M4 vs RM4

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lintycreep

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I was just wondering if there was much difference in the tones between these two. Has anyone owned both and did certain modules sound better in one rather than the other? Thanks.
 
Talking strictly tone... I really don't think there is a perceivable difference. A possible placebo effect tends to find the M4 a bit sweeter maybe because of it being hand built and less components in the signal path. On the other hand, with the RM4 you can jump the parallel loop and get an extra tube in the mix. To me jumping the loop sounded cool for 5 minutes and then I felt it was just louder and added more noise.

Also, If you want to run your time based effects in parallel (to not screw with your pure amp tone), with the m4 you'll need some sort of signal splitter and a mixer like the Suhr mini mix (m4 has no loops). I use the RJM mini effects gizmo and RJM mini line mixer (allows me to run multiple time based effect parallel from each other). With the RM4 you can just use the parallel loop but your limited unless you add other signal routing gear.
 
I have an RM4 and just like all my other mts gear the parallel loop is always jumpered unless im running my hardwire reverb pedal through it... In fact I just jumpered the loop on my b52 at-100 head and it added a pseudo extra channel cuz the loop is switchable on and off with the footswitch... I love being able to dial in some xtra juice with the effects knob..
-mp-
 
The Egnater M4 accepts the Egnater dual channel modules. You can footswitch between all eight channels. The Randall RM4 is designed to work only with the single channel modules. We do make dual channel modules with a switch to allow you select which one of the two channels will come on when that slot is selected making the Egnater modules more compatible with the RM4.
 
I still find no use for dual channel modules...the main thing is I absolutely hate shared EQ's on any amp or module in this case I would rather just run my 4 channels through the RM4 and have each one dedicated to a paticular tone, This works extremely well for my at the moment my RM4 has in slot 1 a JF UltraLead for heavy high gain stuff, a 59rr custom for classic rock and medium gain, a plexitweed on the tweed setting with a little bit of dirt for blues and a superclean for cleans I have no desire to have any of these have alternate settings I love the way they sound and the footswitching is easy no scrolling through 1 channel to get to the other channel... Ive got too many regular Randalls to switch over to dualies... the only dualie that ever caught my eye as something i would like to have is the salvation dual channel dual eq benzins that were on thier facebook page a little while back.. But even if i wanted to jump to dualies if i have a sudden change of heart its pretty hard to come by an MOD50 or MOD100 i suppose i could send my rm100 chassis to bruce for his dualie mod or maybe the best way would be an M4 but im not nearly there yet..
-mp-
 
I already have my M4 on order... I'm just debating on picking up a RM4 also. I guess my only concern is if I would constantly be swapping the modules out from one to the other.
 
lintycreep said:
I already have my M4 on order... I'm just debating on picking up a RM4 also. I guess my only concern is if I would constantly be swapping the modules out from one to the other.

I used both together with a midi switcher to toggle between the M4 and RM4. Worked great but for practicality and simplicity, I just use the M4 now. Eight channels is more than enough for any gig I'd ever do (four is not enough though). I am on the opposite side of the spectrum from zepplin490 as I love the dual channel platform, have no issue with the shared EQ and need to be able to change between two setting on a particular module via footswitch.

zepplin490 said:
I have no desire to have any of these have alternate settings I love the way they sound and the footswitching is easy no scrolling through 1 channel to get to the other channel.

What scrolling do you mean??
 
How does the individual build components compare in the RM4 vs. the M4? I guess the M4 is handwired but does it have higher qulaity transformers, jacks, and other hardware? I like having the loops on the RM4 but since I am wanting to pick up a Switchblade one day then that requirement will be moot.

The advantage that I see in upgrading to the M4 is that Bruce still supports this product. Since no one is making single channel PCBs then the future will be held in the dual channel modules. Eventually NOS Randall stuff will dry up. I can see better utilization of the dual channels in the form of split EQ like the new Salvo Benzin as being a logical and major stimulus to this side as well.
 
Totenkampf said:
How does the individual build components compare in the RM4 vs. the M4? I guess the M4 is handwired but does it have higher qulaity transformers, jacks, and other hardware?

I have been told the RM4s are not built equally (much like the rest of the RM line); the older ones seem to be better built than the more recent ones as I understand it. Bruce hand picks his components and tests as he builds. The MOD50/100 uses Heyboer transformers and the RMs use some crap. Not sure about the power transformer for the M4 and RM4 but I'd imagine jacks and hardware are comparable.
Totenkampf said:
The advantage that I see in upgrading to the M4 is that Bruce still supports this product. Since no one is making single channel PCBs then the future will be held in the dual channel modules. Eventually NOS Randall stuff will dry up.
I agree for the most part but it will be some time before the Randall stuff will dry up. One thing to note is the modders don't care for doing mods to the dual channel modules; they're more difficult to work with and fragile, less features can be fit into the given space and it's more time consuming therefore more expensive.
 
Thanks for all the input guys. I think I'll just go with the M4 for now and use the money toward some dual mods instead. Now if someone could convince me to stop buying stuff!!! :lol:
 
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