Who is still feeling the love for their Roadking?

[Heritage Softail]

I dig a good clean. And of course the Mark series hair metal. And then the heavy Soundgarden and AIC riff heavy chug. It seems the RK is the best thing in the current Mesa lineup for that.

Earlier this week I saw Dannyeo post a Stilletto pulling off some great Marshall tones. The RK has a Brit mode. Is this similar to the RK?

The Lonestar cleans are pretty sweet. Mesa claims the RK has that nailed. Is this true? Close to true?

Opinions, rants, and soap box rambles welcome.

 

[Stratocaster]

I dig a good clean. And of course the Mark series hair metal. And then the heavy Soundgarden and AIC riff heavy chug. It seems the RK is the best thing in the current Mesa lineup for that.

Earlier this week I saw Dannyeo post a Stilletto pulling off some great Marshall tones. The RK has a Brit mode. Is this similar to the RK?

The Lonestar cleans are pretty sweet. Mesa claims the RK has that nailed. Is this true? Close to true?

Opinions, rants, and soap box rambles welcome.

Softail,

Just so we have a understanding of your point of reference (since your asking ours), which Mesa products do you currently own? I'm not sure if your sig is a banner of ownership, or a wishlist.

Strat

 

[Heritage Softail]

I have too much gear

Actually more gear. I recently transitioned from more metal focus to include more blues and new country. The Uberschall TJ has the purple mod to make it more like a rodded JCM800.

I have a single rec series II with the additional mode. A MKV on long term loan to a friend since I really don't like it much. My MKIIC is my new number one fab amp. I have played a Lonestar with a tele and some compressor for a set standing in recently and it was amazing.

My wife loves music and is patient with my music hobby so I get an amp every year. I know I'm lucky... And thankful for it.

The RK almost sounds too good to be true. The cab switching and power tube switching makes it seem like it would be a perfect Dire Straits set, classic rock set, and hair band metal set amp all in one.

 

[screamingdaisy]

My opinion is based on the Roadster, so take it with a grain of salt.

I dig a good clean. And of course the Mark series hair metal. And then the heavy Soundgarden and AIC riff heavy chug. It seems the RK is the best thing in the current Mesa lineup for that.

Earlier this week I saw Dannyeo post a Stilletto pulling off some great Marshall tones. The RK has a Brit mode. Is this similar to the RK?

No. It's a totally different vibe. The Stiletto has a more aggressive, out of control vibe to it's distortion than Brit mode does. The Brit mode is much tamer and has nowhere near the amount of gain on tap. Honestly, I don't really like Brit mode so I don't want to comment on it's tonality, so I'll leave that for someone who's gotten a good sound out of it that they like.

The Lonestar cleans are pretty sweet. Mesa claims the RK has that nailed. Is this true? Close to true?

Mesa built in the Lone Star circuit, but it's not a Lonestar. In a Recto the EQ controls are post gain whereas the LoneStar is basically a Mark I with separate channels. The clean channel is also strapped to a Recto's power amp, which changes the tonality somewhat.

That said, the clean channel is killer. Probably the best clean channel I've had... and I use to own a Lone Star Special.

The RK almost sounds too good to be true. The cab switching and power tube switching makes it seem like it would be a perfect Dire Straits set, classic rock set, and hair band metal set amp all in one.

Plug a Recto into G12M-25s and it's a totally different beast.

 

[Stratocaster]

Softail,

This sounds great, as you've got a varied enough equipment background to understand my thoughts.

The RK is a high-end amplifier, that's part of the Recto product line. First and foremost, it excels at being a Recto.
With that being said, it's very versatile as you suggested.

While the product description includes "Improved Channel 1 & 2 now features CLEAN and FAT from our acclaimed LoneStar" (btw, I don't believe the LoneStar has a 'Fat' mode, lol), you have to take this with realistic expectations. If you go into it believing that the RK has 'nailed' the LS sound via a 'cut & paste' from that amp, you're likely to be disappointed. It is certainly a VERY usable clean that makes the most of 'lessons learned' and circuitry inspired/lifted from the LS at all possible points. I'll leave it for a true LS user to give the rest of the input from their experiences.

At the end of the day, if you think of the amp as the highest level of 'Swiss Army Knife' of the Mesa Rectifier line, you won't be disappointed. If you go into the purchase/use of the amp thinking of it as the highest level of 'Swiss Army Knife' of all amps, your experience may leave you disappointed.

This being said, if users also speak up with their Roadster experience, by all means consider it valid. As you're probably aware, the differences are 1) No cab switching AND 2) can not use a combo of 6L6 and EL34 in the same sitting. Also, I believe the Roadster is voiced slightly darker that the RK (many mention similarities between the RK and Tremoverb voicing), but this can easily be eq'd to being essentially the same. Again, I leave it to those with both RK and Roadster (and even Tremoverb) experience to speak to.

