same and is at least $1000 cheaper.

[tonemonster]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

I have a Roadking too and I love it. But I agree, if you are a "plug and play" person, this is not the amp for you, I suggest going with the Rectoverb instead becuase it has alot of the same sounds with less bells and whistles. The Roadking is a great amp though if you like to get exactly the tone you desire. I mean you can really mold this thing to do what you want. So many tonal options involved. But the idea of 4 footswitchable sounds that are SO shapable is awesome. The name really fits the amp. It is a King!! no doubt man, it rules the land of tone with a metal fist!!!They are heavy, mine weighs 106 lbs. But you can get just about any sound you want out of the beast, you just have to be very patient and spend alot of quality time tweaking it to summons up your own tones out of it. I hope this helps you out! Good Luck! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[craggin]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

I've got one and would answer by saying it depends. If you REALLY like to tweak your sound, i.e. running EL34's + 6L6's at the same time, and you need or like tons of versatility...then yes. However, if you don't like tweaking and you're a plug and play kind of person...STAY AWAY!!! I was in a band where versatility was paramount...it simply kicked butt. I'm in a more traditional band now, so I'd probably opt for something simpler if I had to buy an amp right now.

One thing I absolutely love is running different power tube configurations on different channels. You can seriously customize your signature tone by playing with that feature and choosing raw, vintage or modern settings.

And that SOB is heavy...plus there are 13 total tubes in it...retubing will be expensive.

[Joe_Steeler]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

I have a RK head version and it is a superb amplifier.
Its most apealing features also make it VERY misunderstood.
The fact that you can select and/or mix voicings, rectifier types, power tube types, series or parallel loops and cab assignments make it an amplifier directed toward the advanced tube amp player.
I wholeheartedly believe that. Its just too damn much for the average player.
I have to agree with the guys here, not a plug and play amp.

Once you dial it right and experiment a little, it is a beast. Truly heaven and hell tones.

Expensive both worth it.

Joe

[pointofnoreturn]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

i tryed the Road King and i felt it lacked in some areas, so I picked up a VHT. If your looking for a extremly high gain head try out the Ultra lead VHT, No offense to the boogie owners but youll see what im talking about lol
Thanks

[tonemonster]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

I cant even imagine how anyone could want more gain than what the Roadking delivers in channel 4 modern mode, 6L6 with diode rectification. Like the Mesa RK owner manual says, this channel/mode is capable of achieving gain that is actually rediculous. I like high gain, lots of it and this amp can dish out more than I desire. I run the gain at about 1:00 to 2:00 max, and it goes to past 5:00. Gain beyond that is just noise. the tone is gone at that point, IMO. to each his own I guess. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[eaeolian]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

I've heard others say this about Mesas - in fact, Matt Crooks brought it up as subject of discussion here before.

It all boils down to the tonality of the distortion, I think. Personally, my sound (with a TripleRec - the preamp is the same as channel four in the RK) is ridiculously distorted, yet still very, very articulate - every mistake comes through perfectly!

Oh, and I thought the UltraLead was by far the worst sounding VHT I played through - I liked the 100CL much better. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Mike

[vwall]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

Originally posted by Michael:
I've heard others say this about Mesas - in fact, Matt Crooks brought it up as subject of discussion here before.

It all boils down to the tonality of the distortion, I think. Personally, my sound (with a TripleRec - the preamp is the same as channel four in the RK) is ridiculously distorted, yet still very, very articulate - every mistake comes through perfectly!

Oh, and I thought the UltraLead was by far the worst sounding VHT I played through - I liked the 100CL much better. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Mike

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Agreed!

Prior ro buying my Mesa Triple and Dual rectifier heads, I have purchased a new VHT Ultra Lead...
Terrible sounding! I compare it to a PV 5150.
Not that the 5150 is pure crap.. but I dont want that tone for 2600.00

In retrospect, I should have gotten the CLX100.

But now, Since I am soo very pleased with my tone from my Mesa, I dontt even bother looking into VHT any longer.

Just be sure to spend alot of time on the amps you are comparing. Fully test them out so you wont have buyers remorse...

[randyvanmalmsteen]

Re: MESA road king! any good?

Originally posted by vwall guitars:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Originally posted by Michael:
I've heard others say this about Mesas - in fact, Matt Crooks brought it up as subject of discussion here before.

It all boils down to the tonality of the distortion, I think. Personally, my sound (with a TripleRec - the preamp is the same as channel four in the RK) is ridiculously distorted, yet still very, very articulate - every mistake comes through perfectly!

Oh, and I thought the UltraLead was by far the worst sounding VHT I played through - I liked the 100CL much better. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Mike

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Agreed!

Prior ro buying my Mesa Triple and Dual rectifier heads, I have purchased a new VHT Ultra Lead...
Terrible sounding! I compare it to a PV 5150.
Not that the 5150 is pure crap.. but I dont want that tone for 2600.00

In retrospect, I should have gotten the CLX100.

But now, Since I am soo very pleased with my tone from my Mesa, I dontt even bother looking into VHT any longer.

Just be sure to spend alot of time on the amps you are comparing. Fully test them out so you wont have buyers remorse... </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">the ultra i tried at GC was not what i like in a tone [img]graemlins/refuse.gif[/img]