Thinking of getting a RKII over my Mark V ??? HELPPPP

[ricorocks]

Hey guys recently I’m thinking of making the switch to the RKII from my beloved “V”…. reason is that no matter how hard I try (And I’ve tried all sorts of combinations….) I just can’t get the Tone that I want , which is JP’s Suspended animation solo album’s tone! Now he used a RKI not a 2, he had the BEST friggin’ tone I have ever heard, Period…. Now I’m thinkin’ why the hell did he go to the “V” if I , as many others believe his tone was MUCH better from that album which he also used to record TOT… people tend to say rectifiers are loose or saggy for leads!!! What??? come on , something’s not right here . he has the tightest and best rock solid tone on his Solo album (SA) and also when he played Glasgow kiss and damage control on G3 live. Thoughts anyone? Thanks Appreciate all your help. Am I the only one thinkin’ that behind his “V” gear that we all see and read about a KINGII is lurking …??? I mean does he “REALLY” love the “V” over the KING??? I don’t get it , don’t see why??? As I said his tone was the Sh?t on G3 live and SAnimation… Hey don’t get me wrong I love my “V” but I just can’t get that KING tone he had …hmmmm wondering…. Later guys. One last thing i play leads mainly , would the RKII suit me well for shredding solos??? Thanks and rock till you drop

 

[YellowJacket]

Do you have an option to try any sort of recto? The Dual Recto Reborn, Roadster, or RKII will get you those sorts of tones. I think the Mark V is tighter with a better lead / solo tone but the Rectos all have this incredibly massive rhythm tone like what you're talking about. I wonder if Petrucci boosted the RK for leads? At any rate, if you want a wide, scooped, and crushing rhythm tone, rectos will do it. If you boost it, it gets tighter and smoother with more bite and top end harmonics. It looses some of the growl but it's all what you need.

Just a thought: I have a superstrat with Bare Knuckle Juggernauts (Pickups) in it, and switching to those pickups has given me a great lead / solo tone as well as a crushing rhythm tone, all through my old 2 channel recto. I've just found that it takes a special guitar / pickup combination to get a magic result whereas with the Mark V, a lot of options work extremely well.

 

[ricorocks]

Thanks for the info. YellowJacket highly appreciate it. I do have a chance to try one out this week a RKII. But I am afraid that 50 watts is gonna knock down my house even at lowish volumes… by the way how does it sound at 50 watts for practicing? Is it thin and fizzy as they say??? Is it to loud to use for home practicing without having the police men LOL knocking on my door? You say you get a great lead/solo tone with a boost , but wouldn’t that be overkill on a recto? In ch3-4!! I got a BB pre-amp, it’s awesome with my “V” but I don’t use it in ch3, only ch2 Crunch mode to get a bit more sustain and boost and for a more vintage classic rock tone a–la Marshall. Or ch1 for a nice rock - blues tone, but would never use it in ch3!!!! I have 2 Suhr custom moderns with Aldrich humpups, do you think they would get along with a recto. I want to keep the sound/tone of my guitars intact. The “V” keeps my guitar sound “true” (Not colored) thanks man Rock on…

 

[paulg2uk]

I recently did the same. I owned my a Mark V for 2 years and decided to change. Mainly because I preferred the recto sound. I bought a reborn dual rec, didn't like that as it was too fizzy sounding and then traded that in and bought the road king 2. I can't be more happier I now have that classic recto sound I wanted all a long plus chan 2 on the road king 2 which sounds awesome for the slightly overdriven sounds.

I'd try the road king out first though as I did and make sure its right for you. i don;t think you'll be disappointed though.

 

[ricorocks]

paulg2uk good to hear i’m not the only one thinking i want to make the switch. But damn I’m so afraid that if I make a mistake I will regret it BIG TIME. Can you please tell me how the lead tone is on the RKII compared to the “V” ? I need a good lead tone as I mostly play lead and solo (But I also want a massive thundering roaring rhythm sound) . everyone seems to say that recto’s are great for chugging rhythms but NOT so for leads. Could you please give me your take on this since you have also had the “V” I highly trust your opinion since you had both amps. Did you get the King because you mainly play rhythm or because it works for leads just as well??? Oh by the way can I play it in my bedroom for practicing? Or is 50 watts way to loud that the house will come down LOL? Does it need an attenuator? I know I have no problem with 10 watts on my V… for home practicing.it’s awesome One last thing since the roadster is the same (So they say!!!) apart from Prog Link and cab switch 120 watts and 2 loops . all stuff I don’t really care for. Would you recommend me to go with a Roadster or is the RKII superior Tone wise to the Roadster? Thanks . appreciate all your great help. Rock on . I envy you. You have the KINGII and hopefully if all goes well I will have one to. Ciao man…

