RH50T Review

The Randall RH50T head features 50 watts of all-tube power, EL34EH power tubes, 2 channels that range between clean to classic and modern high-gain, 3 band EQ, spring reverb, series effects loop, and more!

Features:	9
Sound:	9.7
Reliability:	8
Impression:	9.3
Overall rating:	9
Users rating:	6.6
Comments:	12

overall: 8.3

Featured review by: killingmoon45, on april 05, 2007

Price paid: $ 624.03

Features: I believe this amp was probably made in 2004 or 2005. It's 50 watts RMS, with all-tube power (4 12AX7EH and 2 EL34's, 4 and 8 ohm mono outputs).I play metal (death, black, doom, thrash, industrial, and some '80s). This amp can do all that, plus classic rock, blues, and even jazz I'd imagine. It has 2 footswitchable channels, overdrive and clean. The clean channel has a "clean boost" Switch (another Switch on the 4-button footswitch), which is great for bluesy stuff. Without the boost, the clean channel just plain sounds good! The Overdrive channel has two settings, classic high gain, and the modern high gain. The modern high gain sounds very healthy with the low-tuned stuff I usually play. The classic high gain sounds almost like that. This amp has an effects loop with a level control button, and also reverb. Since I'm a metal-head, and this amp has all the distortion I need, I will tend not to use the reverb, or any other effects. The 4 button footswitch (channel select, gain select, clean boost, and reverb/effects loop on/off) is a beauty that works as good as it looks. To make this amp more "metal", I'd have included a mid-shift/scoop Switch. But it really doesn't need it since this thing has gobbs of crunch anyway. For less than $500 (purchased from AMS), the features this head has makes it worth owning for a long-long time. // 9

Sound: the sound quality is excellent for what I play currently in a band which is a mixture somewhere between GNR, Muse and Blink 182. Guitar wise, I'm playing it through a Jackson DK2 and a Japanese Tokai Love Rock guitar (check these out, far superior sound wise to the 3 Gibson LP's I've owned). It's a bit of a Jekyl & Hyde as there's a few 'niggles' which aren't an issue for me but may annoy others. First off, the clean channel is very warm and has lots of headroom but anything above volume 6 and it will start to break up slightly. I tend to have this on about volume 8 as the cleans sounds I require don't need to be crystal clean and very tiny breakup is great for me. To balance out the distortion volume, you will only need to run the overdrive channel volume at about 3. If you click on the boost, you will get more breakup and a bit more volume. Overdrive on this amp is absolutely awesome and is the best I've owned (I've owned loads including a Marshall Slash Stack, various Marshall valve rack gear, Hughes & Kettner, Line 6, Marshall JTM etc etc) and the crunch is huge! The sound is quite compressed (just how I like my overdrive) but this may be a reflection on running through a 2X12 and not a 4X12. I always run through the low gain input as this thing has more distortion then you would ever need! I tend to run the gain on about 5, Bass about 4.5, mid about 9, treble about 6 and reverb about 4. Crank the master volume up and it's absolute crunch heaven somewhere between Angus Young and Slash. I never tend to run more gain then this as I just don't need anymore despite it being on tap. The only bad bit about the overdrive channels is the 'channel 3'. It only has a seperate gain control and everything else is shared but you can't use it as a lead boost as no matter how high you set the gain, there is absolutely no difference in volume when you Switch channel so I can only presume this is for someone to use if they prefer the shape of the sound on channel 3. I'm currently using a Behringer preamp booster through the FX loop(which is excellent) and gives me a massive volume boost that I need for soling without tainting my sound. I'll give it a 9 as sound wise it's perfect but the features ain't perfect Randall should have left this as a straight 2 channel amp. // 9

Reliability & Durability: I've had this amp for too short a time to tell. Randall's reputation dictates that this amp will last me a good long time before any minor/major maintanance or repairs are needed. Randall is usually known for their solid-state amps, which are good, and quite popular here. I have no reason to doubt their abilities with tube amps. Customer support. We'll see. The amp was packed with everything but an owner's manual. That's right. No owner's manual! I've e-mailed Randall about this. So far, no response. I'll call tomorrow and see if I can either get them to send me a manual, or at least talk to a tech-guy or tech-gal about things I may have questions about. It's a 5 year limited warranty. I suspect that the tube's aren't covered past 60-90 days. // 6

Impression: I love the sound of this amp as it is perfect for what I play but some of the features aren't required like the gain 2 channel or possibly even the high gain input as there is absolutely loads of gain! If you need a hard rock valve sound then this is perfect. Metalheads may want to look elsewhere as although it has the gain, the EQ voicing on this goes as extreme as early Metallica although with a good parametric, dare I say, you would easily obtain the Dual Rectifier sound as it has the gain but just not the scooped mids required in standard guise. If this was stolen, I would be absolutely gutted and would go straight out and buy another one. For the price paid, this is a very very good amp indeed and although I got it at a discount (now the standard price), I would have paid the original price based on the sound. // 9

Reviewed by: unregistered, on september 17, 2007

Price paid: $ 641.34

Purchased from: Thomann cyberstore

Features: I wish it had a 16 ohm external speaker output too and a chance to play it in stereo. I think it was made in 2005 or 04 but I'm not sure at all. Has 2 gain channels green and red. // 9

