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Hatsubai « Road King's little brother »
Published on 03/30/11 at 12:46Thanks to John Petrucci, the Road King took off like crazy. However, it was fairly expensive and had tons of options most people wouldn't use. Mesa/Boogie realized this and created a "slimmed down" version of the Road King. Keep in mind that even though this has less features, it still has more features than most other amps on the market. The features are too long to list, but it has four independent channels, tons of voicing switches, an effects loop, reverb for each channel and TONS more features.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did an awesome job at packaging everything in a logical way. The front contains all the switches you'll mostly use, and the rear contains the switches that aren't necessarily "on the fly" options. The manual does an amazing job at describing how the EQ works, what every switch does, how everything interacts and how to take care of this head. Despite all of these features being packed inside this amp, it's still extremely reliable to boot.
SOUNDS
The sound is pretty much just like the Road King. It can get amazing clean tones, great midgain tones and searing high gain tones. It can truly do any kind of style you can think of with ease. I guess the biggest problem would be some of those "gooey" leads like the Mark series gets, but the assignable tube/diode switch can help get that sweet compression without sounding overly stiff. As with all rectos, I'm a huge fan of boosting the lead channel to really make it come alive for that precise riffing.
OVERALL OPINION
I actually prefer this amp over the Road King simply because of the price. The Road King may have a few more features, but most people won't be utilizing them. If you're looking for a great four channel amp, this is one that should be on the top of your list. It can do most any style without much of a hassle. Just don't forget to boost the lead channel; it truly takes the amp into a new dimension.
UTILIZATION
Mesa did an awesome job at packaging everything in a logical way. The front contains all the switches you'll mostly use, and the rear contains the switches that aren't necessarily "on the fly" options. The manual does an amazing job at describing how the EQ works, what every switch does, how everything interacts and how to take care of this head. Despite all of these features being packed inside this amp, it's still extremely reliable to boot.
SOUNDS
The sound is pretty much just like the Road King. It can get amazing clean tones, great midgain tones and searing high gain tones. It can truly do any kind of style you can think of with ease. I guess the biggest problem would be some of those "gooey" leads like the Mark series gets, but the assignable tube/diode switch can help get that sweet compression without sounding overly stiff. As with all rectos, I'm a huge fan of boosting the lead channel to really make it come alive for that precise riffing.
OVERALL OPINION
I actually prefer this amp over the Road King simply because of the price. The Road King may have a few more features, but most people won't be utilizing them. If you're looking for a great four channel amp, this is one that should be on the top of your list. It can do most any style without much of a hassle. Just don't forget to boost the lead channel; it truly takes the amp into a new dimension.