Randall RG100 ES

I love this head. I payed 75 for it when I also bought a Gibson sg for 200 bucks. Best deal ofmy life

using an sg its sick. A stray sick. Les Paul-sick

its 20years old so looks good to me

don't have thefootswitch

This amp was made sometime in the 1980's. I dont know the exact year because i have no opened it up yet. It is the black tolex version, which to my knowledge are the older ones (the newer ones were carpeted). It has the outer shell and shape of a Marshall JMP.

The amp is pretty versatile and takes pedals very well. I play metal, hardocore, southern rock, blues, sludge/doom metal, alt. rock, ambient rock, etc. and this amp can do them all.

2 channels. I bought it used and the guy did not have the footswitch (Randall FS-5). They are hard to come by but a company on ebay makes replicas of them. Effects loop is good (I am going to get the jacks on them replaced though). 2 speaker outputs, 1 signal input. This particular RG 100 is the ES for the reason of 'Extra Sustain'. You can pull the treble knob. It is okay but the volume on the amp drops in half so it is hard to use in a band situation.

With out the footswitch you can only change channels on the amp but turning the clean channel volume and gain all the way down, or to use the clean turn the distortion down. I boost the amp so i stay on the dirty channel. Set the amps gain low so it is clean when i click off the boost.

I have never gigged with it yet, but i played with a band for a while and it held its own against a mesa triple rect at a high band volume.

Run a Gibson Les Paul Custom w/ Dimebucker and ESP MH-400NT w/ EMG 81.

The amp sounds very close to the voicing of a JCM 800. Very close.
At times you would think it was a tube amp, but there is a certaintly quality that is lacking. I am going to try a tube boost pedal and see if that helps but to be honest this thing kills most of the tube heads i have owned. Most recently i owned a 6505+ and Mesa Dual Rectifier Blackface... and hands down this amp has a better sound quality than both of those amps.

The sound i currently have is in the vein of Mastodon. Old school metal/hard rock vibe.

Takes my pedals great. Whether it be boosts in the front, or effects in the loop.

Being the amp is 20 something years old, i am going to bring it to my tech to get all new jacks and tuned up. I think the quality of the amp will increase when i do that.

In the future i plan on purchasing a nice Marshall JMP MKII or JCM 800 2210...but until i have the money and the right deal comes this thing is amazing. I will never sell this amp regardless.

Never had any issues with it and i have had it since October (Almost 7 months). With any of the tube amps i have owned, i would have to re-tube or take care of something else that went wrong with it.

Here is where this section get's a 1. Randall was bought out from Irving Randall in 1990? I believe. The sound of the amps drastically changed and the company has since forgotten about anything made prior to the buyout. From fellow randall rg100es users i hear the company is unhelpful in any matter.

I have been playing for 12 yrs, and have owned many a gear throughout the years.

If this amp was lost, stolen, or broken i would buy another one in a heartbeat.

It slays peavey, and mesa products hands down.

Has an 80's marshall vibe. If your low and cash and looking at a JCM 800 get this thing.

This amp has been my best friend since January of 1988. I will never get rid of it, the tone is incredible and can go as loud as you need it to be. I have played this amp at loud Rock Gigs as well as Metal Gigs it will never fail

I am a very versatile player that needs a certain sound. this amp now is my personal Recording amp. I have never put on a Noise gate and the only effects I use is a Dunlop Original Wah Pedal and a Ibanez DM1000 Delay system, Without the Delay system this amp is very quiet. The gain on this amp is amazing, and when you turn on the compressor the gain is what I call a "Sustaining Monster" This amp is very easy to manipulate controlled feedback or Harmonic feedback pretty much at will.

I have had this amp for 20 + years and it still takes a licken and keeps on ticken!

Never had to call for support so no opinion

If you would like any additional information on this amp please feel free to contact me

This amp was made sometime in the 80's. It's a solid state combo with 4 10's , covered with black carpet. Some sources say the power rating is 120 watts. Some say 150. Either way, it's LOUD. It has 2 channels that can be selected with a footswitch, or used simultaneously without it. It has Reverb and effects loop.

I've used it for practice and gigs. It has more than enough power for most situations (and I play with a very loud drummer).

I haven't noticed any noise.

There's a variety of sounds you can get, from clean to filthy. The clean tones are okay, but lack character. It's not as warm as a Fender or as chimey as a Vox. But it's not as sterile as some other s.s. amps, either. So I'll give the cleans a 7.

The more you turn up the gain, the more this amp comes to life. Lightly overdriven settings are decent. No one will ever mistake it for a Dumble or Marshall Bluesbreaker. But it can do a passable blues or classic rock tone with a little tweaking.

Where it shines, however, is metal. I've read that George Lynch had some input in this amp's design. I believe it. High gain sounds are excellent - lots of harmonics and chunky low end. You can scoop the mids, if that's what you're into (I like to keep some mids in my sound). I'll give the dirty sounds a 9.