Sound: I use this baby with a Jackson RR24 loaded with a single bridge pickup... the EMG 81. I plug the Randall head into a Behringer Ultrastack BG412V(another good bang for the buck) and the sound is simply huge and powerful. You will need to tweak a bit to find your sound and put the sound to about 2-3 To find a sweet spot but the sweet spot keeps going sweeter the louder the amp is cranked. it's not very noisy at all, it's virtually noiseless there's a bit hum that I'd maybe like to eliminate but it doesnt't bother me at all. I can't tell how clean the clean channel is since I play a EMG 81 in bridge and that pickup naturally distorts almost anythin but I got decent cleans that were pretty clean when I tried it. I had bass about 8 treble about 3 and mid about 3. This is the moment you the reader has been waiting for. Exactly how brutal is the distortion? Well let me give you a hint. Put someone to sit in front of your amp and cut the mids to 3 and treble to 3 and bass on 8 or 10 and volume to over 3-4. The one sitting in front of it will start to feel sick of the damn powerful bass Vibrations and Brutal low end punch. Even if we take that fact to notice that it's a very bassy amp if you let it be(you can get thin sounds aswell) the bass doesn't wash up the clarity of it. It is truly a joy to Chug away with this in drop C. Whoever said that this amp aint for a metalhead or a gainfreak is pretty wrong. there's plenty of gain and metal voicing in this. I can play anythin from death metal to metalcore and it will give me the sound. Allright a gain freak woud be maybe pushed to buy a overdrive pedal but with gainfreak I mean insane amounts of gain that makes ur playing sound pretty bad. The Green and Red gains differences are rather insignifficant but it is still there. The red one is Thicker and bassier suited for chuggin riffs or rhythm playing and the red gain is more for some lead work and it's generally a bit lighter. This amp is also very pedalfriendly. Even to shit pedals like the Boss MT-2. // 10

Reliability & Durability: Seems solid. Built in china but has some good craftsmanship. I woud gig without backup but I'd rather have one in spare if I had the cash now still. No due to the short time of owning it hasn't had the chance to break down but not that short still, I've had plenty of time to twist n' turn the knobs on this and find out what it can do. I doubt it breaks down. It did smell hot/burning solder the first days and created some heat in my computer room that made me sweat but it cooled down now. I use my amp with care (always warm up/cool down when putting and off) and I don't tihnk it needs more. Just the tube change but thatll be a time away. For the short time of owning I can't give it more than 9. // 9

Impression: I play death/trash/melodic death/metalcore and it's a good match for my amp. It has brutal distortion without a pedal wich I this time insisted on not needing since I wanna keep my stuff simple. I've owned in the past a Alesis wildfire and Peavey studiopro wich are both solid states and I can't really compare them to this one fairly since it beats the crap out of them so easily. I wish this had come with a proper users-manual though. The so called manual is only f--kin 2 pages of info. It's a really bad joke in my opinion! It woud help equally much if it said "You now own a Randall, congratulations!". I just think it's a huge shame that such a nice product came with such a poor manual. I love the huge distortion and the easy of use. My favorite feature is the Gain 2 (also known as red gain)its too brutal to be true. I compared this to Peavey Valveking but I didn't afford pedal and it's not that "metal" voiced as the Randall I guess so I choose this one but I love this amp very much! I wish it had a gainboost for some soloing on the dirty channel too, that'd be cool but that's not really a big deal. // 10

overall: 9.3

Reviewed by: phenom1991, on november 14, 2007

Price paid: $ 641.34

Purchased from: Thomann Cyberstore

Features: // 9

Sound: I am currently playing a Jackson RR24 limited Edition with yellow bevels with a single brutal EMG 81 active humbucker. It suits my style very well which is everything from hard rock and classic heavy metal to brutal death metal. I mostly play melodic death metal though for example: Children Of Bodom, Norther and Arch Enemy. I play with this at high volumes at band practices and what surprises me is the low noise even on full gain! I usually cut down the mids and take up the treble a bit and I can't turn the bass on full since this will make the room shake quite much. This amp is very versatile to everything and that's what mostly impressed me. This can handle Clean tones very well under volume 7 before turning dirty and they are thick or sparkly or however you want it to be. This amp can make just about every sound and there is 2 overdrive channels to play with. Now let's stop there a bit. there's 2 gain stages red and green gain which are very different. Red gain, the usually bassy and low end heavy metal sound but can also be turned to softer music and rock. This will be used by metal freaks and to get that satisfying drop C tuning riffage brutality. I myself play in standard D and it provides nice kicks into powerchords and rhythm, also leads if you want it to. Green gain, this is a bit vintage like sparkling distortion. Definetly bright sounding and clear. Does not have much of bass but it's got more gain to play with but it's still too much to turn up the gain to full. I use this for my solos because they cut through very good on this setting and sound great. So this a lead sound. The red gain is truly massive and destroying brutal distortion when I play it. Provides nice punch and clarity too. I don't need a pedal to go with this and it has a lot of gain to play with. It gets metal tunes right out of the box. I get decent cleans from a EMG 81, can you believe it? It's true. Excellent! // 10

