tjon901 « The most expensive way to sound like Randy »
Published on 05/31/11 at 10:11The Marshall Randy Rhodes signature model 1959RR is a copy of the amp Randy used while playing with Ozzy Osbourne. The mods on Randys personal amp were unknown until recently when Marshall was able to Examine it. Randys amp was a modded original non master volume 100 watt 1959 Super Lead with four inputs. Marshall stopped making these amps back in 81 when the 59 JCM800 came out. The 1959RR is a two channel head with 100 watts. It is powered by 4 EL34 tubes with volume controls for ceach channel and shared eq controls. The mod on this amp is pretty cool. Randys amp had a mod that cascades both halves of the first 12AX7 in the preamp. And this then feeds the output from the first part into the second part instead of using both parts seperately. This makes the first volume knob kinda act like a master volume while the second volume knob is like a gain control. This lets the amp have way more gain then a normal non master volume Marshall. The amp is covered in white vinyl like Randy's original.
UTILIZATION
This amp is not very usable in most situations. The being a non master volume Marshall it is extremely loud because you have to turn it up to get any distortion out of it. It is an old school two channel amp so you cant switch between the channels you have to plug your guitar into the different input. Even at the lowest volumes it is too loud. You will need an attenuator to use this thing as a normal amp. And we all know how bad attenuators are for tube amps.
SOUNDS
If you are not use to old Marshalls you will be surprised at how little gain there is. You really have to kill the amp to get a heavy sound from it. These things were made to play arenas not bed rooms. The amp has to be on the verge of melt down to get an even remotely modern gain sound. If you can get the amp loud enough you can get a nice 80s Marshall sound with the crisp high end bite. I think you really need a overdrive pedal to get Randy's album sound on this.
OVERALL OPINION
I do not think Marshall really intended anyone to play this amp. This is more of a collectors item judging by the price. There are much much cheaper ways to get Randy's tone nowadays. Modded JCM's are every easy to find and modeling technology has come a long way. Something like an Axe-FX costs a quarter of the price of this and can get this sound and a whole lot more. 4000 dollars is too much for an amp that is pretty much unusable by most people. This is for the rich guys collection not the gigging player.
UTILIZATION
This amp is not very usable in most situations. The being a non master volume Marshall it is extremely loud because you have to turn it up to get any distortion out of it. It is an old school two channel amp so you cant switch between the channels you have to plug your guitar into the different input. Even at the lowest volumes it is too loud. You will need an attenuator to use this thing as a normal amp. And we all know how bad attenuators are for tube amps.
SOUNDS
If you are not use to old Marshalls you will be surprised at how little gain there is. You really have to kill the amp to get a heavy sound from it. These things were made to play arenas not bed rooms. The amp has to be on the verge of melt down to get an even remotely modern gain sound. If you can get the amp loud enough you can get a nice 80s Marshall sound with the crisp high end bite. I think you really need a overdrive pedal to get Randy's album sound on this.
OVERALL OPINION
I do not think Marshall really intended anyone to play this amp. This is more of a collectors item judging by the price. There are much much cheaper ways to get Randy's tone nowadays. Modded JCM's are every easy to find and modeling technology has come a long way. Something like an Axe-FX costs a quarter of the price of this and can get this sound and a whole lot more. 4000 dollars is too much for an amp that is pretty much unusable by most people. This is for the rich guys collection not the gigging player.