Mark IV VS Traxis VS Road King

[lennartbar]

i know its maybe not the right form but there´s not a topic for all the ( rack , pre recto , post recto )

i´m thinking of getting some new equippment in some time and i´m thinking of a Mark IV or a Triaxis + 2:20 or a Road King...

maybe you could tell me what would be your choise, i just want to have some impressions...

thanks

 

[CJG]

I have both the Mark IV and a Road King but no Triaxis.

It depends on what You're after!
Talking High Gain sounds the Road King is the most "rough" and modern sounding. It's has what's usually defined as a "loose" bottom end, which is cool and can create really huge tones. But thanks to the progressive linkage and the 3 modes per channel it CAN (no matter what people tell You) produce very sweet lead tones as well.

Mark IV would be the "tightest" option - doesn't have the "loose" feel (even though it can be dialed somewhat in that direction too)
Think James Hetfield etc. Also Lamb of God use them, dialing them in a sligthly more...modern way.

The cleans are great on both I think.
Both of them are among the most complex amps in the world, so You can get it down on a few lines like this. They both do well as pretty allround amps since they're super-flexible.

Good luck picking!
CJG

 

[jamme61]

I had the triaxis, for about a year. I played about 10 gigs with it, and it sounded good and had no issues. With that said, I just bought a MKIV widebody combo (only two gigs) and love the flexibility, and tone, all in one box. I stick a Boss delay on the top of the amp, through the loop, and I'm good to go. Also I like the sound of the MKIV better, IMHO. I tried the Road King, but I'm not in need of the recto sound, so I lost two channels on the RK. I guess I'm saying MKIV.

 

[lennartbar]

what tone i´m after....

i love the like hyper clean tone , i think you know dream theaters images&words....but i also love like a powerfull open wide clean sound....

thats why i came up with the triaxis as well....

i got a question for the mark IV...
the clean and rythm channel got the same middle and bass knobs right?
does anyone ever complained about this?

or is the lead sound just so damnd good that you dont worry about the rythm tone?

 

[jamme61]

I think there's a lot of complaints about that. I love the 1st and 3rd(lead channel) on the MKIV. ch 2 is a constant strugle for me. part of the problem is the shared bass and mids on 1 & 2, it's a comprimise. I think the clean channel on the MKIV would make you very happy.

 

[trem]

Hi CJG,

Would you mind telling us which clip from your web that you recorded using RK? I truly have never heard a good recorded lead tone out of a Road King, so I'd be really curious to hearing one. Thanks.

 

[JAZZGEAR]

I have both the Mark IV and a Triaxis rig.

I really love the tone of the Mark IV...but after taking the time to really read and understand the Triaxis manual, I've managed to pull those same Mark IV tones to a 99% degree of likeness.

I was still reluctant to get rid of the Mark IV because sometimes, it's easier to just take the Mark IV and a delay or chorus pedal to a gig and be done.


However, I've recently added a 20/20 to my rack...so basically I have a small 4 space portable rack for small gigs and situations where I want to travel light. Then I have a Mesa Shock 8 space rack with my 2:90 for the bigger gigs and outdoor venues.

I must say however, that you get 99% close to the Mark IV tone with the 2:90 power amp,,,and not so much with the 20/20. Its a great tone nonetheless just not the same as the powerful and authoritative 2:90

So, in the end, I have put up my Mark IV for sale because, I really have all of the sounds of the Marks in the Triaxis...and trust me, they really are all there..you just have to have patience to dial it in.

As for the Road King...well, with the recent upgrade to the RK II...I have been getting a bit of GAS for it since it has the cleans of the LoneStar and I do love the cleans of that amp.

 

[CJG]

Hi CJG,

Would you mind telling us which clip from your web that you recorded using RK? I truly have never heard a good recorded lead tone out of a Road King, so I'd be really curious to hearing one. Thanks.

Hi there, Don't remember what clips have solos but
the songs Enter the Gate, Show all the World (I know that clip has a solo in it) and Into this game are on RK. On Take me home only rhythms are Road King.
BUT - important in this particular matter - none of the clips have what I called a "sweet" sound in my previous post, and this is of course intentional. But I have recorded very sweet tones with the RK on other albums (with other artists) but I have no clips of it.

I have Peavey Wolfgang guitars which are pretty mid-oriented. If I run those into channel 4 on the RK, Gain at 1.30 - 2 o'clock, Presence pretty low like 9, mid around 10, bass around 10 as well and treble at noon and use 2 EL34 and 2 6L6 with Diode OR Tube rectifiers and my (or Your) playing is CLEAN the amp will respond as well and sound very "sweet" in my ears.

However - tone is subjective but I think the RK gets a little less attention for it's possible "sweetness" than it deserves.

Do You have a RK?
BTW - Octavarium by Dream Theater has some pretty sweet sounding RK leads as well.

