New amp arrived today! The Randall Warhead!
Photo first:
One question needs to be out of the way: No, this amp will not give you Dimebag's tone. 1, he used a bunch of outboard gear and 2, you will never get his hands to play like he did. He used the RG100 and Century 200 amps during the majority of his career for the basest of his tone. When this amp came out, he mainly used it for cleans. You will never get that aggressive chainsaw like sound you hear on Pantera albums with just the amp alone.
The Warhead was released in 2000. From the research I did, there were 3 different versions of this model. The first version was made in USA with the power switch on the back of the amp, the 2nd version was made in Korea with the green power switch on the front (the one I have), and I think the 3rd version was made in China. There's a Randall Cyclone, which is a little cheaper and less rare, is pretty much identical to the Warhead without the digital effects. The 2nd gen Warhead was the X2.
I play death/extreme metal most of the time and currently also own a Mesa DR multi-watt, a 5150 block letter and a Mesa Recto cab, so I will be reviewing and comparing the WH with these 2 amps. I also have a Kemper profiling amp which I use to profile my own amps with and it is my recording tool.
This beast is a 300W solidstate with 2 channels. Channel 1 is the clean channel, with level (overall clean channel level), bass, mid, high EQ's and presence. Channel 2 is the distortion channel, with the gain knob (pull for boost), level, bass, mid level, mid sweep, high. Next there is the 9 band EQ, and the last 3 knobs are the digital effects presets, master level, and effects level.
The clean channel is surprisingly nice. I only played briefly through the clean channel, but I can tell it sounds better than the 5150. The DR has the best sounding clean channel by far.
Channel 2 is the distortion channel. The knobs are super sensitive. Especially the mid level and mid sweep knobs. If you set all the knobs at noon, and the graphic EQ at 0, the amp sounds like ..... Really, it sounds like a super loud solid state practice amp. The gain knob doesn't seem to do much after 3, the gain sounds pretty much the same through to 10. The boost mode isn't so obviously either. The 9 band graphic EQ only works with CH2 and it is super sensitive also. Boosting or cutting a band can change the sound drastically. I can have one sound I like, tweak 1 or 2 knobs, and can't get the sound back by reversing the settings.
The WH's EQ section is even harder to tweak than the DR's which is already known for being twitchy. The 5150's EQ is the easiest to tweak, if you even need to do much tweaking with it. I have yet to use the WH in a band mix or recorded mix, but I can tell that the mid sweep is helpful to make the guitar cut through the mix. The sweep is quite wide, and the mid level knob allows for +/- 15dB of adjustment.
After 3 hours of play time, I ended up with a setting like this: Pulled gain at noon, Bass and High maxed out, mid level at 3:00, mid sweep at 3:00, M shape for the 9 band EQ, with the dip at 500k, cutting 63Hz and 16kHz. By cutting 500k it removes the honkiness and boxiness. Boosting 125Hz and 250Hz gives the tone body and power, and boosting 1kHz to 8kHz brings out the gain and attack.
Solidstate amps usually have that instant picking response feel which is bold and solid. This amp has that feeling and I like that. I am talking about the feeling you get as a player, not a listener. The WH is not the tightest sounding amp but it sure feels fast and has a great picking response. The DR is known to be spongy which isn't a bad thing, but when you play fast single note passages common in extreme metal, a spongy feeling pick response can throw you off. Of course, an OD can help with the feel and sound, but the WH just feels much more instant.
Overall, this amp is hard to get a good sound. I would say 5 times harder than tweaking a DR. If you don't know what you are doing, you will get lost. You can't get a good sound out of the box, or even with the manual's suggested settings. The 5150, on the other hand, is easy to use, and pretty much every setting sounds good. I cannot say which of the 3 heads sound better. They all sound very, very different. I can only say the WH is difficult to tweak, and you can sound like ...., or the ...., by tweaking just one single knob. If you love and tube gain, the WH has absolutely nothing for you. There is much less harmonics in the gain than tube heads and much less saturated. The bottom end of the DR is HUGE but this sounds thin in comparison through the same cab. If tube gain could be described as being sweet and colorful, the WH is bitter and dull. I also noticed that it responds to body woods quite well, a mahogany guitar sounded much fuller than an alder or ash with the same settings. The difference is more noticeable than on the 5150 or DR.
Like I said, you won't get Dimebag's tone with just this alone. I have a guitar with a Dimebucker pickup (I will also try the amp with Bill Lawrence pickups, I have a L500R and L500XL), it is a step closer but still far from sounding like him. Though I'm a huge Pantera and Dimebag fan, I didn't get this to sound like him. I got this for collection more than for it's sound, or wanting to sound like Dimebag.
I will tweak it a bit more and try a few more different pickups with it. I hope to record some tracks with it over the next few weeks and I will definitely profile it with my Kemper. I am also very curious to layer the WH with the 5150 or DR to hear how they sound together.
Sorry for the long post, I wanted to share my first impression of the amp. I hope this was informative!