 

[paulg2uk]

paulg2uk good to hear i’m not the only one thinking i want to make the switch. But damn I’m so afraid that if I make a mistake I will regret it BIG TIME. Can you please tell me how the lead tone is on the RKII compared to the “V” ? I need a good lead tone as I mostly play lead and solo (But I also want a massive thundering roaring rhythm sound) . everyone seems to say that recto’s are great for chugging rhythms but NOT so for leads. Could you please give me your take on this since you have also had the “V” I highly trust your opinion since you had both amps. Did you get the King because you mainly play rhythm or because it works for leads just as well??? Oh by the way can I play it in my bedroom for practicing? Or is 50 watts way to loud that the house will come down LOL? Does it need an attenuator? I know I have no problem with 10 watts on my V… for home practicing.it’s awesome One last thing since the roadster is the same (So they say!!!) apart from Prog Link and cab switch 120 watts and 2 loops . all stuff I don’t really care for. Would you recommend me to go with a Roadster or is the RKII superior Tone wise to the Roadster? Thanks . appreciate all your great help. Rock on . I envy you. You have the KINGII and hopefully if all goes well I will have one to. Ciao man…

Lol that was exactly my thoughts when I was debating what to do. It's hard to describe but I found the Mark V a little clean sounding a bit more articulated with solo's. Lead tone thru the RK2 is awesome you can get that liquid solo sound no probs. Its also great for chugging as well. I have mine set to chan 1 clean 4 x 6L6's, chan 2 set to 2 x el34's, channel 3 to vintage with a little gain 4 x 6l6's and channel 4 set to modern for all my high gain stuff also 6l6's. I'm basically running this thru a boogie 1x12 and its plenty loud. Soon to get a zilla 2x12 cab.

I got the king purely because I love the recto sound and I think that's what I was missing with the mark v. Don't get me wrong the mark v is an excellent amp but the road kind just does it for my its an all rounded which is pretty important with some of the cover songs I play in my band. 50 watts is still quite loud I often find you have to crank the amp to get a good sound out of 50 watts. You have the master control if you're using the fx loop that can be quite handy for practicing. Unfortunately the road king is a loud amp and you can't do much about that.

I'm not familiar with the roaster but I've heard its quite a dark sounding amp plus the road king 2 looks better. The progressive leakage is a great option to have. If you're gonna buy a boogie I'd go the whole way if you can afford to.

Hope that helps

Paul

 

[ricorocks]

paulg2uk for the great info. think I’m gonna “ride with the King” LOL . for some reason I can’t help thinking that the tone is superior even if slightly to the Roadster because I think it’s built way better?!? Just wanted to add 2r other questions (sorry if I’m bothering) : is it really heavy? how much heavier than the V would you say ?? and do you feel you’re lacking in tone shaping without an on board GEQ??? Thanks for the great help Ciao man

 

[ryjan]

The Roadster and Road King are the same amp with the Road King have a couple more bells and whistles. Tonewise, when running the same power tube configurations, they are identical. I bought my Roadster because I was jamming with a guy that had a Road King and I really dug his sound. I played them side-by-side extensively.
All you have to do is figure out if you want the extra options or not.

 

[ricorocks]

Thaks for the great help Ryan. Rock on

 

[paulg2uk]

paulg2uk for the great info. think I’m gonna “ride with the King” LOL . for some reason I can’t help thinking that the tone is superior even if slightly to the Roadster because I think it’s built way better?!? Just wanted to add 2r other questions (sorry if I’m bothering) : is it really heavy? how much heavier than the V would you say ?? and do you feel you’re lacking in tone shaping without an on board GEQ??? Thanks for the great help Ciao man

The Road King 2 is heavy no doubt about it. More heavier than the mark v. It weighs 57 pounds according to boogies website. The roadster weighs 48 pounds and the mark v weighs 44 pounds so quite a difference. i always struggle when carrying it a long way but then again I lift heavy items for a living to I'm used to it. Other times I just wheel it on my cab.

I don't think I'm lacking tone at all without the EQ. The road king has so many tonal options you can't go wrong. I feel as I have a fuller tone now. I'd just sit and play through both and see which you like that's the best way. Only you know what you wanna hear at the end of the day.

I hope that helps

 

[bandit2013]

Only 57 lbs? One would think there would be more weight to it since it has two output transformers (which I am lead to believe). The RA weighs in at 65lbs. The transformers on that are enormous compared to my V.

I jumped onto the Roadster band wagon. Due to arrive any day now. Expected ship date is the 6th.

