RM100 watters - fizz / overtone

Has anyone got any thoughts on this...now matter what I seem to do, the 100 waters always seem to have some slight of overtone of 'fizziness'

I've tried almost every tube under the sun power wise and have a number of cab/speaker options.

I have had many of these over the years, whether LB, RM100M or others and currently have one with MM trannys and MDA plus one with Foglifter....no matter how I dial them in it always seems they have a slight artificial quality to the tone that's not there on the 50 waters.

When I compare 50W, I'm comparing RM50LBH, Mod50 and regular RM50HB that I've owned...currently own Two Mod50s and a black RM50HB.

The 50Ws by comparison are always more organic sounding and warmer.

I think the best sound I've had so far was with SED 6550c and a 5751 in the PI with the MDA switch pulled out...still something bothers me about the tone of the 100watt.

I'd really like to like a 100W, not least because they have 3 channels but also the thumpiness of the higher headroom.

Is it a volume issue? Maybe it's my ears?

All opinions welcome....only thing I can't change is the player (he sucks!)

I don't currently have an RM50 with which to do a side-by-side, but I think you may be on to something.

The best-sounding MTS amp I've owned to date was a late-production RM50 combo with Winged C 6550s and a WGS British Lead (CL 80 clone) speaker. I haven't been able to reproduce that level of warmth and clarity with my current head, an MDA-equipped RM100.

Like you, I've tried different cabs, tubes, and such, but to no avail.

I agree, I don't need 100 watts......and the 50s just sound better

I always think my RM50 sounds better than my RM100 but not that there's any fizzyness. Just the tone seems slightly better for some reason. Always chocked it up to the volume knob being slightly higher on the RM50 than the RM100 in a small room. I always thought it was a semi-popular opinion on here that the 50's sounded better than the 100's.

warlok said:

I always think my RM50 sounds better than my RM100 but not that there's any fizzyness. Just the tone seems slightly better for some reason. Always chocked it up to the volume knob being slightly higher on the RM50 than the RM100 in a small room. I always thought it was a semi-popular opinion on here that the 50's sounded better than the 100's.

Click to expand...

I think it's a semi-popular opinion, was just wondering if anyone found a way to master dialing in the RM100...no setting of treble or presence or mids seems to fix it - especially on the high gainers.

I have the opposite conclusion. My LB50 head lacks the crispness that my RM100 and MOD100 have. I rarely turn it on. With that being said there are some YouTube videos of MOD50s that sound totally amazing.

Spencer4hire said:

I have the opposite conclusion. My LB50 head lacks the crispness that my RM100 and MOD100 have. I rarely turn it on. With that being said there are some YouTube videos of MOD50s that sound totally amazing.

Click to expand...

'crispness'...I expect that's another word for the same thing I'm hearing....tight but trebly..kinda metallic

JKD said:

Has anyone got any thoughts on this...now matter what I seem to do, the 100 waters always seem to have some slight of overtone of 'fizziness'

~

When I compare 50W, I'm comparing RM50LBH, Mod50 and regular RM50HB that I've owned...currently own Two Mod50s and a black RM50HB.

The 50Ws by comparison are always more organic sounding and warmer.
?

All opinions welcome....only thing I can't change is the player (he sucks!)

Click to expand...

Just a question:
Have you tried pulling 2 tubes from the 100and hear how it sounds at 50W?

Nightdare said:

JKD said:

Has anyone got any thoughts on this...now matter what I seem to do, the 100 waters always seem to have some slight of overtone of 'fizziness'

~

When I compare 50W, I'm comparing RM50LBH, Mod50 and regular RM50HB that I've owned...currently own Two Mod50s and a black RM50HB.

The 50Ws by comparison are always more organic sounding and warmer.
?

All opinions welcome....only thing I can't change is the player (he sucks!)

Click to expand...

Just a question:
Have you tried pulling 2 tubes from the 100and hear how it sounds at 50W?

Click to expand...

Funny you should mention that because I did that the other day, halved the ohm setting on the head, sounds pretty cool actually..different to the regular RM50.

I've been doing a lot of playing with my Foglifted 100W over the weekend...have some pretty happening stuff going on with a JF Mark X, ERect...KT77 and EL34 in the power section.

I changed v1 and dug out another Jan/GE 5751 for the PI too.

It's still not smooth/warm but the aggressive edge probably suits the MarkX and ERect...heh.

Also factor in that we are all bedroom warriors. You'd really have to get that thing up on the master volume and the volume of the individual modules to hear if a lot of that goes away. My guess is that everything smooths out at higher volumes for you.

