Mesa Boogie Road King Half Stack Reviews 
3 / 5 based on 1 reviewsI purchased my Road King, after what I considered to be some pretty exhaustive research, from The Guitar Center. With my trade in I paid very close to 2000.00 for the amp head, and 4x12 cab. I purchased it because of the vast array of features, and how close it came to my idea of what guitar tone should be, and after playing for 40 years, I'm pretty critical.
The unit is very well built, and after some experimentation, and set up time, I have all 4 channels set up up to what I consider a perfect blend of useful tones all at the touch of the the 4 channel foot switches. Very convenient.
Now we get to the "Rub". The first amp head had problems, the internal fan wouldn't turn on, and after about an hour of playing the amp would shut down, with no warning. This happened, so frequently, that I had to take advantage of the 30 day exchange policy and replaced that amp head. Problem solved , right? We just played a rather large local festival, and 2 songs into our first set, the new amp started doing the same thing, shutting down mid-song. Granted it's been almost a year since I made the swap, but the same problem? To say the least, I was annoyed. Luckily a friend lived 1/2 mile away, and set me up with an equivilent head to finish the job. It remains to be seen what Mesa will do to
help me out. Thank God it has a 5 yr warranty.
Again, the amp is very well built, but as to reliability, I am "extremely" skeptical and that's a shame, because the unit really puts out some wonderful tone. But after
experiencing the same problem with 2 different amp heads, I can only wonder if Mesa may not have a signal processor problem, and only hope they will offer the support an expensive piece of equipment like this demands.
In summary, this amp, by all considerations, "should" be an exceptional rig. However, with my experience, it has fallen far short of Mesa's reputation, and my expectations. 2 strikes one to go.
Chicago Pete, remaining hopeful rated this unit
on
2004-06-07.
