randall gh 150 g3 ...any good

[LSD-Studio]

I know, this head is supposed to be pretty good (for the price!), but has anyone ever demoed it?

I'm actually thinking about getting one (for live, rehearsals etc...perhaps even for recording?).

 

[DevilJaw]

i have one, the RH150 G3, but are you referring to the orginal models or the new PLUS models.

ive never heard the newer plus models i have the original. from what i understand the newer plus models have a completely changed voicing/tone stack taken from the V2/T2 preamps.

but anyway, yeah for the price, it has a tube amp feel(even though it has a single preamp tube) but it depends on your definition of tube amp. hehe.

it is really nice for practices/ live/rehearsals, due to the fact that it sound really decent live going through a good cab.

tone wise, i gotta have my midrange crunch that will slay your ancestors, this doesnt have it, but its got massive lowend, the bass control boosts at 50hz so..., but whatever you can do to get any midrange boost is beneficial, whether it be a eq, speakers, etc.

but with the right OD pedal this can get really interesting tones for some old school death metal stuff.

i got it for that reason, i didnt want to drag around my 5150, so i got this little sucker for practice sessions.

i could record some stuff and get a good representation of its recorded sound.
tone is subjective, so i like it on some days and others i hate it.

i'm thinking of getting rid of mine due to the fact i dont have room for it anymore and dont use it as often i would like.

 

[LSD-Studio]

yeah, it's the "non+" - model.

live-gigging and rehearsals is pretty much what I'll be using it for....still I'd love to hear it recorded,......if you could slap a 57 in front of it (preferably with a v30) I'd owe you some beer (and I'm not talking about american beer )

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

I have the older Generation 2 series RH200 head, though I haven't touched it in 8 months or so. It's got quite a crushing tone for a somewhat cheap transistor head, and on a plus note, it works really well together with a 5150. Never tried to record it, maybe I should pick it up from our rehearsal place and see what it sounds like with impulses.

 

[DevilJaw]

ok, ill see if i can get my v30 cab back, its loaned out this week.

but if can't ill try some impulses. but i can attest that the g3 does blend very nicely with my 5150.

 

[broken81]

I owned the rh200 g2 and i fucking hated it with a passion. I bought brand new (don't ask me why) and I thought there was something wrong with it because it sounded like total shit, so i sent it back for a replacement. Needless to say the next head I got from Randall sounded like shit as well. Not sure how the one i owned compares to the one you mention but i just don't like Randall. I even tried to record there rm100 last week, and did not like it at all. It was a combo and sounded like ubber crap! We tried for like an hour to get something usable with it. Just was not happening, my Pod xt made it look silly.....

I don't know if i just keep getting to hear the worst Randall's but Ive yet to hear one that i can even enjoy a little. So my vote is to avoid Randall if you can help yourself!!! :zombie:

 

[Rex Rocker]

My guitarrist has the combo version of the G2, but I've tried the G3's as well and I love them.

It has a dark, modern voicing. The low end is MASSIVE, but it's not loose at all. I don't think it sounds all that tubey at all, but it sounds agressive, not harsh, IMO.

I think it's a great amp and works great with a POD too...

BTW, the tube it has is not in the pre-amp, I think it's in the power-amp. It works under the same principle as the V2's and T2's power-amp, the valve dynamic thingy...

 

[PortionThief]

My friend has the "+" version. I love it. It has a really tight and clear low end. The "sweep" knob, which lets you adjust the mid frequency is something I wish more amps had.

 

[DevilJaw]

here is a quick and dirty mix with the amp, its the best i could due with a couple pints of beer in me.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~deviljaw/RandallRh150Mix.wav

details,

double tracked Randall Rh150 G3, Gain 1 channel, boosted with a maxon 808, with a emg 81 and sd jb pups.

dums are just some addctive drums preset and a crappy bass i had laying around, no eq on gtrs or compression. just the whats coming from impulses.

if you wanna know anymore details. let me know.

 

[Djabthrash]

here is a quick and dirty mix with the amp, its the best i could due with a couple pints of beer in me.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~deviljaw/RandallRh150Mix.wav

details,

double tracked Randall Rh150 G3, Gain 1 channel, boosted with a maxon 808, with a emg 81 and sd jb pups.

dums are just some addctive drums preset and a crappy bass i had laying around, no eq on gtrs or compression. just the whats coming from impulses.

if you wanna know anymore details. let me know.

Sounds cool yet very gainy. First riff sounds like some song on BLS' "1919 eternal"

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

Don't know if this helps you at all, but here's a clip done with my RH200G2 and impulses: http://www.syliin.com/jarkko/Randalltest.mp3

I did it for fun and to see how the amp sounds like in a mix, and I must say I'm not all that impressed

 

[LSD-Studio]

just got it...damn, just played for 5 mins with it and can already tell that I don't like it...

the clip I got so far sounds worse then the 2 above....the bass is just unconrtollable (with bass turned all the way down, a 808 as boost and an Engl-Cab(tight!) it's still MEEHH woofy on palmmutes)
the mids are quite ok, but the highs are just thin and brittle....overall (at least in the older non+ model) the EQ-Curve of this amp sounds quite weird...

it is pretty versatile though (using the contour and mid-voicing)...the clean is ok and for the price I'd say the amp is ok overall and usable as a live amp....I won't use it for recordings though (why should I. lol).


yeah, at least for chuggy stuff with palmmutes I'd say it's pretty much unusable cause of the woofy bass...

here's a quick clip:

G3 raw

 

[Jarkko Mattheiszen]

here's a quick clip:

G3 raw

Definitely something strange going on in the lows. I guess the G3 is even bassier than my G2, and even that one needs to have the low knob turned almost all the way down when using live. I've played a few gigs with it, the other guitarist playing a 5150, and it has worked quite well for a transistor head.