What is your opinion of the roadking l

[rocker43]

Hey guys, I am new to Mesa. What is your opinion of the roadking l. I like to play lots of different types of music. Heavy sounding metal to classic rock and even a little bit of clean at times. I did not pick this amp for its clean, it just sort of fit my budget and seemed versatile. I would have rather had the version ll but price is always in the way, so I thought I would give this a try. Would you trust an older mesa, 4-6 years old? Harmony central don't give it as good of review as some other mesa's. From what I can gather they hold to gether pretty well. I am sure labor and shipping would kill me if I ever need to get this combo serviced. I may end of swapping it and getting a v3 combo instead just for something that is in warrantee. Anyway give me your opinion on these and how much you think is a reasonable price for one.

 

[rocker43]

Hi group, I can't believe I am at a mesa forum and nobody knows anything about the road king. Is it a voodoo amp or something? Did I pick Mesa Boogies stepchild nobody wants?

 

[siggy14]

My main amp is a RKI and I love it and they are like any other mesa, built like a tank. My friend has a roadster and i actually prefer my RKI to his roadster. I almost made the mistake of getting rid of my RKI and getting a roadster and I am glad I never did.

So considering the RKII is suppose to be voice just like the roadster, just with more options, I would probaly have to say I prefer the RKI over the RKII, but since i never played it I cant give you a complete yes on that.

No this is not the step child, probaly no one answered because there are millions of threads on the amp with many people that love it.

The RKI will get you what you want and it has great cleans as well, so do not let people say go with the RKII, it all depends on what you want.

Reasons why I like the RKI better. The brit channel is more voiced like an old plexi, gets you closer to the marshall tone then the RKII. Brit mode on RKII and roadster are more towards the stiletto, but with less gain, but still more gain then the RKI.

I can get just as much gain out of my RKI Brit channel with a booster pedal in front with the drive and the level maxed and it sounds just as natural as the RKII even though you are using some diode clipping to gain that gain! However what great albums from the past didnt use that as well?

Other things I love about the RKI, i have both a parallel and series loop, with the new RKII you get two series. I just like haveing the option of either one.

The Distortion channels have a bit more upper mid's then normal rectos and since i am more of a hard rock player with the occasional metal, I much prefer the voicing of the RKI.

As to the different in clean channels, going up againt my friends roadster, it is a bit noticable, but not enough for me to care!

 

[rocker43]

thanks for the excellent response siggy14, I have done days worth of googling to find info on this amp. I do find lots of info but most of it is a few years old. It seems like nobody talks about this amp anymore. You gave me some insite comparing it to a RKll that I haven't heard before, at least at one source. After reading your comparison I think this amp will be better suited to me than the RKll. I guess I was just worried that I would spend a ton on a 6 year old amp and then have it fail on me. Just wasn't sure of its track record. I am glad to see at least one of them are still doing what they do best. I have a 1990 jeep grand wagoneer, one of the old woody looking ones. I love it but what a pain in the ***. Always breaking down, but I love it regardless. I didn't want my new mesa to be like my old jeep. I want somethink that just plain kicks *** but is extremely durable. I am totally excited to be getting what I consider to be an outstanding amp. But like I say it don't get much talk anymore and I guess durability issues is what I was worried about most. I like the comparisons you gave to the newer amps. As I stated earlier this is my first mesa, I am coming over from Life with el34's so this should be a bit of a switch. Thanks again for the excellent post.

 

[CudBucket]

I bought a new RKII in 2006 and kept it for about 2 years before selling it. Awesome clean channel. Brit mode on Channel 2 is useless IMO. Channel 3 and Channel 4 are great high gain channels and smoother than most give it credit for.

The thing I could never get around was the loose low end. It just took too much effort to keep it from being a bit woofy and farty through a traditional 4x12. Having a tight, punchy low E string was just not going to happen for me.

 

[siggy14]

I have owned four roadkings, known of them every failed me, i kept to one i have now for certain reasons.

Here are a few things, one if the amp is under 500 in the S/N make sure it has all the updates done, the first 500 had some recalls that mesa fixes for free.

Depending on what type of metal you are in will determine if this amp is right for you, there are alot better choices out there if you not into the recto tone or i should say groups that use the recto.

Mark IV is a great amp that covers all grounds from rock to some newer metal but you dont get the recto tone, but you can get **** close!

thanks for the excellent response siggy14, I have done days worth of googling to find info on this amp. I do find lots of info but most of it is a few years old. It seems like nobody talks about this amp anymore. You gave me some insite comparing it to a RKll that I haven't heard before, at least at one source. After reading your comparison I think this amp will be better suited to me than the RKll. I guess I was just worried that I would spend a ton on a 6 year old amp and then have it fail on me. Just wasn't sure of its track record. I am glad to see at least one of them are still doing what they do best. I have a 1990 jeep grand wagoneer, one of the old woody looking ones. I love it but what a pain in the ***. Always breaking down, but I love it regardless. I didn't want my new mesa to be like my old jeep. I want somethink that just plain kicks *** but is extremely durable. I am totally excited to be getting what I consider to be an outstanding amp. But like I say it don't get much talk anymore and I guess durability issues is what I was worried about most. I like the comparisons you gave to the newer amps. As I stated earlier this is my first mesa, I am coming over from Life with el34's so this should be a bit of a switch. Thanks again for the excellent post.

