RG50TC Review

Whether you looking for a great sounding tube amp to jam at home with friends or flexible high performance road amp, the new Tube Series has your back.

Features:	9.3
Sound:	8.3
Reliability:	9.3
Impression:	9
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	9.2
Comments:	12

overall: 9

Featured review by: axe_thrasher, on july 30, 2007

Purchased from: Dolphin Music

Features: This amp is pretty much for straight out metal which is good for me since I usually play death and thrash metal. It has two foot-swithchable channels, an effects loop, clean boost, and two gain types. I tend to not use gain two as it's pretty much same as gain one unfortunately, just a liitle less gain and a bit more bass also gain 1 and two arn't independant channels but just separate gain types. It's 50 watts tube power is more than enough for my bedroom, I have yet to gig with it, but it makes a roar at practice. It has 3 12AX7EH pre-amp tubes and two EL34 power tubes coming out of a 12" celestion speaker making an unbeleivable sound for £250. // 9

Sound: I am currently using a B.C. Rich warlock bronze series but plan on upgrading soon. This amp even makes this guitar give a brutal and skull crushing tone on gain 1, as I said I mainly play thrash and death metal and this does the job perfectly. Unfortunately it's clean channel distorts very easily even without the boost on, due to this I plan on buying an acoustic moddling pedal of some sort. The clean boost does have a nice subtle distortion to it, which is good if you want a metal amp but still play a bit of blues lets say. I have to say this amp doesn't give much feedback even with the B.C. Rich pickups. I've yet to turn it past 10 O'clock as it is very loud. // 8

Reliability & Durability: I have banged and bumped this amp around the place and surprisingly it has never broken. I've not had to replace the tubes as of yet. It even fell down in the back of a taxi on the way home form practice, it didn't even have a scratch on it. I plan on gigging it soon and would rely on it without a backup. // 10

Impression: I have been playing for about two years and sold my spider 3 75 watt combo to get this and I don't regret that descion for a second. One thing I'd wish I'd done before buying this amp is looking at the clean channel more closely, but it doesn't bother me that much that it distorts easily. If it were stolen or lost I would defintely buy it again. I love the distorion this amp makes on the gain channel. It's thick yet has good treble. It beats the hell out of my old spider 3 and where it lack in versitility to some other amp, such as the Vox AD120VT of my friends, it's distortion channel is truly awesome for the price. // 9

overall: 9.3

Reviewed by: Exsuratientoel, on october 24, 2007

Price paid: $ 667.95

Features: It's can be played at bedroom levels, or you can crank it & it'll easily hope with most gigs. It has heaps of distortion & great tone. I play metal & metalcore mainly, you have to crank it to get the most out of it, but once you've broke that barrier, the RG-50 TC is one of the best 50 watt combo's I've ever played. It features two channels, overdrive & clean. The overdrive controls are gain 1, gain 2, bass, middle, treble & level, the clean channel controls are level boost, bass, middle & treble. It has spring reverb & a master volume knob. You can really have that all tube tone without burning a whole in your pocket. // 9

Sound: I use my Dean From Hell with a Bill Lawrence in the bridge & a Dean pickup in the neck, the RG-50TC is perfect for the kind of music I play. It's a full tube amp, so you get all the benefits of having tubes, & damn they sound good. The distortion is br00tal, I have it at 8 for my metalcore needs, but you can crank it all the way for those death metal tones. The clean channel is pretty good, but not the best ever, as long as you don't play loads of cleans, this amp is the perfect metal weapon. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I transport my gear around allot, & my RG-50 TC has never had any problems, it's been dropped once, fallen over in the can plenty of times, but it still sounds as good as it did when I first bought it. It's a solid amplifier, you could tour the world with this amp & it wouldn't let you down. // 10

Impression: This is one of the best amps I've ever played, it doesn't break the budget, & it's just the right if you don't have much space. It may be small, but it's packed with tone & distortion. The only downside is the clean channel becoming distorted when it's cranked above 5. I've played through many amps, my three favourites have to be the Peavey 5150, Marshall JCM900 & the Randall RG-50 TC. // 9

overall: 8.8

Reviewed by: WantzChas, on january 16, 2009

Price paid: $ 700

Purchased from: MusicMate

Features: The amp I own was made in 2006 as far as I can recall. It's designed in the US, but assembled in China. Thus making it an affordable alternative to amps such as the much higher priced Marshalls etc. I play mostly hard rock (think Metallica), classic rock (Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Joe Satriani), blues and country (Eric Clapton, Brad Paisley) and Metal (Nightwish, In Flames) and I can get the right tones for all of that. I've read in other reviews that this amp is "all out metal", well that is completely untrue cause you can play anything on this amp and it sounds awesome. I especially like the break up off the clean channel at a certain level, great for blues, country and classic rock.

The RG50TC has 2 input sockets, high and low. The high output favors higher output humbuckers and the low output Vintage humbuckers and single coils. It has 2 channels, overdrive which has two gain stages (gain stage 1 is a bit tighter than gain stage 2) and clean which has a boost button. It includes an effects loop which I don't use and a footswitch which I didn't get with the amp (music store bastards). It has the most normal amp features, the equalizer, channel switching and reverb. It has a master volume dial.

Headphone jack? Hahahaha, don't use headphones on 50watts of tube power running through a 12" Celestion Seventy 80 loudspeaker, Two 5881 power tubes and Four 12AX7EH’s.

