randall commander II

[drift]

anybody know anything about this amp? supposed to sound as good as Fender only a lot cheaper...?

[getbent]

Randall is a company started by former friend of Leo and Fender guy.. Don Randall.

The commander II (of which I am a proud owner) is kind of their solid state twin... It is one loud mo fo! and clean all day.. If you want it to break up, forget about it... just buy a pedal!

I love mine and plan to keep it. I got mine in trade... my out of pocket was 40.00... I think those amps go for from 250-400 typically.

They definitely sound good and take pedals well, but are NOT tube amps, so if you are in need of tubes... you will be disappointed.

You can also run a Fender Rhodes through the commander and it is sweet sweet music.

Also, great reverb and a pretty cool trem too...

for me, winner winner, chicken dinner... the fact that they are had cheap is a sign that others do not share my opinion... I am thrilled by that.

[Tonetele]

I have a Randall RG40R and a learned friend of mine asked me if it was a tube amp.That's how good it sounds. The only problem is for it to work in Australia it needs a transformer to operate at 240 volts and they all crackle at times and seem to overheat if left turned on. If your'e in the US you shouldn't have a problem. Good sounding amps. I swapped one of my best Teles for one ( '62 re-issue custom with Texas Specials for it). Glad I did though. Tonetele, Australia.

[popthree]

i have an RG60 which is a 70s/80s vintage Randall.. probably about the same era as the commander II. i do a lot of looping stuff... and i run a keyboard and bass thru it as well as some guitar. it handles everything i throw at it without a bump. as a pure guitar amp, it does the clean thing really well... as GB says, forget about breakup... i prefer pedals for dirt anyway so it works for me.

[drift]

well how important is the "tube"? i've never had one so i don't really know. will this sound as good as a blues jr or princeton reverb? these are some of the models that people are telling me to look at. i like reverb and i like to play clean (no distortion) ... does the tele sound better through a fender amp though? excuse my ignorance - i'm new to electrics.

[muchxs]

Originally Posted by drift

well how important is the "tube"? i've never had one so i don't really know. will this sound as good as a blues jr or princeton reverb? these are some of the models that people are telling me to look at. i like reverb and i like to play clean (no distortion) ... does the tele sound better through a fender amp though? excuse my ignorance - i'm new to electrics.

I was talking to the Senior VP of Engineering from Sprague the other day. He plays through a solid state rig he built in '68, it sounds warm and tube-y. He commented that a good engineer can make anything sound great, it's just a little easier with tubes...

You want to play clean, he plays clean. Solid state does clean well, at least good solid state does clean well. Cheap underbuilt anything sounds cheap, the trick is to track down something iconic from the golden years of analog silicon like the Commander or the Norlin Lab Series L5.

Some of Peavey's early '70s hybrids are cool, too. Amps like the Mace... they're backwards by today's standards, SS preamp with a heavy duty tube power section. Weighs like a Twin... Play "Freebird!"

[DirtyMacSpecial]

Yea I've heard some demos of these not a bad sound if your looking for clean, close to the Peavey Classics of yesteryear as muchxz said..In the same line as the Mace only the Classic was 50 watt 2x12... Fender twin clone would be the best way to describe it (quickly),

I tend to use mine in a in a A/B/Stereo set-up with my Soldano Atomic 16, using the soldano dirty, Peavey for clean and in stereo with some dirt in front to get a heavy distortion/Fuzz sound.