I think that the second channel is sort of weird because it's actually based off the RG100ES, which is the original Dime amp but most people don't take into consideration just how much gain he was pushing into it and how much frequencies he was cutting before the preamp, and without any gadgets it's actually more of a hot rodded Plexi type of deal.
Just out of curiosity how do you go about cutting or boosting frequencies? I know the eq pedals and stuff but how do you know what hrtz or whatever you wanna cut or boost? Sorry for the dumb question.
@@toxic2355 dime used his eq rack unit for that in the back of the amp and used his 6 band in front of the amp which basically controls the guitars frequencies if it's in the back it controls and can help shape the amps frequencies. You can use a 10 band eq for that
@@jacobgarcia2660 Yeah but how do you know which slide control to move and where? Or do you just mess around with it untill you find something you like? I've been looking all over for someone to explain that to me. It's a stupid question but I honestly don't know what slides boost what, like it doesn't say low end, or mids etc. Just numbers 🤔
@@toxic2355 I was the same way when I first got my eq pedal, I played with each knob with everything in the middle then moved each one around to find what I liked. The two center knobs control the mid frequency and I believe the others on the left control the high high end. I shaped the knobs like a upside down v for a mid boost. I'd just play around to find what your ears like
man what I love about Kyle is how he describes what he is doing to tweak the tone to get what he wants out of it, i learned alot just listening to him tweak
Good solid-state amps through good cabs are not bad at all. Much of the negative stigma has more to do with crappy cabs and crappy speakers than it does the amps themselves.
@@beefnacos6258 don’t get me wrong though, this head sounds fucking killer with the right pedal set up, a good EQ pedal and distortion pedal is all you need to make this head scream, of course with passive pick ups that is…
The roland blues cube is a good example of this. The cab and custom speaker are quality (the magnet on the speaker is huge), plus it uses old school class a/b power instead of the newer cheaper class d. Incredibly rich cleans and huge punch and presence. Even the 30w hot is gig worthy.
Dime was a Randall guy for sure, my dad has two RG100 heads from 1986, they are the real deal and you can even pull the gain knob and really push these things to the next level!
This was my first amp, bought it brand new and absolutely adored it for downtuned solid state death metal/hardcore tones, but the power section on mine died after a couple days, so I had to return it and never got around to buying another. I miss it, but now they cost like $800 and I can't justify spending that much for something that I originally got for $300 :(
Holy shit I didn’t realize they went up that much. I think mine was in between 300 and 350 maybe??? I don’t remember for sure. It’s been 2 or 3 years. I think 3. Hey I just looked though, you can get them for $550 from musicians friend. Still quite a bit higher though
This amp *CAN* sound incredible, but you absolutely need a boost with a lot of bass cut (I use a Boss GE-7 EQ pedal for this) and a parametric EQ in the loop to smooth out the mids and highs. If you do that, you can get an infinitely tight, ultra high gain amp that's super clear and smooth. Without those extra ingredients though, the amp is kind of a woofy mud machine. Good luck!
@@sonysoni5079 yes, the engager boost is correct. The other thing that made a huge difference was taking the back off of my 4x12 cab and putting the cab about 3 feet away from a wall or corner. Despite everyone claiming that it doesn't sound better... it sounds 10x better! The cab sounds suffocated and you lose a lot of natural sound with the back on it. Those things and dialing the mids back to "2" and put the MASTER volume at "5-8" and use the channel level to control your volume. It becomes a whole new animal! Don't knock it til you try it!
@@jedfiekel9809 Thanks for the great informative reply bro. I am going to look at that Fender boost pedal, it have some nice specks. Is it completely transparent booster, even on extreme settings? Did you tried TC Electronic Spark booster or MXR 6 band EQ? What 4x12 cab do you use? Sorry on my bad English.
@@sonysoni5079 I'm not sure what you mean by transparent. It does work very well across all different types of music. I have not tried many others. And my cab is a Line6 Spider IV 4x12 cab... people say it isn't any good usually... but it is unbelievable if the back is off of it. Best I've ever used.
My typical setting for this amp is: Channel 2 Gain 1:30 Presence max Bass max Mid max Treble 1:00 No bass boost or mid cut Boost with ds1 A bit unorthodoxed, but is removes the blanket over the speaker feel and smoothes out the grainy top end.
Had one of these. One of the best solid state amps I ever owned. The Randall RX120H and the RG1003 are both monsters. I just sold my 1003 a few months ago
Necro response, but no, Mike did not have any design on the new RG solid state amps. He only had his designs in the tube amps (Diavlo, Thrasher, Satan, Meathead). I spoke with Mike back in 2017 with some technical questions regarding the new line at the time. He said Randall was going to have him redesign the RG series, but that project never saw the light of day. The new amps are also made with Chinese components, so the build quality you can expect what will come with that. Randall as a company is dead and they basically only selling remaining stock and will likely shelf the brand after. 7 years later, his words are true as we nothing new from Randall, nothing at NAMM 2024, and the remaining amp stock has skyrocketed in price. Such a bummer.
Solid state amps, Randalls in particular, don't react the same to overdrive in front of the amp for boosting. I mean, they CAN work for some tones (Kirk Windstien/Crowbar), but it's a very specific tone, and one your probably not gonna be into. Having used a lot of the old Randalls in the past, I cant tell you, tight thrash tones will come with a graphic EQ up front shaping and pushing the signal a bit in the right places. (also, a Randall Century would be ideal, but good luck finding one let alone for a sane price)
@@jmasson3272 transistors are not tubes. They don't distort in the same way tubes do (even-order vs odd-order harmonics, etc). Some transistor based equipment just doesn't play nice with being fed a super hot signal. Back when I last had a SS amp, I didn't know about boosting.
