Conference napalm::guitar

    
    Randall has never had good distribution here on the east
    coast....notice all their endorsees are west coast players.
    
    The stuff I've heard (mostly bass amps) was good and solid but not
    awesome...kind of meat and potatoes instead of steak and lobster,
    eh?
    
    That little combo, I think it's called an RG-80, 80 watts, channel
    switching, 12" Celestion, does sound nice when cranked....about
    as tube-like as you can get with transistors.
    
    

    
    	I had been under the impression that Randall amp's claim was
    to be able to render the "tube sound" using a solid state circuit.
    They do this by building their output stages using the devices as
    "current sources" vs the voltage source topology of the typical
    power amp. This gives a softer drive to the speaker emulating the
    lower damping factor inherant in tube amps. I also thought Ronnie 
    Montrose endorsed them?
    
    	Joe Jas
    

    
    Unfortunately, Ronnie has also endorsed Lab Series and GK, and
    currently is a Pearce endorsee... although he said in GP recently he
    heard a Marshall Artist 30, was blown away, and bitched to Dan Pearce
    that his tone wasn't good enough, so Pearce went and built him an amp
    that sounded just like the Marshall. 

    One guy I know who plays metal and works in a store that sells Randall
    likes the RG-80 (but he uses Marshall himself).  He told me he thought
    that it sounded much more tube-like when cranked up than it did
    when it was played quietly.  I dunno....I heard him playing through
    it and it sounded good to me.

    not to endorse or pan Randall amps but almost every solid state
    amp I've ever heard sounded more like a tube amp the louder you cranked
    it, this may be a function of volume and my ears...
    
    dbii

    
    I believe the amps randall now puts are a fairly new line. The heads
    that are coming are tube heads with channel switching. I am not
    certain just how new they are but i haven't seen them anywhere else
    as of yet. The pamphlet shows vivian campbell and def leppard as
    a couple of the endorsees.
    
    
    
    
    
    
                                                           DAVE
    
    

    I have a friend in NY that has sold Randall amps since 1979. When
    they first came out, they were the pits! No tone, noisy, buzz tone
    for distortion, then they got smart, they redesigned the whole lot
    and gave them a Celestion option. The 80watt that was mentioned
    with the Celestion kicks a*s altho it's clean channel sounds too 
    metalic for my tastes. I guess it all depends on what you want
    it for. Personally, if I was looking for an amp... Randall wouldn't
    be one I'd look at first. When I was living in NY, I played with
    every amp (once every week) that my friend had in the store. Randall 
    was never the first one I tried. 
    	This is JMO, so please take this for what its worth. Opinions?
    Everybody has one. I will say, that they're better than the ones
    in 1979, but not good enough.
    
    Fred

    
    	ooops! I was wrong, GK - not Randall - has the hi Z transistor
    power amp topology.
    
    	Joe Jas
    

    I have played an RG-80 w/ the 12" celestion for approx. 5 years
    and so far no complaints.  It's plenty loud and has more than enough
    power to drive a 4-12 cab.  It is sort of noisy, even on the clean
    channel - but it does (IMHO) sound great.  The only problem I'v
    encountered with it was when the handle decided to leave on it's
    own (fortunately not while I was climbing stairs with it).  It doesn't
    compare to a Marshall or a Boogie, but neither does the price. 
    And it certainly beats anything that Peavey has ever (and I dare
    say WILL ever) built.
    
    bottom line -->    I would recomend their amps but not their handles.
    
    					Brad Karrfalt
    

    When my Kitty Hawk was in the shop last fall, my band also happened to
    be doing some once-in-a-lifetime recording.  I had to rent something
    and ended up renting a Randall � stack.  
    
    I wasn't real impressed with the amp and hated the results.  Part of it
    was a poor instrument mix, imho, but it couldn't touch my Kitty Hawk
    M1.  I wish I had the chance to fix it up with KH.
    
    Mike

    Randall's, no matter what version, have always seemed kind of naff.

    I've never heard a Randall amp that I liked.  They all seem to have
    this really annoying high pitched buzzing that just grates on my
    nerves.  It's like it sounds killer for the first few minutes, then it
    starts bothering you, which gets progressively worse to the point that
    after about an hour in the room with one you want to kill something!
    
    Greg

    At our last rehearsal before the "gig", I borrowed a Randall unit last
    night.  It was offered for free to use the rest of the week, so I said 
    OK!  It was a model something like "80/112", I think.  The back was
    labeled "80 watts RMS at 4 ohm, 100 watts RMS at 8 ohms"...I may have
    those reversed.  It is a combo amp with one 12" Celestion.  It has two
    channels with Master and Gain controls, a channel switching footswitch,
    reverb, treble, bass, middle, and presence controls that affect/effect
    both channels. I set up one channel for clean, and one for a little
    edge.  The lead channel (edge) put out a pretty nice "Tube Screamer"
    sounding clip.  The clean channel pretty much gave me a nice strat and
    Les Paul tone, using those guitars respectively.  The amp was
    incredibly loud, probably pushing significantly more air than a KH
    60 watter.  It was really too loud at about half volume....I was
    favorably impressed with the unit, liked the tone, and still have some
    time to learn how to get those knobs tweaked. 
    
    If the price was right, I would consider buying one...
    
    FWIW,
    
    Dawg

    What kinda money we talkin' here ?

    RE: -1
    
    
    I'll see the owner next weekend (8/29).  He has a 25 year old
    relationship with a music store in the DC area.  The store owner pretty
    much loans him 'whatever' he needs 'whenever' he needs it, and I
    understand he has quite a 'preferred customer' discount.  I'll check!
    

    Mike Heiser once said he used a Randall � stack on a recording he did,
    and said he didn't like it at all...
    
