Anybody try a Randall Satan and or a 667?

[SandyRavage]

I spent about two weeks trying to find a usable tone and I'd nothing but issues and returned it.
I had issues with scratchy pots, bubbling tolex, dirty tube sockets, and weird things with the fx loop.

That was the beginning of my problems with it and it didn't sit well in a band mix for me. I'm not the only person who shared this experiece.

In regards to meshauggah I'm not talking about lady Gaga milli vanilli backing. Tracks but am fairly confident that they have some fill in there to double their sound. A ton of bands do that these days I was not saying they sounded bad just willing to bet the monitors and band mix sent through a professional mixing board probably helped.

Take it as a grain of salt but I had nothing but bad times with that amp.

 

[Wizard of Ozz]

I spent about two weeks trying to find a usable tone and I'd nothing but issues and returned it.
I had issues with scratchy pots, bubbling tolex, dirty tube sockets, and weird things with the fx loop.

Take it as a grain of salt but I had nothing but bad times with that amp.

Scratchy pots: not poor build quality. Dust, grease, and a bunch of other stuff. Contact cleaner and canned air. 2 minute fix. The pots in the Satan are better than what Mesa uses... and no plastic shafts, which Mesa pots have.

Bubbles in tolex: maybe they didn't spray enough adhesive on the wood for the tole to stick. Again, not poor build quality. Cosmetic issue- yes.

Dirty tube sockets: unless a tube blew and left carbon traces (which would be easy to spot ion the white sockets) I find it hard to believe any new amp would have dirty tube sockets. What was in them that was dirty? Soy sauce?

FX loop: what was the issue? Was it tube or design related? Did you read the manual because the Satan fx loop is a little different than most.

It appears that most all of the issues you mention have nothing to do with the design, layout, or engineering behind the amp. Bad parts or poor execution... maybe. Same as every amp you'd could buy from Mesa, Soldano, Diezel, et al.

I've owned a few amps and I know bad build quality when I see it. The Satan is a good solid design and well put together. Trust me.

 

[Jaek-Chi]

I'm with Wizard Of Ozz on this one, the Satan i had was very impressive. Perhaps you got a lemon? Can certainly happen from time to time unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, they aren't the most outrageous build quality, but i definitely wouldn't say there was anything lack luster about them.

To the OP - If you think the Savage 120 is thin, you were doing something wrong. You had shit pickups, you had a shit cab (though my 120 sounds exceptional through EVERY cab i've tried), you didn't dial it in to a tone you like, or it had problems. There was something wrong. That's not an insult to you by any minutes, i'm simply stating the Savage (with most applications) is definitely not thin. I've gone through so many heads, and the Savage 120 is anything but thin. It certainly does have a slightly older, more crunchy sort of high gain tone with a little tighter, and less open bottom end. People say they don't respond well to a TS, and from the actual point of understanding what a TS is designed to do and how it benefits an amp, they are right (in a specific sence), but every ENGL i've ever owned has still sounded better with my OD808X through it. Perhaps an Invader is more for you? Its basically the Savage, with a tiny bit less crunch, but a bigger low/mid. I play modern stuff, but i still prefer a kind of crunchy high gain tone that has a little grit and sizzle to it. Don't just like a big, open low end tone. But that's personal preference. I kept my Savage 120 over my Invader, and sold it for that reason. By the sounds of it you'd prefer that. I will mention (because every man and his dog uses V30s in their cabs) the Savage is plenty crunchy enough with them. Most amps i run through V30's but my Savage i run through my Vader cab, essentially an Oversized 4x12 with Eminence Legends. Smoother, bigger sounding, and it's an absolutely crushing setup. Having said that, it does still sound amazing through V30's, and the Invaders sound great through V30's.

Regarding the Satan - Tone wise they are great. Don't have quite the distinctive voicing of the Engls that you seem to enjoy, but they are great. Little more modern sounding than a Savage 120 but still very tight. To my ears, it sounded like a far more versatile, bigger and also tighter 6505. That sort of voicing but larger and better in every way. They are reasonably saturated, but stayed tight, which is what i enjoyed so much. Definitely one of my favourite amps i've had.

 

[RKnight]

Has anybody been able to compare a Satan or 667 to the KH103? I only ask because as someone that has been in the same boat recently, and having trouble deciding, the Hammett could be an alternative to the 667 for those guys that don't need all 6 channels of "sameness" like Reza mentioned. Just clean,crunch,lead.
Is the KH tweaked, or just basically a 667 with 3 channels? does it get into Satan territory, with a boost maybe?
There just still dosen't seem to be any reviews of it yet. One or two vids, but nothing really talking about in in depth or giving opinions.
I just figured I'd chime in on this thread rather than make a new one for basically asking the same thing.

