Mesa Dual Rectifier vs Mesa Roadking 1 |High Gain Amp Head Shootout

[@bisaillion]

Wow that road King sounds amazing.

[@JBGoode-zx7pp]

You made the right decision - I’m pretty sure the Roadster is just the same 4 channel preamplifier as the Road King with slimmed-down power amp feature set.

[@HighTechPioneer]

Man, I remember first seeing your channel when you played metal on a big gretsch hollow body, and I've been watching you ever sense! Your videos are always really well made, and sound great! Keep up the great work man!

[@Crypticmaskguitar]

Thanks! I try to keep things somewhat interesting looking and sounding... otherwise I would get bored out of my tree! Cheers -Ryan

[@szveszs]

One of the best sounding high gain tone that I heard from you, coming from that freaking Road King

[@JBGoode-zx7pp]

This statement is from Mesa Boogie about the differences between the Road King series 1 and 2; Though the RK1 and RK2 are very similar, the differences are: - RK1 does not have a tube driven reverb circuit whereas the RK2 does have a tube driven circuit powered by an 12AX7. - RK1 has a series and a parallel loop, whereas the RK2 has two series parallel loops. - The big difference as far as tone is the RK2 basically has the Lonestar clean circuit for channel 1, whereas the RKI clean channel was fashioned after our Dual and Triple Rectifier of the time.

[@collingiddings6489]

Definitely going to have to go with the Mesa on this one! Lol

[@Crypticmaskguitar]

Good choice!

[@bayouboattrash]

I love my RK1 it's literally more amp than I'll ever need.

[@EncouragementQuickWord]

Great demo..on the fence for the next Mesa..appreciate the videos !

[@CommanderReplay]

Man its crazy what people think they hear. These amps sound exactly the same, and rightfully so as they are made to be the same amp. I appreciate you running the test. The main takeaway is that the differences are with features not with tone.

[@MichaelDespairs]

The rectifier has a brighter, open high end and a more exaggerated low end. The road king is darker with low passed high frequencies and tighter bass. Keep listening and you will hear the difference.

[@n3rdg4m3r]

Have to go with Roadking v1, but then again I own a Roadking. I love the 4 channels for everything clean, edge of breakup, to classic rock and metal tones. I have the combo but now I wish I would have gotten the head and Roadking Cabinet with v30 and c90s to take advantage of the cabinet switching feature. Maybe I'll save up for the 2x12 v30 closed cabinet soon.

[@RussWoWSolo]

two amps awesome sound

[@MRxr400]

awesome riffs. i really like the el34's added in, bigger and warmer. but the 6l6 is more direct. el34's alone sounds less and tight in bottom, less highs and presence. but all tones sounded amazing

[@shatteredsquare]

Road King really really really likes EMGs holy shit, maybe the 'right' sound is just engrained in my head from decades of Metallica recordings being 'the' sound

[@xdiaba]

what a riff man!

[@frederiklabonte9884]

Prefer rk but both sound awesome . But i own a rdk2 v2b so kinda not fair. Awesome video

[@ledzeppelin259]

Ahhh the Road King. I my self have the Road king V1

[@henryjames8928]

Sounds great! We’re you in vintage mode or modern?

[@Crypticmaskguitar]

Modern mode is what I will usually sit in for these type of sounds. Cheers -Ryan

[@bsquare6809]

Do you know if the road king 1 has a headphone jack? My wife gets annoyed easy. Therefore if I use headphones I won't hear her b!t☆ing at me.

[@christowndotcom]

road king much better! Mine died recently. I have the roadking 1 as well

[@Crypticmaskguitar]

Sorry to hear your amp died on yah, hopefully the issue is quickly fixable - Kevin

[@604motorsports]

@@Crypticmaskguitar yeah! Just that the pedal was faulty or the midi cable so it started switching channels like mad, then just died. Is that a main board that died? Fuse looks good,

[@ruffestneckaround]

Features that might be pertinent to this comparison is that Channel 3 is identical to a Dual/Triple Rec if you use 4x6L6, Channel 4 is the same except the presence is different (It goes higher >:) ). You are correct that both effects loops (Series and parallel) can be assigned on or off , as well as loop 2 level to each channel, . Same as reverb, and reverb level is independent on each channel. Rectifier is assignable and selectable on each channel. The Road King cab is actually 2 2x12s stuck together, half open, half closed, and you can assign half or both to each channel (Or use any 2 cabs, and assign one or both to each channel). You can reduce the line voltage coming in to mimic the "Brown" sound via the variac spongy/bold switch. All in all, there are enough extras to justify the extra cost, to me. I've had one since they came out. I'd update to a RKIIVII...But mine are also matching Red Croc lol. It was saying Recto, When EL34s were listed on screen, I found that a bit confusing, but other than that I liked the sound comparison at least for Recto vs Recto "Extra" from the RK.

[@Crypticmaskguitar]

the EL34 on screen for the Dual was my bad. Quick editing mistake. Cheers -Ryan

[@jessemuscato]

dual rec is a bit more out front