RoadKing vs Roadster

The Boogie Board

Help Support The Boogie Board:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

screamingdaisy

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 24, 2005
Messages
4,512
Reaction score
4
Location
South of Heaven
I'm looking for a main gigging amp. It will be used for a broad variety of styles.

I don't care which one sounds more perfect in an ideal environment.

What I do care about is feature set. The RK retails for about $1000 more than the Roadster (Canadian prices). What does that extra $1000 buy me? And do any of you feel those extra options are useful?
 
Well, from what I've read you get to choose between 2 6L6s, 4 6L6s, 2 EL-34s, 2 EL-34s and 2 6L6s, or 2 EL-34s and 4 6L6s. Oh, and you can hook up two different cabinets and select either the first or the second for each channel. So ya, more tube options AND more crap (cabs) to haul!
 
I've heard some people say that the roadster seems more "organic" and "pure" than the road king,but its probably slight at best. If Icould afford it I would go road king... 2 effects loop cab selection and tube blending. I would kill for tube blending right now.
 
I always though it'd be cool to have an open back 2x12 for cleans stacked on a closed back 4x12 for dirt... and then both come on for lead.

Or an OB 1x12 beside a CB 2x12...

Still... it's not $1000 cooler...
 
I was playing an open backed roadster today at GC... loved the cleans .. HATED the distorted channels.. I mean HATED the distorted channels and they are supposedly the same thing as a Roadking.

the Roadster head was a little better but I switched guitars to that new PRS with the control pot selector. I woukld go Roadking all the way... if you know how to install your taste of preamp tubes and have a variety of guitars... RK makes it all come together with a closed 4x12 or open 2x12 at the same time ...

Roadster at GC is not a fair comparison... they were sounding fizzy
 
In addition to cabinet switching and power tube switching options the Road King also has 2 effects loops where the Roadster only has one.
 
screamingdaisy said:
I always though it'd be cool to have an open back 2x12 for cleans stacked on a closed back 4x12 for dirt... and then both come on for lead.

Or an OB 1x12 beside a CB 2x12...

Still... it's not $1000 cooler...

. . . AND tube blending AND an extra FX loop?

Ya, $1000 is a bit steep for that when $1000 buys you an Egnater combo that you can use for all your cleans! If you want to haul around more cabs, why not get an Electra Dyne and ABY it with your 2 channel dual? That gets you four channels, close back, open back, and a possible blend of both!
 
YellowJacket said:
screamingdaisy said:
I always though it'd be cool to have an open back 2x12 for cleans stacked on a closed back 4x12 for dirt... and then both come on for lead.

Or an OB 1x12 beside a CB 2x12...

Still... it's not $1000 cooler...

. . . AND tube blending AND an extra FX loop?

Ya, $1000 is a bit steep for that when $1000 buys you an Egnater combo that you can use for all your cleans! If you want to haul around more cabs, why not get an Electra Dyne and ABY it with your 2 channel dual? That gets you four channels, close back, open back, and a possible blend of both!

Well.. the idea is that I don't want to carry lug any extra gear. A 2x12 and 1x12 I would swing... a second head I won't.

A second effects doesn't mean so much to a guy who's only really using a wah. The best purpose I could see for it would be to have a delay in the parallel loop and a chorus in the serial loop.

The tube blending is nice, but in the grand scheme of things I don't know how important it is to me. I'd probably just smack EL34s in the Roadster anyway so having 4 6L6s in the RK is a bit of a moot point.

I think I've pretty much figured out what I need to figure out. The few options the RK has up on the Roadster aren't really worth it to me.
 
I guess the Road King with matching half and half cab would be the ultimate rig. One head, one cab, 4 channels, open or closed back with a flick of a switch, 2 fx loops. If only they would copy the VH4's stereo option. :D
 
FWIW, I tried the Road King 2 x 12 and it sounds incredible. I REALLY like that cab!

Ya, lugging gear is a pain in the ***. One head and a 2 x 12 is enough for me these days. Once I figured out how to use my volume knob as a gain boost, I was set!
Now if I was to get a Road King, I'd buy four YellowJackets to make ample use of the tube blending. I could have class A tube tone for cleans that way and use the EL-34s for the crunch and gain tones! I'd be rockin' Lonestar Special cleans that way!!
So you think you are doing to ditch your Dual Rev F after all that? I just can't bring myself to part with mine since I really do like how it sounds. The only potential large expense is that it is really due for a check up at the 20 year mark. After all the talk about getting the caps changed, I called up Mesa and Marcus told me they found problems pop up around the 20 year mark so it is a VERY good idea to have an amp serviced then before something bad happens to it. Apparently blown filter caps are a MESS!
 
ryjan said:
I guess the Road King with matching half and half cab would be the ultimate rig. One head, one cab, 4 channels, open or closed back with a flick of a switch, 2 fx loops. If only they would copy the VH4's stereo option. :D

There is that option, but I'd want the 4x12 for the extra power handling when only using half the cab.

