How's the Road King compare to other Rectifiers?

[tele_jas]

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and selling one or both of my T-verbs to get a Road King for the versatility, extra channels and solo boost. I REALLY REALLY like my Tremoverb and want to make sure I won't miss it too much if I do this.

I'm pretty sure the Vintage is going to sound pretty close to the same as it has on all my past Rectifiers (Triple, ROV, T-verb head and combo).

The main thing I'm wanting to know is how is the clean and semi gain (the british) channel?

And hows the reverb? My ROV had the worst reverb I'd ever head on an amp, but my T-verb has great reverb. So how's the RK's reverb?

Will I miss my T-verb or be happy with the tones I hear and not look back?

 

[HappyStrat]

I played thru a Mark IV for 13 years and loved every minute of it. Last December, it got sick so I started to think about a replacement. I really wanted to get a Plexi again, in the 70's & 80's I had a 50W & 2 100Watters. Plexi's can deliver some pretty brutal metal sounds with max distortion & feedback, but it is impossible to get anything clean out of them. I loved the Mark IV for the cleans but the Plexi tones were not the same as the Marshalls. Of the 3 Plexis I had, all three had a sound of their own. Their tones were kinda close but in different spectrums, and I couldn’t adjust them to match closely. I tried the T-Verb’s, ROV’s, Single Rec’s, Duals & Triples. They were all very lovely, but they couldn’t nail the cleans too well and a lot of the in-between tones.

Then this sales guy turned me on to the Road King. It was pretty **** incredible cause I could attain EVERYTHING in-between. This was pretty cool because I could go ANYWHERE I wanted to go, I was finally in control. I first tried the RK thru a standard rectifier cab & the manager came over & said the RK needs to go thru a RK cab to really hear the magic. When we hooked up the RK cab, the heavens started to open & the angels started to sing. Immediately, I laid down the plastic & brought my honey home. I don’t visit here much anymore, cause I‘ve been working on my chops. My quest for the orgasmic amplifier has finally ended. P.S.: The reverb is bitchin’ beyond belief.

I've been locked into th the EL-34 settings cause I have found so many tones. When I graduate to to the 6L6's, I'm sure I will venture into other territories & will find other unchartered areas. In my opinion, the Road King is Utopia. Unfortunately, the downside is the price, sell everything & hock the farm, you’ll be eternally pleased.

 

[musicbox]

Man, you should write sales literature for mesa. I don't even play metal and I now find myself wanting a roadking... :lol: Is there anything the roadking CAN'T do well?

 

[tele_jas]

I was thinking about the (super heavy 115 lbs) combo. I know the head weighs less and would probably be the way most would go, but I find myself playng my T-verb combo 99% of the time over the head/cab due to the ease of setting it up....... Just wheel it in, plug in the power cord, foot controller and guitar cord and you're ready.

I think I'm serously going to consider the Road King.

I also hear there is a learing curve with the Road King that isn't common with other Rectifiers due to all the assignable knobs on the back..... I think there is a guy here in town that has one who has sat in with us from time to tim, I may see if he'll let me check his out this or next weekend.

Thanks for the reply's!!

 

[TheRazMeister]

Tele, you're starting to concern me....you have absolutely the worst case of GAS that I've ever seen. If you like the TVerb so much, why would you consider selling it for the most expensive amp in the Mesa line? There's nowhere to go after that and I'm not sure you'll get what you're looking for. As a note about the cleans, Petrucci uses a Lonestar for cleans and Road King for everything else, which may answer the question.

I'm thinking of taking the plunge and selling one or both of my T-verbs to get a Road King for the versatility, extra channels and solo boost. I REALLY REALLY like my Tremoverb and want to make sure I won't miss it too much if I do this.

I'm pretty sure the Vintage is going to sound pretty close to the same as it has on all my past Rectifiers (Triple, ROV, T-verb head and combo).

The main thing I'm wanting to know is how is the clean and semi gain (the british) channel?

And hows the reverb? My ROV had the worst reverb I'd ever head on an amp, but my T-verb has great reverb. So how's the RK's reverb?

Will I miss my T-verb or be happy with the tones I hear and not look back?

