About
Reviews (6)
19 March 2016
Best amp Randall ever made
Randall made some great amps in the 80's, back when they were still based in Irvine California. These weren't just made and marketed as a beginner amp or a budget rig or whatever?? this is a great sounding, powerful stage worthy amplifier. They don't make these anymore, but they should. Despite being solid state these amps can hang with any Marshall or Mesa/Boogie no problem. The trick to getting a great tight metal sound is using a boost/overdrive to push the amp a little harder and to tighten up the lows. This amp has tons of low end and power. Sounds great!
24 April 2016
Powerful, consistent, solid state amplifier. Great for metal
2 of 2 found this helpful First off, while you can achieve a similar tone to the rg100es or rg80es with this amp, it's not exactly on the money. It's a bit more modern sounding, with a different presence and high treble response. If you are in a LOUD doom, sludge band this amp kicks ass though. I'll admit it does need a boost of some sort to tighten up the gain and low end a bit, especially on the red channel which is more similar to the older Randalls. Clean Channel is clean, but sterile, so I see no point in saying anything about it. It's not made for cleans.
Some tips, DO NOT USE MID SCOOP BUTTON! it sucks all the tone out of the amp. Bass boost is cool though, I love that feature. Gives it some huge almost sub low frequencies, but make sure your cabs can handle it!!
I dig the fact that there are separate masters for each channel and a global master, it allows to match each channel up better volume wise if you want to use it as a channel switcher (which I don't). I'm usually on the Red channel. Blue gets louder quicker on the dial, but Red is plenty powerful, and just needs to be turned up more. I use various boosts with mine including a MXR 6 band (frown shape), a Maxon 808, Boss SD-1 and even, even the Metal Zone with the pedals drive at zero and EQ at noon... it works great, especially with drop tunings. Very reliable so far. Has a built in fan to help keep the amps power section from overheating
Another tip; run two 4x12 cabs at 4 ohms. It's puts out it's maximum power at 4 ohms and just sounds bigger and better to me. It's not something that'll give you any kinda crunch, or subtle sounds. It's just all out powerful, solid state metal amp. I recommend if you need something loud, and that will get the job done. Really needs that boost though. The louder it gets the better it sounds too. No worries cutting thru a mix of 5150's or even jcm800's, this thing will get the job done without a sweat, it's powerful, and cutting when set right. Peace.
16 April 2016
Great pickups. sounds awesome, and a steo up from he 81 for sure. Love them them