Randall RG100 Classic Head

Seperate gains and volumes for clean and o.d. channels, pretty good spring reverb (non footswitchable one of 2 shortcomings of this amp, not a big deal to me though) Shared bass mid treble and presence controls (the other shortcoming). Footswitchable boost works for both channels (a great feature)and seems to boost volume just enough as well as some mids to help cut through a mix. 100 watts @ 4ohms, 150 @ 2 ohms.

I plugged into this at the local music go round after pluging into a DSL 100,(a decent Marshall) Jcm 900 4100 (sound like crap on their own but seem to smooth out in a band mix), looking for a backup to my Peavey 6505+. I bought this not because it was cheaper, but because it sounded the best out of all 3 amps. Sounds like a proper hot rodded jcm 800 marshall cranked to 11. I then a/b'd it with my 6505+ and realized I liked it better than the Peavey and sold it. Now this is my main amp and it is backed up by a Randall rg80 combo.I play heavy metal, blues and classic rock and this amp suit all styles. Can sound like Pantera or Zakk/Ozzy or Van Halen or acdc depending on how it is eq'd and gain. Anyone who beleives this amp doesn't have much gain needs their head examined. It can do pantera with just amp gain alone. I run mine with a bbe sonic stomp in the loop to cut a little fizz and as a slight bass boost, and an mxr 10 band eq to boost the 500hz and cut the 2khz a little, amp eq bass 6.5 mids 10 treble 6.5 presence 1.5. This is a loud amp, able to keep up on large stages. It is dead quiet. The clean is pretty good, but suffers a little as when you dial in a good distortion, the clean gets a little dark, but is still better than Peavey 6505+.

I don't know, too early to tell yet but Randalls are known for rock solid durability.

Bought used, no warranty

I have been playing for 16 years, have owned mostly tube amps including Crate blue voodoo 120 (crap) Peavey xxx (crap) Peavey classic 50 (great classic rock amp) Marshall JCM800 2210 (good all around amp) Marshall Vintage Modern 2266 (greatest blues zepplin hendrix amp out there) Peavey 6505+ (good all around amp) Carvin x100b el34 (great all around amp). This amp is my favorite, sounds like a really good old hot rod Marshall cranked only at all including bedroom volumes.

I don't really know what year it was made to be honest. This is a Randall RG-100 Classic solid-state head, not an RG-100 ES head. It has two switchable channels: Clean and Drive. I wish it had another channel to add extra gain/saturation as well as shaping for a distorted tone. It has an FX loop, a speaker out, and a button to switch ohms.

I play hard rock and metal (like some Tool, some Metallica, Megadeth, Pantera, etc.) as well as solo shredding and I've used it onstage once and in my home.

I play a Les Paul copy and a Devlin strat-style guitar and it sounds ok. The clean channel is nice. It has good low-end and high-end response, which I like. But the distortion is lacking. All it is is overdrive that cannot get enough gain to brutally distort itself out of a paperbag. So I mainly use it for the clean channel.

I use two amps now, this for cleans and a Crate combo for distortion.
It looked like someone had brutalized it before i got it because the logo is missing on both the head and the cab.

I bought it new about 10 years ago.
2 channels I only use the clean channel, since I use alot of effects. It's got an effects loop that works great, but I like to have more control over the tone so I go into the main input.
It's a 350 watt solid state head with an ohm switching capability. The power is immense, and it's so clear when I turn it up to 10(witch I do ALOT). I would never own another amp. If I lost this one for any reason I'd search the Earth for another one.

The Volume is brutal, the tone crushes anything out there. The distorted channel is the most brutal onboard distortion I've ever heard. It runs dead silent when the volume is on 10, and no signal is going through it.
I LOVE THIS AMP!!!

10 years without a single problem, and it's been EVERYWHERE!

never needed any

Been playing over 20 years. Had em all, Marshall, Peavy, Laney, even Carvin, and this is the best ever. I'd never use anything else. I love this amp completely. I need to get a few more of em, just in case...

made in 1985, inspected by some guy with really bad handwriting.

I've been using this amp for over 8 years now, and I still haven't found anything worth upgrading to (not in my budget, anyway). If you're somebody looking to plug one end of a cord into a guitar and the other into you imput and sound amazing, then this probably isn't the amp for you (neither is any solid-state). If you like your preamps, stomp boxes, Pez dispensers and marital aids, this is a great amp to plug them into. I use a combination of an Epiphone Casino, an Old Epiphone SG-copy with Duncan pickups, Nady tube drive preamp, Electro Harmonix "Worm" multi analog effects, Homemade 2x12 cab with Eminence Swamp things, 2 Homemade 8 Ohm 4x12 cabs with Eminence Legend M-128's, and one vintage, varnished, un-tolexed, totally butchered Ampeg V-4 cab from somewhere in the late 60's loaded with Celestion Greenbacks (I'm a D.I.Y. kind of a guy...if I don't like what's on the market, I build my own). I play mostly tough-guy sounding hardcore, but I also play blues, country, jazz, and classic rock on the side, all of which I use this amp for. I personally love this amp. Really nice clean tones for a solid-state. I won't say that I wouldn't trade it for a brand new Mesa Boogie, but I really have no complaints. I bought this amp eight years ago the day after my prized '68 twin reverb was ripped off my some shitfuck tweaker. The distortion on this particular model is a little weak, then again the inspection date on the unit was in May of 1985, before truly beastial tones had been introduced into the mainstream market. No problem for me, though. That's why I bought my tube driver ($100 brand new in the box...thank you, ebay). The combination of the tube pre-amp with the solid state head makes for a sound that is better than anything you can buy in a modern transistor head and some tube amps. I only use the clean channel, with the settings as follows: Prescence: 10 Bass: 6 Treble: 7-8 Mids: 4 Reverb: whatever's good for the room (I personally like the reverb unit on this head...gives me all I need and doesn't make any noise). I didn't particularly care for the massive size so I scrapped the box and built my own, much more compact with a sexy, stained mahogany finish.

