New Cab Day: Randall Isolation Cab

[trey85stang]

Ok, I picked up a randall iso cab and it came in the mail today. I really wanted a grendel dead room but after listening to my wife bitch for the last time about the volume, I went ahead and order the randall since the dead room's next ship date isnt until the end of may.

So here is the initial review since reviews on this thing are really lacking:

My disappointments:

1. No casters, I could of swore I read this thing came with casters. not a big deal.

2. No gooseneck for the mic holder.. all I got was a 3-4" metal mic mount... this really limits micing options, it's not a big deal as a gooseneck is less then $5 but if I would of known it didnt come with one I would of added it to my order.

3. No where in the documentation (well actually there was nothing but a warranty card, no documentation) does it say what ohm the speaker is for certain, and there is no markings about it on the the cab itself. I found one place that says its 8ohm and that is what I assumed for the initial testing. Im going to pull the speaker to be sure though.


Initial review:

The big question.. how much volume does it cut? I think its safe to say volume is cut in half when cranked, still loud. Not enough volume cut to to play a cranked amp at night with the wife and kids sleeping... You can talk loudly over it but its still loud.

At more reasonable amp levels, it could easily be used with sleeping kids in the next room, but probably not in the same room. At low bedroom levels, its virtually silent.

Most of the sound seems to escape from the joint from the top and bottom. Im going to slap on some rubber weather stripping to help tighten the seal. Hopefully it will cut external volume a little more for cheap.

I did a couple of quick recordings with a condenser and then with a dynamic... Randall recommends a condenser, I preferred the dynamic initially. Bass is emphasized a lot and will probably require some low pass filters on your recordings... More on that in the final review.

Ok, thats it for the intial review.. full review to come this weekend or early next week.

 

[Ultron]

I'm a big fan of the Grendel Dead Room....I understand the slow shipping time, I assume business is booming for Alex.

It's well built, looks ominous, and the casters make it easy to maneuver. The double gooseneck is awesome, and should be standard on all isocabs. I have an old Mesa MC90 in there, with an SM57, and so far, the clips are great. It's obviously not completely quiet ( I run a Mark III into it), and there are vibrations (I'm on hardwood)...but the biggest thing I like about it is that I can crank the backing tracks thru my monitors, and not have any signal bleed into the mics....I hate playing with headphones.

 

[trey85stang]

I'm a big fan of the Grendel Dead Room....I understand the slow shipping time, I assume business is booming for Alex.

It's well built, looks ominous, and the casters make it easy to maneuver. The double gooseneck is awesome, and should be standard on all isocabs. I have an old Mesa MC90 in there, with an SM57, and so far, the clips are great. It's obviously not completely quiet ( I run a Mark III into it), and there are vibrations (I'm on hardwood)...but the biggest thing I like about it is that I can crank the backing tracks thru my monitors, and not have any signal bleed into the mics....I hate playing with headphones.

the tracking thing was another reason I wanted it.. I was tired of playing with headphones as well... now I can listen through the "monitors" (im using old stereo speakers). The worst part was when I really wanted to crank it.. I couldnt hear through the headphones over amp anyways

It sucks being confined to one room for recording

 

[Ultron]

The big question.. how much volume does it cut? I think its safe to say volume is cut in half when cranked, still loud. Not enough volume cut to to play a cranked amp at night with the wife and kids sleeping... You can talk loudly over it but its still loud.

At more reasonable amp levels, it could easily be used with sleeping kids in the next room, but probably not in the same room. At low bedroom levels, its virtually silent.

Most of the sound seems to escape from the joint from the top and bottom. Im going to slap on some rubber weather stripping to help tighten the seal. Hopefully it will cut external volume a little more for cheap.

Sorry, I never addressed your question.

I don't think any isocab will allow midnight jamming of a fully cranked tube amp without the wife clubbing you with a rolling pin (or the isocab exploding). There is so much pressure being generated too, it's crazy the vibrations it puts out (below my studio is my basement bar, and it vibrated some wine glasses off of the ceiling glass racks...metal!). In order to truly have complete silence, you'll need a lot of mass, and these isocabs aren't really built for that. It does allow a tube amp to be recorded at relatively loud volume with conversation levels in the room. since you don't have casters, perhaps you can throw it on top of an Aurelex Gramma to soak up the vibration.