Photo first:
One question needs to be out of the way: No, this amp will not give you Dimebag's tone. 1, he used a bunch of outboard gear and 2, you will never get his hands to play like he did. He used the RG100 and Century 200 amps during the majority of his career for the basest of his tone. When this amp came out, he mainly used it for cleans. You will never get that aggressive chainsaw like sound you hear on Pantera albums with just the amp alone.
The Warhead was released in 2000. From the research I did, there were 3 different versions of this model. The first version was made in USA with the power switch on the back of the amp, the 2nd version was made in Korea with the green power switch on the front (the one I have), and I think the 3rd version was made in China. There's a Randall Cyclone, which is a little cheaper and less rare, is pretty much identical to the Warhead without the digital effects. The 2nd gen Warhead was the X2.
I play death/extreme metal most of the time and currently also own a Mesa DR multi-watt, a 5150 block letter and a Mesa Recto cab, so I will be reviewing and comparing the WH with these 2 amps. I also have a Kemper profiling amp which I use to profile my own amps with and it is my recording tool.
This beast is a 300W solidstate with 2 channels. Channel 1 is the clean channel, with level (overall clean channel level), bass, mid, high EQ's and presence. Channel 2 is the distortion channel, with the gain knob (pull for boost), level, bass, mid level, mid sweep, high. Next there is the 9 band EQ, and the last 3 knobs are the digital effects presets, master level, and effects level.
The clean channel is surprisingly nice. I only played briefly through the clean channel, but I can tell it sounds better than the 5150. The DR has the best sounding clean channel by far.
Channel 2 is the distortion channel. The knobs are super sensitive. Especially the mid level and mid sweep knobs. If you set all the knobs at noon, and the graphic EQ at 0, the amp sounds like ..... Really, it sounds like a super loud solid state practice amp. The gain knob doesn't seem to do much after 3, the gain sounds pretty much the same through to 10. The boost mode isn't so obviously either. The 9 band graphic EQ only works with CH2 and it is super sensitive also. Boosting or cutting a band can change the sound drastically. I can have one sound I like, tweak 1 or 2 knobs, and can't get the sound back by reversing the settings.
The WH's EQ section is even harder to tweak than the DR's which is already known for being twitchy. The 5150's EQ is the easiest to tweak, if you even need to do much tweaking with it. I have yet to use the WH in a band mix or recorded mix, but I can tell that the mid sweep is helpful to make the guitar cut through the mix. The sweep is quite wide, and the mid level knob allows for +/- 15dB of adjustment.
After 3 hours of play time, I ended up with a setting like this: Pulled gain at noon, Bass and High maxed out, mid level at 3:00, mid sweep at 3:00, M shape for the 9 band EQ, with the dip at 500k, cutting 63Hz and 16kHz. By cutting 500k it removes the honkiness and boxiness. Boosting 125Hz and 250Hz gives the tone body and power, and boosting 1kHz to 8kHz brings out the gain and attack.
Solidstate amps usually have that instant picking response feel which is bold and solid. This amp has that feeling and I like that. I am talking about the feeling you get as a player, not a listener. The WH is not the tightest sounding amp but it sure feels fast and has a great picking response. The DR is known to be spongy which isn't a bad thing, but when you play fast single note passages common in extreme metal, a spongy feeling pick response can throw you off. Of course, an OD can help with the feel and sound, but the WH just feels much more instant.
Overall, this amp is hard to get a good sound. I would say 5 times harder than tweaking a DR. If you don't know what you are doing, you will get lost. You can't get a good sound out of the box, or even with the manual's suggested settings. The 5150, on the other hand, is easy to use, and pretty much every setting sounds good. I cannot say which of the 3 heads sound better. They all sound very, very different. I can only say the WH is difficult to tweak, and you can sound like ...., or the ...., by tweaking just one single knob. If you love and tube gain, the WH has absolutely nothing for you. There is much less harmonics in the gain than tube heads and much less saturated. The bottom end of the DR is HUGE but this sounds thin in comparison through the same cab. If tube gain could be described as being sweet and colorful, the WH is bitter and dull. I also noticed that it responds to body woods quite well, a mahogany guitar sounded much fuller than an alder or ash with the same settings. The difference is more noticeable than on the 5150 or DR.
Like I said, you won't get Dimebag's tone with just this alone. I have a guitar with a Dimebucker pickup (I will also try the amp with Bill Lawrence pickups, I have a L500R and L500XL), it is a step closer but still far from sounding like him. Though I'm a huge Pantera and Dimebag fan, I didn't get this to sound like him. I got this for collection more than for it's sound, or wanting to sound like Dimebag.
I will tweak it a bit more and try a few more different pickups with it. I hope to record some tracks with it over the next few weeks and I will definitely profile it with my Kemper. I am also very curious to layer the WH with the 5150 or DR to hear how they sound together.
Sorry for the long post, I wanted to share my first impression of the amp. I hope this was informative!
