Overview - Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier Road King Amp Owner's Manual

OVERVIEW:

Congratulations on choosing the Mesa Dual Rectifier Road King as your amplifier and welcome to the Mesa/Boogie Family! By
choosing this all-tube hand-built instrument you have taken a step into the future of guitar amplification, for as you can see at a glance,
the Road King is more than just an amp. It's a collection of amps housed in one chassis that we refer to as an Advanced Amplifier
Array. This arsenal of sounds is so powerful that with them at your command, inspiration will take over and propel your playing to
places you have only dreamed. Let's take a moment and review the features that make up this house of tone.
First and foremost it will help you to digest this dictionary of amazing guitar sounds by realizing that, as daunting as it looks, it is really
just four separate amps. If you view it as such and learn them individually and then combine and dedicate them, you will find the
process easier. Each Preamp Channel on the Front Panel has a corresponding Power Amp/Effects Loop Control Panel on the Rear
Panel (we call them Channel Strips). Once you have chosen a Channel/Mode combination for a sound, you simply go to the Rear
Panel and select that Channels' power amp choice (any 1 of 5 selections), choose your Rectifier Style and program your Effects Loop
choices. There you go, one channel done...repeat this scheme three more times and you are ready to explore your first palate of
sounds in the Road King. Rest assured, many more combinations are lurking in there and you can look forward to years of discovery
as you go deeper. In case that was too simple sounding, here is a more expanded way of understanding the King
Four independent preamp channels make up the front end of the Road King and though they may each be used for any sound, they
are grouped as two sets of lower gain Rhythm Channels (1 & 2) and two sets of high gain Lead Channels (3 & 4). The two sets are
stacked with the lower gain rhythm channels following the Input jack. Each of these channels house 3 different modes, which are
voiced differently and in certain cases have different gain structures. You'll notice the modes are duplicated in the two types of
channels (excepting one in each Rhythm Channel) which makes it possible to use the them for different settings of the same sound.
OVERVIEW: (Continued) This allows the Road King to be many amps to many players and roam confidently between extremely
different musical styles while retaining the ability to focus in on any one and offer a multitude of great sounds for a specific genre. For
example, a Blues player might dial up 1 & 2 for different clean sounds using the same mode for both chording and solo fills, while 3 &
Road King
FRONT VIEW : COMBO
CLEAN
FAT
TWEED
GAIN TREBLE MID
CLEAN
FAT
BRIT
Road King
REAR VIEW : COMBO
WARNING :
To reduce risk of fire or
BOLD SPONGY CH 2 CH 3
electric shock, replace fuse with
same type and rating only. Do not
expose this unit to rain or moisture.
ROAD
CH FT
KING
1 SW
POWER FUSE CHANNEL
120 V~ 4 A
EXT.
60 Hz SLO
CH4 CH3 CH2 CH1
SWITCH
4 A BLO
FOOT
CONTROLLER
SOLO REVERB LOOP 1
FUSE
CH1 CH3
BASS PRESENCE MASTER FX
GAIN
LOOPS
:
WARNING To reduce risk of fire or electric HANDBUILT
shock, Do not remove cover. No user-
serviceable parts inside. Refer IN PETALUMA
servicing to qualified personnel.
CALIFORNIA, USA
NORMAL NORMAL
SEND 1
LOOP SYSTEM
ACTIVE
90%
10%
BYPASS
FTSW MIX
SEND LEVEL
LOOPS, SOLO
& MASTER
CONTROLS
RETURN 1 SEND 2 RETURN 2 EXT. TRIGGERS
LOOP 2
Operating Instructions
TREBLE MID BASS PRESENCE MASTER
2x6L6 2x6L6
NORMAL
NORMAL
2xEL34 4x
2x 2x 2xEL34 4x
EL34 6L6
EL34 6L6
L 2xEL+
2x 2x 2xEL+
A 4x6L6
6L6 6L6 4x6L6
T
10% 90% 10%
C
PROGRESSIVE LOOP 2
PROGRESSIVE LOOP 2
H
LINKAGE MIX
LINKAGE MIX
I
N
CH 4
CH 3
G
DIODE A ON ON DIODE A ON
P A A
+ +
U
B
B
L
S
E B OFF OFF B OFF
TUBE-TRACKING TUBE-TRACKING
RECTO SPKR LOOP 1 LOOP 2
RECTO SPKR LOOP 1
PAGE 1
RAW
OUTPUT
VINTAGE
MODERN
RAW
2x6L6
VINTAGE
MODERN
PROGRESSIVE LINKAGE
2x6L6 2x6L6
NORMAL
NORMAL
2xEL34 4x
2x 2xEL34 4x 2x
EL34 6L6
EL34 6L6
2xEL+
2x 2xEL+ 2x
6L6 4x6L6 6L6 4x6L6
90% 10%
10% 90%
PROGRESSIVE LOOP 2
PROGRESSIVE LOOP 2
LINKAGE MIX LINKAGE MIX
CH 1
CH 2
ON DIODE A ON ON DIODE A ON
A A
+ +
B B
OFF B OFF OFF B OFF
TUBE-TRACKING
TUBE-TRACKING
SPKR
LOOP 2 RECTO SPKR LOOP 1 LOOP 2 RECTO LOOP 1 LOOP 2
HI VOLTS AC MAINS
SOLO
ON ON
2xEL34 5U4 DIODES
2x6L6 5U4
RECTIFIER TRACKING
M B SPEAKERS
ESA OOGIE
8 OHM 4 OHM 4 OHM
COMBO USE WITH TWO 8 OHM CABS
90%
CH 3 CH 1
A
LEVEL
SLAVE
REVERB
OUT
ON
CH 4 CH 2
B
OFF
CAUTION:
USE SHORTING PLUG IF NO SPKRS IN B