Mesa Boogie Road King II and Pedalboard VISUAL ONLY - NO GUITAR PLAYING Demo 1 of 3

[aznguitar]

nice vids btw, i wanted to hear how a bb would sound in a road king and saw your other vids so i can't wait for a bb for my RK

[vaisatchatrucci]

@aznguitar Good deal thanks bro! :) You'll love it - its a killer little pedal for sure - especially on the clean channels but a great little boost on the gain channels too for that extra sustain...

[aznguitar]

u never say what the red "easy" button does lol.

[vaisatchatrucci]

@aznguitar Makes everything easy... LOL

[aznguitar]

@vaisatchatrucci um, so where can i pick up one of these "magical guitar easy mode" buttons haha. and would it help me improve my lack of guitar improv skills lol

[vaisatchatrucci]

@aznguitar You need to find one with a genie inside which I am still searching for as well to help improve my skills... I'll let you know when I find one and I'll let you have 1 of my 3 wishes... lol

[Hazpon]

About the loudness of the channels- it's the opposite for Marshalls, the clean is REALLY overpowering.

[vaisatchatrucci]

@Hazpon Yeah thats my only beef with the Road King... I have to use the boost on the clean channels to match the output of the others - doesn't seem right at all, but I did confirm its that way with other users so it is what it is I guess... :(

[homero0787]

hey nice dude!! i have the g system too. I use the distortion from the amp and i have a AC booster to get crunch sound. Why do u have the BB with the gain all the way down. YOu use it as a Boost?? when u have de distortion on?????

[vaisatchatrucci]

@homero0787 Thanks man! Yeah I just use it on the clean channel for a tiny bit of dirt just to get that fat stratty tone. The gain on the Road King clean channel wise just doesn't break up like I like it, though I have since figured out a setting that I like more than when I had this configuration...

[PatrikForLife]

Very interesting rig. I hope I will be able to get my own

G-system in a while it's an awesome unit. good job :)

[vaisatchatrucci]

Thanks! - you'll love it!

[vaisatchatrucci]

Oh did I mention I am jealous that you are getting the mini amp gizmo while I'm stuck with the dinosaur... :( ahhh technology... how I hate to love it... yet love to hate it...

[Paulg2uk]

Afraid I've only got the regular amp gizmo like you which I don't mind. Oh by the way Ron from RJM said don't plug in the amp gizmo into the g sys unless its on its own with no other pedals it will definitely blow something cause the g system can only have up to 200 milli amps going out and the amp gizmo uses 200 milli amps on its own

Paul

[vaisatchatrucci]

Oh good I feel better now... LOL Just kidding. Well thanks for the heads up! That could have been disastrous :( of course I am hoping I'll never have to worry about that, but who knows... I really want to buy another one cause if I were at a gig and the amp gizmo died, I NEVER take my mesa pedal with me ever though now I am paranoid enough now to start doing do... LOL maybe I'll just leave it in the trunk always... haha

[vaisatchatrucci]

Yeah using the adapter that came with it and all my power is under the board so it's not an eyesore BUT I did NOT know I could use the G-System power to do this - I guess I figured it used more than 9V... Learn something new everyday from you guys - ya'll rock!

Thanks for the info as I only am using 3 of the 4 available power cables on the G-System so if my power adapter blows up, I have a backup! :)

You da man. :)

[Paulg2uk]

Hi,

Just wondered when you do a gig how do you get your RJM cable from the amp gizmo to the amp? It's a bit too short when your pedalboard is at the front and your amp is at the back.

Many Thanks

Paul

[vaisatchatrucci]

I have a 25ft extension cable they will make you one whatever length you need. The other option is a long midi cable and put the gizmo on the amp, or like with the small new gizmo you can just velcro it to the back of the head.

[Paulg2uk]

Thanks for the reply. So I can just contact Ron at RJM and he will make one for me? Excellent

[vaisatchatrucci]

Yes - Thats right. I met him and his wife at NAMM and they are quite possibly the nicest people on the planet. I had some problems with something and they sent me an extra cable to try and troubleshoot and time passed and I forgot to send it back. When I realized it, I contacted them to let them know how sorry I was and I'd be happy to just buy it and they told me not to worry about it! I couldn't believe it... Great people and kick ass products.

[Paulg2uk]

I totally agree I've email Ron loads of times about different rig ideas. He's always emailed back. Now I've decided on the g system just wanna have everything I need to set it up. Thanks again for replying to my comment

Paul

[PatrikForLife]

What do you think of the G-system as an all round solution? Btw, you could minimize your board a lot more... And let the G-System control pretty much everything..

[vaisatchatrucci]

The G-System is great! I assume you mean by racking everything? The G-System is already controlling everything on the board (except the wireless and easy button - LOL) so I'm not sure what you mean - unless you are talking about me wanting to stomp on the pedals manually which I prefer over controlling by patches - it's just more visual and it frees up dedicated switches on the G to assign to other things / effects. i just like the traditional feel of it that way - I'm old... :)

[PatrikForLife]

I guess you're right... and it looks good with a shitload of pedals on the floor :D

[vaisatchatrucci]

All my friends call it "mission control"... LOL

[PatrikForLife]

"Mission control"....... Lmfao.. nice.

[PatrikForLife]

My actual point, was that you could put the pedals and the wireess unit in the rack..To clean the board. I would personally prefer having only a wah, a volume pedal and the G-system on my board. nice and easy. but some, (you?) prefer having stuff on the board :P

[vaisatchatrucci]

Yeah no more racks... I had a refrigerator full of crap and decided to simplify... now if my pedal board looked like SOME pedal boards with wires and shit running all over hell and back - then I'd have to consider a rack... My OCD (not the pedal) doesn't allow me to have a mess of cables - i can't deal with it... LOL

[posiedonpowertrio]

i need to get an easy button there awesome

[vaisatchatrucci]

best investment I ever made and the most transparent pedal I have.

hehehe

[darinv77]

Great reviews man! I have a question regardind those pops. Is there always a pop when switching between dirty and clean channel? What happens when using G-System's relays for changing amp channels?

