Dual rec vs. Warhead

[jdurso]

so a buddy of mine at the studio got a Randall warhead with the 9 band EQ built-in for $650 or so.

He says it kills any amp he's ever played for metal (he plays metal only).

I've never played one but I imagine it will have sick gain and tighter than a recto. Clean channel is supposed to be better as well. No tube headaches.

built-in effects. effects loop sucks. he can't turn it past 4 with a full stack. too **** loud @ 300 watts.

any comments?

I wonder why it's so cheap on eBay. it's a collector's item you'd think...

i would strongly suggest staying away from the warhead unless you want to sound like dime. i find those randall SS heads to be very tinny sounding, lacking any body which is probably why they have the 9 band eq. oh and just for a frame of reference, a 100 watt tube amp has about the equivilant db output as a 300 watt SS so you'll get just as loud with the tube amp even though its 1/3 the wattage.

as far as that amp killing anything your buddy has ever played in terms of metal, what amps have he played? i can think of about 10 amps off the top of my head that would slay the warhead (DR, TR, 5150 II, 6505+, mark IV, ENGL SE, ENGL Powerball, VHT UL, VHT CL, VHT Sig X, Stiletto, Marshall TSL, Splawn Nitro, DC-5, DC-10, etc.) and would be better investments for resale value and for tone. Tell your buddy if his budget is around 700 look into a used DC5 or DC10, or a used 5150II. that is unless he wnats to sound like dime.

 

[Raggi73]

A friend has a Randall Warhead and was always very satisfied with it. He plays kind of nu-metal (korn, Killswitch. etch) with a 7 string gtr. In my studio he tried my Dual Rectifier and it blow the warhead right out of the water. Now he just bought a Triple rectifier and that kills it.

 

[Silverwulf]

I wonder why it's so cheap on eBay...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...because it sucks? :lol:

As mentioned, if you want to sound like Dime, then you've got the right amp. For just about any other purpose, I can't imagine many people actually preferring the Warhead over a Dual Rec.

 

[tetsubin]

I wonder why it's so cheap on eBay...

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...because it sucks? :lol:

It's cheap, because it's a solid state amp - they don't have expensive parts. And it sucks, because it's a solid state amp. And because it sucks, it is cheap. Full circle.

A more serious side note: For some musical styles the Warhead or any other modern solid state amp might be IT (one-trick pony). But those are styles that are not known for great guitar tone, i.e. grindcore etc. And Dimebag's tone wasn't that great either. Although I was a big Pantera fan in the 90s, I think his tone is lifeless and sterile. Totally solid state sounding. But it kinda fit into the music.

 

[siggy14]

SS suck for distortion is what Silver was saying, for the best cleans in the world you can u se a SS amp, that is why they were so popular in the 90's, every band was using some sort of rec with a roland 2x12 JC120.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...because it sucks? :lol:

Although I was a big Pantera fan in the 90s, I think his tone is lifeless and sterile. Totally solid state sounding. But it kinda fit into the music.

he had a lot of chunk to his rhythm chords, but he also used a lot of effects (e.g. whammy pedal) and the lawrence pups.

ministry went the SS route and I hate their newer stuff...

BTW, the roland JC120 is one of the best clean amps out there... so just b/c it's SS doesn't mean it sucks.

tell that to Metallica, who used the rolands...

 

[mikey383]

SS amps can get some good distortions, if you are into that kind of thing.

I have a buddy who has a Crate SS head of some sort, and it has a *decent* tone. He thinks it's great, but I don't. Everytime he plays my Dual, the first thing he does is dime the gain, and then complains that it doesn't have enough gain for him.

Maybe it doesn't....but it has TONE, which his doesn't have.

 

[msi]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...because it sucks? :lol:

Although I was a big Pantera fan in the 90s, I think his tone is lifeless and sterile. Totally solid state sounding. But it kinda fit into the music.

he had a lot of chunk to his rhythm chords, but he also used a lot of effects (e.g. whammy pedal) and the lawrence pups.

ministry went the SS route and I hate their newer stuff...

BTW, the roland JC120 is one of the best clean amps out there... so just b/c it's SS doesn't mean it sucks.

tell that to Metallica, who used the rolands...

According to a recent interview in Guitar magazine they are using JMP-1's into a 300 watt Marshall Power amp. I know that Tommy Victor used a solid state Marshall when touring with Prong or Danzig. And when I saw Ministry a few years ago half were using Live6 FBV's which means some kind of Line6 amp modeller was sitting behind the stage.

 

[jdurso]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say...because it sucks? :lol:

Although I was a big Pantera fan in the 90s, I think his tone is lifeless and sterile. Totally solid state sounding. But it kinda fit into the music.

he had a lot of chunk to his rhythm chords, but he also used a lot of effects (e.g. whammy pedal) and the lawrence pups.

ministry went the SS route and I hate their newer stuff...

BTW, the roland JC120 is one of the best clean amps out there... so just b/c it's SS doesn't mean it sucks.

tell that to Metallica, who used the rolands...

agreed there are some great SS amps (roland jc120, ISP Theta) but the warhead aint one of em. IMO the jc120 is one of the best amps ever because its clean is legendary, its chorus can't be touched by any pedal and it takes pedals very well. i used to use one for just my cleans, using assorted boogie amps for dirt and to this day is my favorite clean tone.

 

[JW123]

I think for the nu-metal fizzy sounding guitar, that a stainless steel, oops excuse me solid state amp sounds better.

