Short Royal Vid

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rich

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Hey guys

Made a short clip of my royal through my 212 recto cab at pretty low volume, just to show it can do classic metal very well. Quickly becoming my go to amp, can defintely tell there is some influence of the mark line of amps here.

http://youtu.be/Nk679IadwL0
 
I've got a bad case of the GAS lately and this amp is responsible. I currently own a mark v combo and I'm really thinking about selling it to get an RA. But I keep thinking I'm going to miss my mark tone too much. But this tone you got in the video is remarkably (pun) close to a mark. I've seen other videos online and I can tell this amp has its own thing going but I didn't think it could get this close to a mark. Makes me feel a little better. Hopefully I can try one soon.
 
Just to make your life more difficult...

Vintage Lo is a fairly Marshall-y tone, or alternatively what Crunch mode should have been in the Mark. Vintage Hi is pretty close to the Mark V's Mark IV mode, with extended bass and more going on in the mids. I replaced my Mark V with the Royal and I'm much happier with it. Except for the larger size and weight...

I found with the Marks you HAD to use the GEQ. The RA gets great tone without a GEQ.
 
elvis said:
Just to make your life more difficult...

Vintage Lo is a fairly Marshall-y tone, or alternatively what Crunch mode should have been in the Mark. Vintage Hi is pretty close to the Mark V's Mark IV mode, with extended bass and more going on in the mids. I replaced my Mark V with the Royal and I'm much happier with it. Except for the larger size and weight...

I found with the Marks you HAD to use the GEQ. The RA gets great tone without a GEQ.

I think I'm going to pull the trigger. If I hate it maybe I can sell it for the new JP2c. lol. There are still new ones with full warranty out there and I think I'll go that route. Even though they seem pretty reliable from what I've read on here. I always thought the power soak feature might or could be bad long term for the amp but maybe it's just hard on tubes. So elvis, should I go with the combo? I'm happy with how my mark v combo sounds. Is the RA 212 combo a good sound? Or does the RA need a closed back cab to really be at home. I know it's subjective but do you have an opinion?
 
It's going to be personal taste. I found that I didn't like the RA so much through my 2x12 recto, and I LOVE it through the RA2x12 cab. The RA doesn't push a ton of lows, so having a ported cab helps keep it from sounding shrill. I think that the RA cab is a good combination of some of the tight thump of a closed cab and some of the extended bass plus open clean feel of a 3/4 cab.

HOWEVER, I tuned my tone controls after switching from recto 2x12 to RA2x12, and I've never gone back to see how the closed cab sounds.

The RA2x12 combo should sound a lot like with the RA2x12 cab, as it is similar size and ported exactly the same. Take the casters off so you don't lose all the bass. I played a combo once and it sounded a little nasal to me, which I believe is because it was off the ground. Even 3" makes a noticeable difference.

Note, my RA 2x12 has a V30 and a Creamback 75. I really like that combination as the creamback gives more complexity to the mids, which I think complement this amp.

When you play through a RA, remember it's not a Mark. You can turn the gain AND the bass up. I run vintage channel gain and bass at 3:00, mids about 1:30 and treble <11:00. The amp wants to scream rather than thunder, but you can get it to thunder. And scream.

The power attenuators are fantasic for dialing the tone, but I wouldn't rely on them for bedroom volume. I have mine set up with no attenuation on Clean, and -4dB on both Vintage channels. To me, this gives the best tone, plus it allows the clean channel volume to match the vintage channel volume without dirtying up the clean channel. For home use, I run it through a Rock Crusher to drop the overall volume. You can run the internal attenuators down to very low volume, but I had the Rock Crusher already, and that way I don't have to keep messing with the attenuator controls on the back of the amp. Also, I run the masters at >12:00, so that would put a lot of heat into the built-in attenuators, which I would avoid. They can probably take it, but I'm sure it can affect lifetime.

I have already had to change the power tubes, so I know I am pushing them. But they sound so good, I'll be happy to put in a set once a year.
 
Thanks elvis! This is a fascinating amp to research. I don't think I've come across one negative review. Barely even a "it's just not for me". And I've heard quite a few people say that this is the best mesa amp they have ever played. So why such a short production run for such a great amp? Mesa's British flavored amps just never last. I wonder if they just keep trying to break into the Marshall market but just don't convert enough new customers. Regardless, all of mesa's attempts have resulted in great sounding amplifiers.
After hearing this video and what you've said about this amp, I think it will be an easy transition from a mark v to the RA. Also, I just watched mesa's video with Mark Morton demoing the amp. He was playing a mark iv and maybe a v for awhile until the RA came out. So again that tells me some of that Mark magic is living in the hi mode of the RA.
 