So, overall, the sounds gets a solid 8.

I depend on this amp. I use it at gigs without a backup. It's been around at least 20 years, and shows very little wear (except the top of one knob fell off on the way home from a gig). It works perfectly.

NA

I've been playing for almost 25 years. I've used everything from Fender tube amps to digital modelers. Speaking of digital stuff - the Randall is a perfect amp to use with my POD XT Live. I just set the EQ flat and set the POD output to "combo front". Sounds great.

I have 2 other amps that I compared this with side-by-side (a vintage Fender Champ and a Lab Series L-5). The Fender sounded better clean and the Lab had a more flexible EQ. But the distortion on the Randall was easily the best.

If it were lost or stolen, I'd look for another one.

Not sure what year mine is I have heard that the date code is on the side of the chassis but havn't looked yet.

This amp can produce a lot of different sounds Great for any thing from Hard Rock to Death Metal. This amp brings out a lot of Harmonics! I love the sounds I get out of this amp.

I have used this amp with just about every pickup made and I can appreciate the sound I get from each, Sounds Really good with EMG 81's though it Sounds pretty insane with an Gibson SG with 490t-r Pickups. So far I havn't needed any pedals with this amp the distortion it gives you straight in is great! if you feel you need anymore distortion than this you must be trying to hide your mistakes.

Amp is really dependable, doesn't weigh a ton either easy to gig with.
Built in the U.S.A (not China)this is a real amp!

The current owner of Randall Sucks! I needed a replacement Logo for the front of mine and those guys haven't got a clue! I finally got one from them but it was like pulling teeth and they were like "it's probably not going to fit anyway" Soo they have some stuff they just don't seem to care about helping anyone there.

I have been playing for 30 years and I have just about one of everything as far as amps go, well I should say one of everything worth owning! This amp is one of the keepers! I am on the hunt for More! if you see one of these in the pawn shop be kind to it and take it home! you will Love it.

Mine was the carpet-covered version made in 1986/1987. 2 channels, clean and dirty. You need the footswitch or else they both run at the same time. There are independent volume and gain controls but the EQ is shared. There aren't many features but there isn't supposed to be on this amp. I got a new footswitch from the same guy on Ebay others are talking about.

The sound of this amp was a huge dissapointment to me. The clean channel wasn't bad, just a little cold for my taste. Some chorus helped it a lot. The reverb was pretty cheesy so I kept it off. Now for the distorted sounds. If this amp didn't lose more than half its volume when you engaged the boost (pull treble knob) than I would have kept it. It had some great scooped metal tones with just the bare minimum of distortion, which was exactly what I was going for. However, the problem with the boost is that the amp cannot be used in a band setting when it is engaged. Without the boost, the distortion is drastically reduced and becomes very rough in character. Loud as hell, but rough and in need of a boost. Upon boosting it with my SD-1 (volume dimed, tone 10 o'clock, gain 9 o'clock) I got some great classic metal tones. This amp sounds quite a bit like a JCM800 when you boost it with a pedal. I was getting Kill 'Em All Metallica tones easily. Unfortunately beyond this I couldn't achieve anything else. To get his sounds Dimebag used 2 EQs, and I can see why. While this is definitely the best sounding solid state that I had heard, it didn't cut it for heavy distortion.

This amp is built like a tank. 20 years old, countless gigs and a lot of abuse and this thing came to my door (in a smashed box no less) looking like new. Hats off to Randall for making a pillbox of an amp.

Randall will give you the schematics to the amp and footswitch if you want to make your own. Why would you though?

I have been playing guitar for 7 years. I played through the amp with my JB-loaded Strat and my Washburn WI-64D. If you would like a good hard rock amp that doesn't use tubes this is a cheap way to get some good sound. You'll just need a pedal for leads. I'm sure this amp would work great for metal with some outboard EQs, but I didn't want to mess with that stuff so I sold it. If someone could find a way to mod the amp so it doesn't lose its balls when using the boost I would go pick up another one tomorrow. Overall I still rate it well because it's a great amp. Be prepared to pay more for them though as the HC forums have created some demand for these. I bought mine for $200 and sold it for $300 a month later.