Reliability & Durability: I can depend on this thing for life but I would want to have a tube combo/another head as backup to a gig because in this twisted world everything is possible. It has not broken down yet but if you don't play with this for a week or two then it will need a good warming up before some real playing to ensure maximum shredding pleasure. I wont put more than 9 here because I haven't owned this one even half year yet. // 9

Impression: Well I said earlier I play metal and this suits perfect to that area. I like how this thing has different sound/tone from the usual metal cliche sounds and provides some nice quality for a pretty low price. I own a Peavey studiopro, a crap Boss MT-2 which I hardly use anymore and a Jackson RR24. I have been playing a bit less than 2 years and I can tell this is a great step up amp and entry level to tube amps. If this was stolen or lost I would get so pissed I would find that guy in a matter of seconds and kill him, piss on his grave, kill him in his after life and probably rape his soul in the process. I love the crunching distortion and the great sustain and quality sound. My favorite is definetly the Red gain for chunky rhytms and green for soloing. I really can't hate this amp but keep in mind I am not a long experience veteran player but this is probably the nicest amp I have played to this point. I compared this to Peavey windsor which was my first choice. I would have gotten a EQ or OD pedal to go with that amp but come on 1 channel, that totally blows! I need a Clean channel to go with a raw amp. The Price was J50 higher but I will gladly pay that for a metal tone ready-made in the OD channel than spend a good 150 on a EQ/OD for a one channel amplifier. I wish it had a stereo output but apart from that I can't complain, great amp. Has absolutely the potential for metalheads and has the voicing too which I've seen many have said it doesn't have. Keep in mind what music I play and the thing I think it's a very good amp to that! Don't doubt to buy this if you are considering it. A additional thing. Randalls customer support answers quickly but the instruction manual to this amp was a sick sarcastic joke, I mean wtf like 2 pages or something. It has about 1 page of useful information and that is the explanation to each knob and button on it! GOD! It would have been more informing to write "Thank you for buying Randall. You're on your own now!" In the manual than that shit. -1 points for that Randall makes such a nice product without a proper instruction manual. Furthermore I've heard the guys working for Randall are complete tosses and don't know what the hell they are talking about. Think about that too. Still this amp is worth a clear 9 for outstanding quality and features. // 9

Comments

[guitaringsailor]

Sounds like a good amp... I'm in the market right now so thanks for the review

[last_biscuit]

[quote]...possibly even the high gain input as there is absolutely loads of gain![quote]
Are 'high gain' inputs use for increasing the gain then? Sorry for the n00blike question, only an old amp I have has high gain and normal inputs, and i assumed that high-gain was if you had active pickups or something, as i couldn't hear a difference to the sound or gain when i tried both inputs with my guitars.

[last_biscuit]

*apologies for messing up the quote there, but oh well lol

[emr_steelmech]

Randall ftw.

[ericgentz]

I am not huge on Randall amps, this one seems affordable... But if I wanted a 50 watt I would just get a combo amp, anything 100 watt or more I will get the head and cabinent, I dont find it that great for just 50 watts though..

[ubergnar66]

good amp...clean channel is too quiet but i run an a-b-y box into a 212 hot rod deville for clean tones good amp except for the fact that i blew the fuse like a day after i got it

[tenaciousjp]

could i get a good shred tone out of this amp,i listen to alot of satch and vai,something in between there tones thats what im looking for could i get that with this amp?

[phenom1991]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9YMwbegM1k Heres me playing some Children of Bodom with the randall.

[Run.to.the.hill]

"I'm playing it through a Japanese Tokai Love Rock guitar (check these out, far superior sound wise to the 3 Gibson LP's I've owned)"

You are either on drugs, bought an Epiphone or was sold a fake, because 'Tokai Dove Cock' doesnt come close to a proper Les Paul.

[phenom1991]

He said soundwise. The Tokai's ive tried has sounded pretty nice. As for 3 gibson LP's...how do you know it wasn't Gibson studio? Those ****ers suck pretty badly i tell you...id rather have a tokai which is about the same price.

[darrenjables]

Run.to.the.hill wrote:

"I'm playing it through a Japanese Tokai Love Rock guitar (check these out, far superior sound wise to the 3 Gibson LP's I've owned)"

You are either on drugs, bought an Epiphone or was sold a fake, because 'Tokai Dove Cock' doesnt come close to a proper Les Paul.

Normally I don't comment on these reviews, but if they don't come close to a Les Paul, when why did Gibson bring them to court?

phenom1991 wrote:

He said soundwise. The Tokai's ive tried has sounded pretty nice. As for 3 gibson LP's...how do you know it wasn't Gibson studio? Those ****ers suck pretty badly i tell you...id rather have a tokai which is about the same price.

Same here. Studios seem very stripped down to me :\

And this Randall kicks ass

[fr33t0m]

The RH50T sounded pretty good (better than the Bugera 6262 I had), but I received two lemons in a row when I bought them at a big music store. Ended up getting a Peavey 6505+ for just a little more and the tone blows the Randall and Bugera away.