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Much preferred than the Road King. If you're used to a normal Recto, you can just turn it on and go, without having to spend much time on the back panel.The reverb level knobs now sit with the rest of the back panel channel controls.
The effects loop is serial, so there is no worrying about balancing wet and dry signals.
The manual is incredibly detailed, does an excellent job of explaining how the controls work and interact with one another, and will have you dialing in great tones in no time.
Four channels: two clean (clean/fat/tweed and clean/fat/brit) and two dirty (vintage/raw/modern), each with three distinct and usable modes.
Each channel has volume, gain, bass, mid, and treble knobs, a spring reverb level knob, 100/50w power switch, diode/tube rectifier switch, and loop on/off switch.
Short plate spring reverb, a serial effects loop, a built in Variac to drop the AC for a "brown sound", four 6L6 power tubes, two 5UG rectifier tubes, and six 12AX7 preamp tubes.
The amp is built like a tank, and Mesa's reputation is rock-solid.
This is my third Mesa, and I've never had a problem with any of them.
I've never had to call them with a problem, but I have spent hours on the phone with them before, asking questions and receiving tone guidance.
Mesa has corrected every little niggle that I had with the Road King.
Channel 1 clean has less gain, so it stays clean a lot longer.
I am able to turn up the gain to a little less then half, roll the channel volume to just past half, and things stay surprisingly clear.
With the bass turned past half, it starts getting really thick, perfect for fat leads--I turned the presence up higher when doing this, just to keep stuff from mudding out. - Mesa Boogie Roadstar Review from Sevenstring forum
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