Does anyone have an opinion on the RoadKing?

[BoogieMun]

Any opinions are welcome. Good. Bad. Indifferent. Whatever.

I've had the great thrill of making my way through quite a few different amps throughout my 10 years or so of playing guitar. I'm in my early 20's now and nearing the end of college so financially (although I've been lucky enough to have had a job at my age that supplied enough to afford pro-quality gear) I've never been able to afford to keep all of what I've purchased at one time. When I'm interested in trying something else out or simply am not satisfied with what I have, it certainly seems like 9 times out of 10 I have to get rid of something to afford something else. I'm sure many of you can relate.

Anyhow, my interests are pretty diverse musically as I'm sure many of yours' are as well, thus I've never been trusting enough to go to Boogie for all my needs and luckily enough I'm currently being thrilled by a Suhr Badger which is holding down the fort for all of my more "traditional" or "classic rock" indulgences. Honestly, that's the only non-Boogie tone I really like to have around.

As far as Boogie's go, I've made my way through 4 or 5 amps. I started with a Rect-O-Verb, upgraded to a Dual Recto Solo Head and then moved over to the Mark's in an attempt to get a more articulate and tight tone. I like the "bigness" if you will of the Recto's and certainly the saturated sound, but the Mark's seemed a little more fitting for a player like me. One of my biggest influences in John Petrucci, so the Mark's definitely made sense in that regard.

Anyhow, to get to the point, I've just about had enough of the Mark series frustrations. I've had my current Mark III for quite awhile. Although they are capable of some amazing tones when layered in high quality studios, in person I've always felt my sound was just nowhere near are thick and "big" to use that word again. My tone is always somewhat weak and although focused and articulate, never what I would call powerful.

I guess I'm interested to see if anyone here made a similar transition from the Mark's to the RoadKing or the Roadster. I'd also love to hear some honest evaluation of the two amps. I'd love to indulge with the "Progressive-Linkage" but undoubtedly could live without it as I have for some time now. To go back to what I was talking about earlier, I'm definitely getting to a point where gear is becoming less of a hobby and more of a nuisance. I want to "settle down" if you will and the RoadKing (or the Roadster) seems like an amp which could really provide a range of tones that is not only diverse but really musical--and would be a great reason to get the hell off Ebay, too!

One other important thing I should ask is if the RoadSters are coming with the LoneStar channel like the newer RoadKings. I would assume they are but Mesa's site is just a bit vague on that unless I missed it. I was in a bit of a hurry when browsing through it this afternoon.

Also, are the 4-channels all slightly different in their voicing? Do they basically increase with gain along with slight tonal twists or is it basically 2xCleans/2xOverdrives?


PS:
Not that I want to necessarily copy Joe, but since I spent about all last week loving his latest album, Professor Satchifunkilus. I'd love to know if anyone is using the RoadKing to go after a slightly more modern-Satriani type sound. Any input on the middle ground of the RoadKing's tonal spectrum is much appreciated. Anyone rolling off the volume knob and really testing the dynamic capabilities of these things?


THANK YOU to anyone who read all that!!!

 

[jdurso]

wow what a post... lets see if i can start the responses going on this as i know there are a lot of great thinsg to say about both the roadster and road king

I feel where your coming from with the Mark IV. Great tone machine but you dont get the biggness of the recto. that was one of the reasons i moved from the mark iv to a triaxis with a phat mod. i was pretty satified with the triaxis/2:90 setup as i had all the great mark tones but also could get into recto territory. that might be a route you wnat to consider because JP has also used the triaxis as part of his rig at one point or another.

The Road King is the most diverse sounding amp mesa has ever put out. it can do just about any tone your after with the exception of doing the mark dead on (but you can get close). its definitely a tighter, smoother amp to me than a standard DR or TR. at this point you probably know about all the bells and whistles that to some are intimidating but it sounds like you would put them to good use. its a pretty simple amp to use once you understand what everything does. not a plug and play amp IMO because there is so many options to go through you just ahve to try them all (which can take a few days). If you can spring for a used one i think they're an incredible investment especially if it can replace a couple of amps for you. You can go from down and dirty blues, to pristine clean, to british style rock, to 80s metal all the way to brutal, heart pounding chunk... oh yeah and some pretty sweet lead tones to top it off. i wouldnt say any of the channels repeat themselves as they're all a little different in their voicing and gain structure. channels 1 and 2 do a great job of the low to medium gain stuff, covering the pristine clean stuff, bluesy fat stuff, all the way to very ac/dc type tones. channels 3 and 4 are a little closer joined at the hip BUT think of it where channel 3 leaves off in terms of gain and compression, channel 4 takes over. to me the best part is if you can dial in 2 heavy tones that are very diverse and your ample to have them on seperate channels to switch between. throw in some outside influences (ODs and EQs) and you can turn 4 channels with 4 distinct tones to switch between into 8-12 different tones.