    ???

    as I recall, Mike used a Randall on one of his recent Guitarnotes tape
    tunes and it smoked! (in the good sense)
    
    Anything to say Mike?

    Mike's on vacation until next week, but I know he definately used a
    Randall half stack on his recording with the band "Vessell".  He said
    he rented it because his Kitty Hawk was in the shop and that was the
    only amp available for him to rent.
    
    Yeah, and he definately said he hated it...
    
    My take on what I heard from that recording is that it got a pretty
    decent metal lead sound and about nothing else.  The crunch rhythm
    sound was poor and the clean sound wasn't all that great either.
    
    Greg

    Oh yeah... 
    
    I should probably mention my experience with Randalls.  It's been
    several years (probably at least 6 or 7) since I played one, but I just
    couldn't get a sound I liked from the couple that I played through back
    then.  The distortion has a high frequency buzzyness that really
    bothered me.  
    
    It's like it sounds cool at first, then after a few minutes something
    starts annoying you about it that you just can't quite put your finger
    on, then the longer you play with it, the more it starts REALLY bugging
    you.  At least that's what happened with me.
    
    I've seen a couple of bands where the guitar player was using Randalls
    and experienced the same sensation ("Hey, cool tone from that
    Randall"..."Man, something's weird with his sound though"..."Geez, it's
    buzzy as all get out"..."I think I need to leave").
    
    In all fairness though, I haven't heard one (except on Mike's
    recording) in at least three years, so perhaps they've gotten better. 
    I'm happy with what I have now though, so I don't really plan on
    auditioning any very soon.
    
    Greg

    I used this particular combo for about 3 hours on Tuesday night, and
    didn't have any probs.  Decent tone, LOTS of volume, and no "buzzing".
    The only criticism I can think of is it's "knob sensitivity" ala Mesa
    Boogie.  It took some tweaking to get a volume level I liked.  I would
    move the Master just a gnat's hair and it would be too loud.....nit.
    
    "OK" amp.....IMHO
    
    Steve

   Good or bad, they're ALL over the place these days.  I went up to Denver
   last week and think I saw Randall in every store I went into.  Wait a few
   years and pick up a used one for next to nothing...  :-)

   -- Sam

    I should have mentioned that the "buzz" problem was with the distortion
    of the unit.  I thought the clean sound was kind of lackluster, but it
    doesn't make any noise.
    
    Greg

    re: -1
    
    Oh.  This one 'may' buzz, then.  I only used a little gain on the lead
    channel...just enuff for a "tube screamer"_like distortion. 
    
    

    I used a Randall on the whole Vessell album.  The only Guitarnotes tape
    song that is a Vessell tune is "Only One".
    
    Mike

>>    It's like it sounds cool at first, then after a few minutes something
>>    starts annoying you about it that you just can't quite put your finger
>>    on, then the longer you play with it, the more it starts REALLY bugging
>>    you.

    Exactly the same experience I've had. The last time I played in a band
    (don't ask), we were in a Denver club.  The band before us had these
    two guitar players who both used Randall stacks.   They were *loud* for
    sure, and at first I thought their tone was pretty good.  In fact, I
    was surprised because the last Randall I'd used had that buzzy mosquito
    distortion Greg talks about.  So I'm thinking maybe I was wrong about
    these amps.... Nope.  About 20 minutes into their set the guitars 
    sound worse than fingernails on a blackboard -- but they're still
    *loud* :).

    steve

    I used the Randall combo again (the one I spoke about a few back).  I
    played virtually all day on Saturday.  I used my Tube Screamer for a
    little edge (I'm not a 'big' distortion user), and just set one of the
    channels up for a tone I liked.  I had ZERO problems, good tone and
    plenty of volume all day long.  Nice performing amp.  We played
    outdoors, I had the sucker on about 4, and it virtually kicked ass!  I
    was killing my tone bro who was using an old Twin.  Decent reverb,
    too....I'd buy one.
    
    FWIW,
    
    Steve
    

    Like I say, it's only the distortion channel I didn't like.  I don't
    actually recall having ever heard one set up for a clean sound.
    
    Greg

    re .26 Steve with 
    >>I
        was killing my tone bro who was using an old Twin.
    
    You better shutchore mouth 'r wash it with soap 'n water   :^)
    
    "sakman" the Fenderman

    >>I was killing my tone bro who was using an old Twin.
    
    Whad-ya do...push the damn thing over on top of him?

    re: 28 & 29
    
    this thing is incredibly loud, guys, I mean REALLY loud!  with the
    amount of beer that was served, I'm surprised something didn't get
    pushed over on someone.......
    
    re: 30
    
    why?
    
    8^)

    In my humble opinion, if you gave Bulldawg distortion, it
    would subtract from his playing/sound/style...  Let him have 
    his IBZ Tube Thingie and a regular old amp - he sounds just 
    great with it...
    
    Although I still use the preset I made him program on my ADA.
    :)

   >>     In my humble opinion, if you gave Bulldawg distortion, it
   >>     would subtract from his playing/sound/style...  Let him have
   >>     his IBZ Tube Thingie and a regular old amp - he sounds just
   >>     great with it...
    
    Gosh, thanks, Coop....(blush, giggle, blink)
    
    Steve (just a blues/rock man....keep'n it simple)

>    re: 30
>    
>    why?
    
    Why ask why?

	Just thought I'd revive this note a bit. When you guys check this
amp out (RG 80-112 sc) just note that the Trebel knob is a compressor in 
disguise. Pull it out, compresson on, push it in compresson off. If you
don't know this you may get some very strange sounds out of it because
the last guy who used it liked to play everything with compression.

-John-