@@KGAD0831 this is not a matter of technology. It just dépends If it's well built or not. Try a quilter od200 or the new mach 3. You will see how it reacts. I played shitty Amps, some tubes some solid states. It it's not well built even when you boost them it sounds at the best "meh"...
@@jmasson3272 I get that bro, just explaining why I erroneously thought it wouldn't work. When I plugged the Tubescreamer into my Crate Excalibur it was amazing. I was like "holy shit I guess you CAN boost these things!" Was super happy lmao😄
Every Randall is the randall tone. For Dimebag tone you need furman peq, mxr eq and mxr flanger/doubler. with these, you can actually boost any high gain amp to sound like dime
... for a tip: the sound with the such types of heads, also greatly depends on the type of the speaker box used. It would be good to hear a video with the default 4 x 12" Randall box :).
That amp has to have the good ole 10 band in the loop. That helps with that flub and mid control problem. It wasn't bad at that point but still not good enough to keep for me.
If you want a SS amp that's Dimeworthy there's other stuff out there, I recall playing the old Randall 90s era stuff & never really liked it. VS100 or Transtube or various Crates are imho way tastier. As a B or C amp in a multiamp rig that "skrok" it has could be just the ticket, though
Orange Super Crush is the answer to my prayers. Have had mine for a few months now. I'm running a Boss 7 band EQ in the loop and that alone has eliminated my distortion pedals from my chain. I'm running my delay, chorus, phaser and flanger through the effects loop and my guitar into my crybaby wah into the front of my super crush and the metal ensues.
I have this amp and it needed an EQ in the loop to be useable. I have a relatively flat curve on my eq just boosting the upper mids and it takes care of the blanket over the speakers thing. Plus with the M77 I made it percussive to the point where it feels like you are getting pushed in the chest when it’s turned up
I have one of these. I basically just use it as a two channel amp. I never touch channel 2. But I absolutely love the clean channel and high gain channel.
I have the RG 1503 head, bought it brand new for less than $400 Canadian. Good amp for solid state however get a good noise gate because it hisses. An EQ pedal helps too... a lot of people say Dime ran it in front but I find it's better in the loop. At the end of the day though it's just not going to compare to an all tube high gain head. I ended up using it as a power amp for my Headrush Pedalboard which it does very nicely.
His signature amp was called the Krankenstien but wasn't used until later. He preferred solid-state amps and was proud of it. I'm not surprised, really; it's not like his tone was super thick. As far as the original amps used on records, he tended to use either the Randall RG-100ES or Randall Century 200. The RG1003H can undoubtedly get you in the ballpark, but Dime had a very particular "playing style" - especially with his insane vibrato. My thought is that nailing his playing style is much more challenging.
Unfortunately dime passed before the krankenstein was released. He used the Krank revolution for maybe a few months on his final tours with damageplan, after his departure from Washburn/randall. He went back to dean and swapped to Krank tube amps. He did have a signature amp with randall called the warhead in the late 90s
Just an FYI Dime used the Randall RG100ES and Randall Century 200. Always wanted to give a Century 200 a try but they're so hard to come by (Dime used the Century 200 on both Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven.
I have a Randall Century 200 II that I got in 1992. I got it because it was an affordable half stack that I could afford at the time. Funny how it’s become a legendary amp, and I paid $900 brand new for the half stack. lol. I still have it till this day. 😬
My older Rg150 had the built graphic eq and had so much variation in tone for the tech of it's time as the final evolution of the RG until this one came out.
I used to own one of these years ago and thought it was pretty good but I agree, it was a MAJOR pain in the butt to EQ. I also found the best sound was to be had with mid scoop button pushed in. The amp still has plenty of mids to cut through but the mid scoop reduced some the annoying parts from the sound.
So I run a Bogner Uberschall(which has been my rig for a while) but recently heard that an OCD style drive in-front of it is that of the demon gods. And yup, yup it is. check it out if you can.
Great demo I went ahead and bought it new yesterday....I think it all sounded great on this demo...as good as a lot of your evh demos..I listen through a nice 65 inch screen and laptop and sound system and I watch a lot of Fluff and you and Euge and all of you even Glenn...lol..no he's cool..but lot of pedals to try through it
I love Randall stuff. I don't like these amps though. IMO the best solid state Randall ever made was the RH200 g2 series. I regret selling mine years ago. It was comparable to the Ampeg VH140c
BEST AMP EVER!!!!!!! I love mine over my Marshall! I put mine through a DIME 300 watt cab and I leave it on the red channel with an overdrive pushing it! METAL!!!!!!!
I actually love this amp. I owned one for a second but it had a self oscillation issue at practice level volumes... Kinda regret not getting it serviced and just selling it instead. Great for old school death metal kinda tones.
Sounds good to me! I love my Fender and Gibson-style guitars, and Fender and Laney amps, but sometimes I just want to shred purely metal solos through a super high gain amp. Seems like Randall amps will get me that searing high gain, but still musical sound in short order.
I bought this amp new in 2018 they were a really good deal then only $299 then the price went through the roof shortly after. I also got the matching 4x12 cab for I think was $249 actually the red channel is based exactly off of the Rg100es and the blue channel is the c200 century.. dimebag used both at diffrent times. I have a Furman pq3, Mxr 6 band, and a rocktron hush through the front which is how Dime ran his rig. And it sounds killer. I also hooked up a reverb delay rack unit through the loop. It's a great amp. Ola England has a video on it showing how to get dimes tone with more modern gear. And not having to spend a small fortune on vintage Para eqs and such to replicate it..
I found that Zoom multi effects pedals work surprisingly good with these amps. I’ve used a G1XON through the amp input for Boosts, a graphic EQ for my Fluence Modern pickups, and a noise gate, as well as a small Zoom Stompbox modeler for a noise gate through the FX loop as well as reverb and delay following.
