FIRST LOOK: Marshall 1959RR Randy Rhoads signature amp

Since 1984, Guitarist magazine has been the print home of the world´s finest guitar gear reviews, and fresh from putting its 300th issue to bed, the team has just taken delivery of an amplifier that´s sure to wake up the neighbours and rattle the walls.

Launched at NAMM in a flurry of crushing chords, Guitarist has one of the first examples of the brand new Marshall 1959RR Randy Rhoads signature head in its hot little hands.

Based on Randy´s original white amp, the 1959RR therefore also boasts the mod the man himself requested that allowed him - and now you and us! - to control the extra levels of gain available.

Marshall designer Danny Thomas took the original head apart to make sure things were reproduced exactly, and the amp will be reviewed in full in the next issue of Guitarist, which goes on sale 13 March. A video demo of the amp will also feature on that issue´s CD.

Guitarist´s Simon Bradley says: “Needless to say, the 1959RR is percussively loud but if you set it correctly and turn the cab towards the wall, we get very close to the high-gain yet ultra-beefy tone that we know and love from those first classic Ozzy albums. Finding the sweet spot does take time as you´d expect, but the amp rocks most splendidly.”