[vaisatchatrucci]

Thanks again dude - I sent you a message regarding this which you may have seen already. Hope it heps!

[guitarbaba]

Funny, I use an OCD, Sennheiser wireless, AND the easy button on my pedalboard as well!

[vaisatchatrucci]

Great minds think alike! :) Amazing playing by the way dude - right on - thanks for stopping by and introducing yourself - enjoyed your videos

[f2kflyer]

Is the power supply to that pedal board underneath? What kind is it? Thx!

[vaisatchatrucci]

Yes it's hidden underneath and its called a "power strip" from WalGreens... LOL - I'm ghetto like that... The cool thing with the pedal board is that everything is underneath and there's a male jack (like on the back of a PC) on the back side (facing the audience) of the pedal board I just plug a heavy duty extension cord into and I'm all powered up. The pedals are all powered by the G-System so all I have plugged in under the board insert is the Amp Gizmo, my wireless and G-System! CLEAN!

[f2kflyer]

From Harmony Central Reviews: Roadster...

Only issue is with a popping sound on Channel 3. After reading the manual, I found out that this POP was a result of too much static in the footpedal. Mesa's fix was to cycle through all of the channels in STANBY mode, while coming out of standby on Channel 3. I tried this, and of course it worked! Also important to note, that this POP when switching to Channel 3 may still be audible at low volumes, but goes away completely at gigging volumes.

[vaisatchatrucci]

Same problem with the Road King II head as well. Just cycling through the channels as you mentioned gets rid of all the static electricity and it doesn't pop after that. it's not the only amp I've ever had that does that.

[Krysonomous]

How does the Fulltone OCD and the BB Preamp compare in tone and purpose?

[vaisatchatrucci]

two COMPLETELY different animals... BB is warmer and Fenderesque in my opinion and not good for hard rock or metal and the OCD is balls out rockin' Marshall type tones... You can't really compare them and say one is better because they're both suited for different styles. The BB I can use low gain settings on top of the OCD or my Mesa to "enhance" the overall tone and it warms up the signal nicely too.

[nickzava]

Hi!can g sysytem switch the 4 roadking channels with y cables?

Does it hurt the Mesa?

thank you

[vaisatchatrucci]

I would advise against it from what I've read it CAN damage the amp, but some people say they have been able to do it with success. I was not willing to try and risk damaging the amp as expensive as they are, the Amp Gizmo or a product like it is the safe, and respectively affordable alternative.

[Paulg2uk]

Just out of interest how are you powering both the g system and the amp gizmo? Its just I didn't see any power cables any where on your vids.

Cheers

Paul

[vaisatchatrucci]

All power for everything is wired under the board so it's out of sight and clean then I just have an extension cord (lime green in the video) that I plug in that powers everything on the board. The pedals are powered by the g-systems built in 9v connections (4 of them)

[Paulg2uk]

thanks for emailing back. How about the amp gizmo is that plugged in via you extension cord too or is that going into the 9v outs on the g system?

[vaisatchatrucci]

No problem! Only the pedals are powered by the G-System, everything else has its own power supply.

[rodrigozamo]

How much can a Road King 2 head cost? I really love this amp but it is quite expensive, plus I also have to get a cabinet

[superjesus117]

Its easily 2 grand

Between 2000 and 2500

I got mine without tubes for 1600, but that was from a dumbass on craigslist who had pretty much no idea what he was doing

[rodrigozamo]

thanks... so, I have a lot of saving to do... plus about 500-700 bucks for the cabinet

[superjesus117]

Honestly, unless you REALLY want the clean channel (Which is the Boogie Lone Star clean) buy the Dual Rectifier. The dirty sound is almost exactly the same on the RKII and DR, And the Dual Rec is about half the price used on ebay.

[vaisatchatrucci]

Lets put it this way - you can get the RKII to sound like the DR, but to say the DR is anywhere close to the RKII is ignoring the versatility of the tube configs, and the difference money wise just doesn't justify the addition of an amazing clean channel and incredible versatility in my humble opinion. I agree the DR is cool, but its a one trick pony in comparison and to me, why buy something you'll love for a week then figure out your stuck with one sound? I dunno, its a personal preference.

[superjesus117]

Well yea, tube config is one thing, but personally I have never liked ANYTHING with EL34's, so I forgot about that part. I only use 6l6's with my RK.

I find the dirty sounds from the RK and DR, when both running 6l6's to be just about the same. So yea, not quite the same if one were to use the EL34's, but for somebody like me its about the same.

[vaisatchatrucci]

I use both EL34s and 6L6s and the combination is badass so thats why I love being able to combine them instead of one over the other but that's just me plus the different modes make the tube configs sound even MORE different giving you that many more options that I have yet to even begin to tap into... its just fun experimenting :)

[superjesus117]

Exactly, but if you don't need/want that flexibility, the Dual Rec is the way to go

[SparcoRX7]

What are those little cables you use to connect the effects?

[morrismaglasang]

What is an "amp gizmo"? sorry for the ignorance

I'm new at this, I'm pretty old school ... guitar-stompboxes-amp type of setup so Im updating. thanks man

[mattjazz3]

Do you run through the Road King for your piezo?

[vaisatchatrucci]

In a live situation, I sometimes use a direct box and go straight to the board for that, but you can use the piezo output and I do that as well through the road king too and it sounds great for clean stuff.