mark 5, road king and roadster

[Orpheo]

Hi guys,
i am saving up to change my rig, and I'm thinking of going 'all mesa'. I currently have the following:

mesa mark 4
engl special edition
trainwreck-clone
marshall JMP (the original, not the rackunit).
rivera m100 (fender-ish clean,marsall-esque drive).

I really like the dirty, agressive tone of the marshall, and the sag of a recto, but I also love the tight, powerfull, articulate drive of the engl. the mark4 sometimes has a great leadtone, and sometimes its just a fizzy mess (though I noticed that using a frontloaded cab with 2 v30's makes it a lot smoother and tighter, compared with the internal speaker, yeah, forgot to mention: its a combo).

the thing is, I know I like the mark 5, so thats set. but I'm doubtful regarding the roadking or roadster. I have tried the rectifiers,the usual versions, single, dual and triple. but those really have an awefull clean, the crunchtones are too compressed, and the heavy rhythm and lead tones are too mushy and flabby and saggy. I only know that on record, I do like the rectifier-sound, but I don't like them when I play them.

I did try the roadster, and those cleans were wonderful, and those crunchtones were better, but the amp I tried was most likely defective, cause it was humming like hell. much, much, much worse than any other amp there.


my problem is the following.

how does the roadking sound compared with the roadster? I know that the cleans are like the lonestar (aka: awesome!) but I have no clue regarding the 3rd and 4th channel. are they in anyway like the 'regular' rectifier? if so, the roadking won't be up my ally. I do think that it might sound completely different due to the progressive linkage etc etc, but I have no clue.

All information about this amp would help greatly! I know that 'try and judge' is the standard practice, but there's NO dealer, store or whatever here in this country, which stocks this amp. Only the cheaper mesa's. the mark5 can't be found (easily) too. If I want to hear the amp, I have to order it in a shop, and I'll also have to BUY the amp! I can't try it out, and say, nah, not my cup'o tea.... thats why I ask

 

[Rkorn]

I have a V and everyone says its ch 3, agressive tones, are very different from the Rec.
The other guy in my band has an F.100 which is said similar to the Rec tones.
The V is very different from the F series aggressive tones, is the F is really like the Rec than I much prefer the V.
It can be very agressive, very full, lots of bass and loads of treble, all of this controlled by the Eqs...
I play extreme metal and when I was in doubt about this one or the Rec i was glad to hear my V, it is perfect for what I play... and it goes from the nicest cleans to the most extreme... very very very versatile!

 

[Orpheo]

wow, a response wouldn't have thought someone would respond

the main question is not how the mark and rec's differ, but how the roadster, roadking and single/dual recto differ from one another.

I use a mark 4 at the moment (with an engl special edition, side by side), and I want to swap the 4 out for the 5, because the second channel is so darned hard to dial in. When the 2nd channel sounds great, the others sound like crap, and vice versa. just because my taste is so complicated, haha. I want r2 to be on the class a/triode setting, with a shallow V, and lead and r1 with a sharp V, simulclass/pentode. the 5 works that out just fine. I love the leadchannel on the 4, but i'm not stoked on that one like others. the 5 is also tight and also powerful, and it also packs a lot of gain.

 

[SteveO]

The Roadster is basically the Road King without the second effects loop and the Progressive Linkage (the Road King has both EL34s and 6L6s in it, and you can choose between them or use both, and you can assign different outputs to different cabs). Tonally, the preamps sections in the two are identical.

 

[ifailedshapes]

The Roadster is basically the Road King without the second effects loop and the Progressive Linkage (the Road King has both EL34s and 6L6s in it, and you can choose between them or use both, and you can assign different outputs to different cabs). Tonally, the preamps sections in the two are identical.

+1

Couldn't have said it better myself.

EDIT: If you're looking at this caliber of gear, then you're probably not short on cash. However, one thing to keep in mind is the maintenance of your amp. The Road King has a lot going on, meaning there are more potential areas for failure, and 2 more tubes to change. The Roadster and Mark IV also have a lot going on internally.

