Randall RG100ES vs Marshall Valvestate 8100 - Round 2 - Classic Metal Amp Comparison

[@MarcusW87]

Happy Newyear man! I see you dialed back the contour a bit on the Valvestate, makes it sound less thin and brittle than in your previous comparisons. This way, it comes a bit closer to the Randall without losing that ‘crushing’ sound in the full mix. Big fan of that amp, keep up the good work in 2021!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Happy New Year! Yep good observation, I think it sounds pretty cool too, thanks man👊🏼🤘🏼

[@outatune2261]

Dime actually played through the valvestate at one point. I have the 8100 and have always held on to it because I love the sound of it

[@tylert812]

Both are great amps but I’ll never pass up my RG100ES tone. Has a full sound that sits in the mix well. Eventually I’ll pick up a Valvestate when I come across one. Keep Riffin! 🤘🏼

[@Caged63Man]

Kool thing about the Marshall Valvestate amps, is if you turn up the effects loop knob all the way to 3:00 or 5:00, you get to use ALL that preamp tube tone goodness, makkng everything more punchy, glassy and tubey warmth!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Cool man thanks for that👊🤘

[@Touch2Much]

In the the 8100 the tube is placed before the contour circuit and thus before the FX loop

[@dimebagriffs]

Happy new year man! This is def reminiscent of his tone for sure, killer jams!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Happy New Year Jared👊🏻🤘🏻

[@jasoncrump1886]

Happy new year brother man. Appreciate ya sharing.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Right back atcha Jason🙏🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@joshww2339]

They both sound great . I think the blend of both is really really sick. Each fill in each other's gaps. I really wish that classic RGES tone could be duplicated in a modern set up. These Solid state guys are so much tighter than any tube amp I've ever heard hands down.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Right on Josh🙏🏼👊🏻🤘🏻

[@joshww2339]

@@brokenlevelmusic I'm very stoked on what you have in store for us in 2021 man.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

@@joshww2339 I got a new old tube amp, my first! Hope I don’t lose you solid state brother😂👊🏼

[@joshww2339]

@@brokenlevelmusic dude Im a lifer brokenlevel viewer your stuck. Tube amps are sick also ! I just think the tube tones that everyone goes nuts for are from modded heads. I had a peavey valveking tube head that was incredible. ✌🔌

[@brokenlevelmusic]

@@joshww2339 funny you should say that, the tube head I got is supposedly Peavey’s take on a modded Jcm 800🤘🏼

[@YosDeadman]

Happy new year dude.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

👊🏻happy new year man🤘🏻

[@YosDeadman]

@@brokenlevelmusic Thank you. As a huge Death fan, the Valvestate is one of my weapon choice. But the Randall is so loud, so amazing.

[@j-venom616]

Happy new year bro! Killer video, riffs and performance!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Thanks dude! Happy New Year Janne👊🏻🤘🏻

[@BA99253]

Classic gear, classic tones👍🏻. That burn my eyes poster is sick def one of my favorite albums.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Right on man! Ya thats an old tapestry I turned into an acoustic panel🤘🏼

[@thehoppo]

I have a fairly mint 8100 due any day, and funny as I had Dime's tone in mind when I purchased it, more so than Chuck's !

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Haha right on man🤘🏼

[@nikolayew]

marshall sounds in the mix more evil for me, also enough space for vocals.

[@block-a6057]

Nice video road to 300 subs 👏🏻🤙🏼👍

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Thanks Dudey😘

[@GugaRamone]

I tend to like low contour settings, it helps tame the extreme treble the Valvestate has. I'd like to hear the same settings you have on this video but with the mids around 6 or 7, guess it would take care of the large mid scoop from the 8100. Have you tried it? Happy new year, man!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

No but I’m getting so much feedback on this amp I just might keep playing with it🤘🏼

[@donsmith5385]

I noticed how much darker your Randall was dialed in, you could make it sound as bright as the Marshall, any reason why it’s turned down? Btw do you respond to e-mail?

[@zakkcovers18]

Cool tone

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Thanks Frank!

[@joeyalbanesi412]

Hey man last question I promise 😂, which I thank you for taking the time to respond. Do you change the ohm load on your loadbox from 8 to 4 ohms for using the marshall (as it puts out 4)? If not, do you notice it changes tone? Thanks again, you’re the man

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Haha no worries man, ya I do, and no I don’t notice a change, I pretty much keep the box at 4🤘

[@joeyalbanesi412]

Hey man, how were these recorded? Are you mic’ing a cab, etc? Thanks! Nice vid

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Thanks, impulse responses!

[@joeyalbanesi412]

@@brokenlevelmusic Hey man! Appreciate your response. I was curious what two notes torpedo box do you use? I’m very intrigued about your setup as you have probably one of the best tones I hear using a cab sim. For a lot other people and other comparison videos the cab sims often bring a sense of dullness and makes the difference between different heads not so defined. I am curious as to why this may be if you had any thoughts regarding maybe are just using really good IR’s. maybe something for a future video... haha. thanks man!

[@brokenlevelmusic]

@@joeyalbanesi412 thanks man, ya idk, it just makes it so its consistent, as you know any move of the mic drastically changes the sound, so ya for the head comparisons it removes the room for error. Its Pulse by Lancaster Audio, Ulrich Wild pack🤘

[@joeyalbanesi412]

@@brokenlevelmusic no doubt I feel man, maybe its your AD converter? idk why just you have a very lively tone with the cab sim where most guys I hear sounds dull and lifeless. Really is probably a combination of things including your playing!

[@jamiethoms1708]

Still like the Randall better (just slightly) because it has a better bottom end. But in comparison to Dimebag's tone, the Marshall was closer. Are you driving the amps in this video, or just using the MXR?

