Tell me about Randall RG 80/100 ES

[messenger]

Anyone use one? How do they sound? Do they do hard rock/ 80s Hair metal alright?

 

[CharFace]

I had an 80 for a long while.

Great for Under Lock & Key Lynch, all the way up to a Dimebag Cowboys tone. Not a whole lot else, IMO, but what it can do it does well

 

[messenger]

I know dimebag boosted his, but do they have enough gain unboosted for straight ahead 80s metal?

 

[messenger]

Anyone else?

 

[anomaly]

They sound very, very Marshally! Great amps in my opinion. I liked the 80 more than the 100 myself. It seemed smoother or something? I didn't have them both to compare side-by-side, so my memory may be wrong. But something made me like the 80 more.

Your rg80es was probably an older, mid 80's head (probably an '85 or early '86). They're smoother, rounder sounding than the later 80's ones for whatever reason??

 

[anomaly]

They're great amps IMO. Great for hair metal all the way up to extreme metal if you use a boost.

I've been trying to find a tube amp to replace my RG heads, and so far i've had no luck... i've tried alot of amps lately too. I've got a Mesa Mark III coming, so we'll see how that goes.

 

[CharFace]

I know dimebag boosted his, but do they have enough gain unboosted for straight ahead 80s metal?

I had a RG80ES "halfstack" with the 2x12 vertical cab. We played Dokken's "In My Dreams" quite a bit live, and that rig nailed the tone with no boost, no problem. Any more gain, you may want to have a boost nearby

EDIT: IIRC, it was a 1986 model, not sure if it matters or not.

 

[anomaly]

EDIT: IIRC, it was a 1986 model, not sure if it matters or not.

It does IMO. I've owned 6 or 7 of these amps and the ones around '85 and '86 sound the best. I had a few of the later 80's ones and they didn't have the same roundness to the tone, they also had a little less gain and low end to them. I figure they might of cheaped out on the components or maybe used a different transformer later on??

You can identify the earlier ones by the knobs, they usually have dark grey end caps...the later ones have white or light grey end caps (although some of the '86 heads have the light grey end caps.)

I've been kinda obsessed with these amps for a couple years now.

 

[Gainfreak]

I used an rg100 and my other guitarist used an RG80 for a few years back in the 80's with my old band and they can do hair metal very easily. I used mine without a boost and it had plenty of gain on tap.
Thump hit the nail on the head about the push pull option. If you pull out the knob the amp will compress a lot and add a lot more gain but you will loose punch. I used to use the amp with it pulled but I then slaved it to a marshall in order to get the punch back.

FWIW, Lynch used one on the Tooth and Nail album.

 

[Strat+Marshall]

They're great amps IMO. Great for hair metal all the way up to extreme metal if you use a boost.

I've been trying to find a tube amp to replace my RG heads, and so far i've had no luck... i've tried alot of amps lately too. I've got a Mesa Mark III coming, so we'll see how that goes.

Have you tried one of the tube randall RGs? They have most of the same features.

I used an rg100 and my other guitarist used an RG80 for a few years back in the 80's with my old band and they can do hair metal very easily. I used mine without a boost and it had plenty of gain on tap.
Thump hit the nail on the head about the push pull option. If you pull out the knob the amp will compress a lot and add a lot more gain but you will loose punch. I used to use the amp with it pulled but I then slaved it to a marshall in order to get the punch back.

FWIW, Lynch used one on the Tooth and Nail album.

Ive used one of the RG preamps into a 2204 power amp and it sounded great, really punchy and big. Don't know why more people don't use them like that.

 

[Gainfreak]

They're great amps IMO. Great for hair metal all the way up to extreme metal if you use a boost.

I've been trying to find a tube amp to replace my RG heads, and so far i've had no luck... i've tried alot of amps lately too. I've got a Mesa Mark III coming, so we'll see how that goes.

Have you tried one of the tube randall RGs? They have most of the same features.

I used an rg100 and my other guitarist used an RG80 for a few years back in the 80's with my old band and they can do hair metal very easily. I used mine without a boost and it had plenty of gain on tap.
Thump hit the nail on the head about the push pull option. If you pull out the knob the amp will compress a lot and add a lot more gain but you will loose punch. I used to use the amp with it pulled but I then slaved it to a marshall in order to get the punch back.

FWIW, Lynch used one on the Tooth and Nail album.

Ive used one of the RG preamps into a 2204 power amp and it sounded great, really punchy and big. Don't know why more people don't use them like that.

I hear you! I used my Randall slaved like that out of necessity. All my cabs at the time were 16 ohms, so when I used the Randall though them it was so down on power that it didn't cut live. (The Randalls run at 8ohms)
I solved the problem by slaving the amp. Cut like glass but it was a PITA carrying the extra crap used for slaving.

 

[Gainfreak]

Wow. You guys are a bunch of GASholes. Now I want one.

Who is selling???

You've got that sound covered with your boogies and your Marshalls brother! Trust me on this. I still have mine if you want me to dust it off and let you play on it!! The thing looks like it got hit by a bus!!!

 

[anomaly]

Wow. You guys are a bunch of GASholes. Now I want one.

Who is selling???

You've got that sound covered with your boogies and your Marshalls brother! Trust me on this. I still have mine if you want me to dust it off and let you play on it!! The thing looks like it got hit by a bus!!!

I wouldn't say that exactly. The Randall RG's can get more aggresive than a Marshall or a Boogie with a boost.

 

[Juggernaut]

Ive used one of the RG preamps into a 2204 power amp and it sounded great, really punchy and big. Don't know why more people don't use them like that.

I used a RGP1000 Preamp into a Mesa Strategy 500 into 2 Mesa Mark series 4x12s.... FUCKING MASSIVE tone. Boosted with a PQ3 (of course). one of the best tones I've ever had.

 

[trey85stang]

Ive used one of the RG preamps into a 2204 power amp and it sounded great, really punchy and big. Don't know why more people don't use them like that.

I used a RGP1000 Preamp into a Mesa Strategy 500 into 2 Mesa Mark series 4x12s.... FUCKING MASSIVE tone. Boosted with a PQ3 (of course). one of the best tones I've ever had.

I’m pretty sure I bought one off you 10+ years ago or so. I wish I still had it great preamp.

 

[Juggernaut]

Good possibility, don't remember who bought those, had a couple over the years, your right, great preamp

 

[Scumback Speakers]

I know dimebag boosted his, but do they have enough gain unboosted for straight ahead 80s metal?

I still have my Randall RG-80 combo from 1981. This enough for you? I plugged straight in for this JP cover.

 

[psychodave]

Wow, that was great.

 

[lowmantotempole]

I love my 100ES!!! Are you attempting to get a Dinebag tone?

https://m.soundcloud.com/lowmantotempol ... one-take-1

I did that with a Duncan Distortion pickup and Fortin Grind pedal. That’s it.

 

[misterspockyall]

I love my 100ES!!! Are you attempting to get a Dinebag tone?

https://m.soundcloud.com/lowmantotempol ... one-take-1

I did that with a Duncan Distortion pickup and Fortin Grind pedal. That’s it.

Dude, that sounds fantastic. What did you use to record?