My First Mesa - Road King Combo

[daveythomas]

I have a Marshall TSL 100 with an Ampeg 4x12 stereo cainet that I will be selling to move up (and down) to a Road King Combo. Up in tone, down in size.

On June 30th I placed a special order for the combo with no leather on the corners or on the top handle. Mesa was so cool and said they could switch it out with metal corners and a different (non leather) handle at the same price as list.

Anyway, the store called today and said MY amp was in so I will pick it up either tomorrow or Friday.

I can't wait!!! Mesa Rocks!!!

- davey

 

[LOOPJUNKIE]

I hope you love it, I love mine, I also hope you like to read the instruction manuals! also remember mesa settings are really involved its not a set to max Marshall; It may take some time to find your tones! :? but it will be worth it!

 

[CudBucket]

How long was the wait?

 

[daveythomas]

I ordered on June 30th and the store received it on Sept 20th, so about a two and a half months. But they did do the special stuff on it for me so I didn't mind the wait.

I was told by one store (not the one here in Boise) that they (mesa) were raising the price of the Roas King after June 30th which is why I purchased before selling my Marshall, but that does not seem to be the case - the July 2005 price list still shows the price I paid.

I have read the manual about 5 times online and will read it again when I have the amp in front of me. Thanks for the heads up about taking time to find my tone. They don't stock the Road King here in Boise so I had to play one while on vacation elsewhere and only had about 30 minutes to try it out. Even though I wasn't able to dial in the exact tone I was looking for during that amount of time, I could tell that the Raod King would be able to deliver.

Any other suggestions for someone new to mesa and new to the road king.

I play and record as a hobby. I use a Les Paul Studio, Fender Toronado, Washburn SB20, Rickenbacker 360/6, Epiphone DOT and have a Roland JC 90 amp and Boss GT 8...oh, and a Road King (tomorrow).

Music styles are all over the place and include Quicksand/Rival Schools/Rodan/Hum/ on the heavier side (of what I listen to) Sunny Day Real Estate/Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil/Sense Field/Farside/Promise Ring/Catherine Wheel/Radiohead in the middle and Pedro the Lion/Cocteau Twins/Stone Roses and stuff like that at the other end of the spectrum.

 

[mloiaco]

I was going to help you...until you listed your favorite bands. j/k

First of all, congradulations! I know that if you spend enough (A LOT) of time with your new RK, then you will love it. After reading the manual 7 times, it took me 3 months until I felt comfortable dialing in any tone that came to my mind. In the very beginning (first month), I went through some REALLY frustrating times with my RK head and RK 4x12...especially since my main amp before the RK was a Marshall.

- I can't overemphasize the knob sensitivity difference between the Mesa and the Marshall. Please don't neglect that fact!

- Be weary of the bass control. I almost never set the bass above 12:00, and sometimes I set it as low as 9:00!

- If you need to play the min/max game, do it with the Mid control. You can get away with setting this control anywhere in its range to produce a variety of sounds.

- Use the Presence control to "finalize" a tone that you dial in. Generally, lower presence will give more of a liquid lead sound on high gain channels, and high presence (2:00) will give more of a sharp metal sound.

- AND THE MOST IMPORTANT SUGGESTION:
Don't ever stand right in front of your amp when testing out new tones. You'll hear a lot of unpleasant high frequency noise and your amp will also sound muddy. Always stand off to the side and at a distance from the amp to hear the true tone.

 

[daveythomas]

MMMMM...that new amp smell. Picked up the RK today and it ROCKS!!!

I will check the settings page to see how people like to set their RK.

So far I like
CH1 - clean using 4 6l6 in clean mode
CH2 - a bit dirty using 2el34 in fat mode
CH3 - rhythm using 2 6l6+2el34 in vintage mode
CH4 - lead using 46l6 in modern mode

So far the only thing I would like more of is gain in the 2nd channel.

I hear what you are saying about the high frequency noise when listening to the amp right in front of me. I was a sitting on the floor in front of the amp playing channel 2 with a bit of reverb and I could hear a faint high pitched squeal kinda noise. I was playing at pretty low volume though. I'll give it another test tomorrow a bit louder and see what I hear playing off to the side.

 

[GenoBluzGtr]

I have never tried a RK, but one thing I have found since going to MESA amps (I use a MK IV currently), is that there is a TON of tonal options with respect to Gain by trying different settings on your TONE knobs. The Treble control will actually increase the gain in a given channel.

For example, I am a "Power Tube Saturation" guy and prefer the sound of hot power tubes for my overdrive, never really warming up to the Gritty, spitty, Recto-type sound of Preamp Distortion. I found my tone in the MKIV but had to drive the volume way too high for stage use to get it. After a few frustrating gigs, I re-read the manual and found some lines in it about how INTERACTIVE the Gain controls are with the TONE controls, specifically the TREBLE control. I found that I could get more gain at a higher TREBLE setting, without driving my Lead Gain or Lead Drive controls so high that I got that ear-splitting gritty preamp gain. And the other two tone controls compensate for the increased Treble nicely, so I don't put IcePicks in my ears by turning up the Treble.


So don't ignore playing with alot of different settings of your Treble, Mid, and Bass along with different settings on the Gain/Drive controls. There are a myriad of tonal options WAY beyond the 1-10 on each knob. There is some INTERACTIVE qualities that simply take alot of playing to find them.

 

[mloiaco]

So far the only thing I would like more of is gain in the 2nd channel.

You can get more gain in Ch 2 if you use Brit mode and crank the trebble pretty high (3:00). Also, I think that Ch 2. Brit mode sounds a bit muddy unless you turn down the bass ( < 9:00).

I use Ch 2 in Brit mode / Spongy / 2xEL34 Pentode / full gain / high treble / low bass / medium mids / presence to taste
for a great SRV type sound.

 

[daveythomas]

Cool, mloiaco, I tried your settings for CH2 Brit to get some more gain and I am pretty pleased with the results. Thanks.

 

[waxnsteel]

I just got one myself, and have really been digging Tweed and Brit. I don't see myself getting into >50 watt territory, is it safe to pull 2 6L6's to save for later, and if so, which two? And when one recto tube is called up, which one? I only have one in right now, but I've been in diode mode all the time.