My first impressions with the Roadster were not very good one's. It sounded okay but difficult to get a tone that said "buy me". The Mark V was easy but I am familiar with the Mark Series so it was not hard to get the sounds I liked. This time, I decided to ignore my previous experience and just get it. If it can deliver the goods like in recordings I have heard through Mesa, I am in on that. I like the sponginess of the tube rectifier, wish the Mark V could operate at full power with rectifier tube, since it only has one, guess it is limited to 50W.

The Road King is tempting, too late since I have the Roadster on order. I hope I do not discover any issues with it like I did with the V, primarily the footswitch cable can be a PITA at times. Thanks who ever posted the thread on which tubes are cathode followers for the Rectifier series amps. I guess I will find out if Mesa uses all JJ tubes in the preamp or are there Chinese tubes in the cathode follower circuits. Only tube I could fine on Mesa store that were Chinese were the 12AT7. Can't wait till it get here. I decided to add a different flavor of tone, not sure if I will replace any amps that I currently have since each of them have a specific tone and character that I do not want to do without.

 

[paulg2uk]

Only 57 lbs? One would think there would be more weight to it since it has two output transformers (which I am lead to believe). The RA weighs in at 65lbs. The transformers on that are enormous compared to my V.

I jumped onto the Roadster band wagon. Due to arrive any day now. Expected ship date is the 6th.

My first impressions with the Roadster were not very good one's. It sounded okay but difficult to get a tone that said "buy me". The Mark V was easy but I am familiar with the Mark Series so it was not hard to get the sounds I liked. This time, I decided to ignore my previous experience and just get it. If it can deliver the goods like in recordings I have heard through Mesa, I am in on that. I like the sponginess of the tube rectifier, wish the Mark V could operate at full power with rectifier tube, since it only has one, guess it is limited to 50W.

The Road King is tempting, too late since I have the Roadster on order. I hope I do not discover any issues with it like I did with the V, primarily the footswitch cable can be a PITA at times. Thanks who ever posted the thread on which tubes are cathode followers for the Rectifier series amps. I guess I will find out if Mesa uses all JJ tubes in the preamp or are there Chinese tubes in the cathode follower circuits. Only tube I could fine on Mesa store that were Chinese were the 12AT7. Can't wait till it get here. I decided to add a different flavor of tone, not sure if I will replace any amps that I currently have since each of them have a specific tone and character that I do not want to do without.

According to Boogies weight chart yes 57 Pounds the RA weighs in at 53 pounds

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/weights-dims/weightsNdims.pdf

 

[ricorocks]

Thanks for the great help I’m getting here from everyone. You guys are great… Hey Bandit2013 funny to see you’re here to LOL Later “Till judgment day” ... As you can see I’m jumping around to get all sorts of info . good right???

 

[bandit2013]

Only 57 lbs? One would think there would be more weight to it since it has two output transformers (which I am lead to believe). The RA weighs in at 65lbs. The transformers on that are enormous compared to my V.

According to Boogies weight chart yes 57 Pounds the RA weighs in at 53 pounds

http://www.mesaboogie.com/Product_Info/weights-dims/weightsNdims.pdf

The chart is correct, had to get an accurate measurement of just the head (now that I laid claim as to its weight), 52 lbs 12.8oz. Shipping weight came in at 65lbs as indicated on the UPS label. Helps to have an accurate scale. I doubt the shipping carton and footswitch weighs 13 lbs. Oh well, my bad....

 

[domct203]

Only 57 lbs? One would think there would be more weight to it since it has two output transformers (which I am lead to believe).

Why would you think that the RK would have two OT's? There is only one.

http://www.musicpark.com.au/Roadking.htm

Dom

 

[bandit2013]

It must be a tapped or dual winding on the OT since there are two separate output channels A and B. The grounding plug made me think there were two OT's. Also looked through the manual just for interests, been a while since I glanced at it, had to figure out why there was a grounding plug so the A and B output section made me assume there were two OT.

 

[siggy14]

I cant say anything for the RKII, but the RKI and the roadster do not sound the same, the roadster is dark compared to the RKI.

The Roadster and Road King are the same amp with the Road King have a couple more bells and whistles. Tonewise, when running the same power tube configurations, they are identical. I bought my Roadster because I was jamming with a guy that had a Road King and I really dug his sound. I played them side-by-side extensively.
All you have to do is figure out if you want the extra options or not.

 

[ryjan]

I cant say anything for the RKII, but the RKI and the roadster do not sound the same, the roadster is dark compared to the RKI.

The Roadster and Road King are the same amp with the Road King have a couple more bells and whistles. Tonewise, when running the same power tube configurations, they are identical. I bought my Roadster because I was jamming with a guy that had a Road King and I really dug his sound. I played them side-by-side extensively.
All you have to do is figure out if you want the extra options or not.

The Roadster also sounds different than a Marshall also but we're specifically discussing the Road King II.