If I had the coin, I'd get a Lone Star and a Stiletto. Out of Mesa's current lineup, those are the sounds that fit me perfectly. Also, if one amp were to go out, the other could at least let me finish a gig. My ideal Mesa would be a Stiletto-voiced Road King. I really hope they make that. The Electra Dyne has the tone, but not the versatility.

So yeah, lots of options. I my rant wasn't a direct response to your question, but I thought it should still be said.

 

[Orpheo]

I never cared much for the stiletto, too gritty. The lonestar is awesome, but those cleans are modelled in the roadking. I liked the roadster, to a certain level, though I am sure its because some tubes were defective, its full potential couldn't be unleashed.

Besides, I have my heart set on the mark5 and the roadking. No amp can give you that mark-tone except for a mesa mark amp...

 

[ifailedshapes]

I never cared much for the stiletto, too gritty. The lonestar is awesome, but those cleans are modelled in the roadking. I liked the roadster, to a certain level, though I am sure its because some tubes were defective, its full potential couldn't be unleashed.

Besides, I have my heart set on the mark5 and the roadking. No amp can give you that mark-tone except for a mesa mark amp...

You're right - nothing will do Mark tone like a Mark series amp. A super versatile setup would be a Mark V with a Wampler Triple Wreck pedal for your Recto tones.

 

[ifailedshapes]

I never cared much for the stiletto, too gritty. The lonestar is awesome, but those cleans are modelled in the roadking. I liked the roadster, to a certain level, though I am sure its because some tubes were defective, its full potential couldn't be unleashed.

Besides, I have my heart set on the mark5 and the roadking. No amp can give you that mark-tone except for a mesa mark amp...

You're right - nothing will do Mark tone like a Mark series amp. A super versatile setup would be a Mark V with a Wampler Triple Wreck pedal for your Recto tones.

 

[ifailedshapes]

I never cared much for the stiletto, too gritty. The lonestar is awesome, but those cleans are modelled in the roadking. I liked the roadster, to a certain level, though I am sure its because some tubes were defective, its full potential couldn't be unleashed.

Besides, I have my heart set on the mark5 and the roadking. No amp can give you that mark-tone except for a mesa mark amp...

You're right - nothing will do Mark tone like a Mark series amp. A super versatile setup would be a Mark V with a Wampler Triple Wreck pedal for your Recto tones.

 

[Orpheo]

sometimes I get so caught up in work, that I work 7 days straight, and forgetting about this board and guitars all together. so, here I am again

I was thinking about the lonestar/stiletto combination, vs the roadking. I know I like the lonestar and the stiletto, and both combined are cheaper than the roadking (by a 1000 euro's, on my end of the atlantic).

I like to have it all in 1 package, though. I have heard and read multiple times that the clean channel of the roadking is the lonestar's clean, but the other 3 channels, can they be compared with the stiletto? or is the stiletto+lonestar combination a much more versatile rig than the roadking?

I'm neglecting on purpose the mk5, since I'll be buying that amp anyway, but I want an amp with a more dirty, gritty tone for rhythm, and the same deal for lead, and also a different 'taste' of clean, more open, more transparant, aka: the lonestar.

 

[gonzald1]

well.. I have a MV and a roadster. I like 'em both. The best advice I could give you is try each. MV, Roadster or the RKing. I like MV if I wanna play the 80's stuff or if I want to play dream theater stuff. Then I switch to Roadster if I want to play aggressive rock and metal.

Try it out and I'm sure you'll find the right model for you.

Good luck.

 

[screamingdaisy]

If you're looking for the Recto sound you're not going to find it in the Lonestar, which is basically a Mark amp in both sound and feel, nor will the Stiletto get you there as it's more of Mesa's take on the whole Marshall thing.

 

[Orpheo]

If you're looking for the Recto sound you're not going to find it in the Lonestar, which is basically a Mark amp in both sound and feel, nor will the Stiletto get you there as it's more of Mesa's take on the whole Marshall thing.

the 'classic' recto tone, that mushy, bombastic, gritty tone, used by for example rammstein, is absolutely not my thing. But from what I gather, the roadking is not really like that (once again, I can't go into a store and try it out; a store has to order it for me, and I háve to buy it, I am not allowed to say, nah sorry, don't really like it).


