Road King II - DISCONTINUED / Out of production ?

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I think this is good overall for the Recto line. It steamlines things and opens up room for another model to be introduced.

I would love to see a 1 channel 100watt "single" recto (SS rectifier only). Modern voicing, switchable between Orange and Red tone stack/presence circuits. Throw in a footswitchable "hi/lo gain" switch for a bit of flexibility. Oh, and definitely a "Tight" switch ala the TC series. I would buy that in a heart beat, as would a ton of metal players. But don't mind me, I'm just dreaming. 8)
 
dtrax said:
I think this is good overall for the Recto line. It steamlines things and opens up room for another model to be introduced.

I would love to see a 1 channel 100watt "single" recto (SS rectifier only). Modern voicing, switchable between Orange and Red tone stack/presence circuits. Throw in a footswitchable "hi/lo gain" switch for a bit of flexibility. Oh, and definitely a "Tight" switch ala the TC series. I would buy that in a heart beat, as would a ton of metal players. But don't mind me, I'm just dreaming. 8)


I always thought the rectifier tubes in the Recto line was the biggest waste of space and tubes since 90% of recto users use the SS option and the Recto series were marketed to the heavier music scene which lends itself to SS rectification for a faster tighter attack and more power. Maybe Randall did this to prevent a lawsuit from Soldano since the Preamp and power amp are identical to the SLO. The only difference is the effect loop (which Mesa did correctly) is different and the Recto doesn't use Negative feedback on the high gain channels.
 
Tube rectifier and the spongy mode, may not work out for heavy metal but **** it sound good for other styles. Perhaps I am in the 1% that actually uses the rectifiers and spongy mode and I play heavy metal too. (Roadster, was my main amp until the JP-2C came out, also the Mark V got a bit of admiration going with me after a few changes but still does not compete for the dark sinister tone I can get from the JP-2C that easily overpowers the Roadster in tone and distorted gain character). I still think the Rectifier amps are the least understood but they definitely can perform quite well for some styles of music.

I wonder what will be next to come in this product line if anything... New TC-100 has been released on the website. I have an odd feeling there will be a lunch box version in the TC line up before another heavy hitter makes the scene in the Rectifier or Mark series. Then again, there is the LoneStar needing some upgrades too. IT will be interesting to see what happens in the next few years.
 
bandit2013 said:
I still think the Rectifier amps are the least understood...

I realize you wrote much more than I quoted, but I wanted to hone in on what I most strongly agree with, especially as it pertains to the Road King/Roadster amplifiers. I was lucky because I played a Roadster Combo that was dialed in really well many years before I bought my own Roadster Combo, so I knew I liked the amp, but like I said, I was lucky. If I'm honest, I do not think either of these amps should have been sold in stores without salespeople that really knew how to use them. They were too complex and too expensive for anybody to buy one with the thought of "I'll just figure it out later." Now that I have owned a Roadster for......a long time, I have learned I really like having 4 channels, especially the two "clean" channels. The best YouTube video and demo I've seen of the Roadster was a guy playing through each channel and playing an appropriate Pearl Jam song that matched the tone and gain characteristics of that channel. Pearl Jam is probably my favorite band but I have never tried to sound like Mike McCready or Stone Gossard. So, to hear those tones coming out of "my" amp played by another person is a testament to the amps abilities or my lack of creativity. :lol:

I understand my Roadster enough to continue learning how to use it, but I do not have it mastered by any stretch of the imagination. My point being, the only way I got to this point was by owning the amp, something many people chose not to do. As for the people that did buy a Road King/Roadster and sold it, each reason has probably crossed my mind at some point as well.

Two traits I have noticed about Mesa's more recent amps, the JP-2C and TC-50, are friendly volume controls and more usable tones. I owned a Mark IV for a bit and it was not hard to make that amp sound bad, especially if you did not know what you were doing. Once you learned how to make it sound good, it sounded really really good, but there were some settings no one would ever use. The JP-2C has very few "unusable tones" in it and to find them, you really have to try. The TC-50 is the same way but a very different sounding amp. This "ease of use" makes buying one at a store much easier compared to the Road King/Roadster, not to mention they weigh significantly less. :shock:

While the Rectifier Series may have been misunderstood from the day it was released, that makes it all the more interesting to me.
There may be a lunchbox version of the TC but I do not really think it needs one. Lunchbox models always seemed to scale back the behemoths but the TC-50 does not need to be scaled back in my opinion. In can scale itself back if needed. However, if people want to buy a lunchbox TC model than I'm sure Mesa will build one. Personally, I would like Mesa to build the "Ultimate Practice Amp." It would be an amp specifically meant for practicing. The design would be very different but the purpose would be to seamlessly allow the player to practice and then at rehearsal, plug into a "behemoth" Mesa and have the guitar/amp interaction feel pretty much the same. Marketing can work out the details because an expensive practice is a "hard sell."
 
psihiatros said:
I took a look at Mesa's website today, as i wanted to see something for the dual, and I didn't see the RK II amp.
Then i went to the Out of production page, clicked on the Road King link and saw this:

http://mesaboogie.com/support/out-of-production/road-king.html

Yeah its a bummer, I have a RK combo, heavy as which I gather turns most off (50kg) to lug around but sounds great and is a series one.

Some for sale very cheap in Hong Kong from Tom Lee music, around $2000 AUD :p

My gear:
Mk2C+ combo 60w with graphics and reverb
Series one Road King Combo 2x12
Nomad 100W 2x12 combo with graphics and reverb (great amp despite what the blogs say)
Mesa 5.25 Express 1x12 combo

PRS Custom 24
Les Paul traditional
Ibanez SQZ520FM
Ibanez LR10
1993 Strat Plus (lace sensors)
Various bass guitars/heads
 
This surprises me. I demoed a RK (not II) at a Boogie store, and concluded that the mode where the 6L6s and EL34s were active was best. That way, you get the broader frequency response of the 6L6s, and the sweet spot and brightness of the EL34s - which is great for solos. Note that I'm using EL34s in a Recto I bought before the RKs came out (silicon, bold). It didn't seem too complicated to me. Just the extra choice of power amps. A victim of being bought out by Gibson?
 
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