Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab 

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

I gotta hand it to them - this is *almost* a great product! I lead worship in a large gymnasium for about 800 people 3 times a week and use this to (a) reduce stage volume, and (b) give our sound guy an clear, isolated signal so we can maximize the signal in the mains and minimize monitor bleed. This mic cab certainly does what it says - you can crank a loud signal inside and get a clear feed to your soundboard without increasing stage volume - but I must be honest, there are some boneheaded design flaws in this thing. First, the mic stand inside isn't flexible (it's just a section of a straight mic stand). That means you can't really adjust mic placement on the cone. This would be solved by simply installing a gooseneck mic stand instead of a straght stand. Second, the mic hangs precariously above a bare speaker cone. If the box is jostled, the mic falls down on the cone and can cause damage damage... so why not orient the speaker sideways and mount the mic pointing at it? Problem solved. Third, the XLR input in the back ins't recessed into the box - this means it's easy to snag or chip the XLR input when moving this around (it's happened to us several times). Recessed inputs on this thing would make a huge difference. In regards to sound quality, I'm sorry but no matter what you do it still sounds different than miking an open-air amp. If you're OK with the change in sound quality, fine - but be prepared for a 'boxier' sound on your electric (well, what did you expect?). I've heard that switching out the speaker cone inside with something better can make a huge difference, but I haven't tried it myself.

All in all, this is a good first attempt at a product like this - but if Randall wants to stay in the game, I suggest improving it. With the right adjustments I could see this item becoming extremely useful to venues of all sizes.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

Just got this after years struggling to record in my basement home studio with a Peavey XXX amp. Like most home recordists, I do everything in one room, which means there is no isolation from the guitar cabs. If you try to record at low volume it never sounds right. The iso cab lets you crank your amp and listen to the recorded tone through your monitors. For the first time I am actually hearing pro guitar sound through my monitors.It adds a nice layer of compression and air. Everything is balanced. No strange resonances. The iso cab knocks the volume down to about 1/3rd. It's still loud, but you can hear yourself think. I was planning to be disappointed, but I just plugged in and it sounded great from the start.I would consider playing out with this tone and using a PA for monitors. It is well made. It gets a 4.0 for features because the mic boom is fixed. I extended it to hold the mic over center of cone. Sounds great clean or with any level of gain.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

I've been searching for a studio quality guitar tone in my home studio for about three years now... I've always been frustrated by the poor room acoustics, and the need to record at reduced volume levels in order to keep the cops away. I thought this cabinet might offer a viable solution... but being a die-hard fan of the 4x12 configuration, I was fairly skeptical. My worries where alleviated most completely from the momment I plugged it in, however. In minutes, I had raging guitar tone the likes of which i had never heard outside of a proffesionaly engineered recording. Due to the lack of vents, this inclosure is naturally very heavy on the low end, and the mids can be a bit tricky. I highly recommend swaping the stock sm57, for it's beta series counterpart. This will give you the control over your mids, and the less sensitive low end neended to generate a well balanced, and natural sounding tone. After that, there is no limit... From thunderous rythm tones with that extra searing sizzle on top, all the way to screaming scooped middle leads, all the way back to the most quite and gentle of clean passages. You will not be dissapointed. I will add however, that the cabinet does more for the isolation of your recordings, then it does for the reduction of your level... while it does dramaticaly reduce volume, it is still clearly audible, even loud at extreme volume settings. So don't be to concerned about trying to seal this thing up with aftermarket products... The volume is still reduced enough to satisfy most any city sound ordinance.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

This is a recording savior. I started tracking my guitar with my SL Plexi and had to keep the volume down around 3 but the sweet spot is around 6-7 and so I had to find a solution and BAM here it is.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

i brought it home and plugged my blue voodoo thru it. this cabinet just blew me away. the sound was very dry, but monstrous! i used my beta 57, and my recording dreams came true,

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

Had purchased this after reading the good reviews in hopes of recording guitar through this with my ENGL powerball directly into my workstation. Mounted in a SM57 and tried every possible position and still could never get very satisfied with the sound. A buddy of mine told me about the Grendel Dead Room which is a new isolation cabinet. I read their website and they seem to be confident theirs is the best. The price was hard to beat so I sent back the Randall and ordered a Grendel. Got it and it's similar enough to the Randall except seems more thought out. You can use two microphones at the same time in it and the overall construction seems more heavy duty. The lid is heavy like it's stuffed with material and the latch on the front is real nifty. It is a tad quieter with the lid closed then the Randall as well. I think I even like the V30 clone in it more then a real V30. I'm definitely a lot more satisfied with the Dead Room then the Randall especially after exchanging emails with Alex from Grendel. He told me that I would want to use reverb after the mikes with it to simulate a room sound because you're recording such a raw and dry guitar tone through it. Thumbs up to those guys!

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

This is a great by for me. I've played in all kinds of venues and this thing is great for keeping stage noise down. I would recommend it to anyone. You can crank your amp and be able to talk normally at the same time.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

I love my isolation cab from randall. I purchased it because I was tired of using the terrible sounding digitalness that is known as the POD, buy Line 6. I needed something that was quiet on stage at my chruch. Anyways, I got my new cab in the mail and was amazed at how quiet it got when I closed the lid. Soon, I began having trouble geting a good tone with a Shure SM-57. I know that this is supposed to be the greatest amp mic around, but it wasn't working for me. I decided to purchase a Sennhieser 906e guitar cab mic. I was blown away! The randall cab with this mic gives me a huge sound. I run my Fender Delux through this and get an amazing sound. I highly recommend this cab and mic to those who need to keep their volume down on stage, or recording.

Comments about Randall Isolation 12 Speaker Cab:

ok, so i ordered this cab to use in my church, where i am unable to really crank my amp. When i recieved this cab in the mail, i really didn't see how it was going to do much. Man was i wrong! This cab is amazing! with the lid open, it is just as loud as my amp, but with it closed, it is really quiet. The sound is easily lost in the monitor mix. I am truly amazed with this product.