I believe this amp was made in 1985. I mainly use this amp for heavy metal. Though co-designed by George Lynch, it's fairly versatile to any type of music. Not just metal. You can get dirty blues or clean country out this if you wanted. It has 2 channels. 1 clean, 1 dirty. With the footswitch, you can switch back and forth from clean to dirty, or you can use both at the same time, mixed together. It also has a "booster" switch located in the treble knob. All you have to do is pull the knob out, and boom! You got added crunch and gain! BUT! You loose overall volume. So, that's really the only complaint I have about this amp. But Randall updated this amp with the "XP" series and fixed that problem. Also, you can get the "XP" block booster to achieve the same goal...which is more gain and crunch. It's great for "dirty" blues or old school hard rock right out of the box. BUT DO NOT expect to get Dimebag's overall tone and sound just from this amp! You need some extra "sizzle" for that, like the MXR 6 band and the Furman PQ-3. Plus you need a high output humbucker also. But, for general hard rock and "heavy metal" like blues, it's great. It's only rated at 150 watts. Sounds like a lot, but it's solid state, so it equals to only like 50 watts tube amp rating. Still loud enough for small to medium size gigs though! It's the best "bang for the buck" amp. Note: YOU CAN GET A CUSTOM BUILT FOOTSWITCH FOR THIS FROM A GUY OFF EBAY! It's like $70 shipped. He builds them w/all brand new parts. Even better than the stock Randall FS-5 footswitch ! He is very reliable and knows his Randall RG series amps! Just do a search on Ebay....type in "Randall custom footswitch". Sometimes he may not have any, but they do come up once and a while. You can still find the stock Randall FS-5 footswitches on Ebay as well. The only downfall about this amp is the volume loss on the "boost" circuit(via the treble knob pulled). But also, it would be nice if it had a little more gain out of it, for the type of music I play. But, using some "ammo" aka = eq pedals, overdrive pedals, eq rack units, you can get pretty good metal tones from that. I plan upgrading soon. To either an XP series amp, or modifying the existing amp, for more gain.

I use a Dean FBD tribute guitar (Dimebucker in the bridge, '59 reissue in the neck) stock, an Epiphone Les Paul stock, and occasionally a Fender Squire also stock. To my ears, they all sound great through this amp. Of course, each one has it's own sound and tone due to the fact that they are each completely different types of guitars. I play mainly heavy metal (Pantera, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Damageplan) and sometimes blues (my own style) and hard rock (AC/DC). The Distortion is pretty good, but needs some extra sizzle (to achieve Pantera like sound). I use a new version MXR 10 band eq pedal and a Furman PQ-3 for added tone and gain. This makes it sound a lot better and you also have more control over your sound. Plus, it gets it even closer to Dime's tone and sound. There's a reason why Dime, Michael Angelo Batio, George Lynch, and other metal guitar gods used these amps back in the day. They sound great and give you that "tube like" tone and the solid state crunch. You get the best of both worlds. No tubes to break. This amp can be noisy, especially if you add eq pedals and other stuff like that to it. But, ANY amp will do that. That's why you need to use a noise gate of some kind.

I would definitely depend on this amp. It's all original (except for the custom built footswitch) since day 1, so that says something right there! Amp never gave me any problems.

Never dealt w/Randall yet. Probably would not anyways, since this amp is "Pre-Washburn" era and like 21 years old!

I have been playing for like 16 years. Not seriously, but just as a hobby. I own this amp (Rg-100ES) along w/ a Randall XL 4x12 slant cab w/Celestion Vintage 30s, MXR 10 band pedal, Furman Pq-3 and a ISP Decimator (noise gate). If it were lost or stolen, I would definitely buy another Randall amp. May not be this one, cause I want a little more gain. I would buy the XP series amp, or save up some more dough and get the Warhead or X2. Randall makes some great solid state "metal" amps and cabs. I believe they are in the top 5 all time best since day 1. Overall best value and low maintenance.
Again, there's a REASON why Dime picked and stayed w/ Randall since he was a kid!!!!!!! GETCHA' PULL!!!!!!!!!

Hi everybody, NO MORE FOOTSWITCH PROBLEMS!!!

In response to the many who have the old missing footswitch promlem...USE YOUR IMAGINATION A LITTLE!!!

It is highly unlikely that Randall amp ever become truly collectible, though the RG100ES would as collectible as any other of the higher priced Randalls due to its 'Dimebag legacy'. However, this is not a Hiwatt so don't be scared to have a good technician rewire the thing so you can use any generic footswitch!

Contact Randall and they can send you the schematic for the amp and footswitch (there is a slight error on the footswitch schematic but any good tech will spot it). All you have to do is mount the footswitch circuit inside the amp head and replace where the switches would be with 1/4in. jacks which you mount on the back panel of the amp. Then, go on Ebay and find a generic double footswitch (I found a double Morley f/s for $20).

I'd say you can easily find a double switch and the mod done for less than $100 all included.

Enjoy!

Mid-eighties. I had two of these, one was blonde tolex with black snakeskin design (with footswitch and matching 4x12" Jaguar cab!) and the other was an earlier model which had been recovered with speaker carpet and looks really cool too in a ghetto low-profile kinda way. There are not many features on this amp and it's really too bad cause you can get several good sounds out of it, but you can't really get to them without messing with everything. Get two of these and a A/B switch and it's a whole other story. By the way, pulling the treble switch gives the RG100ES its magical mid-scooped crunch, and I never turn it off. Lush! You'd swear there are tubes at times - No joke. But you do compromise on volume by doing this, but no problem, blend in a bit of the clean channel and a full-body tone comes rushing out...