 

[Ultron]

I'm a big fan of the Grendel Dead Room....I understand the slow shipping time, I assume business is booming for Alex.

It's well built, looks ominous, and the casters make it easy to maneuver. The double gooseneck is awesome, and should be standard on all isocabs. I have an old Mesa MC90 in there, with an SM57, and so far, the clips are great. It's obviously not completely quiet ( I run a Mark III into it), and there are vibrations (I'm on hardwood)...but the biggest thing I like about it is that I can crank the backing tracks thru my monitors, and not have any signal bleed into the mics....I hate playing with headphones.

It sucks being confined to one room for recording

I hear that....this is as close as we'll get to having a seperate room/control room.

 

[Juggernaut]

another good tip is to cover it with a couple moving blankets, it will help cut down on some of the room noise, Uhaul sells them for like $15 each.

I also have mine (home made) sitting on top of four rubber pads about 2 inches thick, help cut down on floor noise.

 

[Ultron]

another good tip is to cover it with a couple moving blankets, it will help cut down on some of the room noise, Uhaul sells them for like $15 each.

I also have mine (home made) sitting on top of four rubber pads about 2 inches thick, help cut down on floor noise.

Yeah, that combo would make a nice impact. Shame we have to resort to ghetto-soundproofing methods after plunking down $$$ for an isocab (at least Trey and I)

 

[trey85stang]

The big question.. how much volume does it cut? I think its safe to say volume is cut in half when cranked, still loud. Not enough volume cut to to play a cranked amp at night with the wife and kids sleeping... You can talk loudly over it but its still loud.

At more reasonable amp levels, it could easily be used with sleeping kids in the next room, but probably not in the same room. At low bedroom levels, its virtually silent.

Most of the sound seems to escape from the joint from the top and bottom. Im going to slap on some rubber weather stripping to help tighten the seal. Hopefully it will cut external volume a little more for cheap.

Sorry, I never addressed your question.

I don't think any isocab will allow midnight jamming of a fully cranked tube amp without the wife clubbing you with a rolling pin (or the isocab exploding). There is so much pressure being generated too, it's crazy the vibrations it puts out (below my studio is my basement bar, and it vibrated some wine glasses off of the ceiling glass racks...metal!). In order to truly have complete silence, you'll need a lot of mass, and these isocabs aren't really built for that. It does allow a tube amp to be recorded at relatively loud volume with conversation levels in the room. since you don't have casters, perhaps you can throw it on top of an Aurelex Gramma to soak up the vibration.

Ohh, I wasnt asking a question, I was more rhetorically asking and answering the question that most people have about it/these. But Ill take note of the pads on the floor. My house is on a slap and my office is on the opposite side of the house from the bedrooms so vibrations arent a big issue.. but the escaping volume will be. At midnight I will be happy with low/medium voilume almost silent recording.

I have some old thick foam that I will try and throw down below it.. its not acoustical foam its thick foam

 

[Juggernaut]

I didnt see the point in paying someone else to do what I could do on my own

Plus I love my Krank 1x12 cab and just built a big ass box for it to sit it with a mic.

 

[trey85stang]

another good tip is to cover it with a couple moving blankets, it will help cut down on some of the room noise, Uhaul sells them for like $15 each.

I also have mine (home made) sitting on top of four rubber pads about 2 inches thick, help cut down on floor noise.

Yeah, that combo would make a nice impact. Shame we have to resort to ghetto-soundproofing methods after plunking down $$$ for an isocab (at least Trey and I)

My whole office/studio is ghettos ville.. you should see some of the midnight cabling adapters I have made Its nothing new to me to solder two 3.5mm stereo plugs together to make extensions for the headphones

 

[trey85stang]

I didnt see the point in paying someone else to do what I could do on my own

Plus I love my Krank 1x12 cab and just built a big ass box for it to sit it with a mic.

I thought about making my own.. I even designed one which basically would of been 1x12 cab in a box... within another box. But after pricing the wood, and the time I would need to make it (im a perfectionist and will tear it apart if something doesnt come out right)... I figured it would cost just as much to buy the randall.