 

[SandyRavage]

I spent about two weeks trying to find a usable tone and I'd nothing but issues and returned it.
I had issues with scratchy pots, bubbling tolex, dirty tube sockets, and weird things with the fx loop.

Take it as a grain of salt but I had nothing but bad times with that amp.

Scratchy pots: not poor build quality. Dust, grease, and a bunch of other stuff. Contact cleaner and canned air. 2 minute fix. The pots in the Satan are better than what Mesa uses... and no plastic shafts, which Mesa pots have.

Bubbles in tolex: maybe they didn't spray enough adhesive on the wood for the tole to stick. Again, not poor build quality. Cosmetic issue- yes.

Dirty tube sockets: unless a tube blew and left carbon traces (which would be easy to spot ion the white sockets) I find it hard to believe any new amp would have dirty tube sockets. What was in them that was dirty? Soy sauce?

FX loop: what was the issue? Was it tube or design related? Did you read the manual because the Satan fx loop is a little different than most.

It appears that most all of the issues you mention have nothing to do with the design, layout, or engineering behind the amp. Bad parts or poor execution... maybe. Same as every amp you'd could buy from Mesa, Soldano, Diezel, et al.

I've owned a few amps and I know bad build quality when I see it. The Satan is a good solid design and well put together. Trust me.

Not sure if I got a lemon or if they shipped out a few bad ones as I ordered one pretty close to when they came out and had similar issues as a friend of mine.

In my eyes dropping close to 2k on an amp it should have arrived in better condition, and I've never had those types of issues when purchasing new previously.

In regards to the tube sockets I wouldn't know what to look for with carbon traces but imagine that could have been it.

Take it with salt I wasn't into it and preferred almost every other amp I've spent time with and thought I'd chime in with experience.

 

[MetalHeadMike]

I'm with Wizard Of Ozz on this one, the Satan i had was very impressive. Perhaps you got a lemon? Can certainly happen from time to time unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, they aren't the most outrageous build quality, but i definitely wouldn't say there was anything lack luster about them.

To the OP - If you think the Savage 120 is thin, you were doing something wrong. You had shit pickups, you had a shit cab (though my 120 sounds exceptional through EVERY cab i've tried), you didn't dial it in to a tone you like, or it had problems. There was something wrong. That's not an insult to you by any minutes, i'm simply stating the Savage (with most applications) is definitely not thin. I've gone through so many heads, and the Savage 120 is anything but thin. It certainly does have a slightly older, more crunchy sort of high gain tone with a little tighter, and less open bottom end. People say they don't respond well to a TS, and from the actual point of understanding what a TS is designed to do and how it benefits an amp, they are right (in a specific sence), but every ENGL i've ever owned has still sounded better with my OD808X through it. Perhaps an Invader is more for you? Its basically the Savage, with a tiny bit less crunch, but a bigger low/mid. I play modern stuff, but i still prefer a kind of crunchy high gain tone that has a little grit and sizzle to it. Don't just like a big, open low end tone. But that's personal preference. I kept my Savage 120 over my Invader, and sold it for that reason. By the sounds of it you'd prefer that. I will mention (because every man and his dog uses V30s in their cabs) the Savage is plenty crunchy enough with them. Most amps i run through V30's but my Savage i run through my Vader cab, essentially an Oversized 4x12 with Eminence Legends. Smoother, bigger sounding, and it's an absolutely crushing setup. Having said that, it does still sound amazing through V30's, and the Invaders sound great through V30's.

Regarding the Satan - Tone wise they are great. Don't have quite the distinctive voicing of the Engls that you seem to enjoy, but they are great. Little more modern sounding than a Savage 120 but still very tight. To my ears, it sounded like a far more versatile, bigger and also tighter 6505. That sort of voicing but larger and better in every way. They are reasonably saturated, but stayed tight, which is what i enjoyed so much. Definitely one of my favourite amps i've had.

I get what the OP meant regarding the Savage 120's lack of immense low end. It's not thin; just not Herbert thick, or FB100 thick, or SE thick. Though I can only base the former on what I've heard about the SE, never played one. I't crunchy as fuck, at least with the 6550s, but I agree here that it lacks the modern ultra thick low end that many modern high gain amps have; not that that's a bad thing.

I can't stop playing my Savage 120