Mesa Road King or 2-4 smaller amps?

[Aaron Miller]

I have a Mesa Boogie Road King II with a RK 4x12 cab. I absolutely love this amp because it's versatile and would recommend it to anyone (and not just for high gain stuff). However, there are couple drawbacks:

1) It's damn loud and my wife is getting annoyed.
2) It doesn't do a Vox like sound.
3) I could probably buy several cheaper amps and be able to record in stereo for half the price.

So, since I'm only recording and have no use for such volume, I'm considering selling it and using the money on some smaller, recording amps (1x12s or 1x10s with 5-15 watt amps, combos or otherwise). Stylistically, I need some variety and would like to include clean Fenderish and Voxy tones, some crunch tones, and some higher gain stuff (for instance, I love the vintage channel on the RK and other rectos). I don't want to deal with older amps with no warranty and want excellent quality so I think that puts me in the boutique and maybe clone markets.

If you could only have 2-4 smaller amps, what would you choose to record these tones?

Thanks!

[guitardom]

I have a Mesa Boogie Road King II with a RK 4x12 cab. I absolutely love this amp because it's versatile and would recommend it to anyone (and not just for high gain stuff). However, there are couple drawbacks:

1) It's damn loud and my wife is getting annoyed.
2) It doesn't do a Vox like sound.
3) I could probably buy several cheaper amps and be able to record in stereo for half the price.

So, since I'm only recording and have no use for such volume, I'm considering selling it and using the money on some smaller, recording amps (1x12s or 1x10s with 5-15 watt amps, combos or otherwise). Stylistically, I need some variety and would like to include clean Fenderish and Voxy tones, some crunch tones, and some higher gain stuff (for instance, I love the vintage channel on the RK and other rectos). I don't want to deal with older amps with no warranty and want excellent quality so I think that puts me in the boutique and maybe clone markets.

If you could only have 2-4 smaller amps, what would you choose to record these tones?

Thanks!

i own a road king as well, 2x12 combo version. got new tubes in it from eurotubes, turned it into another beast, in a good way could not imagine letting it go for the most part because what it does, it does very well. highly recomend eurtube upgrade though.

recently in search for new tones, bought a strat to start with (own a bunch of ibanez's) enjoyed it a lot but still could not get the sound i was after, bought a couple pedals and still not there.

ended up buying a dr. z maz jr 18 ouple months ago. finally getting the clean sound i wanted. not exactly fender like clean, but very pushed almost aggresive clean, with a twang, great amp is loved by country players and blues players especially.very good rock n roll amp, get dirty tones, black crowes, stones, takes pedals amazingly well, bought a couple nicer gain pedals recently and turning it into a whole new beast. very touch sensitive the harder you hit the front end the more it overdrives. very different from a boogie. tone wise side by side it smashes the boogie, kind of disheartening though really. but the boogie covers my metal and younger clients style wise this amp does cover a lot of ground, especially compared to a boogie. but this paired with the right pedals could cover most clean to rock n roll areas.

just a single 1x12 cabinet, 18 watts and this thing is LOUD. just loves to be run hot, and i run it louder than i ever ran my boogie. the louder it is the better. loving a fulltone full drive 2 mosfet right now with it. dont let the wattage ratings of other amps fool you recently it seems these nice low wattage amps like dr. z, buddha, %13, 65, are all costing as much as boogies!!

[BLUElightCory]

From cleanest to gnarliest:

Fender Twin Reverb
Vox AC15 or AC30
Marshall JMP
VHT Pitbull Ultra Lead

[Pasta4lnch]

fwiw i would prefer a few good amps to one if i had the choice. there are a plethora of nice low watt amps out there to choose from now . . .

[theGeek]

You can get some great tones from some of those 18watt Marshalls floating around.

[Mastering101]

if you like the King why don't you buy some THD hot Plates to lower the volume...Does that Road king have a 1/2 power switch?....I have plenty of Amps mostly Bogner.
i also have a Engl 580 preamp with a Mesa 2/90 power amp

I have a Bogner Metropolis 15 watt head and that thing will blow your head off at 15 watts so i think your best bet will be hot plates. Unless you go to a super low watt amp but your not going to get the tone

Many complain about the hot plates, power soak, Attenuator etc. You will lose some tone but not much to bother me. I mainly reduce 4dB to 8dB with no complaints. I always use the high boost function on THD which helps with tone..
i would also recommend staying away from Weber Attenuator's. I owned 2 of them the new models, for 4 years and then i tried the THD big difference in tone. I wouldn't say the Weber's are no good just that the THD was superior in tone quality and build

[numrologst]

The Road King was the most underwhelming amp I think I've ever recorded. Maybe there was something wrong with the one that was brought to my studio, but it sounded fizzy and nasty... I was not impressed. Neither was the owner of the amp... And he ended up using a combinatioin between my ac-30, dr.z, and fender super.