I did get a chance to try out the roadster though. that one was too fizzy for my taste, unfortunately. It didn't really sound what I wanted it to be. I know that the roadking has the same preamp, but with a different powersection, but only because it has 2 el34's which can be added. but if thats really the only difference, I can't imagine that 2 el34's will change the entire, overall characteristic of the amp, right?

 

[gonzald1]

If you're looking for the Recto sound you're not going to find it in the Lonestar, which is basically a Mark amp in both sound and feel, nor will the Stiletto get you there as it's more of Mesa's take on the whole Marshall thing.

the 'classic' recto tone, that mushy, bombastic, gritty tone, used by for example rammstein, is absolutely not my thing. But from what I gather, the roadking is not really like that (once again, I can't go into a store and try it out; a store has to order it for me, and I háve to buy it, I am not allowed to say, nah sorry, don't really like it).


I did get a chance to try out the roadster though. that one was too fizzy for my taste, unfortunately. It didn't really sound what I wanted it to be. I know that the roadking has the same preamp, but with a different powersection, but only because it has 2 el34's which can be added. but if thats really the only difference, I can't imagine that 2 el34's will change the entire, overall characteristic of the amp, right?

You are right about the roadster being fizzy. I cured that problem by replacing all the tubes. Doug's tube or eurotubes will give you some input on how to clean it up a bit. Eurotubes option is to change all to JJ tubes. Doug's tube has a nice kit for the roadster. I tried all JJ's at first and it was descent but not good enough for me. Then tried Doug's roadster preamp kit and made a big difference.

 

[Orpheo]

If you're looking for the Recto sound you're not going to find it in the Lonestar, which is basically a Mark amp in both sound and feel, nor will the Stiletto get you there as it's more of Mesa's take on the whole Marshall thing.

the 'classic' recto tone, that mushy, bombastic, gritty tone, used by for example rammstein, is absolutely not my thing. But from what I gather, the roadking is not really like that (once again, I can't go into a store and try it out; a store has to order it for me, and I háve to buy it, I am not allowed to say, nah sorry, don't really like it).


I did get a chance to try out the roadster though. that one was too fizzy for my taste, unfortunately. It didn't really sound what I wanted it to be. I know that the roadking has the same preamp, but with a different powersection, but only because it has 2 el34's which can be added. but if thats really the only difference, I can't imagine that 2 el34's will change the entire, overall characteristic of the amp, right?

You are right about the roadster being fizzy. I cured that problem by replacing all the tubes. Doug's tube or eurotubes will give you some input on how to clean it up a bit. Eurotubes option is to change all to JJ tubes. Doug's tube has a nice kit for the roadster. I tried all JJ's at first and it was descent but not good enough for me. Then tried Doug's roadster preamp kit and made a big difference.

I know that replacing tubes can make a huge difference. But I suppose the 'sag' the roadster (and recto's in general) have, didn't go away?

I'm extremely torn between the roadking, or the stiletto/lonestar combination. what would you guys do?

 

[screamingdaisy]

I know that replacing tubes can make a huge difference. But I suppose the 'sag' the roadster (and recto's in general) have, didn't go away?

I'm extremely torn between the roadking, or the stiletto/lonestar combination. what would you guys do?

Recto's sag. It's a huge part of their tonality.

 

[mansfieldguitars]

I have gotten almost identical John Petrucci tones (from his Mark V Video on Mesa"s website) with my roadster on channel 4 Modern mode by using the parametric eq in the loop on my G major. I chose three bands that were closest to the mark v's eq. If I remember correctly I boosted 79.43hz, cut 749.9hz, and boosted 5.95kHz. Had to play around a bit but dialed it in pretty easy and it sounds almost Identical. Plus I can pull up another preset without the parametric eq for the recto tones. That parametric eq is a powerful tool. It can really shape and tailor your tones but like anything else it is easily overdone too. I try to dial in the amp first and then tweak the eq to suite.

Thaks
John