Very few tube amps sound good to my ears with the gain dimed, on a ss what difference does it make. Tubes are good for the more classic guitar sounds.

Thats just my opinion, but when I see guys with there Mesas dimed out trying to sound like Pantera or old Metallica most of them sound like mush to me. Turn the gain down some and you will find out what these amps can really sound like.

 

[jdurso]

I think for the nu-metal fizzy sounding guitar, that a stainless steel, oops excuse me solid state amp sounds better.

Very few tube amps sound good to my ears with the gain dimed, on a ss what difference does it make. Tubes are good for the more classic guitar sounds.

Thats just my opinion, but when I see guys with there Mesas dimed out trying to sound like Pantera or old Metallica most of them sound like mush to me. Turn the gain down some and you will find out what these amps can really sound like.

when you say dimed do you mean turning the gain to 10?

or are you speaking of Dime? :wink:

 

[Silverwulf]

SS suck for distortion is what Silver was saying, for the best cleans in the world you can u se a SS amp, that is why they were so popular in the 90's, every band was using some sort of rec with a roland 2x12 JC120.

Yeah, I wasn't referring to cleans, just high gain sounds. The JC-120 is my all-time favorite clean amp. And I was just poking fun at the Warhead, meaning I find it hard believe that someone who spent a considerable amount of time with one versus a Dual Recto - and truly understood how to dial the amps in - would actually prefer the Warhead for high gain stuff.

But again, like I've said here a million times and will continue to say - tone is subjective. We all don't hear things the same, and we all don't like the same character in our tone. Where as the Recto is great for me, another person may hate it. But in expressing my opinion, anyone who thinks the Warhead is better for high gain stuff than a Recto...I'd have to respectfully disagree... 8)

 

[siggy14]

No offence to you, but i find that kind of funny, most every nu-metal band that came out was a 2 channel Recto going into an oversized recto cab with a JC120 for cleans.

As more high gain amps became availible then nu-metal bands started switching it up more, but probaly 99% of the original nu-metal bands were rec's and the other 1% of amps were Mark IV's, marshalls etc..

I think for the nu-metal fizzy sounding guitar, that a stainless steel, oops excuse me solid state amp sounds better.

 

[fishyfishfish]

I recently played with a guy that had a "SS" half stack. I don't understand why or how people find the distortion pleasing. Not to bash the "Non-Tube" crowd, but some of those older Randall's should of never been invented, let alone sold. As for the Warhead slaying or killing or mutilating any other amp I would have to wonder about the source, These are guitar amps not battle bots.

 

[lailer75]

what it is, is that solid state distortion covers up imperfections in playing. it rewards halfway decent playing and ignores half/@ssed notes. deeming the player awesome

 

[rotaryunison]

what it is, is that solid state distortion covers up imperfections in playing. it rewards halfway decent playing and ignores half/@ssed notes. deeming the player awesome

I've found this to be completely true as well. I was recording a guy last week who was using a SS Fender Roc Pro. Honestly, when he was playing through it, I was impressed that it didn't sound bad. It wasn't great, but it was 'decent'.

He then plugged into my MKIV and the slop in his playing came right through. He sounded like crap! In fact, it was so bad that he went back to his Fender RP! Over a Mark IV!

I find it hard to believe that Dime used Randall exclusively. I mean, a lot of players have these endorsements and in the studio they'll use all sorts of different products... and I've asked Tommy Victor about his setup and he has said that it's never changed. JCM series. Maybe Dime did use the Randalls, but whatever the case, I can't see a Rectifier standing in the shadow of a Warhead. No way... and I've seen a lot of metal guys (not classic metal) use Rectifiers, so the whole 'fast response of a SS amp for metal' idea is bogus. Most use tube amps, unless they're too broke to afford them.

 

[Shadetree_01]

Although I was a big Pantera fan in the 90s, I think his tone is lifeless and sterile. Totally solid state sounding. But it kinda fit into the music.

he had a lot of chunk to his rhythm chords, but he also used a lot of effects (e.g. whammy pedal) and the lawrence pups.

ministry went the SS route and I hate their newer stuff...

BTW, the roland JC120 is one of the best clean amps out there... so just b/c it's SS doesn't mean it sucks.

tell that to Metallica, who used the rolands...

agreed there are some great SS amps (roland jc120, ISP Theta) but the warhead aint one of em. IMO the jc120 is one of the best amps ever because its clean is legendary, its chorus can't be touched by any pedal and it takes pedals very well. i used to use one for just my cleans, using assorted boogie amps for dirt and to this day is my favorite clean tone.

I have a Boss CE-2 and it sounds exactly like a roland jcm-120. Same range and sweep. (of course I play it through a DR and Mav). If I'm not mistaken the warheads had reliability issues. Look it up.

 

[carlsoti]

JFYI, towards the end, Darrel was using all tube Krank amps. If I recall correctly, the warhead was his first foray into signature gear. His original Deans were pretty much just stock/modified items. when their QC when to crap, he went to washburn. When Dean Z came back to the company, he promised to return Dean to their previous standards, and talked Darrel into coming back. I think the whole SS/tubes discussion is SO played out. Many of the newer modelers sound MUCH better than a majority of the amps available at the local guitar store and are immensly more flexible. Keep in mind, MOST peope that play guitar play other people's music, so it does them well to have a versatile amp. If you've got "your own sound", and can pull it off with a tube amp or three, you are in the minority, and my hat is of to you. When I want to play, I plug into my Rocket 44, or my EVJ. When I want to play around, I plug into the computer line6 thingy.