@@rikkufan009 definitely keep an eye out for a Zoom MS50G if you have a solid state amp for sure, dude. There's an effect on that modeling unit called an exciter that goes in the FX Loop of a SS amp that adds bass and treble frequencies to eliminate the sterile sound of your SS amp and gives it enough of a drastic tonal change simply by filling out what the amp lacks tonally for it to compete with your 5150's and Dual Rectifiers of the world. This trick especially works with this amplifier. I've got a Randall RG80 combo and whenever i put a Zoom MS50G in my FX Loop with the exciter on it makes channel 2 sound like a hot rodded Marshall. It sounds so sick, dude.
My Randall only sounds good with the original cabinet that has thick cardboard Celestions redlabel seventy 80s plus the construction is very solid. It works way better with an EQ on the front and tubescreamer or metalzone as clean boost
The moment you mentioned the thing with the bass on channel two, I knew that the commenter talking about the RG100ES was right. Makes a lot of sense why Dime liked that amp since just dialing a scooped tone distorts it so much.
I learned from others, you have gain stack, and boost, make channel 1 as clean as possible, stack 2&3 gain add and mxr 6 band in the front and a parametric in the loop, and run channel 2 with bass boost and mid scoop dial bass back to 6 and mids to 4, it’s screams
Yeah, that's how I felt when I had it. It was so hard to EQ it in a manner that made it "Feel" right. All the other guys always talked about how great it sounded and it's so cool and I'm like "igh... I mean no... no not really...". I tried my hardest to like it but I just ended up selling it. Boss KTN-100 MKII was leagues better.
I have the same amp but an early 80s blackface pq3, mxr 6 band and rocktron hush in the front end. And a delay/reverb unit in the loop.. Sounds killer on the blue channel.
I haven’t had the chance to play this particular amp. But the Randall Cyclone is awesome. I sold it to kg buddy about a decade ago, and now I’m trying to buy it back from him. (Though he doesn’t want to let it go haha)
Lasse Lament did a video of one of these Randall’s. You should check that out. The Randall’s that crushed. The Titan, Cyclone, V-Max are pretty badass. As for Dime, no he never used these. He used the old RG100ES and Century class head with 2 graphic eq’s.
Hmm i think your only hope is an eq in the loop (if it has one) those are around the price of the new katana artist head and a bit more than the orange super crush
I have one of these. takes a while to find tones sometimes. micro adjustments really help you find all the different corners. or maybe im living in denial
I put a sd1 , parametric on loop, ns2, using bill Lawrence pup. Channel 2 works like magic. Pretty hard to understand at first for me, treble/channel volume/presence trio has a weird relationship between them. But when you get it going,oh man.
If i'm having issues with the low end in a lot of solid state amps I tend to ZERO it out all together. I'd be interested to hear(and feel) how this amp does with Bass at 0 and bass boost engaged. Also zeroing mids and starting from there subject to mid scoop and dial in everything from zero :)
Crazy seeing the price of these now, i bought mine brand new in 2013 for $299, now theyre $649 The current line of Randall's came out around 2013 when Fortin joined forces with them. They relaunched their entire brand, with the RG (although not the same but pay an homage to the early solid state randall rg100es from the cowboys from hell/vulgar display of power albums), Diavlo, Thrasher, EOD, and 667. alongside a new Kirk Hammett signature tube amp and a Scott Ian signature. Later came the Ola signature Satan. Some of the amps in the lineup were rebranded Fortin models. The 667 is essentially a fortin meathead and Satan is a Natas. The only amps that were kept from the previous generation were the budget rx120rh (one with fx built in and one without) and Kirk Hammett solid state both are basically the same amp. Before these amps were made the only tube amps randall had was the RT series, which are awesome if you ever get to try one and the nuno bettencourt signature. These were made probably 2008ish - 2011ish. Before that in the early 2000s around 03-04 they had the RM series, those amps are what started the modular amps just like the synergy thing going on now, you can actually still use the randall made modules within the synergy systems. Around the same time they had the Rh g2 series, titan, T2 and V2. 97-98 randall warheads and warheadv2 in 99-2000. And finally there was the century's and original RG which was first made in the 80s. I definitely missed some and my timelines might be off a bit but all the amps listed are definitely worth checking out if you are looking to get yourself a randall.
Adding to your post, Mike did not have any design on the new RG solid state amps. He only had his designs in the tube amps (Diavlo, Thrasher, Satan, Meathead). I spoke with Mike back in 2017 with some technical questions regarding the new line at the time. He said Randall was going to have him redesign the RG series, but that project never saw the light of day. The new RG line is a mix of the old RG and Warhead circuit. However, the new amps are also made with Chinese components, so the build quality you can expect what will come with that. It's basically better to just get a decent OD pedal and use an old RG, like the RG100ES. Sadly, Randall as a company is dead and they basically only selling remaining stock and will likely shelf the brand after. 7 years later, his words are true as we nothing new from Randall, nothing at NAMM 2024, and the remaining amp stock has skyrocketed in price. Such a bummer.
I have a honest question for you I thought I herd you say you woupd get another randall to use and if I'm not mistaken you wouod use the rd120rh or am I mistaken would you use the diavlo amd would it be great not only for practice but performing?
I have one and have a love/hate relationship with it. If you don’t dial in channel 2 correctly it sounds like paper, where as the 3rd channel gets higher gain, but it tightens it almost too much. I been getting a better sound from a fender champion 100 that I dropped some Eminence speakers in there. Shit is bruuuuutal
had the 80s rg or r something and the 120. the 80 for lead and 120 for rhythm. they both sounded awesome with a bit of help. couldn't turn them past 3 quarters if i remember right.
