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Hatsubai « Revised Road King »
Published on 04/03/11 at 18:42The Road King II is basically a product that was made thanks in part to Petrucci's Lonestar and Road King setup he used during the Train of Thought tour. The biggest issue with the old Road King was that the clean was somewhat bland. However, they added the Lonestar clean channel to this amp, and it really shines now. Aside from the Lonestar circuit in channels one and two, this amp is pretty much the same.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did a great job at laying everything out. At first, it looks like a lot, but everything is clearly labeled and logical when it comes to utilization. The manual on this is amazing, just like all the Mesa manuals out there. It describes how to dial it in, what controls do what, where the sweet spots are, and so on. There are reports of some channel popping, so keep that in mind when using this amp.
SOUNDS
The amp is ridiculously awesome. The clean tones are absolutely superb, midgain tones are nice and lead tones are amazing. Boosting this amp takes it into a new dimension as well. It is versatile enough to do any style out there from jazz to metal, although I have a feeling the people who buy this will lean towards the rock/metal aspects of music. The coolest feature is easily the tube selection. It adds so much versatility to this amp that it's almost mind blowing. They really outdid themselves with this amp, and the much needed clean channel improvements take this amp to a new dimension.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for an extremely versatile four channel amp that can do nearly any genre, I recommend checking this thing out. While the controls might be a bit hard to get used to for first timers, it should be pretty easy to get a good tone out of this thing. If you already have the original Road King and don't care that much about the clean channels, I say hang onto it. If you gotta have that Lonestar clean channel, however, this is the amp to get.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did a great job at laying everything out. At first, it looks like a lot, but everything is clearly labeled and logical when it comes to utilization. The manual on this is amazing, just like all the Mesa manuals out there. It describes how to dial it in, what controls do what, where the sweet spots are, and so on. There are reports of some channel popping, so keep that in mind when using this amp.
SOUNDS
The amp is ridiculously awesome. The clean tones are absolutely superb, midgain tones are nice and lead tones are amazing. Boosting this amp takes it into a new dimension as well. It is versatile enough to do any style out there from jazz to metal, although I have a feeling the people who buy this will lean towards the rock/metal aspects of music. The coolest feature is easily the tube selection. It adds so much versatility to this amp that it's almost mind blowing. They really outdid themselves with this amp, and the much needed clean channel improvements take this amp to a new dimension.
OVERALL OPINION
If you're looking for an extremely versatile four channel amp that can do nearly any genre, I recommend checking this thing out. While the controls might be a bit hard to get used to for first timers, it should be pretty easy to get a good tone out of this thing. If you already have the original Road King and don't care that much about the clean channels, I say hang onto it. If you gotta have that Lonestar clean channel, however, this is the amp to get.