New to Guitar Looking at Orange

[SurfStrat]

Hi, I'm pretty new at guitar and I was drawn in by an Orange Amps ad in a guitar magazine. The only problem is nobody carries Orange in my state, so I've never gotten to play one. That said here are my questions:

1) Do the Crush series amps accurately reflect the tone of Orange tube amps? Because there is a dealer out of state but no too far away that I could order one from, but I would have to do it without ever having played it so I wouldn't want to commit to anything more expensive.

2) Does the new AD140 Twin Channel sound like two AD140 Leads from the Custom Shop or is the tone slightly less quality?

3) I know the answer I'll probably get asking this here but, should I buy an Orange amp? (I'm 17 and into blues, funk, folk but mostly rock especially Led Zep, Pink Floyd and some punk like the Addicts or Sex Pistols)

[Meole]

1) Probably not. Transistors aren't tubes and vice versa.

2) Not sure.

3) You either buy the best, or settle for something close and kick yourself latter!

[ecto coolest]

as a general rule, never buy an amp you haven't heard before. you don't necessarily have to play it, but make sure you've heard one, like at a show played by someone else for instance. this is especially important when dealing with high end equipment, like orange. everyone has different taste, so just because someone says it sounds good doesn't mean you will like it. if you do like it, then you will have the answer to question number 3.

i don't even think orange physically makes the crush series, i think its made in taiwan or something, it just has the orange brand name. and like Meole said, its a transistor amp so it won't sound anything like an orange tube amp.

[ecto coolest]

oh thats right, i forgot that orange doesn't make anything.

[Pete]

Surfstrat, I've never played the crush series, but I wouldn't recommend that you pay up for a transistor amp. Are the Orange crush amps more expensive than similarly spec'd transistor amps from other manufacturers? If so, then go with the other manufacturer.

Save your bucks for when you're ready for a good tube amp, and then try out a bunch of different manufacturers and models. Orange makes a great tube amp--I just got my first one last month.

Transistors suck no matter who makes them, but I played through transistor amps for years before I could finally afford tubes.

Pete