Almost bought one these last year for a stupid low price but another buyer sniped it before I could get it. Ended up finding an RH200SC instead for a great deal ($200 with a mint Behringer 4x12 w/ Jensens) instead so I went with it. Really nice amp that, to my ears, gets super close to Dime's tone. Dialed it in to do a pretty convincing AJFA tone too. If you ever have the chance to get one, I would highly recommend it. There are some clips on my channel.
The RH200SC slays ! Definitely easy to get a Dime tone , tho not my thing . I do have mine sounding like a mix between a 5150 and Mesa dual . I have it very oldschool “Thrash” style tone . Rh series are FAR better amps than any RG series IMO .
@@akray6448 I can certainly dig that. I have been extremely happy with mine. It's a very versatile amp and covers a lot of the bases. I set mine up for an older school thrash sound too, haha!
I would reckon all the Randall line of solid state amps are assembled overseas in a highly automated and robotic environment to stay competitive. Highly likely that the cost of repairing one of these would rival the price of a new one, something to consider with these budget amps. Also, the prices have shot up through the roof in recent months.
very tight for a solid state. thinking about grabbing a G3 for the mosfet tube amp (using it with a waza metal modded metal zone and dophix michaelangelo preamp) or just a straight up Genz Benz and replace the chinese tubes with some nice sovtek ones. thinking about getting a Genz Benz because last G2 200 watt I bought from ebay used turned out to be a lemon even after I dropped over 700 bucks on it trying to get it repaired.. (Borderline criminal for absolutely any solid state amp, if you ask me)
I bought the 300 w version with the rg4x12 cab 2 years ago and it was about 1k for the whole set... currently just the head is over 1.2k dlls, so fuckin glad i bought it when i did...
I bought one of these heads brand new when they were like 250-300 and I had to get rid of it because I needed the money, no they’re go for like 500-600 man I do regret getting rid of this amp.
Sammy Duet "Goatwhore" Kirk Windstein "Crowbar and Down" had no problem getting usable tones out of this series of amps , #1 Boost the hell out of the front end , Boss Metal Zone , Volume 100% all EQ 50% Gain 0 , you will need a gate , EQ in the loop , Cabinet's matter ! I use oversized 2x12's loaded with Eminence EM12's , note the clean channel gain effects the other channels slightly , I use the Red channel , it will chug !😎👍
@@matt926uk1 These days they're about 2.5 to 3x what they used to cost brand new over here in the US. They went from ~$300 to ~$800 over the last year or so, so buying used is probably your only chance to get one for a remotely reasonable price (Assuming the situation in the UK is anything like it is over here)
@@SuffyANX o really? That's a bummer. I guess I'd be more likely to buy one second hand it being a solid state amp, but still, I've ended up with a few dodgy purchases on the used market which put me off. U take your chances I suppose.
I actually think it sounded awesome a few times I think it was just not your favorite which I totally get but from this end definitely not bad. Made me buy one last night haha
I think that the second channel is sort of weird because it's actually based off the RG100ES, which is the original Dime amp but most people don't take into consideration just how much gain he was pushing into it and how much frequencies he was cutting before the preamp, and without any gadgets it's actually more of a hot rodded Plexi type of deal.
Yes! Exactly this!
Just out of curiosity how do you go about cutting or boosting frequencies? I know the eq pedals and stuff but how do you know what hrtz or whatever you wanna cut or boost? Sorry for the dumb question.
@@toxic2355 dime used his eq rack unit for that in the back of the amp and used his 6 band in front of the amp which basically controls the guitars frequencies if it's in the back it controls and can help shape the amps frequencies. You can use a 10 band eq for that
@@jacobgarcia2660 Yeah but how do you know which slide control to move and where? Or do you just mess around with it untill you find something you like? I've been looking all over for someone to explain that to me. It's a stupid question but I honestly don't know what slides boost what, like it doesn't say low end, or mids etc. Just numbers 🤔
@@toxic2355 I was the same way when I first got my eq pedal, I played with each knob with everything in the middle then moved each one around to find what I liked. The two center knobs control the mid frequency and I believe the others on the left control the high high end. I shaped the knobs like a upside down v for a mid boost. I'd just play around to find what your ears like
man what I love about Kyle is how he describes what he is doing to tweak the tone to get what he wants out of it, i learned alot just listening to him tweak
Awww muffin
Good solid-state amps through good cabs are not bad at all. Much of the negative stigma has more to do with crappy cabs and crappy speakers than it does the amps themselves.
kinda like the crap cab he's using in this video
@@parallaxgaming5070yeah i have this head and ill tell ya, active pickups sound like shit through this head.
@@erronblack6763 I've heard people say that before about this amp
@@beefnacos6258 don’t get me wrong though, this head sounds fucking killer with the right pedal set up, a good EQ pedal and distortion pedal is all you need to make this head scream, of course with passive pick ups that is…
The roland blues cube is a good example of this. The cab and custom speaker are quality (the magnet on the speaker is huge), plus it uses old school class a/b power instead of the newer cheaper class d. Incredibly rich cleans and huge punch and presence. Even the 30w hot is gig worthy.
Dime was a Randall guy for sure, my dad has two RG100 heads from 1986, they are the real deal and you can even pull the gain knob and really push these things to the next level!
This was my first amp, bought it brand new and absolutely adored it for downtuned solid state death metal/hardcore tones, but the power section on mine died after a couple days, so I had to return it and never got around to buying another. I miss it, but now they cost like $800 and I can't justify spending that much for something that I originally got for $300 :(
Holy shit I didn’t realize they went up that much. I think mine was in between 300 and 350 maybe??? I don’t remember for sure. It’s been 2 or 3 years. I think 3. Hey I just looked though, you can get them for $550 from musicians friend. Still quite a bit higher though
This amp *CAN* sound incredible, but you absolutely need a boost with a lot of bass cut (I use a Boss GE-7 EQ pedal for this) and a parametric EQ in the loop to smooth out the mids and highs. If you do that, you can get an infinitely tight, ultra high gain amp that's super clear and smooth. Without those extra ingredients though, the amp is kind of a woofy mud machine. Good luck!