The Roadster is basically like the RKs little brother. Less options and bells and whistles but at the heart the same tones. The only difference in the tone department would be the fact the RK can assign and combine EL34s and 6L6s in one amp. In the Roadster its one or the other depending on what you put in your power section. But at the end of the day it covers almost as much ground and yes it does contain the Lonestar inspired cleans like the RKII. If you can deal without the progressive linkage and the cab switching the roadster is a great option.

Now what maybe the best idea (if your patient) is to wait and see if and when the Mark V comes to fruition. Apparently it will be a mark platform with some more modern touches you'd find in some of the newer lines. Also its suppose to contain rectifier tubes which will give you more of the "biggness" the rectos are known for. it will still sound like a mark but with some added girth if you want it (same as choosing between diodes or recto tubes in the rectifiers). also i'm will to bet you'll get cleans more closely related to the lonestar or express series. From some of the other threads it sounds like this baby will hit at the end of the year (or early 2009) so it maybe worth the wait for what your after. imagine JP like leads with the added girth of the recto line and the pristine cleans of the express and the bluesy delight of the lonestar :shock: ??

At the end of the day the best way to figure this out (which you probably aleady know) is to go out and try and find these amps so you can see first hand. getting information and opinions before hand is great but playing these amps will really tell you whether its right for you. Roadster are now becoming pretty common in GCs (at least the ones near me), and ive also seen quite a few RKIIs floating around. If your near NJ i'll tell you of some great stores to check out.

 

[styphon]

I first went to Guitar center with the intent of upgrading my rect-o-verb combo to a Triple Rec head+cab, that was until I tried out a Road King II they had sitting around.

I love it, but I am a guy who loves having more options than he needs. Not only do you have 4 channels, you also can choose the tubes, the rectifer selection, set the reverb different for each channel AND a switch for all for for "spongy/bold". The cleans on this thing are amazing, much better than the rect-o-verb, but channel 3 and 4 still can bring the heavy sound.

 

[sleepingtiger]

I love my RKII, but just wanted to add that buy subbing EL84's W/ Yellowjackets for the EL34's, you can add even more tonal versatility, IMHO.

Tony

 

[scoden]

I am a big Satch fan myself...going to the NYC show the 18th (VIP tickets !!.)...and I own a JSX combo and a recently acquired Roadster head, so I have done a side by side with both...on a Ibanez JS/ Wolfgang guitar .

Mind you this was at " bedroom " volumes and I compared my JSX which was dialed in from my last gig a week ago and I didnt touch a dial...and Im still getting to know the Roadster.
the JSX is def a lil noisier even with the built in noise gate...and its really quiet compared to other high gainers.....but the Mesa is whisper quiet at gig levels with no noise gate at all!!

The cleans are definitely fuller and have more bounce on the Roadster...reverb is a lil more lush as well. The JSX has great cleans ..just a little sterlie. (I have 6L6s in it as well)

The crunch channel on the JSX can easily be achieved on the Roadster ...and the Roadster with its four channels gives you more shades of crunch with less knob turning at a gig.

I love the Ultra channel for live lead work on the JSX ...it cuts very well.. has great fluid, singing feel / very harmonically rich as long as gain is not overdone. The Roadster could easily get a similar feel with a tone that has more girth to it using Modern setting in channel 4 with rect tracking and 50 watt setting... and I havent even dialed it in or had alot of play time on the Roadster yet.

Now everyones version of good tone varies...but the Roadster pleases me ...and I love Marshally crunchy / VH brown sounds as well as Satchs fat neck pickup lead tone ( tones not usually associated with Mesa amps I guess)......so hope tha helps you in your quest.

Scott

 

[BoogieMun]

Oh, wow. Tremendous responses everybody. I can't thank you enough. I appreciate every bit of input I've read so far.

I'm in SC where I don't think anything beyond a 30w Marshall MG combo is permitted. Alright, it just so happens there's a RoadKing Combo on ebay now which is down the road in Columbia but that's a few hours away. Actually, Atlanta and Charlotte are both closer to me.

Anyhow, I may take the dive on either the Roadster or the RoadKing if I can find a way to move the Mark I've got, which is obviously always an option with Ebay these days.

As far as the Mark V, I'd love to eventually try one of those. God only knows how many options that'll have on it. I was actually at the "Progessive Nation" Atlanta show in which John Petrucci was playing through (what I've been told) was a Mark V prototype which Boogie had sent him. He was fiddling with the settings during a few tunes while it was sitting atop his gigantic Flight/Rack case which holds his amps and rack gear. With Mike's drums crashing and everything set about 9 notches to loud for the venue, it was honestly impossible for me, where I was at, to hear any difference between what I can only assume was a Mark V prototype and his normal Mark IV's. May not have been a Mark V prototype but I remember someone saying (and I believe they were seated where it was not only facing them but relatively close as well) that they were absolutely 100% positive it was the new Mark V. Ah, who knows, maybe I'm wrong. I couldn't tell a dang bit of difference anyhow!