8 years, never a single problem. Been accross the country twice (with a punk rock band, no less), and has seen several short tours with various other bands I've played with over the years. I keep this amp as a backup for my bandmates' Marshalls and 5150's,which always break down.

on your own on this one...

I've been playing for 11 years. I own a few crap-ass practice amps that need to go to the swap meet, but this is the only amp I use (I also play drums, saxophone, and I sing, so I obviously own drums, a really nice horn, and an old PA/Mics). Since I'd be forced to actually spend money, If lost I'd sell enough blood to buy exactly what I want (triple rectifier). But...I don't lose shit (knock on wood)...

i think this amp is a total pile of crap..when i heard myself through this amp, i wanted to stop playing guitar forever. the only good feature on this amp was the on/off switch, cause it sounded good when i turned it off......

i play a guitar that i built myself in the 80's. its shaped like a deformed explorer has a es335 neck and peavey vandinberg pickups. i also have a washburn wonder-bar installed in the guitar. its painted white pink and blue(looks like a cupcake). my tone is kind of like vivian cambell meets warren demartini.

i relied on this amp for one thing, somewhere to rest my beer..end of story....

randall is owned by washburn now. they have to be the worst company i've ever dealt with. no one there knows anything. you always on hold and the customer service guys never call you back when they say they will. i think washburn hires ex-guitar center employees

i've been playing for about 15 years. if this amp was stolen, i would feel sorry for the next poor bastard that buys this amp. everything about this amp blows nothing else compares with this pile of crap

im not too sure when my randall was made, probably like a year and a half ago, i bought it brand new, but i've always seen it in the guitar store, this amp is plenty versatile for me, whatever sound your looking for you can get it with a little effort, i play heavy metal and its really easy to have a good metal sound from this amp. it only has 2 channels, but how many do you need, all you need is a clean and a metal channel, nice and simple, its cool though because the clean channel has a gain knob along with it, so its easy to get a crunchy little classic sound, and if you need a little more gain just click into the distortion channel and turn the gain down some, it has an effects loop, but no head phone jack...i kinda wish it had a contour knob, but thats ok...i've only used this amp in my house and jamming with my drummer...it has plenty of power, you can easily make thunder with this...

right now i use a esp explorer with a seymore duncan invader humbucker, and i use a marshall 2x12 cab, with celestion vintage 30's, it suits my music style fine, i traded my marshall for this amp thats how much i like the sound, and to just make things better i use a boss eq pedal though the effects loop, and it sounds great, i personally think this amp sounds best on like 4 or 5, thats when things really start kickin ass, if you like bands like pantera and metallica and want a sound like that, this is the amp to get, there is no tube amp that can get a pantera sound and the reliability of a tube amp is not very good, solid state is the way to go, not just any solid state, because some solid states sound like dog shit on a spoon when you crank them up, the marshall valvestate, hughs and kettner, and randalls sound really good as solid state amps cranked up...i dont really like the clean channel on this but it will do...i dont like the clean channel on this mainly because theres only one reverb on the whole amp, and i dont like reverb in my distortion, but i like it in the clean, the clean channel also has a gain knob, i wish could change that knob to reverb, to find out how brutal the distortion is you would just have to hear it to believe it, theres really no way of describing it, if you want to hear it, buy either of these albums by pantera, cowboys from hell, or vulgar display of power, becasue they use the randall rg-100 in them, and it sounds insane!!!!

i would depend on it, only because its a solid state, and if you have a good solid state, it should'nt shit the bed on ya...i would definitly use it in a gig with out a back up, i've only had it for a month, but it's showing no signs of dieing...

never delt with the company....i was able to find the dealer of this amp pretty easily, randall is a pretty popular amp, mine didn't come with a warrenty or a recipt, only because i traded my marshall in and a hundred dollars and he said if anyone found out that he did that he would get in alot of trouble, he tried getting my marshall cab out of me too, but i told him where to go with that plan...i told him if this amp shits on me im going to smash it over his head because im screwed out of an amp, but i dont think its going too, ive heard alot of good things about it....