This has been a subject of much speculation. I would say that it is likely that Mesa is the last company people look at if they want a Marshall tone, and the RA is at best a hybrid, so it doesn't really have Marshall tone. Some people think they have to have exactly JCM800, so they look elsewhere.
 
Thanks guys. Vintage lo is fairly "marshally" but i think that vibe is less inherent in vintage hi, and with certain setting can be dialed out completely (or dialed in, to the contrary).

Also, I recommend trying the mesa 5881 tubes, especially if you want to retain the el34 character but have the highs tapered. Its funny because i know the 5881s are more closely related to the 6l6gc but in the royal there is a significant shift in tonality using 6l6s, particulalry on vintage hi where i find a much more scooped tone but also rolled off bass (which is the opposite of every 6l6/34 comparison ive made with other amps); however, in the royal the 5881s retain the same bass presence as the 34s but there is a little softening of mids and a stronger taper of highs.

Check out this vid with 5881s
http://youtu.be/z-Z5_VrAiow
 
I love both of my RA100's, have the head pushing the full sized recto 412 (completely stock) and the other is a combo with G12H75 creambacks. Yes the sealed cab can sound shrill on the Hi/Lo channel but can be dialed out easily. I did not care much for the V30's in an open cab which is the case with the combo. The celestion creamback G12H75s cured that issue of muddy gain. V30's are at their best in a sealed cabinet. I also have a Mark V combo and Roadster. I have been experimenting with some different speakers and found the Celestion Cream Alinco 90W does improve tone of the V, still unsure how well it will hold up but sounds great. If I had a Roadster combo, I would definitely use the G12H75 creambacks in that or at least one mixed with the V30.

Everytime I plug into either of the RA100s I get lost and just cannot stop playing. Felt this way about the Roadster but need a different speaker arrangement in my 412 cabinet to reveal the full character of that amp. The Mark V on the other hand, could not stand it, and for some reasons I decided to keep it and I am glad I did (Jensen Blackbird really made me love the amp, then I tried the Celestion Cream found both to be pleasing, I actually prefer the Celestion over the Blackbird for most of what I do, but the blackbird clean character cannot be beat.)

Speaker choice is critical with your amp as well as power tube choice. I have used SED =C= 6L6GC in my Royal and loved them! I did not care much for the Mesa 6L6GC as that tube character does not complement the tonal character of the RA (but it does complement the Roadster and Mark V). Gold lion KT77 were awesome in the V not so great in the others. Mullard EL34 RI for the RA Combo is pure bliss, however a bit over the top for use with 412 loaded V30.

One thing to note about the RA, it has two separate preamp sections. Clean uses V4 and V5 for its cascade gain stages, Hi/Lo uses V1 and V2. So you can literally pull V1 and V2 and still use the clean channel. What this means is that you can tailor the tone of the Hi/Lo channel without effecting the clean and vs versa. If you want that classic early rock tone, you can get it with a high gain setting on the clean channel. This does not work so well on the Mark V, in fact I am not fond of the tweed voice as it seems too brittle (not bad now with the Celestion Cream). On the flip side, the Roadster cleans (CH1 and CH2) can be dialed in just like the RA100 for that classic crunch, actually you can get it into the Hi/Lo territory of the RA. I got my first RA since the Mark V just did not cater much for the vintage rock, that was before I replaced the combo speaker. The Roadster on the other hand can do it quite well and beyond. In short, I love all three amps. Sure would love to have the JP-2C but I really do not need it as I can get some really great tones and sounds from any of the other amps. I would miss the Mark V if I sold it and the same would apply to the RA or Roadster.

Sorry if I sound like I am plugging speakers. I am not. I used to be an EV fan but that does not work for all applications. The EVM12L black label sounds incredible with the Mark V and Roadster at moderate to high volume settings but have found better alternatives for my taste. I definitely would not recommend the EV with the RA. I could not stand V30 or anything associated with Celestion before I got my first RA, and that changed considerably afterward and found the V30 to work much better than the EV. Matching the amp to the right speaker is a science I am not too versed in but it does matter what you use with each amp as that can make or break your tone.
 

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