December 12, 2008

Randall RM100

A friend at the local music store just bough this amp, the Randall RM100 MTS Series 100 watt tube head. I tried it yesterday. I must say I am impressed. Randall amps have never appealed to me, but I must say this thing impressed me.

This amp has a lot of features. Incredibly versatile. You can use 6L6, EL34, EL34L, 5881 tubes and you can even bias them yourself. You can buy and plug in all sorts of cool modules - 13 to choose from. This means mean you have the ability to have 13 different channels to pick from, although only 3 at a time.

There's also a density control for adjusting the low end and a presence control.

I used a Dean Michael Shenker Flying V through this amp, and I tried the Plexi and the Dan Donegan modules. Very impressive tones. The Plexi I really didn't try enough. I'm not sure about that one yet - hopefully I get a chance to try it again soon.

The Dan Donegan module (1086) is fat and crunchy, and also very tight sounding. I turned up this 100 watt head to 3 or 4, and that was plenty loud. The matching 4 x 12 cabinet together with this amp did a great job of getting that thick, dynamic amp distortion that you get with a quality amp. It reminded me of a high gain Marshall. I usually don't play with this amount of gain, but I have to say it was a lot of fun to just hit some power chords and get that big OOOMPHH as you hit the strings.

I'm not planning on getting one of these, since I prefer simple one channel amps for the stuff I do. However, who knows, if one of these shows up for sale used somewhere locally for a decent coin, it might be worth getting just for the fun of it.

If you are looking for a very versatile and loud 100 watt head, where you can buy specific modules for a variety of sounds, this might be just the ticket. Incredibly versatile I must say, and the tones sure are impressive.

For an overview of the available modules, check the Randall website.

By Robert Renman - www.dolphinstreet.com

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Posted by Robert Renman on December 12, 2008