Dean Markley RM-80-DR Head

Bought my first RM-80-DR in about 1984 at Robbins Music in Huntsville, AL (new) for about $650. I had just sold my Marshall MKII 50w with a Carvin 4-12 cab and wanted something portable. Dual channel with complete set of controls for EACH channel (including reverb). One 12AX7A tube preamp into a solid state power stage for 80w of power. One will need to try different brands of tubes when replacing as I noticed ENORMOUS differences in volume between brands.
Tesla was AWFUL - Mesa Boogie and Groove Tubes recommended. Channel switching with footswitch. I use mostly the low-gain channel (green light) with an Ibanez compressor into a ProCo R2D2 (Rat) rackmount into a Line6 modulatiom modeler (chorus, et al) into the Line6 delay modeler (Korg tuner at very front of chain). The high-gain (red light) channel sounds great, but I get most of my drive from the Rat.
Running amp with preamp and master both at about 4-5. When I play for a large congregatiom, I off-mike the 12" Magnum spkr and let the PA do the work. Very warm but clear sound.

I play a Warmoth authorized Fender Stratocaster with vintake '62 pups. I tend to play a bluesy/rock style - no crunching as a rule. With all my outboard gear, I get a little noise, but I simply footswitch out until a song begins and nobody is the wiser.

Had reverb fixed once and pilot light is touchy - otherwise no problems.

Never messed with them.

Been playing 40+ years. Also have a Gibson Blueridge acoustic, Taylor W14-C with a Sunrise pup system, and an Ibanez Roadster (strat). BTW, I HAVE JUST PURCHASED A SECONG RM-80-DR FROM ebay FOR $279!! That ought to tell you how I feel about these amps!!

Fairly old... two separate channels (green and red), each with their own row of controls - Preamp, Master, Bass, Mid, Treble, Presence, and Reverb. Green channel also has a button which, interestingly enough, turns the signal "clean-ish" when pushed. Tube preamp. Channel switching and reverb on/off switching, effects loop, preamp and poweramp in/out. Channel switch, ground switch, standby, and power on front panel. Single input, two speaker outs. Rackmount chassis with large metal "handles" on the front.

The model number may be -80-, which would lead me to believe it's 80 watts, but it beats out my Randall 120-watter by quite a wide margin. It's a lot better than I'd first imagined it would be, that's for sure.

Scoring it a perfect 10 because of the separate controls for each channel, and the fact that it's all footswitchable. Rarely do I give these.

Run through with several different guitars at this point, including a Gibson Gothic Explorer, an '81 Made-In-Japan Strat, and an acrylic BC Rich Warlock. The tone definitely varies per pickup, although that's basically a good thing. Turning the preamp distortion to '10' seems to make the difference less defined. It's got a little bit of buzz to it in the background, but running it through a HUSH unit eliminated that problem quickly. Clean channel distorts slightly if the preamp for the green channel is set above 9, but this isn't really a problem. Overall, there's quite a bit of variety to the thing; the green is good for a fairly heavy overdrive when the preamp is boosted, and the red is good for the heavier stuff -- I won't say it's a Metal Zone or anything (which isn't necessarily a bad thing either), but it's got a bit more punch than I'd expect from a Dean with a tube preamp.

Scoring this one a nine because it's got some pretty harsh distortions and some pretty warm ones too, but the clean channel would be nice to have clean at any setting, not just lower gain ones. Again, not a huge problem, but enough to warrant a point.

Given I've only had the thing for under a week, this isn't a great category to grade. However, mounted inside a nice, sturdy rack, it should be unbreakable. The front panel is heavy-duty and isn't going to crack off or anything; the wiring is done neatly inside the case, and half the stuff is even hand labelled. Other than scratchy pots, which are easily fixed with some tuner cleaner, I can't see this having any problems. If it does, I'll post again on here to inform everyone.

Never tried; haven't had to. I doubt they'd support it anyway. It's pretty old.

I've been playing for about six years now, and this head is replacing a Randall RB-125-H (bass) head, running through an ART Xtreme pedal. The Xtreme's got a lot heavier distortion, but the ability to not have to worry about pedals, cables, power supplies, etc makes it worth the exchange right there. Later, I'm sure I'll just rackmount the Xtreme in case I need it, but this definitely gets the job done. Running the head into a Marshall slant 4x12 gives it a great sound; Peavey ones seem a little muddier IMO with the head. The convenience and tone factor is what gives this head a great score, and if you've got a chance to fool with one, give it a shot - it's worth the time.