Awesome! I traded both heads and the cab for a Mesa/Boogie Mark III (which is a great amp, by the way) and actually missed the sound of the RG100ES!!! The Mesa obviously is more focused, and the clean channel brighter; but the distortion tone really is comparable, you actually get more cunch out of the Randall, and for one third of the price (I also use a TubeWorks TubeDriver with a 12AU7 tube, and parametric EQ in the loop, to push it further). I sold my Mark III for $1000 and baught the old black Randall back for $300!!! I've also got a Roland Jazz Chorus, so I'm all set for beatiful cleans AND awesome distortion. I'll only sell these amps to get a Hiwatt (and use the TubeWorks for disto).

Absolutely reliable.

They do not support the gear built before Washburn baught out Randall. However, They sent me schematics of the amp and footswitch, so I could modify the amp to accept a generic footswitch. That was allright...

If I compare this amp to Hiwatt, Mesa Dual Rec, Bogner, Orange, etc., I would obviously laugh at this amp. However, for less than $400 (or $1000, for that matter) the scooped gain channel is hard to beat, really!! Better than Marshall and many Mesas, in some ways. It depends what you're gonna do with it. Think about this for a moment: if Dimebag Darrell or George Lynch could easily find better, why did they still use these?? F@%k what they say about tubes (even if they are generally right), if the thing sounds awesome, it just sounds awesome! I give it 7.5 but because of Dimebag's influence I'll say 8.

Cant really switch channels w/o a footswitch...witch is really hard to find for an amp like this.

SOUNDS AWSOME....i put this baby on top of a Behringer BG412S Ultrastack cab and its awsome! I was a bit skeptic about the sound quality because of the behringer but it sounds just great

i havnt had it that long to no how reliable it is..but other revies say its pretty sweet

CANT FIND FOOTSWITCH NEWERE

Ive been playing for almost 3 years and hav gone throu a lot of amps...my favorite at the time was a peavey rhythem master 400, but it didnt hav a speaker out jack so i coulnd turn it into a stack, but the Randall RG100 es sounds just like it. I use a Danelectro Fab Tone distrotion pedal and that just makes it sound that much easier when ever i plug in and play.

My Randall RG100ES was made in 1988. The amp is versatile enough for what I do, which is mainly metal and rock.
There's channel switching on the amp but it's only channel switchable with the footswitch and I don't have one. I'm thinking of buying one off someone for $120, it's kinda pricey but probably worth it. I wish the amp had a regular footswitch jack, this thing has a very odd jack for the footswitch, i've never seen an amp with one like this before.
I'm just using this amp for practicing at home, but I hope to use it with a band sometime. It's got more than enough power, it could probably hang with tube amps of the same power rating.

I'm using this amp with a Yamaha rgx612a with active pickups, a Boss metalzone set as a boost, and an Avatar G212H cab. It's a very cool combination. I can get some good high gain tones with this setup. The amp is noisy when it's running with alot of gain, but that doesn't bother me much, a noise suppresor/noise gate could help this. The Randall's got a very nice marshally hardrock distortion and a very usable clean tone, the reverb is great too. The clean channel's got TONS of headroom, so there would be no problems getting heard over a loud drummer. The distortion can get moderately heavy by itself, but don't expect Pantera without a boost of some type and perhaps an EQ in the loop. You can get some great hardrock tones though, and some old school 70's early 80's metal tones out of it. One thing that kinda irritates me about this amp is the fizzy high end frequencies it has, they can be dialed out with the presence at zero, so it's just a minor complaint.

I could depend on this amp, it's built like a tank. I took a look inside and this thing is put together very well. it's 17 years old and still going strong, i'd easily expect another 20 problem free years out of it.

Never dealt with the company. The rg100es is out of production now so I doubt they'd even know anything about these old Randall's now.

I've been playing guitar about 8 years now. I own what I've already mentioned plus a Kustom practice amp. Before this I've owned a fender 1964 blackface bassman, (good amp, just not for me) several SS practice amps, pedals. I'm not much of a gear nut so this thing should do for a while. If it were stolen I'd probably look for another one of these, they can be found very cheap second hand and they're great sounding amps, especially for the price. I love the distortion, clean tone, and the insane amount of volume I can get out of it. It's Solid State too, so no worries about tubes and biasing. I don't really hate anything about it, kinda wish the high end buzziness was a little tamed down but every amp has it's flaws, so I'll deal with it. Good bang for the buck amp, anyone on a budget looking for a good marshally sounding amp should look around for one of these amps.

You know the deal and specs and if you dont read the reviews below!
Others have given more than enough specs on this amp.
Just want to add my two cents because I dig this amp!

We play loud, very heavy, low hardcore.

The onyl thing I wish this thing had was a 3RD channel for even more
ear buzzing high gain glory. Kinda like the RG100 I was supposed to get.(SEE BELOW)

We play in warehouses and clubs un mic'd this thing is louder than f*ck in both.