Regards!!
CJG

 

[t0aj15]

I have both the Mark IV and a Triaxis rig. I really love the tone of the Mark IV...but after taking the time to really read and understand the Triaxis manual, I've managed to pull those same Mark IV tones to a 99% degree of likeness. I was still reluctant to get rid of the Mark IV because sometimes, it's easier to just take the Mark IV and a delay or chorus pedal to a gig and be done. I must say however, that you get 99% close to the Mark IV tone with the 2:90 power amp,,,and not so much with the 20/20. Its a great tone nonetheless just not the same as the powerful and authoritative 2:90. So, in the end, I have put up my Mark IV for sale because, I really have all of the sounds of the Marks in the Triaxis...and trust me, they really are all there..you just have to have patience to dial it in.

I agree, it took me a while to dial it in but now I have my TriAxis sounding just like my Mark IV except that I use several efx (rack and pedal) + midi with the TriAxis-50/50 rack, and I run the Mark IV with no efx (except onboard reverb). I have no intention however of selling either setup because I enjoy them both.

 

[CJG]

Hi CJG,

Would you mind telling us which clip from your web that you recorded using RK? I truly have never heard a good recorded lead tone out of a Road King, so I'd be really curious to hearing one. Thanks.

OK, I decided to make a little clip with me playing my Road King in the "sweeter" mode: )
This one clip includes two songs by the band DivineFire. I only did some sessions for them playing the lead-guitars. The guy who played rhythm did not use a Mesa/Boogie.
The first part of the clip is from a solo where I play bridge pickup.
The second part is a cover of Queen's "The show must go on". )Brian May actually gave me a lot of praise for this solo!
The Queen-song includes both some bridge pu playing and neck pu playing and also check the Brian May'ish harmonies in the end.
Also keep in mind that some low end has been removed from the tone by the mixing-engineer to fit it in to this extremely dense soundscape!

Positive and negative feedback is welcome!
The link:
http://download.yousendit.com/195D51767ADF115A

CJG

 

[trem]

CJG,

I can understand why Brian complimented your work. Those are pretty **** sweet tone. Need to change my mindset on Rectifiers. :wink:

I don't have an RK (yet), but most of the clips that I've heard so far are either buzzy or mushy sounding (even JP's work in Octavarium). Thanks again for the clips.

My current amp is a Mark IV and I'm loving it. Cheers!

 

[CJG]

CJG,

I can understand why Brian complimented your work. Those are pretty **** sweet tone. Need to change my mindset on Rectifiers. :wink:

I don't have an RK (yet), but most of the clips that I've heard so far are either buzzy or mushy sounding (even JP's work in Octavarium). Thanks again for the clips.

My current amp is a Mark IV and I'm loving it. Cheers!

Hi Trem!
Thanks a lot for Your very kind words! !
I'm glad You liked the tone in the clips! I know the RK's can be dialed in pretty buzzy, especially if you don't really pay attention to what You're doing and the mics on the guitars affect the tone in the buzzy direction (like too much bass etc) but I really think that the smooth tones are there when you need them!

And I agree with You - the Mark IV REALLY rocks!! Love it!
CJG

For "new" viewers of this thread - the clips mentioned in this post are not the ones in my signature but the ones linked in a post above.

 

[lennartbar]

CJG,



My current amp is a Mark IV and I'm loving it. Cheers!

so you own a Mark IV...
could you tell me your thoughts about this amp?
yeah i know you love it but maybe you can tell me some personal opinion on the mark iv and about the partly the same eq part for clean and rythm

 

[trem]

so you own a Mark IV...
could you tell me your thoughts about this amp?
yeah i know you love it but maybe you can tell me some personal opinion on the mark iv and about the partly the same eq part for clean and rythm

Yes mate, I do. I only have it in my posession for a mere 3 months. It's been quite a struggle to find the perfect setting, but I'm enjoying the journey thanks to the nice peoples here.

It has gobs of gain, and yet it's very fluid and articulate. The sound can be really tight, but it has its own kind of sweetness, if that makes any sense :lol:. Playing with this amp requires me to clean up my act, A LOT. Of course I'm talking about the lead channel here.

The clean channel is very Fenderish, and the reverb is decent. I like this channel a lot also.

I personally do not care much for channel 2 (now at least), so I set the eq to be optimum for channel 1. Channel 2 is just there so I can brag to my friends that I have a 3 channel amp (out of which only 66.6666666667% are used :wink.

Good luck man.

 

[lennartbar]

thanks a lot..........
thats gonna be a hard choise....

 

[Antoine]

I wonder why some people complain about the RHY 2 MarkIV channel, it's F******g great it's very creamy and very Marshall Plexi Like, i like it to death !

 

[jamme61]

I personally do not care much for channel 2 (now at least), so I set the eq to be optimum for channel 1. Channel 2 is just there so I can brag to my friends that I have a 3 channel amp (out of which only 66.6666666667% are used :wink..

LOL I'm feeling your pain with channel 2. I've only been trying for a month. It's a tough amp to control but I love 1 &3.