 

[chriz_batman]

dude i freakin love the road king. i wouldn't use no other and i use all the features! you should ask yourself what's not to love. IMO the 2nd serious better plus come on there's not that much and if mesa thought the 1st one would be better than the 2nd then obviously they would change something. I read some of the reviews but honestly **** them i love the road king and thats all that matters right? I also really like the roadster which is very similar to the rk so it's the Road king's little brother(same family). you should get it if you have the cash. I got the Road king custom head with a custom rk cab with a custom Rectifier cab(i wanted to use the cabinets in different combinations)

 

[rocker43]

Hey group thanks for all the great responses. After I saw 40 people read my origional post and no one responded I just started to wonder. I am glad to see the road king is alive and kicking and I am totally ready for some serious rock and roll. Thanks for re-asurances, and I gathered some good info along the way. I like to ask questions about my gear sometimes and it is good to know there are some peoples brain I can pick around here.

Thanks alot

 

[konstantine RK]

Yea,

Im a RK1 owner and its time to change the tubes. More than 40 have read my "Tube change time " post and offered no reply lol.

I love my RK1, I like my triple rectifier I love my rect 4x12 cab and I dig the stiletto cab but I would rather have 2 rectifier cabs or that cool RK cab!

What I really like about the RK is the tube switching. You can get loads of tone for distorted channels or the cleans.

 

[lhomme3554]

I've had my RK1 for a number of years now and been very happy. I've tweeked with it by changing the CH2 voicing (changed the .047 to a .022 cap) and raised the reverb levels on CH3 and 4. Over all it's been dependable. I loaded my amp with some RCA 7025's, NOS Phillips STR 6L6's and RCA EL34s. Mine's an early one with no front vent or fan but has never had a over-heating issue.

 

[Fixxer6671]

I've owned the RKI, demo'd the RK II, and own the roadster.

For me, and what I wan the Roadster is hands down, the better of the three. It has the cleans of the lone star, and the attack and tonal characteristics of the old two channels.

The Roadkings have allot of options but at the end, the simpler the better.

 

[tambrose]

How much does a RK I combo go for on the used market these days?

Thanks,

-tom

 

[konstantine RK]

I have no clue cause I always look for em at GC but your guess is as good as anyone's.

Hope the RK1 combo would depreciate by now cause I love the RK1

 

[rocker43]

Well my roadking arrived last week. After pulling it out of the box, I noticed it was loud to the unreal level. I normally play at a level 1.5 to 2 times bedroom level. The first day, I could not get a tone I liked at all. Day two, I got a little better but just was just not satisfied. Day three something magical happened, I was able to get a tone really close to what I was after. Days 4-5 this amp went up a whole nother level. I found great tones on all the channels. I have realized that my guitar tone and volume controls play much more of a roll in adjusting my tone than they ever did on my marshalls and el34 based amps. I am getting some tone that I am really loving. I went from using my stock 2x12 combo speakers and also taping into my g12h heritage 4x12 cab and this thing sound amazing. Barring any bad luck and the thing blows up on me or something, I can see me owning this amp for a very long time. I am not having to run pedals with it and I am in tone heaven. I think the clean is very good on this amp, nothing any worse than I have experienced on any other amp I have owned. It works beautifully for me. The key to my tone was keeping the treble under control and using the presence knob alot. I guess that goes with all the knobs really, if one of them is out of wack then it really throws off your sound alot. With all the controls on this amp just a little bitty bit goes a very long way. This amp is surprisingly not really that noisy with as much gain as it has. I think I made a great choice in my selection of amps, I just hope I can get a schematic from mesa, that will put my mind at ease a about costly repairs that I may be able to fix myself.

 

[Bill11]

Hi group, I can't believe I am at a mesa forum and nobody knows anything about the road king. Is it a voodoo amp or something? Did I pick Mesa Boogies stepchild nobody wants?

Hi rocker43,

Welcome, and I hear what you are saying about responses. Sometimes folks are slow to respond because the question or topic has been covered in other threads.

The google search feature for this forum is helpful. When you get a chance, and if you haven't already, you could use the google search feature for this forum to search for:

road king 1

or

rkI

or

rk1

to find additional info on the Road King 1, including different tube options that other folks have used that really expand the sonic options. The road king 1 amps are great amps.

 

[hamer_fan]

I've had my RK for about a year and absolutely love it. Mine is the head version but I'm sure the combo controls are very similar. Rocker43, I see you already hit on one of the quirks of this amp. The EQ is VERY touchy. If your amp didn't have a manual, you should download the PDF. It explains exactly how the EQ is routed from through the treble pot first and how the prescence control can affect your tone and response and how to avoid some of the harsh tones this amp is capable of. The payoff is the amount of control you have over subtle shades of your sound. Glad to hear you're happy with it.

 

[konstantine RK]

4ohms into cabs and the RK1 will sing like a bird

 

[Armando]

It's a great amp. Wouldn't get rid of it for anything. Not to say I wouldn't add some others. I've owned the Mark III and Dual Recto Rackmount(sold both a while back). If you need different tone flavors, it's got them.