It's just my opinion, but I would get rid of the road king and get some cool smaller amps.

You could get an ac-15, deluxe, and jtm45 for the price of the road king.

[numrologst]

Oh... and if I could only have 4 small amps, the answer is easy:

AC-15
Deluxe Reverb
Maz 18
Bad Cat Mini

[theGeek]

Originally Posted by numrologst

You could get an ac-15, deluxe, and jtm45 for the price of the road king.

This setup would cover nearly all of your tonal options.

I firmly believe that the "Swiss Army" approach to amps/guitars is never as good as just getting them separate. I even tried it for a long time and even though I was able to get close it wasn't quite right.

Drop the Road King and pick up a the some of those awesome amps listed above (you could also look at a Plexi instead of a JTM45.. very similar amps..)

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by numrologst

Oh... and if I could only have 4 small amps, the answer is easy:

AC-15
Deluxe Reverb
Maz 18
Bad Cat Mini

i love my maz 18, also have an air brake for that little extra!! but i think a lot of players who get the road king are metal players who are wanting some xtra versatility. that is good and bad i guess but of course these ambs dont quite cover that realm though with some pedals can get close.

The Road King was the most underwhelming amp I think I've ever recorded. Maybe there was something wrong with the one that was brought to my studio, but it sounded fizzy and nasty... I was not impressed. Neither was the owner of the amp... And he ended up using a combinatioin between my ac-30, dr.z, and fender super.

It's just my opinion, but I would get rid of the road king and get some cool smaller amps.

to be fair, the road king took me quite a few months to get dialed in to a tone i liked and changed depending on guitar and such. most amps i have never had this problem before, typically fairly quick to find it. the 4 channels, power amp configurations and such, tube or diode rectifier, it is a pretty intense amp. though channel 3 vintage with 4 6l6's, diode, is the rock-metal monster. the upgraded tubes made a world of difference as well!!!! would not run a boogie without it.

[numrologst]

I didn't even try to dial in a tone for them on the roadking... The options were too overwhelming and I had no idea how to tweak such an amp... One of my favorite amps is the Dr.Z mazerati.. Two knobs: volume and tone.

I like as little options as possible... Just a few knobs will do it for me.

I believe the JTM45 is considered a plexi head. We also have a 1987x plexi in the studio... I know it's a crazy... but I'm not a huge fan of this amp when pushed hard. I really dig the clean sounds... But it is the loudest amp that I have ever hear in my life when you try to crank it.

The JTM45 is a pretty clean amp, and I really like it with my vox alnico blue cab. Sweet chimey clean goodness and an insanely tight, non-fizzy overdrive.

I really look for amps with the tight non-fizzy pushed sound. In my opinion, nothing beats jtm45, maz18, and matchless dc-30.

Even the super, deluxe, bassman, bandmaster, vox's can get fizzy if you aren't careful. They will drive pretty hard without getting fizzy... but the aforementioned 3 amps will never ever ever get fizzy on me.

[theGeek]

Originally Posted by numrologst

I believe the JTM45 is considered a plexi head.

The JTM45 was a slightly different circuit than the "Plexi" .. the 1987 plexis use a solid state rectifier vs. the JTM45 Tube Rectifier. This give the JTM45s a little more "sag"

Also, the Matchless DC-30 is one of the best amps ever made. I have an HC-30 and LOVE it. Before playing it if anyone had told me that there was an amp that sounded like a Vox AC-30 only better I don't think I'd have believed them.. but since trying (and immediately buying) this amp I've been in love.

[barryjohns]

Sell it and get a used Lonestar Special and a Carvin Belaire used; amazing clean tone for cheap.

[Jonboy79]

Some people bash them but I personally love recording the Mesa Express amps. Flip them to 5 watt mode and you get a nice huge wide open sound at a low volume. The clean is just awesome and the amp is very versatile. As for the Vox sound, just get an AC15CC with the Celestion Blue in it and you're pretty much there. People complain about that amp as well but I absolutely loved mine every single time I recorded it.