The Fender boost pedal i have works great and has everything to make my normally muddy, bassy, obnoxious RH300g3 sound tight and badass as fuck.
@@jedfiekel9809 Hi. Can you please tell me what is full name of that Fender boost pedal? ENGAGER BOOST?
@@sonysoni5079 yes, the engager boost is correct. The other thing that made a huge difference was taking the back off of my 4x12 cab and putting the cab about 3 feet away from a wall or corner. Despite everyone claiming that it doesn't sound better... it sounds 10x better! The cab sounds suffocated and you lose a lot of natural sound with the back on it. Those things and dialing the mids back to "2" and put the MASTER volume at "5-8" and use the channel level to control your volume. It becomes a whole new animal! Don't knock it til you try it!
@@jedfiekel9809 Thanks for the great informative reply bro. I am going to look at that Fender boost pedal, it have some nice specks. Is it completely transparent booster, even on extreme settings? Did you tried TC Electronic Spark booster or MXR 6 band EQ? What 4x12 cab do you use?
Sorry on my bad English.
@@sonysoni5079 I'm not sure what you mean by transparent. It does work very well across all different types of music. I have not tried many others. And my cab is a Line6 Spider IV 4x12 cab... people say it isn't any good usually... but it is unbelievable if the back is off of it. Best I've ever used.
My typical setting for this amp is:
Channel 2
Gain 1:30
Presence max
Bass max
Mid max
Treble 1:00
No bass boost or mid cut
Boost with ds1
A bit unorthodoxed, but is removes the blanket over the speaker feel and smoothes out the grainy top end.
Had one of these. One of the best solid state amps I ever owned. The Randall RX120H and the RG1003 are both monsters. I just sold my 1003 a few months ago
How did the 1003 compare to the rx120h?
@@MetalZoned the RX definitely had more gain and was more aggressive
@@voodoocustompickups2547 thanks! I saw at the end of this video Kyle said he demoed that I will watch it now
I have this amp, got it years ago, and while a decent amp for 300 euros or so, a Mesa 5 band EQ took it to the next level.
Holy deal! Those are underrated for sure. Dime never used those they were designed by Mike Fortin when Randall hired him.
Necro response, but no, Mike did not have any design on the new RG solid state amps. He only had his designs in the tube amps (Diavlo, Thrasher, Satan, Meathead). I spoke with Mike back in 2017 with some technical questions regarding the new line at the time. He said Randall was going to have him redesign the RG series, but that project never saw the light of day. The new amps are also made with Chinese components, so the build quality you can expect what will come with that. Randall as a company is dead and they basically only selling remaining stock and will likely shelf the brand after. 7 years later, his words are true as we nothing new from Randall, nothing at NAMM 2024, and the remaining amp stock has skyrocketed in price. Such a bummer.
This amp is supposed to be a nod to the RG100ES and the Century models. It also came out long after Dime passed.
Yes, but the amps that you named that this amp “nods” to are the amps that Dime used
Solid state amps, Randalls in particular, don't react the same to overdrive in front of the amp for boosting. I mean, they CAN work for some tones (Kirk Windstien/Crowbar), but it's a very specific tone, and one your probably not gonna be into. Having used a lot of the old Randalls in the past, I cant tell you, tight thrash tones will come with a graphic EQ up front shaping and pushing the signal a bit in the right places. (also, a Randall Century would be ideal, but good luck finding one let alone for a sane price)
Until I bought my great Excalibur last year I thought you couldn't even boost a solid state amp
@@KGAD0831 why would it be impossible to boost a solid state amp?
@@jmasson3272 transistors are not tubes. They don't distort in the same way tubes do (even-order vs odd-order harmonics, etc).
Some transistor based equipment just doesn't play nice with being fed a super hot signal.
Back when I last had a SS amp, I didn't know about boosting.
@@KGAD0831 this is not a matter of technology. It just dépends If it's well built or not. Try a quilter od200 or the new mach 3. You will see how it reacts. I played shitty Amps, some tubes some solid states. It it's not well built even when you boost them it sounds at the best "meh"...
@@jmasson3272 I get that bro, just explaining why I erroneously thought it wouldn't work.
When I plugged the Tubescreamer into my Crate Excalibur it was amazing. I was like "holy shit I guess you CAN boost these things!"
Was super happy lmao😄
Every Randall is the randall tone. For Dimebag tone you need furman peq, mxr eq and mxr flanger/doubler. with these, you can actually boost any high gain amp to sound like dime
It differs quite a lot from the old RG, though. Can sound close, but still ain't the same amp by any stretch.
... for a tip: the sound with the such types of heads, also greatly depends on the type of the speaker box used. It would be good to hear a video with the default 4 x 12" Randall box :).
That amp has to have the good ole 10 band in the loop. That helps with that flub and mid control problem. It wasn't bad at that point but still not good enough to keep for me.
If you want a SS amp that's Dimeworthy there's other stuff out there, I recall playing the old Randall 90s era stuff & never really liked it. VS100 or Transtube or various Crates are imho way tastier.
As a B or C amp in a multiamp rig that "skrok" it has could be just the ticket, though
I had a Randall RH200 in high school. That thing was a beast. I miss that damn amp. I might have to invest in one of these.
I'm thinking one of the best solid state amps I've heard to date for hard rock and metal these days is the newer Orange Super Crush 100 head.
Oh yesh.
Orange makes some killer solid state amps for the money!
The influencers have been getting to you, eh?
U ain’t lying!
Orange Super Crush is the answer to my prayers. Have had mine for a few months now. I'm running a Boss 7 band EQ in the loop and that alone has eliminated my distortion pedals from my chain. I'm running my delay, chorus, phaser and flanger through the effects loop and my guitar into my crybaby wah into the front of my super crush and the metal ensues.