80's Les Paul Custom with the stock 498 and 498T's, a Schecter XXX with hot duncan's, 335, and Flat Head Telecaster.

This thing only does clean and mean, thats all. What more do you need? God Loves Ugly!

I also play a Rivera Knuckle and that honestly gets the 10, but for this thing being as cheap as it is and mean as it is it still gets a 9. I mean when people think I have a tube amp and it's SS, well thats quality trickery from the 80's. Now I see why Dime used this thing back then.

A TANK, I gig without a backup often. Out of sheer lazyness and the fact that I know this thing is tuff.

BUZZZZZ!

I have been playing 15 years.

Already looking for another, if that tells you anything.

There is not much to hate.

I was kinda tricked into buying this thing from a seller on ebay. They said it was the RG100 when it was in fact the ES. I was going to raise a stink about it but then played it. The first time playing through it, it sucked and I was angry. Not anymore, this things is PIMP.

For all those who say this thing cant hang, WRONG. Patience, you need to take some time and really play with the knobs. Some amps cant handle the lows from the Les Paul and I thought the same thing with this one, but after playing with it for about a week my amps distortion is tight and mean as hell.

I have owned Mesa's and Marshall's and the only other Amps I have kept around are the Ampeg vl1002 Lee Jackson with EL34's, the Rivera knuckle and this one. Between these 3 amps I can rule the world.

Has channel switching, but you need the special footswitch (I dont have it nor do I need it). 2 channel solid state head. NOT the combo the other guys are listing....I use this amp to play shows with on a regular basis. I actually just got my second one, so I am running two of these heads each with thier own cab. Sounds amazing. The head I just got is a very early model with a slightly different silk-screened face plate than any of the others I have seen.

This thing sounds amazing if you just play with it. I have NEVER had the midrange on any other amp up past 2 or 3, but this amp really comes alive when its at 5 or above, without sounding too mid-rangy. The clean DOES sound pretty good, but I think its primary purpose is to kick out high gain sounds associated with heavier types of music. Sounds JUST LIKE a marshall (very very close). I have at least 2 people ask me what amp I am using at every show.

This thing takes an ass kicking and askes for more. Seriously.

never dealt with them. Heard they are of no assistance.

I have been playing for about 10 years and play and record with an emo/punk/hardcore band. It has the sound I want and my tone sounds like no one elses. To clean up the sound, I just pull back on the volume pedal. Simple as that. I am very blessed to have 2 of these things and would buy any other that I could find......They just sound that good....

Vintage 80's head. Has channel switching, but you need the damn footswitch, which I dont have. Extremely loud amp that sounds best cracked up half-way. Very warm. I use this amp at practice, many many shows, and anywhere else I go....

I use a Strat with a Super Distortion in the bridge, and play harder punk rock kind of music....Suits my musical style perfectly. It is noisy if you have the gain (channel 2) cranked up, but it really doesnt get picked up at shows.......The amp isnt THAT versitle but if you want some sizzle all the way to high-gain sounds, this amp is it. Distortion sounds just like a Marshall. I have guys come up to me and ask what amp it is at least twice every night I play....

This thing takes an ass-kicking and asks for more!!!! It has been out in the rain, smoey bars, huge halls, you name it.....It just keeps going!!!! It has never broken down on me ever.

Never dealt with them......I hear they are no help at all though....

I have been playing for nearly 10 years and have played through alot of different amps and just happen to stumble upon this amp a few months ago in a Guitar Center. I went from having a Metal Zone and Line-6 Distortion Modeler to just a Volume pedal!!! I use it to turn down the gain for a little "sizzle".....I wish this amp had a regular footswitch jack, but other than that it works great for what I need it for.......!!

i dont know what year it was made in.... but it is the (rg100es)150 watts of mean ass power, and to top it off, i got the original foot switch along with it !... only thing missing on this amp would be my wish to have a bilt in analog delay on it, thats because i dont really like alot of pedals on the floor.. but if anyone wants to give me a very generous offer... i might be willing to let this mean machine go !

i use yamaha and esp guitars.. i play goerge lynch, eddie, joe, and my own stlye mixed together, and this mean machine complements all them stlyes and then some ! as far as sounds, it makes.. my guitars let the amp cry and scream with passion, like love and death coming together for an incredible show... marshall who ?..lol.

its reliable, and plays its best to an audience, it knows just what its there to do, and always seems to outdo my expectations.

never delt with them...no need to !

i have been playing and playing and playing...lol... and will always be playing...whats it matter.. i had the 5150 and the 5150(2).. this amp is much better.. .. if anyone is truely interested, like i said give me a call...402-714-4446 nebraska

This is the same amp described by Greg, it's a combo with the amp set in vertically, attached to 4 10' speakers. Bought it new in 1990 (with the footswitch), loved it as soon as I heard it, and couldn't find anything better new for the price. Two channels, pull-out treble (which I always used). In a two guitar band, the other guitar player hates you because of the volume and strong mids from this thing. Though I'm playing a Trace Elliot now, this was great for an all-out rock sound, especially with a Boss DS-1. The whole amp just shakes.