I'll leave it here for now for others to give their opinion, but I'm lurking. After a bit more conversation, if you still have some questions about how usable, and what impact, the features are that separate the RK from the Roadster, I'll be glad to hit on those.

Strat

Edit - Daisy was typing his response at the exact same time as me, so whatever he said, I didn't read. But probably agree with 100%.

 

[Gunnski]

The Roadking II was the first Mesa amp I ever owned. I loved the clean and low to mid-gain sounds on that amp but I'm primarly a metal/prog player who likes to play faster type stuff (think lots of palm muted rhythms and legato soloing). I never quite found a sweet spot for myself on that amp to play my style of music. There was never enough compression on that amp without maxing the gain and by that point, it sounded extremely harsh. I dumped it and bought myself a Mark V, which has proven itself to be my ideal type of sound. The feel between the two amps is very different in the high gain modes, so don't purchase the Road King thinking that you can mimic the Mark V. About a year ago, I bought a 'reborn' Dual Rec with the multi-wattage feature and it sounded much better than the Road King for high gain sounds. For example, the Road King had way more low end, so much so that I couldn't run the Low EQ knob much higher than off when the gain knob was high in channels 3 and 4. Also, the Road King was way darker overall and lacked a lot of the bite that's associated with faster playing styles. The lack of brightness makes the Road King sound a lot more like a mid-gain amp instead of a high gain metal beast when compared against a regular Dual Rec. Keep in mind though that I'm only comparing it to the newer Dual Recs, I'm not sure exactly how different they are than previous versions. So, in an ideal world where I'm a rock god, my ideal setup would be a Road King for my clean and low gain sounds, my dual rec for uber-heavy rhythms, and my Mark V when I want to rip some heads off with ultra-fast soloing. Asking for all three of those sounds just out of the Road King seems improbable to me, but maybe others have had some success. However, if you're looking for something in the clean to blues to hair metal region, the Road King should excel.

 

[screamingdaisy]

About the compression, I agree.

Recto's have a SLO style cold clipping stage. This stage has a preamp tube running cold so that it clips in a harder/harsher fashion. The result is more distortion with less compression. It gives the Recto a really powerful and dynamic rhythm response, but it doesn't have the singing sustain of a Mark style preamp.

I actually like my Roadster for soloing on. It's a little choppier and you have to fight for the notes a lot harder... but it has a cool texture to the grind. I've been running mine with the tube rectifiers and variac on. It took some getting used to but it reduces bass, shifts the mids up and adds a unique swirl to the harmonics. Supposedly the amp's only 60w when running like this and I find it runs out of volume fairly quickly. I'm not playing with a band at the moment so I don't know if this setup will cut through at all, but I sure hope it does because I've grown to love the sound.

 

[Heritage Softail]

First off, this board is great. Thanks for the many opinions shared with facts tossed in as well.

The RKII seems to have been able to do a variety of things.

It is really interesting Screaming that you think it is a great clean amp. Gunn says it is his preference for cleaner and lower gain. Strat puts in that it is a great Rec based Lonestar cousin. It seems like a variety of players can get to a solid low to mid gain tones with it. To me that is where a decent bit of dynamics left in the gain makes it cook.

The mid to higher gain will need to chug. As much fun as lead is, and blues licks trading off in jam sessions, a great crunch with some percussion is necessary. That is one of the reasons I bought a Maz 38 instead of a Maz Jr. Any Dr Z players know the jr is plenty loud, it is the headroom punch is the difference. I have tried to bond with a roadster but it just has not happened. The RK being a bit brighter sounds promising. It sounds like the higher gain side will be just a little like the uber, just not the extreme side of gain.

The amp sounds like it is worth the trial period test at guitar center.

These are the upsides:

Should scream in stereo with the MKIIC in a more modern high gain hair metal plus.

Should be awesome low gain also with the MKIIC clean channel.

Stupid beat down metal paired with the Uberschall.

It should be the most flexible amp I have ever played.

I can try it for a while and see how it goes, for four weekends!

Downsides:

Heavy as a truck in combo format.

I will have to call this an early Christmas present, so Santa will skip our house this year.

The Brit mode does not seem to cover the Marshall base. But I have a few decent stomps to get reasonable crunch.

It is not a Lonestar clean.

It will probably take a solid year to learn.



Seems like a pretty good risk to reward proposition. But being a parent and husband first I need to get it after getting the family Christmas presents. That will give me more time to learn about the amp. Maybe even find a killer deal on a used one.

Thx for the feedback.

Stupid question but how does it take a Strat or tele for modern country to Die Straits edge of breakup dirt?

 

[screamingdaisy]

Stupid question but how does it take a Strat or tele for modern country to Die Straits edge of breakup dirt?

Not country, but it's the best I could do.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEyLHUWNt2M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOvusD6aoHg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwZxrYSsXrY

 

[Stratocaster]

Here's a '70's classic rock' kind of thing, tone wise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJmqFUKThbQ

Strat