I have this amp and it needed an EQ in the loop to be useable. I have a relatively flat curve on my eq just boosting the upper mids and it takes care of the blanket over the speakers thing. Plus with the M77 I made it percussive to the point where it feels like you are getting pushed in the chest when it’s turned up
I have one of these. I basically just use it as a two channel amp. I never touch channel 2. But I absolutely love the clean channel and high gain channel.
I have the RG 1503 head, bought it brand new for less than $400 Canadian. Good amp for solid state however get a good noise gate because it hisses. An EQ pedal helps too... a lot of people say Dime ran it in front but I find it's better in the loop. At the end of the day though it's just not going to compare to an all tube high gain head. I ended up using it as a power amp for my Headrush Pedalboard which it does very nicely.
His signature amp was called the Krankenstien but wasn't used until later. He preferred solid-state amps and was proud of it. I'm not surprised, really; it's not like his tone was super thick. As far as the original amps used on records, he tended to use either the Randall RG-100ES or Randall Century 200. The RG1003H can undoubtedly get you in the ballpark, but Dime had a very particular "playing style" - especially with his insane vibrato. My thought is that nailing his playing style is much more challenging.
Unfortunately dime passed before the krankenstein was released. He used the Krank revolution for maybe a few months on his final tours with damageplan, after his departure from Washburn/randall. He went back to dean and swapped to Krank tube amps. He did have a signature amp with randall called the warhead in the late 90s
Just an FYI Dime used the Randall RG100ES and Randall Century 200. Always wanted to give a Century 200 a try but they're so hard to come by (Dime used the Century 200 on both Vulgar Display Of Power and Far Beyond Driven.
I have a Randall Century 200 II that I got in 1992. I got it because it was an affordable half stack that I could afford at the time. Funny how it’s become a legendary amp, and I paid $900 brand new for the half stack. lol. I still have it till this day. 😬
My older Rg150 had the built graphic eq and had so much variation in tone for the tech of it's time as the final evolution of the RG until this one came out.
I used to own one of these years ago and thought it was pretty good but I agree, it was a MAJOR pain in the butt to EQ. I also found the best sound was to be had with mid scoop button pushed in. The amp still has plenty of mids to cut through but the mid scoop reduced some the annoying parts from the sound.
So I run a Bogner Uberschall(which has been my rig for a while) but recently heard that an OCD style drive in-front of it is that of the demon gods. And yup, yup it is. check it out if you can.
Great demo I went ahead and bought it new yesterday....I think it all sounded great on this demo...as good as a lot of your evh demos..I listen through a nice 65 inch screen and laptop and sound system and I watch a lot of Fluff and you and Euge and all of you even Glenn...lol..no he's cool..but lot of pedals to try through it
I love Randall stuff. I don't like these amps though. IMO the best solid state Randall ever made was the RH200 g2 series. I regret selling mine years ago. It was comparable to the Ampeg VH140c
BEST AMP EVER!!!!!!! I love mine over my Marshall! I put mine through a DIME 300 watt cab and I leave it on the red channel with an overdrive pushing it! METAL!!!!!!!
I just found your channel a few days ago and have been loving all the videos i've seen.
I actually love this amp. I owned one for a second but it had a self oscillation issue at practice level volumes... Kinda regret not getting it serviced and just selling it instead. Great for old school death metal kinda tones.
Sounds good to me! I love my Fender and Gibson-style guitars, and Fender and Laney amps, but sometimes I just want to shred purely metal solos through a super high gain amp. Seems like Randall amps will get me that searing high gain, but still musical sound in short order.
I bought this amp new in 2018 they were a really good deal then only $299 then the price went through the roof shortly after. I also got the matching 4x12 cab for I think was $249 actually the red channel is based exactly off of the Rg100es and the blue channel is the c200 century.. dimebag used both at diffrent times. I have a Furman pq3, Mxr 6 band, and a rocktron hush through the front which is how Dime ran his rig. And it sounds killer. I also hooked up a reverb delay rack unit through the loop. It's a great amp. Ola England has a video on it showing how to get dimes tone with more modern gear. And not having to spend a small fortune on vintage Para eqs and such to replicate it..
I found that Zoom multi effects pedals work surprisingly good with these amps. I’ve used a G1XON through the amp input for Boosts, a graphic EQ for my Fluence Modern pickups, and a noise gate, as well as a small Zoom Stompbox modeler for a noise gate through the FX loop as well as reverb and delay following.
Omg zoom pedal man haven't used one of those in ever can't even remember the one I had was like the Zoom G2 something 😅
@@rikkufan009 definitely keep an eye out for a Zoom MS50G if you have a solid state amp for sure, dude. There's an effect on that modeling unit called an exciter that goes in the FX Loop of a SS amp that adds bass and treble frequencies to eliminate the sterile sound of your SS amp and gives it enough of a drastic tonal change simply by filling out what the amp lacks tonally for it to compete with your 5150's and Dual Rectifiers of the world.
This trick especially works with this amplifier. I've got a Randall RG80 combo and whenever i put a Zoom MS50G in my FX Loop with the exciter on it makes channel 2 sound like a hot rodded Marshall. It sounds so sick, dude.
I've owned one years. It's balls to the walls!! I love it.
Scoop the meds back turn to trouble up and volume. You can get a good tone on any Randall amplifier.
I run a behringer peq 2000 in the fx loop and this amp comes to life
This amp sounds its best with passive pickups. It also loves OD pedals.
My Randall only sounds good with the original cabinet that has thick cardboard Celestions redlabel seventy 80s plus the construction is very solid. It works way better with an EQ on the front and tubescreamer or metalzone as clean boost
The moment you mentioned the thing with the bass on channel two, I knew that the commenter talking about the RG100ES was right. Makes a lot of sense why Dime liked that amp since just dialing a scooped tone distorts it so much.