Used it with one of those 29 fret Washburns (sans the weird lightning graphic). For what I'm playing now, using extended chords, sevenths, ninths, no good. Needed something more subtle. Subtle this thing is not, which is why it was so great when I was playing rock and metal.

This is the problem. If I play at loud volumes, it sounds great at first (or not), then the sound changes in mid song. Then I give it a kick, and it changes again. Couldn't depend on it. Couldn't find anyone who could fix it. Wouldn't use it on a gig without backup.

It's for sale if anyone's interested...

Update review.

Update. My opinion has changed about this amp being useable for gigging. The louder this thing gets the less sustain it has. Pedals aren't improving its ability to hold on to some semblence of musicality either. The clean sucks and dies out faster than the distortion channel. When combined together the clean makes the distortion dead even with a pedal pushing it harder. I have never had such a finicky amp regarding pedals. I have used a GT2 Tech 21, Zoom Hyper Lead, Marshall Blues breaker, RP 50, and Zoom Power Drive. The over drives came close to helping but the higher gain pedals were too much. I still love the reverb on this thing and it has a ok sound at low volumes...under 3 on the knob. I have spent hours trying to EQ this head to get it to work for me live. I give up. I ain't spending any more money to get this to work.

Its 20 yrs old. For that it gets some respect from me that it plays at all.

This is a practice amp due to the volume level I wouldn't play it at. I like Randall amps. I have a RH 100 that can be used for gigging as a back up and really excells at keeping note definition when loud. Leads are a little thin but my pedals do improve this where the RG 100 ES sounds bad when loud and pedals do not help. There are much better solid state amps...Peavey XXL, Rh 100/200, I had a Tech 21 Trademark 300 which arrived with problems. I sent it back. Don't know what a good one sounds like. Power engine 60 is great. Your choice of preamp, sound is neutral and it responds to preamps and pedals. I like solid state amps. I don't care if tubes sound better cause I like what I get from the transistor. I do like tubes too though.

love it. just need the footswitch.

I love the clean tone, and the distorted tone. but the only problem is, i don't have the footswitch, so if i'm playing a show where i need clean and distorted, i have to use a stompbox.

never had a problem

told me tough luck finding a switch.

Does anyone know where i can get a switch for this amp. i desperately need one for a show coming up fairly soon, and want to use my amp distortion. if someone's willing to sell one, i'd offer a very fair price. so let me know at megakv@hotmail.com. thanks again

this is an update to my reveiw below

now having this amp for a few weeks, and playing it at a couple of shows, i have alot more insight on this amp. 1)i'm no longer using the dist. on the amp, i'm using my old metalzone on it. the amp dist. with the overdrive sounded great, but when you turned it past 12 o'clock on the level, it started clipping; in a bad way! so, i was getting killed by the drummer. i went to record with my band, and the engineer/producer wanted me to use my amps, but i needed to compete with a 100 watt marshall he had in the studio. he set my amp up with the metal zone i had lying around, and it just came to life!! holy shit, couldn't beleive the difference! i dont have the footswitch, so this helped my dist./clean switching problem. plus, you can use both channels to acheive more volume; set up the clean channel with the tone you like, and start bringing up the volumes on the other(dist.) channel, to get more volume. works like a charm! 2)i didn't realise at first that i needed more volume, until my drummer started seriously gettin' it on! come to find, i was pushing a 16 ohm 4x12 cab, and the amp was running at 8! my brother wired it for 8ohms, and all is well! this amp just crushes!!! if anyone is trying to get rid of their old randall, give me an email. i've just sold all my amps, and the randall is king!!

this is aan early 80's randall head,120 watts,effects loop channel switching if you have the damn footswitch! i don't, but the sound is so good ,don't really care. i just bought the amp used' but i will be using it for band practice and live. i could't beleive it when i fired it up, it is holy shit loud! seriously as loud as any of my previous tube heads, maybe louder! solid state! wow! would give it a 10 in this category but for the stupid footswitch.

i use it with a les paul studio, emg 81's,tuned to dropped-b, also an old usa charvel with a single emg 81 in the bridge. i play mostly emo/hardcore/grindcore, and the way i run it it covers these styles perfectly! the secret with this amp is the same as the old marshalls i used to have(jcm800/jcm900); you have to have an overdrive for the gain channel to really get it into high gain territory. i use an old boss super overdrive in front of the distortion channel, and it just kills!! this thing is seriously mean! it sounds better than the old marshalls,mesa,and high gain ampeg tube heads i've had! the eq section is very important also as there is a lot of room for different types of heavy tone. right now i have it dialed in with a lot of mids and bass and very little treble and it has this killer machine head chunky tone to it. or you can scoop the mids and get that dimebag sound, but if youre used to a tube amp like i am, the mids are crucial! the clean sound is reall clear depending on where you set the pre volume on that channel, again it's great if you can find that elusive f-in'footswitch! right now i cut off the overdrive and back my guitar volume down and i can get it perfectly clean.