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Cool man, ya just the MXR tightening up the red channels🤘🏻

[@jamiethoms1708]

@@brokenlevelmusic Nice. I have a few Randalls. I'm experimenting with an RH150 G3 tube hybrid right now. Fixing to swap out the tube and see what kind of differences I can get. It's one of the reasons I found your channel - searching for sound improvement techniques. Glad I found it 🤘

[@mr.banana4893]

I've been playing and recording metal guitars, probably longer than you've been alive. (Maybe) since 84. If you're using a DAW. Bus your two guitar tracks together, and process them as a hole. They already sound pretty good as is. Nothing drastic is needed. A decent multi-band compressor will do the trick. Bump up the mid & high portion of the combined tone. Bury the bass a little or shelve out some sub frequencies all together. Because any amps tone and controls are interactive, if you mess around with the amp. You'll change the fundamental tone, feel, and texture of the sound you have. Dig what your doing. Good luck with your channel.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Hey man! Thanks for sharing, ya they are bus’d, lows shelved, eq’d a bit, if you’re talking “in the mix” could have more to do with the bass guitar if you think it sounds muddy or boomy? What do you think?

[@brokenlevelmusic]

And I’ve tried a multiband on the bus, and it seems to squash the sound, if that makes sense.

[@mr.banana4893]

@@brokenlevelmusic totally does. Ever try an exciter. The Aphex plug in. Or even the actual rack. The Aphex are very tweakable, where the BBE are preset. The Aphex is the way to go. Works wonders. Total secret weapon. I can honestly say, that I don't think there exists any big name metal band recording of any sub-genre since the 80's. It can be used for absolutely anything. Bring out the nasty, or bring out the finess. It's up to you.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

@@mr.banana4893 ya I actually just picked up a Aphex 104 recently but haven’t fired it up yet.

[@REZNAP]

Respect from Providence, RI! It's amazing how BIG that Randall head is... the Marshall looks small on top of it. My ears preferred the Marshall! *Can you get your hands on an Marshall VS100 and finally do an A/B like this with the Marshall 8100? The jury is still out on which one is "better"... I love my VS100 head. HORNS UP \,,/

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Right on man! Ya its bigger than it needs to be, haha! I’m always on the lookout, that would a cool comparison I agree!👊🤘

[@MRSludgedude]

Do heads and combos have the same circuitry? I was going for a crowbar sound for smaller jams. Thought of a rg80 combo but I don't hear that thick sound on any rg80 combo demo

[@brokenlevelmusic]

@@MRSludgedude Kirk plays the Orange crush 120’s now I believe. What year is the RG80?

[@MRSludgedude]

@@brokenlevelmusic he plays on 83 randle RG, orange is his backup now, and he runs another rg model. I'm basically trying to dial in a somewhat similar sound to Crowvar in the 300$ range. We have no need for a head at this time for small shows and recording so I'm just looking to get away from the Marshall mgfx and pedal distortion. I get a bag of bees and it's just not a thick full sound ......i kind of got away from realky heavy metal and played acoustic folk grunge world music but now im back fronting this doom groove metal band. I do alot of chromatic chugging , playing on a Jackson king V

[@MRSludgedude]

@@brokenlevelmusic basicaly im looking for the sound you got in that mix lol.

[@joeyalbanesi412]

is the 6 band used on just the RG100es?

[@brokenlevelmusic]

No used it on both

[@piercewilkins4898]

how would this compare to the vs100

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Good question, the VS100 are later models and someday I’d love to shoot them out! But I couldn’t say, just that I “read” the 8100 had more mojo, haha!

[@sheldonswan45]

Are you blending in the clean channel on the RG100ES? Thanks

[@brokenlevelmusic]

No, just the red channel, the footswitch is tricky with the light not always staying on.

[@hellboundTX333]

Both great amps. I have both. The 8100 takes less work to get heavy tones from. The Randalls aren’t worth what people ask for them anymore. They were $200 amps at best when i was using them.

[@MRSludgedude]

What lower watt combo vs or solid states would you recommend for these tones. We runing Marshall MG series and they just sound like a bag of bees and just need to move up to a combo I can both play inside and small gigs. Some 80 combo . I've heard alot of bad about the new randle rg80 combo.

[@hellboundTX333]

@@MRSludgedude Marshall made a combo version called the Valvestate 8080. If you want a new amp there’s not much good out there unless you upgrade to a more expensive tube amp. The 8080 is the same as the 8100 but in a 1x12 combo. They’re getting hard to find tho. Stay away from the new Randall RG amps, they sound nothing like the old ones.

[@bilhorinek7406]

did you run the eq in the loop or in front of the amps?

[@brokenlevelmusic]

In front, haven’t tried it in the loop

[@peter2712771]

🔥🔥🔥🤘.

[@shuggabizkit3269]

Cleansing had a definite better tone than Cowboys. I think that’s the same amp Tommy used.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Hard to compare cuz they’re so different but ya Cleansing tone is tough to beat🤘

[@MRSludgedude]

Marshall wins.

[@brokenlevelmusic]

Check out the Martyr pedal by Master Effects, clone of the Valvestate preamp🤘

[@skaldlouiscyphre2453]

@@brokenlevelmusic I've got one, it's great and Tim is a good guy to work with if you want mods made. I'm tempted to get his solid state SLO and/or Orange gain sections mated with the Martyr EQ section. Hopefully it would result in something similar but distinct enough to be worthwhile.

[@Eucsneto]

Do you use any Overdrive pedal with the amp drive?

[@brokenlevelmusic]

No just a six band eq up front.