I don't know if it's TH-cam's compression but this thing sounds damn close to a crate g212 my friend had, to my ears anyhow.
I learned from others, you have gain stack, and boost, make channel 1 as clean as possible, stack 2&3 gain add and mxr 6 band in the front and a parametric in the loop, and run channel 2 with bass boost and mid scoop dial bass back to 6 and mids to 4, it’s screams
How is that Schecter? I really wish they made a ex version or a 7 string. Love the looks of it
Yeah, that's how I felt when I had it. It was so hard to EQ it in a manner that made it "Feel" right. All the other guys always talked about how great it sounded and it's so cool and I'm like "igh... I mean no... no not really...". I tried my hardest to like it but I just ended up selling it. Boss KTN-100 MKII was leagues better.
Side note, Dude! I'd love it if you did a demo on the Quilter Overdrive 200!
I have the same amp but an early 80s blackface pq3, mxr 6 band and rocktron hush in the front end. And a delay/reverb unit in the loop.. Sounds killer on the blue channel.
Solid State amps are great for metal!
I haven’t had the chance to play this particular amp. But the Randall Cyclone is awesome. I sold it to kg buddy about a decade ago, and now I’m trying to buy it back from him. (Though he doesn’t want to let it go haha)
Lasse Lament did a video of one of these Randall’s. You should check that out.
The Randall’s that crushed. The Titan, Cyclone, V-Max are pretty badass.
As for Dime, no he never used these. He used the old RG100ES and Century class head with 2 graphic eq’s.
Hmm i think your only hope is an eq in the loop (if it has one) those are around the price of the new katana artist head and a bit more than the orange super crush
I have one of these. takes a while to find tones sometimes. micro adjustments really help you find all the different corners. or maybe im living in denial
I put a sd1 , parametric on loop, ns2, using bill Lawrence pup. Channel 2 works like magic. Pretty hard to understand at first for me, treble/channel volume/presence trio has a weird relationship between them. But when you get it going,oh man.
If i'm having issues with the low end in a lot of solid state amps I tend to ZERO it out all together. I'd be interested to hear(and feel) how this amp does with Bass at 0 and bass boost engaged. Also zeroing mids and starting from there subject to mid scoop and dial in everything from zero :)
Great video!
Tell me about the top end?
Crazy seeing the price of these now, i bought mine brand new in 2013 for $299, now theyre $649
The current line of Randall's came out around 2013 when Fortin joined forces with them. They relaunched their entire brand, with the RG (although not the same but pay an homage to the early solid state randall rg100es from the cowboys from hell/vulgar display of power albums), Diavlo, Thrasher, EOD, and 667. alongside a new Kirk Hammett signature tube amp and a Scott Ian signature. Later came the Ola signature Satan. Some of the amps in the lineup were rebranded Fortin models. The 667 is essentially a fortin meathead and Satan is a Natas. The only amps that were kept from the previous generation were the budget rx120rh (one with fx built in and one without) and Kirk Hammett solid state both are basically the same amp. Before these amps were made the only tube amps randall had was the RT series, which are awesome if you ever get to try one and the nuno bettencourt signature. These were made probably 2008ish - 2011ish. Before that in the early 2000s around 03-04 they had the RM series, those amps are what started the modular amps just like the synergy thing going on now, you can actually still use the randall made modules within the synergy systems. Around the same time they had the Rh g2 series, titan, T2 and V2. 97-98 randall warheads and warheadv2 in 99-2000. And finally there was the century's and original RG which was first made in the 80s. I definitely missed some and my timelines might be off a bit but all the amps listed are definitely worth checking out if you are looking to get yourself a randall.
Adding to your post, Mike did not have any design on the new RG solid state amps. He only had his designs in the tube amps (Diavlo, Thrasher, Satan, Meathead). I spoke with Mike back in 2017 with some technical questions regarding the new line at the time. He said Randall was going to have him redesign the RG series, but that project never saw the light of day. The new RG line is a mix of the old RG and Warhead circuit. However, the new amps are also made with Chinese components, so the build quality you can expect what will come with that. It's basically better to just get a decent OD pedal and use an old RG, like the RG100ES. Sadly, Randall as a company is dead and they basically only selling remaining stock and will likely shelf the brand after. 7 years later, his words are true as we nothing new from Randall, nothing at NAMM 2024, and the remaining amp stock has skyrocketed in price. Such a bummer.
I have a honest question for you I thought I herd you say you woupd get another randall to use and if I'm not mistaken you wouod use the rd120rh or am I mistaken would you use the diavlo amd would it be great not only for practice but performing?
I have one and have a love/hate relationship with it. If you don’t dial in channel 2 correctly it sounds like paper, where as the 3rd channel gets higher gain, but it tightens it almost too much. I been getting a better sound from a fender champion 100 that I dropped some Eminence speakers in there. Shit is bruuuuutal
Should Do a review on the Randall T2 HLE if you can find one..... Beast of an amp....
Dimebag played an earlier model. Which was actually the RG100ES. It's a 150 watt solid state amp.
Very popular amp in the 80s..👍
So which randall solid state amp do you like best the rg1003? Or the rx120rh?
I wonder how would You like Bluguitar Amp1 Iridium Edition.
Hey Kyle, hope you do a vid on the Peavey Valveking2 I saw you had it up for sale, your thoughts on it versus the Valveking1?
Schecter PT Elite ! I got the C1 Elite SLS FRS and the C7 Silver Mountain FR-S
Southern Rock... Southern California that is..just down
The block.
Love the SLS stuff!
had the 80s rg or r something and the 120. the 80 for lead and 120 for rhythm. they both sounded awesome with a bit of help. couldn't turn them past 3 quarters if i remember right.
