NAD: I’m such a big fan of mini amplifiers. EL84s are just the best!!

[Desertdweller]

Nah I bought a Road King

It really is the Super Recto. Somehow a nearly mint condition RK2 came up at a pre-covid price. I’m always scouring for deals and snatched this up as soon as I saw it.

 

[JiveTurkey]

Nah I bought a Road King

View attachment 2365

It really is the Super Recto. Somehow a nearly mint condition RK2 came up at a pre-covid price. I’m always scouring for deals and snatched this up as soon as I saw it.

 

[DrewJD82]

I’ve only had the chance to play through one of these once and I loved it. I think Petrucci was using these exclusively around the Train Of Thought album, wasn’t he? Killer f*cking amps and my favorite of the Recto’s.

 

[spawnofthesith]

Oh hell yeah road kings are killer Congrats!!


Thread title had me all

 

[la szum]

Road King is poorly named. No one ever takes those things on the "Road."

Should have called it the "Albatross."
Congrats. That looks mint. Expect a clip.

 

[Desertdweller]

Road King is poorly named. No one ever takes those things on the "Road."

Should have called it the "Albatross."
Congrats. That looks mint. Expect a clip.

Ha right? Except for Petrucci and his giant rack with 3 of them back in the day.

Yeah I’m a big Mesa fan and have played Marks and Rectos for years. I initially was looking at Road Kings because I wanted to run a recto with a combination 6L6 and EL34 power section. I have a SimulClass Mark III, and it sounds to my ears better when I put EL34s in the outer sockets and 6L6s in the inner ones, which is a feature of the older Mark amps.

This thing can do that, and it’s everything I thought it would be. I almost went with a recto recording preamp and a 2:90 because the 2:90 can do that too (and I so love the 2:90), but in the current market that is just cost prohibitive I feel, and was able to get this amp for considerably less than that option.

The Road King is absolutely over the top, and it’s awesome. Two Lonestar clean channels, a Voxish Tweed, a Plexi, and then an orange and red channel that are really unlike the standard Dual/Triple channels I’m used to, two loops, two sets of speaker outputs, and a bunch of power amp options - it’s just insane. Also interesting the taper on the master and output knobs are really smooth, much more like the JP2C or modern Mark amps. It’s honestly so odd this amp does low volume Modern mode better than my Mini Rec.

 

[la szum]

That's a LOT of amp. I think Mesa does the "Let's jam an ass ton of features into an amp and let the
user figure it out" better than any other manufacturer. I don't think I have heard a Road King, much less owned
one. I do have 5 Mesas, though. They make such GREAT amps.

Pretty sure @TSJMajesty has a 2:90.

Enjoy!!

 

[TSJMajesty]

That's a LOT of amp. I think Mesa does the "Let's jam an ass ton of features into an amp and let the
user figure it out" better than any other manufacturer. I don't think I have heard a Road King, much less owned
one. I do have 5 Mesas, though. They make such GREAT amps.

Pretty sure @TSJMajesty has a 2:90.

Enjoy!!

Yes, but it's a lotta amp, only used on those, Light-up-the-back-yard days. I think it needs new tubes, and that ain't happening atm.

 

[Baba]

Road King is poorly named. No one ever takes those things on the "Road."

Should have called it the "Albatross."
Congrats. That looks mint. Expect a clip.

This!

I went to a friend's to borrow his, for a gig. As soon as I lifted the thing to put it in my car, I knew I wasn't going to use it

 

[JiveTurkey]

This!

I went to a friend's to borrow his, for a gig. As soon as I lifted the thing to put it in my car, I knew I wasn't going to use it

Did the old grnadpa simpson "Yeah I'll be using my Trademark 60 after all but thanks" turn around move with it

 

[Baba]

Did the old grnadpa simpson "Yeah I'll be using my Trademark 60 after all but thanks" turn around move with it

That is EXACTLY what I did!

 

[tonedover]

Nah I bought a Road King

View attachment 2365

It really is the Super Recto. Somehow a nearly mint condition RK2 came up at a pre-covid price. I’m always scouring for deals and snatched this up as soon as I saw it.

I created my account here just to come fight you over this threads title.
Your click bait worked!
Awesome new amp!

 

[JiveTurkey]

I created my account here just to come fight you over this threads title.
Your click bait worked!
Awesome new amp!

Welcome!

 

[Desertdweller]

I created my account here just to come fight you over this threads title.
Your click bait worked!
Awesome new amp!

Ha that’s fantastic! Yeah this amp is pretty much the exact opposite of anything ‘mini.’

I personally do like some of the mini amps out there, I have a Mini Rec sitting here on my desk I use primarily just for silent recording, but I wish they would get away from the EL84 tubes in them. They just sound so boxy and you have to work to cut the mids, they’re never quite loud enough before you begin getting power tube compression, etc. Having a bunch of mini amps lying around for various sounds is great for recording, but there is nothing quite like a powerful amplifier pushing air.

Being a recto guy for over a decade now, this one is by far my favorite overall sounding one as well. The power amp tube combination options alone were worth the price.

 

[paisleywookiee]

Road King is poorly named. No one ever takes those things on the "Road."

Should have called it the "Albatross."
Congrats. That looks mint. Expect a clip.

Eh, sorta. Foo Fighters and Petrucci both toured with them.

 

[Desertdweller]

Eh, sorta. Foo Fighters and Petrucci both toured with them.

So did Korn for awhile too.

 

[la szum]

I wasn't being literal.

Should have named it the Garage King, or the Basement King.... or the This M'fer Is Never Leaving The House King.

 

[Desertdweller]

I wasn't being literal.

Should have named it the Garage King, or the Basement King.... or the This M'fer Is Never Leaving The House King.

Oh I guarantee I will be jamming and gigging with it. Maybe. Someday lol

Honestly amp weight has never bothered me. I played live a ton with this 2:90 rack that was heavier than the RK and it never bothered me:

 

[la szum]

Oh I guarantee I will be jamming and gigging with it. Maybe. Someday lol

Luckily, it is NOT the combo version---so I can definitely see that happening and not
leaving you with a herniated disc.

 

[Desertdweller]

Luckily, it is NOT the combo version---so I can definitely see that happening and not
leaving you with a herniated disc.

I would **never** buy the RK combo, yeah that's absolute insanity and 100% where I draw the line on weight.
I once tried to put a 2:90 and a 50/50 in a rack with 2 preamps and a processor. Immediately found out why bigger bands have roadies!