Mesa Road King Series II anyone try one yet?

[kmanick]

well I don't know I haven't had the chance of trying one in person yet.
the thing that appeals to me is being able to switch from a 6L6 tone to an EL34 tone on the fly and using a different cab per channel (but is that worth the extra grand it costs over a JSX?) and will I actually use it?
I can't answer that (yet). I have tried the JSX a couple of times and really liked it (especially thru a Marshall cab). I need to find a RoadKing hed locally and give it a whirl.

[siggy14]

That is the biggest trick with the Recto's, keep the gain around 1 or 2 and boost it with a pedal and it tightens up that bottem end like a straight man in a gay bar.

If you want the Recto sounds, then go with a Recto, if you want more of a marshall tone go with the JSX.

Both are great amps, Recto just more verstile.

The recto channels have lots of gain but the bottom end is not tight like the JSX by my ears. If you mainly want the high gain why not just get a recto or the jsx? Are you really going to use the cleans in the RK?

[Spivonious]

why was I under the assumption that Mesa Rectifiers had loads of gain?
are you telling me that the JSX is a gainier amp than a Dual Rectifier?
are all these heavy bands that use them using stomp boxes in front of them?

I think my post may have been misinterpreted. Both amps are very high gain. The JSX is definitely more of a Marshall/5150 sound; the RK is much more Mesa. A lot of people don't like the voicing of the Rectos...it's hard to describe in words.

[eaeolian]

why was I under the assumption that Mesa Rectifiers had loads of gain?
are you telling me that the JSX is a gainier amp than a Dual Rectifier?
are all these heavy bands that use them using stomp boxes in front of them?

Uh, the Recto series have more gain than any sane person could really need in the "modern" voicing - my stuff is ridiculously distorted, and I'm running at about 1 O'clock. A lot of people (me included) run an OD pedal in front (in my case, with the drive off) just to "tighten" things up a bit.

The voicing is different from the JSX, though - much more organic, and much closer to the 5150.

The RK Series I was a great amp. The Series II should be even better - if I could find one to play, I'd try it.

[kmanick]

when you run the road king with El34's does it give you
more of an "Organic" sound?
Being able to get the sounds of a 5150 -ish amp and a Recto
out of the same amp is what I find intriguing (and what I'm hoping this amp can somewhat do)
does it pull that off?

[eaeolian]

EL34s definitely give you a punchier midrange - if you like them, they will give a good tone. (I'm more of a 6L6 guy.)

The ability to mix and match is pretty awesome, though...