I bought one of the first released Mesa Road King heads this year. Here is my review (long) of it so far:

I've had a chance now to really put the amp through some hoops. It's biggest drawback, for me anyway, is that I cannot quite match the Mark IV lead sound I'm so used to getting. Other than that, it is quite something. Sort of like having 3 or 4 different kind of amps in one. I never used the effects loop on my Mark IV. I have used both on the Road King. The first loop is the series and the 2nd is the parallel. The series has a 'send level' control and the parallel has a mix control, as well as individual mix controls in each channel. Both loops can be assigned by a toggle switch per channel, or they can be used universally with the 'foot controller'. By the way, the foot controller has 9 buttons: Channel 1,2,3,4, external trigger, loop 1, loop 2, reverb and solo. There is also a backpanel toggle switch which disengages the loops completely. And, by doing this, the Output control and the Solo control knobs are disengaged. So, with the loops active, the amp essentially has the 'send level' control for the series loop, which acts as an overall volume, and the Output control on the front panel which also is a master level control, and the Solo control boosts the level even more when using the Solo footswitch. The Solo switch and control is reminiscent of the EQ switch on the Mark IV. I've always used it as a boost when playing lead and the level needs to cut through a little more. Well, the Solo control and switch more or less do the same thing.

So far I've been able to come up with different sounds per channel that are working for me. There's still a lot of experimentation due to so many variables on the amp. In channel one, I've come up with a nice, clean Fender type of sound. Channel 2 I've got setup to sound just like the old British amps. It's very cool. Channel 3 is a shredding, bright, up-to-date, loud, modern lead type of sound. Channel four is more of the smooth Boogie sound. However, I've not been able to get Channel 4 to cut through as well as the Mark's lead channel does. That's where the solo section comes into play to help cut through. Channel 4 is still a creamy smooth liquid sound though. Since I've been so accustomed to the single 12" speaker Mark IV combo, I'm not really used to the 4x12 Celestion Vintage 30 sound yet. I've had a few chances to practice with 2 bands and have played live with the amp. I have been getting some much bigger tones than I'm used to. Which I'm sure I'll eventually become very familiar with. I'm still used to the focused Boogie tone. I've been reminded by a tech at Mesa that this amp is NOT a Mark, it is a Rectifier series amp. That's part of my unfamiliarity with the sound. It's been a lot of fun so far though. I've tried the amp with both the 4x10 Mesa cabinet and the 4x12 Carvin Legacy cabinet. I get a much bigger sound (more volume too) with the Carvin. I used the Mesa 4x10 cab alone one evening and it was great at practice in a small room. I don't think it'd work too well at a live venue though. The 4x12 works and sounds pretty cool with the Road King. That's what I'll mainly be using. It sounds good at low as well as high volumes, and carries well either with clean or dirty sounds. I still want to try running the Road King through both 12" EVM speakers in my Mark IV and my Mark IIc. I thought it'd be cool to be able to set the Boogies side by side and put the Road King on top and power both speakers. That'll be my next experiment.

I had a pedalboard made for all of my effects. I'll set it up to run the octave fuzzes and the ring modulator with the series loop and use the parallel loop for the reverb and echo pedals. I still will be running my guitar straight through my old ADA Flanger into the Bad Horsie II wah and into the Litlle Alligator volume pedal into the amp's input. I tried running the flanger with either of the loops, but it really needs a weak signal. With the loop driving it, I have to turn the 'send' level so low that the amp's overall volume is really low. If I just run the guitar into it like I've been doing for years, it works fine. I don't have any rack effects, just old pedals. I really don't use pedals much except for a volume pedal. Lately I bought the 2 new Vai pedals from Morley, just to have some up-to-date ones. They're working really well. I'm used to the long throw of the old chrome Morley volume pedal though, and this new one's throw is shorter. Another learning curve.

All in all, I'm happy to have the Road King. I think I'll be able to use it in most venues. Although, it would probably be better suited to bigger gigs where it could be cranked a bit. I'm glad also that I haven't sold the Mark IV. I'm sure I'll be using it still on and off. It still has that killer lead sound and is small enough for bar gigs, etc. I may come up with an A/B scheme where I end up using both amps. I'll just have to experiment.

Addendum from further experimentation:

I tried the Road King this afternoon using the Mark IV and the Mark IIc speaker cabinets. The amp sounds much more like a Mark this way, with a broader voice range. The sound seemed more to-the-point, or more focused with the EVM speakers. Plus, I like the speakers low to the ground and this worked well for that. I think I'll try this setup at either band practice next time and see how it goes. I did plug the Mark IV in after awhile and use both speakers with it to listen to the difference. I actually liked the Road King sound better. The lead sounds have more crunch and sustain with the King than with the Mark using the EVM's.

By the way, I use a number of different guitars. I tried 3 today and was pleased with the tones I was getting.

The above is the result of the playing I've been able to do with the amp so far. I've only had it for 3 weeks. I do like it alot. I think, for me anyway, it was worth the wait from my order last March (of 2000).