YellowJacket said:
So you think you are doing to ditch your Dual Rev F after all that?

I'd probably hold onto it for awhile. Make sure I was happy with the Roadster and what-not.
 
Something that no one else has mentioned: maintenance and repair costs.

I know there is a warranty, but what about when it runs out? Troubleshooting a RK vs. a Roadster would just seem like 2 pretty different things. All those extra components on the RK personally make me nervous. Maybe I am old school where its good to keep it as simple as possible?

My vote if for an EL34-loaded Roadster all day long.
 
I don't get the disdain associated with the Roadster and 6L6s. The Roadster IMHO sounds fantastic with the 6L6s. I also like the EL34s, but I read people often stating that the Roadster sounds bad with 6L6s in it. I find those statements to be a bit harsh and frankly overreaching. So much of the Roadster's problem IMO is that it does require a lot of tweaking to find the voicings that work best in each channel. Throw on top of that the different modes, power options, settings, etc, and you really have your hands full as a Roadster owner.

Basically, the point of my comment is to remind owners that the Roadster is a hell of an amp with either types of power tubes. It is also not an easy amp to dial in to. If you go to a music store and try it out and it isn't to your liking, ask for the Mesa Roadster manual that came with the amp. There, Mesa has included some decent (and some great) settings to begin with so you can really hear the amp's potential. I just don't want any future owners/users to get the impression that the Roadster somehow only sounds good with EL34s.
 
I wouldn't let the Road King's versatility and extra options steer you away from it if that is the amp you desire ScreamingDaisy. Sure, there is more that could go wrong with it, but a Mesa tech should be able to figure it out regardless. If you go with the 'King, you'll definitely have to buy more tubes for it, but you surely aren't going to have to replace every tube all at once. Power tubes are switched out by the pair and preamp tubes individually. If you want to completely retube the amp (another thing I don't get with a fixed bias amp like a Mesa), then I can see your financial concern -- that would be very spendy. Personally, I only use the Mesa branded tubes and find my tone to be absolutely unreal.

The Road King is a great amp, and if you don't need all of its added features, such as; two effects loops, individual channel speaker outs, and progressive linkage then stick to the Roadster. If you do need those options then by all means go with the Road King. The worst thing you could do is get that seed of doubt placed in your head about which amp to buy, based on some quack reviews from people who "tried the amp out in store." I've read the posts of people claiming that somehow the Roadster is not going to sound like the mighty Road King -- which is complete bull. The Roadster IS the Road King, minus progressive linkage. You can get the same EL34 sound or 6L6 sound, just not both at the same time. It's as simple as that. With the Roadster, if you like EL34s the best and have your heart set on using them, you'll have the option of running the entire amp at 100 watts with those tubes. I've done it and loved it. The Roadster is very versatile and very awesome sounding -- plain and simple. You've got to love the haters out there. Everyone loves to have an opinion, even if it flies in the face of the facts.

Good luck!
 
Yeah... I don't really put a lot of weight behind in-store reviews... hence my comment about new speakers needing to be broken in.

Anyway, it's not that the RK had something that I really wanted. I mostly wanted to make sure I'd thought of all the angles before making a decision, and for the most part it seems that I have.
 
screamingdaisy said:
Yeah... I don't really put a lot of weight behind in-store reviews... hence my comment about new speakers needing to be broken in.

Anyway, it's not that the RK had something that I really wanted. I mostly wanted to make sure I'd thought of all the angles before making a decision, and for the most part it seems that I have.

I have an RKII. It's great. The only real differences between it and a Roadster (tone wise) are pretty trivial. The Roadster can run 4xEL34 if you put them in. The RKII can, as you know, only use 2xEL34, but it can mix w/ 6L6s which is my favorite thing about it. It sounds unbelievably brutal, but I don't know if that's what you're going for or not. Either way, strictly tone-wise, they're extremely similar. When I was making a purchase, I decided to wait a few more weeks for the extra $800 just because I could afford to.

Hope this helped.
 
I love my Road King II...awesome amp. I love having the extra options so I can experiment with different kinds of tones and the potential for being a really flexible recording amplifier...just my thing...plus I wanted the Road King before there was even a Roadster...so I made my dream come true...=D

Anyhow, make sure you get a head and a separate 2x12 cab. The head already weighs a bunch. The combo weighs over 100lbs (the same weight as a 4x12). Plus the 2x12 rocks just the same as the 4x12. I have both the recto 2x12 and 4x12 cabs.

Plus, if you ever want to use a different cab, you can!
 

Latest posts

Back
Top