ive been playing for like 3 1/2 years, i also own a bandit 75 by peavy, and an old mosrite guitar my dad gave me...if this amp was stolen i would most likely get it again seeing that i just bought the bitch, and i've been wanting it for like a year and a half, i wanted this amp because i like pantera's sound better then anyones, and this is the amp they used to get it...i wish it had that cool ass cage looking thing on the front but i only has it on the back, but thats ok... for someone to really know what sound they want they have to get out there and play a shit load of amps, never settle with anything you are not completly 100% satisfied because eventually your going to go out and have to buy something else, so play as many amps as you can until your sure of your sound, also remember that the speaker cabinet you use plays a major roll in you amps sound, as well as the guitar, you can't expect to get a beefy metal sound from a single coil, if you want the beef, consider buying a seymore duncan invader, or the JB, both sound great...good luck

I have no idea what year it was made, but I do recall seeing these amps around in the late eighties and I think one of my friends even owned the one I ended up with. It has two channels and is missing the switcher, apparently theres a guy who builds them, look for Steve on the RG100 page (not classic head) - its the combo page. I wish it had seperate EQ for each channel, but hey for the price I paid I can't bitch. Its reasonably loud, and I might add, the volume of any amp depends on your speaker sensity in dB and the quantity - run 4 12" 90+ dB sensitivity speakers in parralel for 4 ohm (16 ohm speakers) or two stacks at 8 ohms, and this puppy is gonna be reasonably rockin, no doubt - it worked for KISS didnt it?

Clean sounds

- don't bother with any solids state amp for clean sounds except the Roland Jazz chorus 60/120 or an Ampeg - get a tube amp for clean sounds, almost all solid state clena sounds break up in a very gross way at high volumes.

Distorted Tones

This is the shit for metal baby.

Who knows , just bought it. rumor has it Washburn licks toad for support on these old bad boys.

Washburn told me i was on my own.

9 good rockin metal amp for Pantera/Early Metallica kinda humbucker metal sounds. i will eventually have some recordings of this amp with a vintage re-issue strat and more likely my ibanez at:
http://www.guitar.com/artists/kylecarrington

This is Doug Ramey again. I wanted to make an addition to my first review. The amp sounds harsh (biting, painful, too bright, I have to turn the presence and treble way down) when it's cranked up really loud. Otherwise it sounds good. Maybe this is the lack of "tube warmth" that I thought was just talk?

I'm not sure about the year it was made. It looks pretty new probably 1999. I play a little country, a lot of classic rock, and a lot of hard rock. The amp seems pretty versitile in that the sound can be changed a lot by using the EQ, gain, and presence knobs, but I use a Zoom 505II effects pedal and like it's sounds more. The amp has 2 channels with a switch on the front for channel selection. It has a 1/4 in jack on the back for a footswitch. The front switch must be set to clean for the footswitch to work (or is it lead? I can't remember). There is also a 1/4 in jack on back for a footswitch to turn on a boost circuit which on only available through the footswitch. I never use the boost. I tried it once and couldn't tell that it made much difference. There is an effects loop. I never use it. There is a switch on the back to select 2-4ohms or 8-16ohms. I got this head used and the switch doesn't work very well. I don't really think Randall is to blame though I think the previous owner or mail carrier dropped it. I use the amp for jamming with friends in a barn. It has plenty of power for me. It is solid state which made me a little hesitant to buy it because of the big deal people make about tubes. The only difference I have found between tubes and solid state (I do have a tube combo made by fender) is that the tube feedback sounds much nicer. All that talk about "tube tone" or "tube sound" or "tone monster" is just talk as far as I can tell.

I mostly use a Hamer with two humbuckers. I have to turn the tone down on the guitar because the amp seems to have a really treble-ly sound. It is not noisy. If I am trying to play really quiet like after my 3 year old son has gone to bed, I can hear a little buzz, but other than that it is quiet. When I switch pick-ups I sometimes get a loud "pop", but that is probably the guitar. The amp tend to be really bright sounding. I have not turned it up enought to make the clean channel distort. The distortion is brutal, but I like the Zoom better because the amp distortion has too much treble in it for me. I am not crazy about the reverb. I just seems like there should be more.

Judging from the apparent drop(s) this thing took before I got it I would say it is very reliable. It was dropped hard enough to rip the spring reverb from the inside top of the case. I screwed to back in place despite the fact that it was working fine lying on the bottom.

I know they have a website. That's all I can say. The warrenty is five years but I got it used so I don't know if it applies to me.

I have been playing for about 15 years. I own a fender concert 60 watt tube amp with one 12 inch speaker. A 10 watt peavey practice amp. And a sunn 4x12 cab.
This form did not ask about appearance. The looks of this head is what I like most. I like the size. I takes up the whole top of my cab. It looks great.

basic features like rocket dildo and butt pulgs but you know how that goes.

The distortion sucks fat balls. I thought it was gonna be cool but it turns out all the new randalls suck asshole. I am gonna get the rg 100 es. its way better. but the clean channel is really good except the distortion bleeds over unless you turn the red channels volume and gain all the way down.

it looks sturdy and its solid state but every once in a while it will do weird farts and giggles. One time it told me it was my grandma.

never had to deal with them but ive heard they suck.

I've been playing for 4 years and think this amp sucks and dont buy it. it says its a 100 watts but it sounds like 5.