i just got the amp used ,looks like it went through a war some time in the 80's, and doesn't even have a scratchy pot, or loose jack! i originally bought this as a backup, but i'm really considering using it as my main amp, this thing kills!!

never had to deal with them, but i do know their new amps blow in comparison to this, and my brother is an amp tech, so i won't be calling them!

i've been playing guitar for about 14-15yrs now, and i wish i had bough one of these back in the 80's! i could o bought 10 of these for the money i've paid to repair my tube amps over the years!i've had marshalls,a mesa, a lee jackson high gain head,and misc rack crap over the years, and this with my overdrive just kills them all!!my freind plays in a couple of signed heavy bands from neworleans, and told me to get one of these years ago, and i wish ihad done it before now. its unfortunate, cause they are getting harder to find, keep looking on ebay, and don't even think of buying a new one to get this sound,they won't even come close!! if it was stolen or lost i would definately be looking for another of the same model, the only other amp that i have that comes close is the ampeg vh140, which has more distortion built into it, but doesn't seem to be as crushing, but is just as damn hard to find as it's no longer made either. i f any one knows where i can get a footswitch, please let me know; thanx

I've got the head version. All solid state. What I am told its from the 80'. I can play blues, rock and metal on this thing. It won't hit Cyclone territory. It needs something in the front of it pushing it for distortion though. By itself it has a overdrive gain to it. Clean is clean nuth'n special but all of it is useable. Reverb is excellent! It has channel switching if you are fortunate enough to have the footswitch. I got one off ebay recently and it is working fine. It has a pull out pot on it that just cuts the sound level way down and gives it a little different distortion. Useless in my opinion. Has effects loop but I haven't used so I don't know if it works. I run my stuff up front.

Got an SG Gothic with 490' in it. I play blues, rock and metal. I use it in a band. With a half stack no problems at all being heard over the drummer. Very manageable amp noise wise. With dist. added it will squeal like any other. I use a noise gait anyways. Mine is not even close to brutal on its own. Again only an over drive gain. It will get metal though with a pedal or processer and I've used both. Since I have the footswitch I can use both channels at once. I like doing this for a boost to my leads. Oh yeah...they cut through now. I didn't have the footswitch when I first got the head. You can use both channels with out the pedal but the versatility is much better with it... especially how I use it. It can play louder than I've needed easily. It sounds better turned up. You can hear it smooth out as it gets louder and take on a new voicing. So get it up to performing level and then set the EQ.

According to an amp tech/electrition friend of mine these things are built to make it through a holocaust! He has had mine open too. He says the wiring is made of the hardy stuff. Me I don't know crap about that stuff. I know it stays cool after playing for hours. Oh yeah, its still going from the 80'.

Haven't dealt with them.

I've been playing 20 yrs. Just got rid of 2 tube amps a peavey rock master and a JCM 900 Marshall. The Randall out preformed the Marshall. The RockMaster ain't worth comparing to anything ok! I have a Avt 20 marshall I use for bedroom practice. Good little amp. This amp came my way. After trying it out I really wanted to keep it. Been playing it for a few months now. I will probably keep it for good. It has its own character(voice) which you just have to try for yourself. I find it to have useable sounds for the range of music we play. If you don't like it give it to me. I am saving up for the Cyclone right now to better handle the heavy stuff I will be playing. Its from the 80' and it is still kicking ass!

From what I can tell the amp was manufactured in the 80's (maybe its because of the very "hair-metal" rattle snake covering" and really doesnt compare, feature-wise at least with some of the new amps. Is platy powerful with its 150 watts and the reverb is one of the better "onboard" reverbs. And you people out there who think all tubes amp are louder than soilid states, this beasts can blow 98% of tubes amps out there.

My guitar is an Ibanez RG equiped with a tonezone and a humbucker from hell (dimarzio all the way bitch!). My music writing style has been dubbed "hairmetal with a trim and some massive balls" but my lead style is a barage of sweep arpeggios ala Jason Becker, and very fast stacatto licks ala Zakk Wylde, Paul gilbert. The amp isnt noisy at all, but i do use a seperate booster type of distortion to push the amp. I get the perfect distortion (for me at least), its well defined and has mids plus crunch. But is has to be cranked to get the full effect tubes or not. The clean is excellent its shimmery without being twangy. But if you want serious gain, get a pedal.

No problems, The beast is a tank

Randall are assholes period!

bottom line is, that if your looking for a great amp thats sturdy and toneful, this is it.