 

[Boogiebabies]

If you have ever owned a multi channel Mesa the learning curve should be 5 minutes. It is a very easy amp to understand and the back is very self explanitory. I read the manual a few times before I picked mine up and was up in 5 minutes. You will find the power amp alone is capable of many great tone variations. The preamp is MK I style for CH. 1 and 2, but 2 has much more gain in Brit. Channels 3 and 4 have the recto style preamp. I use just a slight wash of Reverb and it seems very decent to me. It does not brighten the tone like the older MK series amps. It is analog, but not tube driven. IMO, this amp is better sounding with a multiple cabinet setup. Open back for Ch.1 and 2X12's or 4X12's for 2,3 and 4. The cabinet switching function is amazing as well.

 

[HappyStrat]

I was thinking about the (super heavy 115 lbs) combo.

I don't know how the combo sounds in comparison to the head & cab. You would have to try out both side by side. Before I bought the RK, I must've plugged into close to 100 amps, some the same models but in different stores. Beware: Some of these guys that work in music stores don't know crap about amps and just want to make a sale. This one clown that was helping me was switching on heads first and then looking around for a cable to connect it to a cab. I told him that it's dangerous to turn on tube heads that don't have a speaker load connected to it. He started to argue with me like I was an idiot, I immediately put my LP back into it's case and left. What I'm getting at is, some of the same models will not be at peak performance levels because idiots like that guy damage or destroy tubes & trannies because of their ignorance.

I also hear there is a learning curve with the Road King that isn't common with other Rectifiers due to all the assignable knobs on the back.....

I just set the things on the back & leave them alone, then I tweak the front knobs. Because of the knobs being so sensitive, if you readjust something just slightly, your tone starts going for a different sound. I found some incredible settings that I loved but after tweaking the knobs, I lost them. To fix this, I started writing them down. I've had my RK for almost a year, and I'm hearing new things out of it every single day.

 

[Brewski]

I was thinking about the (super heavy 115 lbs) combo.

Gee, after reading all this, I'd like to have a Road King when I grow up.

Tele_jas, if I could afford to do it, I'd go for the RK head, instead of the combo, IMHO. Not only will you save your back with the lifting, but I think that you'd be happier with it in the long run when/if you go to record something. Some studios are picky about combo amps. You may want to ping Bob at Eurotubes on whether a combo or head configuration is more advantageous. I think that he knows a thing or two about tube amps and I am reasonably sure that he'd recommend the head.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I would also think the heads are in higher demand than the combos on the used market, in the unlikely event, should you grow tired of it or when Mesa comes out with the Highway Lord or some other such flagship.

Just a few points to ponder. Either configuration, you'll have an amp of envy.

 

[tele_jas]

If you like the TVerb so much, why would you consider selling it for the most expensive amp in the Mesa line?

Thats just it.... I am happy with it and don't want to loose the sound I love, but I'd like a few more channels and the solo boost is a very major plus for me and having all this on one footswitch sounds pretty good to me too. Right now for a solo boost I'm using my FX loop (modded to serial in the head) with a volume pedal in the loop set just a hair lower and I run the with the loop on most of the time and when it's time for a solo I turn off the loop to bring the volume up. It works, but leaves me not being able to use the FX loop for anything else other than a volume boost (which I need in a 3 guitar band).

In the begining when I was looking at Boogies, the RK was the amp I was wanting the most but couldn't afford it...... So I've been trying every other Boogie Recto out there and finally realized I may not be totally happy until I get the RK :?: I'm now at a point where if I want to, I can sell some gear and get the RK. Yeah, I've had a BAD case of GAS for about 3 years now and have made some stupid mistakes, but I find myself slowing down. I've now owned an amp for more than 6 months with the T-verb and have had a Rectifier of some sort now for about a year. So I know I want the Rectifier sound, but just not sure which model. Maybe if I get the "Flagship" top of the line model, There'd be no where else to go since that's the top of the line for Recto's. So, I'd have to stop (right?). :wink:

 

[socialparasite]

So let me get this straight the RK can dail the exat dual rect sound and has some decent other sounds? Can it do the Dual recto and Mark 4? I dont know if anyone here has compared but the nomad 55 beside a mark 4 is extermely fimilar sounding together. It would be nice if the RK can do the Mark 4 and recto plus a decent clean then i would sale off all my gear and have 1 amp for all those needs

 

[tele_jas]

Twilight Zone music start............