I used to be a Boogie junkie! My first was a black Mark I 100/60watt with EQ, reverb, overseas transformer and Altec Lansing 1-12. It was monstrously loud and fluid. I bought it used in the late 70's for $600. Nobody even heard of them. I went to an auditiion with it and everyone was freaking out. Not only was I rippin' (you know how easy Boogie's are to play) but I was holdin' my own against a 100w Marshall w/ 4-12 as well! Everybody wanted to try it. Needless to say I got the gig.

After that I joined some guys where I absolutely needed a Marshall tone. I had a 100w Marshall 800 and then I picked up an early Marshall Mark II 50w. That was cool but soon after that I played with some other guys and I bought a Mark IIc without the simul-class. What a smokin' amp that was until somebody stole it off the stage! Man, you know how expensive those are. (long story...) The next group I played with I bought a Mark III. It was cool but the 3 channel thing really wasn't happening. After that gig I bought a full blown Boogie Quad rig. That was the thing to have. Next round I picked up a Mark IV. That was a nice amp. That eventually evolved into a TriAxis rig.
Really nice but ya know, after going through about a thousand tubes and a bunch o'dough I got completely fed up. Plus I got sick of luggin' all those racks, cords and pedals around so I dumped EVERYTHING! I still have an Abacus pedal that's going on EBay and some tubes.
I bought a Line 6 Flextone IIXL and I couldn't be happier. Sweet to balls out rockin'! One cord straight into the amp and NO maintenance. When I travel it's one amp, one guitar and one cord - DONE. The guys I play with now are totally awed by this amp. My guitar player is dyin' to get his hands on one. Although I do get an itch to get a Boogie Tremo-verb every once in awhile......

What kinda guitar you Flex with? I still drool over Mesa Boogies. I jammed with a dude who had a Mark IV w/ a single 12" speaker. I could of died. Fluid is the great word for it. Another dude, another time, had a Single Recto. He complained this amp had one sound. But it's a great sound. My problem is I see all these tubes inside the chassis and my eyes gloss over, and I get weepy. Lordy!

I have an old Jackson with Floyd Rose, 1 Humbucker and two singles. The singles are stacks. Lately, I've modified the Floyd so it doesn't move. I'm so tired of it. You can do some nice things with it but it can be such a crutch. It makes you lazy. You use that vibrato for everything. Makes your hand weak. In a sense I wish I never learned to use it.

If I were to buy tubes again it would be a Boogie but seriously, I don't need it.

Hey Rick, what guitar and amp did you have when we met? Wasn't it a tall Peavy amp? And for the tremolo bar, I never used one. But with my old Mustang, I could grab the movable bridge and dive bombs away. I always wanted a Boogie. Right now I have that Marshall 50w Mark II, Music Man 50w, Marshall AVT 20, and my stack of twin Fender Frontman 15s.

The vibrato was exploited by dive bombing. The cool thing is when you used it for subtle expression like bending notes up or down while you're soloing. Or vibratoing chords. It sounds real fluid and polished almost saxaphone-ish. But this is where it makes you lazy. You don't need hand strength to bend strings or vibrato notes. It sounds great but it starts to become a crutch. You depend on it all the time. I think I was a more creative player before so I'm getting back to my basics.

Oh yeah, It was a Peavey Musician. I bought it, I mean my Dad, bought it for me at Carnivale's Music on 63rd and Springfield. It was pretty cool at that age - not knowing anything about tubes. It's funny, I know tube amps and that's why I'm so impressed about my Line 6. Some die hard tube fans think I'm nuts but others think it's cool. Either way, it's what I think and sound like. Growing up with Boogies and Marshalls, I think I know what good tone and feel is. The other guitar player in my originals band (we split a couple of years ago) started playing Soldanos. For $2000 bucks I don't see it and either did anybody else in the band when I brought that Line 6 in. Ever try a Line 6?

Hi. I've now been using the Road King head for around 1 1/2 years. I am now using it solely with the Carvin 4x12 Legacy cabinet with 4 Celestion Vintage 30 speakers.

I've had time to play with the amp, and just love it. It has so many possibilities, that there has been a lot of tweaking done. I've been able to get the Mark IV sound and more that I was missing when I first started using it. This amp can sound like any amp I want it to, and my sound has evolved over the last year and a half. Anyone looking for a 'real' amp that can be more than just 'one' amp, this is for you. There's no modelling done, just different amp circuits used for different tones.

I can get great clean, big Strat or Tele tones; beautiful sounding British tones using the 2 EL34's; monster lead tones using Mesa's own Mark and Rectifier circuitry, and more.

At first I wasn't sure how well this amp would do, but when I read about it in Guitar Player a year before it was produced, I had to have one. I'm really glad I did buy it; very expensive, but worth every penny. It's broadened my guitar sound spectrum immensly.

Mesadude

Sounds great, I've got a Dual Rectifier Solo and I love it. By the way why didn't you get a Road King cabinet? Being able to assign specific speakers(with the Road King cabinets) to each channel sounds like an awesome tonal option to have.