Great amp,150 watt 2 channels solid state head.I own the original footswitch.For more details see the reviews above and below.Sounds more like a tube amp then a SS-amp.Especially when you use both channels at the same time.

i use a Fender 1984 USA stratocaster.All though i've read alot off people telling this is a real metal amp ,I'm using it to play ACDC,METALLICA,DEEP PURPLE AND EVEN HENDRIX, this thing does it all.
The Distortion can be very versatily if you know how to turn the knops.

as reliable as can be.Never had any problems,not even a cracking knop.

never dealt with Washburn before, I hope to keep it that way!!

if it where stolen or lost,i'd try to find another one,but hey their hard to find and becoming vintage.I heard people say it sounds just like a Msrshall jcm800,but i don't know how that sounds maybe someone can conferm this fact!!!

This is an 80's amp. 2 channels, and footswitchable if you manage to either have one of those silly original custom-connector footswitches, or have one made by someone who knows how those connections work.
I traded in my mid 70's Marshall JMP 100 watt head for this - and I am sorry now. I heard many great things about these Randall amps - even the reviews here seem to rate them high, but really, unless you are into hair metal or music with similar tonal characteristics, this amp has little to offer. I basically traded because I wanted something more reliable than my tube-burning Marshall...

I play varying styles of music from heavy alternative to classic rock to jazzzy blues stuff sometimes - and I have to say that this amp sounds OK at best when distorted, but even then you have to settle for the "Randall" distortion sound, because when you decide to use your own overdrive (I use a tube driven distortion), you have to keep the gain of this amp practically at zero - otherwise it totally craps-out in a very non cool way. Of course, the other effect of doing this is then that you have to crank the master volume to like 11 so that you can be heard over the other instuments, if you have a fairly loud band. So this doesn't really work that well for me. Having said that, the amp IS quite loud if you decide to use the gain and distortion provided in the stock amp circuitry.
Bottom line - It delivers half decent hair metal-like tones if you plug straight in, but your range of tones is very limited, and I have found that using different guitars has a minimal effect. Using this amp clean (or as clean as you can get it) I found to be a waste of time. It sounds very sterile, and goes nowhere near being lush. This is a solid state amp, and I have heard very few amps of this type that can produce a nice clean organic and rich sound. This is no fault of Randall - there are very few exceptions to the fact that tube amps are more versatile, and easier to get a variety of brown tones from whether its clean or distorted. (The only exception I can think of is the Roland Jazz Chorus. They manage a nice lush clean sound - of course, the trade-off is that the JC sounds like crap if you run it with any kind of heavier distortion).
As a matter of fact, I feel like I am fighting my guitar when I try to play The Randall clean for some of our slower numbers. I find myself trying to deal with this my layering on chorus or phase to make it sound sweeter. Also This amp is not manually switchable without the foot-pedal, so you are always stuck using one channel.

Well, I have heard these are extremely reliable - thats why I traded my troublesome JMP. I have benn using it for about a year.. It hasn't broken down, although I have experienced rattling from somewhere in the chassis, and radical volume fluctuations when playing during rehearsals. Once it even turned itself off in the middle of a song. I later took it apart and found a short in one of the wires, and one of the reverb springs had disconnected from one end of the tank and was bouncing around on the circuitry. I fixed that, and I havent had any problems since - although I did experience a mild volume fluctuation at one rehearsal. Still though, despite this, I still find it less trouble than my old smokey tube burnin JMP.

Never tried to call - most of my stuff is too old for that.

This amp is OK for the amount they fetch used. I like it in a limited way, but it isnt as versatile as I would like an amp to be soundwise. I think if I were after something new I try a lot of different amps. Maybe I will go with a Mesa-B... ;)

Bought my RG-100 ES used in 1987, so I'm not sure what the manufacture date is. I haven't used the effects loop, as it sounds so damn good on its own. As for volume, this absolutely amp kicks ass, i've played some outdoor festival type shows, and never needed more than the RG100 & the 4x12 Carvin cabinet delivered. With the extra gain and ability to mix the channels, i'm rating it high on features.

My Charvel with a single active EMG makes for alot of crunch with the RG100 for metal, and the clean sounds very good, with a lot of sparkle, using a Martin acoustic-electric. Again, i rate this amp high, as it sounds great, and i've always gotten compliments on my tone using the Randall.

This amp has seen it all; bars, basements, several long distance moves - but time is finally taking its toll. Recently the footswitch connection (that 6-pin nightmare) began giving me problems, and the dashpots on the clean channel are making some noise as well. Anyone with suggestions on who to take it to in San Jose, CA, please email me!!

I haven't tried yet, but am not very hopeful they'll be able to help me after reading the other comments on the board. What is Washburn doing to the Randall name, anyway?

Also have a drum kit, which my neighbors must love (nothing quite like a guitarist who occasionly beats on the drums after a few beers!) and various parctice amps and guitars. Can't say it enough, I love my RG-100, and any help in getting it to the right service shop or person would be greatly appreciated. Suggestions?