Almost bought one these last year for a stupid low price but another buyer sniped it before I could get it. Ended up finding an RH200SC instead for a great deal ($200 with a mint Behringer 4x12 w/ Jensens) instead so I went with it. Really nice amp that, to my ears, gets super close to Dime's tone. Dialed it in to do a pretty convincing AJFA tone too. If you ever have the chance to get one, I would highly recommend it. There are some clips on my channel.
The RH200SC slays ! Definitely easy to get a Dime tone , tho not my thing .
I do have mine sounding like a mix between a 5150 and Mesa dual . I have it very oldschool “Thrash” style tone . Rh series are FAR better amps than any RG series IMO .
@@akray6448 I can certainly dig that. I have been extremely happy with mine. It's a very versatile amp and covers a lot of the bases. I set mine up for an older school thrash sound too, haha!
Kyle we need a cabinet comparison with UK V30's vs Randall Jaguar RES-80's
I have an RG100es, and a Century 200II, so i don't really need this amp... But I have one anyway. RIP Dime! 🤘
That isn't the amp Dime used, but it has the same DNA of the Century amp he used. Of course, he used a noise gate and an EQ pedal as a boost.
Awesome! All the sounds are sounding all the same to me! I need different computer speakers!
Ahhh the Fishman Fluence make every amp sound killer…
I’m pretty sure this is what crowbar is using right now. Correct me if I’m mistaken. I just saw them this month and it sounded outstanding.
I've seen them few months back. They are using Kemper
the real question is, Does it crowbar?
I would reckon all the Randall line of solid state amps are assembled overseas in a highly automated and robotic environment to stay competitive. Highly likely that the cost of repairing one of these would rival the price of a new one, something to consider with these budget amps. Also, the prices have shot up through the roof in recent months.
Should i get this or the orange super crush 100?
12:05 Sounds literally badass ....till ya dump the mids & sounds like the amp moved into the next room.
very tight for a solid state. thinking about grabbing a G3 for the mosfet tube amp (using it with a waza metal modded metal zone and dophix michaelangelo preamp) or just a straight up Genz Benz and replace the chinese tubes with some nice sovtek ones. thinking about getting a Genz Benz because last G2 200 watt I bought from ebay used turned out to be a lemon even after I dropped over 700 bucks on it trying to get it repaired.. (Borderline criminal for absolutely any solid state amp, if you ask me)
I think no in certain spots through car speakers it sounded okay, would not be more than a decoration tho lol
Is it me, or is there an odd delay/reverb tone? especially at first & last chord strike.
Changing mics in his video editor
That amp has doubled in price this year it’s damn near eight hundred dollars now
I bought the 300 w version with the rg4x12 cab 2 years ago and it was about 1k for the whole set... currently just the head is over 1.2k dlls, so fuckin glad i bought it when i did...
Is it a class D power amp?
What bands are all you solo guys playing in?
I lost gain on my third channel even when it's all the way up, does anyone know how to fix it?
Holy S that mud killer put that rig together! I have to say to, that Schecter is beautiful. How are you liking it?
I bought one of these heads brand new when they were like 250-300 and I had to get rid of it because I needed the money, no they’re go for like 500-600 man I do regret getting rid of this amp.
Hey Kyle loved the video would it if you could make videos on Carvin amps like the V3 or the X100B thanks again!!!
Turn on a plugin and turn off the cab sim, then run the output of your audio interface into the effects loop return of this amp and thank me later.
Sammy Duet "Goatwhore" Kirk Windstein "Crowbar and Down" had no problem getting usable tones out of this series of amps , #1 Boost the hell out of the front end , Boss Metal Zone , Volume 100% all EQ 50% Gain 0 , you will need a gate , EQ in the loop , Cabinet's matter ! I use oversized 2x12's loaded with Eminence EM12's , note the clean channel gain effects the other channels slightly , I use the Red channel , it will chug !😎👍
Any chance you can get you hands on the MLC amplification subzero 93 Silenoz signature amp? And shoot it out against hmm?
I'd love to, man. I'm open for all high gain amps being on the channel!
Is the rg better than the rx?
Would have been cool to see this amp with some EMG's or a Seymour Duncan Pick up.
Play some Crowbar riffs through it buddy
This is my go to monster i have the 150rg
you said "cost you next to nothing" ......... Good luck finding one of these heads for under 300-700
That guitar is sick
I was looking at this amp yesterday, couldn't find one anywhere here in the UK.
One on marketplace uk 180 now
@@christophermichaels1494 thanks, I will only buy brand new amps though, I'm too ocd 😅
@@matt926uk1 These days they're about 2.5 to 3x what they used to cost brand new over here in the US. They went from ~$300 to ~$800 over the last year or so, so buying used is probably your only chance to get one for a remotely reasonable price (Assuming the situation in the UK is anything like it is over here)
@@SuffyANX o really? That's a bummer. I guess I'd be more likely to buy one second hand it being a solid state amp, but still, I've ended up with a few dodgy purchases on the used market which put me off. U take your chances I suppose.
Hey did you flip this amp yet?
I actually think it sounded awesome a few times I think it was just not your favorite which I totally get but from this end definitely not bad. Made me buy one last night haha
Do you still own it? How did you like it?
@@jefflakomy2223 so I ended up getting rid of it for a spark 40 because I used it as an office amp and liked having a speaker option if I needed it
I love amps with super high gan
How were those pork rinds?
A little dry
This is the amp i use in my band
it sounds really dumb but these amps really shine with the cheap cabs that come with celestion 70/80's. that's the secret.. buy the matching cab.
I too, am a man that likes to crush an entire bag of pork grinds.
A bit Sterile like most older SS amps but thats the tone Dime and other Metal guys used/use. This tone will get lost in a mix though. Hot mess?