I use this amp in my bedroom and to jam with friends (I don't play in a band, don't have the time) and surprisingly I can get that special valve tone at a relatively low volume, but it begs to be turned up and then it just screams with a voice only to be achieved by quality valve amps. This amp has all the right features. // 10

Sound: I play an Ibanez SA 160 fitted with the standard pickups and fitted with 0.10 gauge Elixer strings. Like I wrote above in features, name a music genre? Well bring it, the RG50TC will eat it up like it was no one's business. It is surprisingly versatile for a Randall, the metal/ ultimate distortion stereo type. I play anything from blues to metal and everything in between and the RG50TC does it all really well. When you crank up the volume it gets to noisy which is irritating and the feedback is deafening, because you run out of cable. I'm not sure if it could be my pickups, but I imagine having actives making this worse. If you play at respect-for-your-neighbors levels it won't be a problem and when cranking it having a quality, 30foot cable will help.

The variety on this amp is what drew me towards it. I was looking towards a Peavey Valveking 112, but my budget increased so I chose between a Marshall DSL401 (great amp but not enough gain), used Fender Hot Rod Deluxe (Gain??? Is it similar to slight Drive? ) and the Randall. The cleans is amazing for an amp not claiming to have crystal clear cleans and the BOOST button gives the clean lots of color. You can instantly hear how it gets warmer and grittier when the boost button is on. The reverb button gives body and character to both the Drive and clean channels. The clean channel gets distorted easily in comparison to other amps. Don't buy this amp if you're playing a lot of cleans. I like this, but I can imagine people being annoyed by this. Well you guys go buy Fender then.

The distortion is not as skull piercing and eye bleeding as you might expect out of Randall. Pinch harmonics is not leaping out as with an Engl and other high gain amps. More than enough distortion for most metal styles, but Nu-Metal fans would prefer more gain. Stick a tube screamer into the Drive channel, set gain to about 3 (out of 10) on the amp and max out the gain on the tube screamer. You will achieve great distortions. I rate it an 8 in this department, you'll get better Drive out of an Engl, cleans out of a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe, but hey that is two separate amps. Think value for your money. // 8

Reliability & Durability: Like with ALL valve amps, the valves itself has reliability issues. They tend to break and blow up. The RG50TC doesn't run excessively hot, but still you would probably need a backup amp when gigging. The construction is hardy and it looks and feels strong. It's fairly heavy, which is a good sign. Since I don't gig I won't really have reliability issues. // 8

Impression: My overall impression of this amp can't be described in words. I'm not writing this review like the typical fan boy, I'm considering other amps and keeping open minded. I have been playing for just over 3years and my playing skill doesn’t justify this amp. Hopefully I'll improve and my playing complementing and justifying this marvelous amp. I also own a Cort AD860 acoustic, owned an Ibanez GRG series (recently sold it), Ibanez SA160 and a Roland Cube 15. I wish I have asked about the footswitch, that is an extra expense now. I love the character of the amp, some people might find it dreadful, I love it. My favorite feature of this amp must be the bang for your buck, the value. The only other amp that can compare in terms of value is the Peavey Valveking series amps. I hate the feedback though.

If it were lost or stolen I would probably buy it again or save up more to buy an Engl Thunder or Screamer 50. I compared it to the Valveking, DSL410, Hot Rod Deluxe and for my needs this won. Overall rating speaks for itself, please let me know if anyone finds a better amp in that specific price range. // 9

Comments

[axe_thrasher]

Actually I take back what I said about the clean once I fiddled with it I got an amazing clean sound out of it.

[Shredmaster42]

is the amp loud enough for some giggage?

[PrestigeRGAx]

yea. it loud for giggage. Just not like big stages like over 1000 ppl unless you mic the amp. I sold mine because I didnt liek it. It wasnt versatile at all but it did one thing..metal and it did it well.

[mattyt81]

axe_thrasher, what settings did you use on the clean channel to get the sound you like?

[HELLSHREDD]

I bought the new line6 spidervalve 40 watt combo all tube amp & im sure that pound 4 pound the line6 will make any bedroom metalhead much happier than most combo amps with settings CLEAN, TWANG, BLUES , CRUNCH, METAL & INSANE, also i like to add that there are 2 settings for each channel & over 400 presets built in. I into Metallica , Slayer, Megadeth, Sepultura & i never use the INSANE channel cuz its more for the new metal & its fricken insane, go try it out & make sure to come back & thank me K.....

[Pingis_Or_Death]

HELLSHREDD wrote:

I bought the new line6 spidervalve 40 watt combo all tube amp & im sure that pound 4 pound the line6 will make any bedroom metalhead much happier than most combo amps with settings CLEAN, TWANG, BLUES , CRUNCH, METAL & INSANE, also i like to add that there are 2 settings for each channel & over 400 presets built in. I into Metallica , Slayer, Megadeth, Sepultura & i never use the INSANE channel cuz its more for the new metal & its fricken insane, go try it out & make sure to come back & thank me K.....

Stop advertising please.
I'm gonna get this amp for my birthday, yay.

[higglor]

I heard that this amp rattles and flubs out on the low end at high volumes in an article on guitar player . com Would it be loud enough for gigs without being turned up all the way?

[YngwieJnr]

well 50 watts tube is around 125 watts SS ive played in a hall of around 100 and i only turned the 120 watt amp up around 6 o clock. So im guessing 50 watts tube is enough. I havent got this amp yet though looks good

Also the line 6 is too digitally for me and its 100 pounds more expensive.

[lukeuh36azabc]

i'm getting one of these in the next month or so...hopefully

[ReefTECK]

I just bought a brand new RG50TC at an auction from a store that was going out of business for 250 bucks! Totally brutal! Love it!

[lukeuh36azabc]

yay i just got my RG50TC delivered to day and it's amazing!!!

[WantzChas]

This thing has got clean like you can't imagine. I didn't compare it to Fender but for a hi gain amp the cleans is ****ing awesome. Bought it today. Very nice overdrive tone aswell. This is not just an all out angry destroy the world distortion amp.