Road King Head choice

[Coeur de Blues]

I plan to buy Mesa/Boogie Road King head. Living in Quebec city (Canada) some amplifiers are not available here : Bogner, Bad Cat, Matchless, etc. Is this a good choice? I play with PRS and Strat, blues, rock, ... What do you think about this choice ? I play guitar for 39 years and I want to buy my "last" amp, and I like the versatibility of the Road King.

 

[ylo]

Before buying an RK, it is a good idea to try some alternatives for comparison purposes. IMHO, you should try a Bogner Shiva 1 x 12 combo (closed back, ported). This amp sounds great, gets good clean, slightly overdriven and some Marshall-like sounds. It is not as versatile as the RK, probably does not have clean sounds quite as bright as the RK through an open back cab, but I believe it is less expensive, and it has few tubes to replace.

 

[jbird]

While it can entertain the modern hi-gain sounds and OK cleans, I'm not too sure about it's application in blues. :?:

 

[brianf]

The Road King will do blues. From a very soft purr to that neck pup single coil SRV tone.

You can get it on channel 1 or 2.

It will be the last amp you need. Also try out the Mark IV. I have both and either one will cover just so so much territory.

brianf

 

[Red Barchetta]

As a 25 year vet of the "Amp Owning Wars" I can tell you this. The Road King can handle ANY tone you hear in your head.

I play classic rock, southern rock, blues, blues rock, fusion, prog rock, country, country rock, modern hi-gain stuff, old Beatles and Stones stuff, sophisti-pop like Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, and Icehouse...Cream and Truth era Jeff Beck...you get the picture.

The Road King does everything I ask of it. I think it compares extremely well, or even surpasses the Matchless, Bogner, and Trainwreck amps I have played next to. I have not tried it next to a Bad Cat, but I'm sure the result will be the same.

I strongly believe that the RK will be the last amp you ever buy.


RB

 

[ylo]

The Bogner Shiva does blues well, in my opinion, but not heavy metal. I'm suggesting you try it for comparison purposes. You will feel better about buying an RK, if you do, after knowing exactly how it stacks up against other amps.

 

[overture2005]

What kind of music are you all into?

First of all, I wanna say simple is the best IMO.
I play blues, classic rock, hardrock, thrash, progressive metal. Well, I almost nail of the tone of SRV with my strat, John Petrucci, Metallica from my Roadking. It's so versatile, but the Roadking lacks something I can't describe it for bluesy stuff. For the classic rock, the roadking doesn't have a very fast transient attack to compare with some amps IMO, for sure it sounds good. The high gain of the Roadking is pure chug-chug rectifier high gain, you can't tweak it close to Marshall. If you are into the tone of Marshall, just purchase a simple head, like Germino, Suhr products.
The most versatile channel switcher by far is my od100 sh/se IMO, the dirt sounds much juicer, sweeter than my roadking. It also delivers better marshall-ish tone and the od100 sh's clean channel can do some of the very best dumble type of sounds I've ever heard, very fat, thick, warm.
If you are all into blues & bluesy rock(from your name I just guess), why don't you get a DrZ or Victoria? you can save a lot of money and their amps sounds pretty amazing, the Z-28 is my favor. Long&McQuade carries them.


jist my 2 cents.

 

[tele_jas]

Channel one and two on the RK you'll absolutely LOVE!! Channel three and four might not get used too much..... Channel three may see some use with the RAW mode. Channel 3 and 4 are best for rock/hard rock.

I almost think that channel 2 on Brit is worth the extra money you pay for this amp and then some!! That channel is soooo much fun! Can sound like a Marshall with a humbucker guitar or it can sound like a Dr. Z or Bogner Shiva with a single coil guitar. Dont be afraid to crank the highs on channel 2, it won't get too brittle.

It think if you're looking for that "one last amp" the Road King is a good contender. It'd be best if you could go play one first and compare it with some other amps mentioned here, but if you can't get out to try one out I think you'll like it anyways.