Kapo_Polenton said:

Also factor in that we are all bedroom warriors. You'd really have to get that thing up on the master volume and the volume of the individual modules to hear if a lot of that goes away. My guess is that everything smooths out at higher volumes for you.

Click to expand...

If nothing else my ears will shut down and smooth out the tone!

Back when I had my shop I heard intermittent issues of this kind only with the 100 watt amps. LB, KH and RM. I never heard it on the 50 watts or the RM4/RM250 setup. I'm wondering if there might be an issue with the input section. Conveniently every time my Randall rep was in the store, the amps acted fine and did not show the issue. There was always a slight noise associated with it too. When the noise wasn't there the amp sounded fine. I wonder if Rob has run in to this at all? You might try switching out the 1/4" jack for a good Switchcraft jack for starters. Maybe a cold solder joint is to blame.

audiomidijace said:

Back when I had my shop I heard intermittent issues of this kind only with the 100 watt amps. LB, KH and RM. I never heard it on the 50 watts or the RM4/RM250 setup. I'm wondering if there might be an issue with the input section. Conveniently every time my Randall rep was in the store, the amps acted fine and did not show the issue. There was always a slight noise associated with it too. When the noise wasn't there the amp sounded fine. I wonder if Rob has run in to this at all? You might try switching out the 1/4" jack for a good Switchcraft jack for starters. Maybe a cold solder joint is to blame.

Click to expand...

Nah, it's not an intermittent noise...it's just the tonal character of the amp...i've owned probably 10 RM100s of various versions.

Kapo_Polenton said:

Also factor in that we are all bedroom warriors. You'd really have to get that thing up on the master volume and the volume of the individual modules to hear if a lot of that goes away. My guess is that everything smooths out at higher volumes for you.

Click to expand...

This is the correct answer.

JKD said:

audiomidijace said:

Back when I had my shop I heard intermittent issues of this kind only with the 100 watt amps. LB, KH and RM. I never heard it on the 50 watts or the RM4/RM250 setup. I'm wondering if there might be an issue with the input section. Conveniently every time my Randall rep was in the store, the amps acted fine and did not show the issue. There was always a slight noise associated with it too. When the noise wasn't there the amp sounded fine. I wonder if Rob has run in to this at all? You might try switching out the 1/4" jack for a good Switchcraft jack for starters. Maybe a cold solder joint is to blame.

Click to expand...

Nah, it's not an intermittent noise...it's just the tonal character of the amp...i've owned probably 10 RM100s of various versions.

Click to expand...

You misunderstand. It had that fizzy sound, but only intermittently and it was always accompanied by the weird noise. Then it went back to normal. This might be something else entirely.

My first MTS amp was a 100 watt Lynchbox... I later got an RM 50 head and later an RM50 combo as well.. I sold the 100 watter cause I just like the feel of the 50's better..It was a bit fizzy sometimes but the overall tone was just different...maybe it's just cause it's 100 watts...But it was a huge tone...and, I'm not a "bedroom warrior".....I play out live

Kapo_Polenton said:

Also factor in that we are all bedroom warriors. You'd really have to get that thing up on the master volume and the volume of the individual modules to hear if a lot of that goes away. My guess is that everything smooths out at higher volumes for you.

Click to expand...

I think it's this - I play my RM100 at a fair volume normally (even if it's attenuated in the house) as I've found that it does not like to be played at low volume.

In that regard it's pretty much like my JCM800 2203 - thin and a bit brittle at low volumes, but ripping up loud

I also agree that the 50 watt'ers seem to get in the zone without being as loud - well at least my Mod50 does not need to be attenuated like my RM100's do!

Has anyone tried either a THD hot plate
Or a Variac on the Rm100 to see if that
Smooths it out? My problem is to use the
Fx loop you need the master amp volume
Around 11:00 but t bedroom level my module
Volumes are only at 7:30 or so and I've been
Told that the modules need to be driven for
best sound at least 1:30 - 2:00 ramge.
Any thoughts on this?

Just something to consider... you guys all seem to be going under the assumption that those tones are coming from the head. They might just be coming from some of your other gear. Maybe the head is just efficient at amplifying them.

suphuckers said:

Just something to consider... you guys all seem to be going under the assumption that those tones are coming from the head. They might just be coming from some of your other gear. Maybe the head is just efficient at amplifying them.

..and if you're reading Marco, keep your :roll: to yourself Thanks.

Click to expand...

I'm not sure everyone here thinks that but I guess you could tell if you were running straight in with a good fiddle, good cab, and solid cables...

Many guys here are quite good at troubleshooting and this topic came up when discussing the MTS heads themselves...But you are right in the fact that other gear can really throw you off the scent of the squeal...