Randall Steelman Amps.

Ronald Comtois · Post by **Ronald Comtois** » 3 Nov 2006 7:03 am

Any of you folks play through one of these?This Amp.puts out 300 watts,plenty of power.I've tried it a couple of times with my Marlen.The sound just knocked me out.Only problem is that is very heavey.The speaker is a 15 inch JBL. I estimate the weight to be around 80 pounds. the Amp. is about the size of a nashville 400.My question is how much of that weight is in the speaker? Ron C.

Darvin Willhoite · Post by **Darvin Willhoite** » 3 Nov 2006 7:35 am

I remember when they first came out in the late '70's. Roy and Candy's music in Tulsa had one, but the price was close to $1000. It may as well have been $100,000 there was no way I could afford it then. It wasn't long until the Peavey Session 500 came out with even more features at about half the price, and the Steelman amps kind of faded away. By the time the 500's came out I was living in Arlington, Tx. and I bought the first one that came to Bruce Music in Ft. Worth. I still have it, and it look just like it did when I carried (dragged?) it out of the store.

------------------
Darvin Willhoite
Riva Ridge Recording

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 3 Nov 2006 8:24 am

I have one of these amps and love the heck out of it! I wanted one when they first came out but like Darvin said they were just too expensive so I went with something else which was another Randall, a Commander II. A while back I saw an add on the Forum with one for sale for $500. It wasn't selling so I contacted the guy and offered to trade him another amp (Fender Hot Rod DeVille 2-12) which I was sure he could get $500 out of. He agreed and I went to Richmond and traded him. I really like the Steelman 500 and use it for all the large venues which I have to play and my Peavey Nashville 2-12 for smaller ones. My Randall has done some other duties too, I do a trio gig from time to time with my wife and another guitarist and I use the Randall to run the drum machine through which does a great job with that 15" JBL. Also while playing an outside lead guitar job at a stage on the beach last summer my little Fender tube amp just wouldn't cut it. It was loud enough but not clean enough when turned up so I got the Randall out of the van and ran a line from the Fender to the Randall and cranked that bad boy up and it put out a wall of sound. It's exactly the size of a Nashville 400 because when I sold my 400 I kept the nice cover for it and use it on the Randall, a perfect fit. True, it's a heavy amp but mine came with casters on it so that's OK....JH in Va.

------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

[This message was edited by Jerry Hayes on 03 November 2006 at 08:27 AM.]

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 3 Nov 2006 8:30 am

I forgot to mention it, but these Randalls have a remote reverb switch like the old Peavey Session 500 that clips on the leg of your steel but it only has one knob for intensity and no switch like the Session 500 switch had. Also on the face plate it has a 5 band EQ and 3 controls for reverb. The regular intensity plus a low and a high reverb EQ control which really allows you to tailor your reverb sound to a room....JH in Va.

------------------
Don't matter who's in Austin (or anywhere else) Ralph Mooney is still the king!!!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 4 Nov 2006 1:12 pm

My question is how much of that weight is in the speaker?

Probably a little less than 20 lbs., as JBL's weren't really hefty. The "heavyweights" were always the Gauss and EV speakers. You could probably switch to one of the newer neodymium speakers and save 10 lbs..