So here I am contiplating the big RK issue today and my cell phone rings and it's the only guy here in town that ownes a RK and he says to me "Hey, I got your number from one of the guys at the music store.......I'm getting ready to post my RK combo on ebay this weekend unless you want it"? I said "Heck yeah I want it"!! I'm getting it for $2000 with an ATA road case. He said he's in no hurry for the money so he's going to bring it by next Friday for me and I can pay him later or after the first of the year after I sell my amps . He said he's been playing keyboards more this past year and has only played the RK 6 times since he got it in 2004.

He's also going to take a look at my T-verbs and possibly take one of them and knock $1000 off the RK.

Thats freaky how that worked out! :shock:

 

[4nkam]

Awesome deal man! Please post your thoughts on how the RK compares to the Tverb because I've been thinking about this same situation. I really love my Tremoverb, but if I could get the same tones AND more out of a Roadking, that might be the way to go for me

MJ

 

[TheRazMeister]

Glad to hear this Tele....you deserved a break after all the ampage you've gone thru...

Twilight Zone music start............


So here I am contiplating the big RK issue today and my cell phone rings and it's the only guy here in town that ownes a RK and he says to me "Hey, I got your number from one of the guys at the music store.......I'm getting ready to post my RK combo on ebay this weekend unless you want it"? I said "Heck yeah I want it"!! I'm getting it for $2000 with an ATA road case. He said he's in no hurry for the money so he's going to bring it by next Friday for me and I can pay him later or after the first of the year after I sell my amps . He said he's been playing keyboards more this past year and has only played the RK 6 times since he got it in 2004.

He's also going to take a look at my T-verbs and possibly take one of them and knock $1000 off the RK.

Thats freaky how that worked out! :shock:

 

[socialparasite]

Twilight Zone music start............


So here I am contiplating the big RK issue today and my cell phone rings and it's the only guy here in town that ownes a RK and he says to me "Hey, I got your number from one of the guys at the music store.......I'm getting ready to post my RK combo on ebay this weekend unless you want it"? I said "Heck yeah I want it"!! I'm getting it for $2000 with an ATA road case. He said he's in no hurry for the money so he's going to bring it by next Friday for me and I can pay him later or after the first of the year after I sell my amps . He said he's been playing keyboards more this past year and has only played the RK 6 times since he got it in 2004.

He's also going to take a look at my T-verbs and possibly take one of them and knock $1000 off the RK.

Thats freaky how that worked out! :shock:

You lucky son of a just kidding. I would jump all over that deal. Must be the amp angels watching over you strange how this deal came about. If you get it let us know how you like it and submit a review

 

[Armando]

The RK is the "high end" Mesa amp at this time, period....It's not a plexi(try a Mojave Peace Maker or the new Marshall hand-wound for that, same $$ as a RK), the two clean channels sound great in any mode(if you've been a Dual or Triple Recto guy, you'll really appreciate the return of clean channels in the RK) and the two lead channels, orange and red(6L6 & EL34 mixed), sound great in the Recto tradition. There's no channel cloning here so you can't get that elusive extra heavy tone I could get on the Orange channel when cloning was on with both channels set to Red but cloning's been gone for a while now.

All the extra's like channel switching, loop switching, solo, etc....make it a great amp for live use. It's a Mesa!

 

[tele_jas]

Thanks for all the reply's.....

I actually went and picked it up yesterday!! I only got to play with it for about 30 minutes or so between work & the kids basketball games, but what I've heard so far I'm really impressed with! This amp actually has CLEAN channels with lost of headroom. I think this is the best amp I've ever played through, the cleans are there and the distortion is Recto all the way.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

The sad news is, I have to take it in for the diode upgrade since it's an '04 model but the good news is it's under warranty and I found a guy here in town that does Boogie warranty repairs.

 

[noodles]

If you like the TVerb so much, why would you consider selling it for the most expensive amp in the Mesa line?

Because it absolutely smokes the Tremoverb, that's why. Having upgraded from the TV head to the RK head about four months ago, I can confidently say that the RK does everything my TV did, plus everything my friend's 3chan DualRec does, plus more. I loved the TV reverb, and the RK reverb is just as good. If you have the money, you really can't go wrong with this amp.