Orange Amps Forum

The live gig schedule is starting to become populous again and although my Orange RV50 head has not given me one second of trouble a pro (even one earning a pittance) should have an insurance policy in place.

I know that the battle between the forces of amp/cab sound versus 'everything fed to the PA at low(er) levels' has been fought many times here and elsewhere and I don't necessarily intend to settle that here.

In all cases assume we have a quality PA (with reverb assignable by channel/input) and a competent soundman.

With an extensive pedal board already in place some have suggested running the output into the board (with or without the use of a direct box).

I have also considered an inexpensive smaller amp like a Tech 21 or even an Orange Crush that would be mic'd and go through the PA.

Finally...although I came to Orange-land after a disappointing dalliance with modeling (amps, boxes but never any Line 6 products) I have been intrigued by the Fractal Axe-Fx. Celebrity endorsements aren't worth much in my world but when pros are willing to forgo an amplifier altogether and rely strictly on a rack-mount modeler those actions speak louder than words. A few big-draw touring acts have been through here recently and, perhaps coincidentally, they all had the Fractal. I will not be a road warrior intent on saving space at all costs (I haul my gear in my 2005 Toyota 4Runner) but a small unit like the Fractal that can reputedly do it all is very tempting. Of course the 'total amp replacement' panacea has been promised to all of us many times but rarely, if ever, delivered. Note that I will never relinquish my Orange but peace of mind and ability to carry on in a tight spot are what I must worry about in the short term.

Obviously the Line 6 stuff is much cheaper and may fill the emergency stand-in role in view of the fact that said emergency may never come...

I have a Peavey EFX100 head that I take as a backup amp. It's not as small as say a line 6 combo amp or other cheap gear, but I would trust it to carry me through a gig should my RV50 fail on me. It sounds very good but you can tell it's SS.

A good backup is always good. I won't play unless I have things I know I can lose. My wah pedal? Expendable. ZW-44 Overdrive? Expendable. Delay? Same. However I must have a tuner, and an amp with overdrive and enough gain for leads.

Well, let me tell you about insurance policies......I use a rocker 30 HD with PPC112 or 212 depending on size of stage. Last night the band played a venue in centre of Edinburgh Scotland. High profile gig, about 500 folk. Set up the R30 and 112, plugged in my Strat, swiched from standby to power on, and nada.....nothing.....not a hum, not a note. Power light was on. All cables connected. Volumes up everywhere.....still nada.

De rigged the Orange, ran out to the band trailer and hoisted in my Line6 Flextone 2, which I use for home recording and as a backup. Set up the line 6 and voila.....could play the gig, albeit with a pretty shitty sound.

About five years ago, I used a Peavey Deuce. Awesome amp, but she blew out a tube and the mains fuse like 5 minutes before curtain up in front of maybe 350 punters. No chance to change out the tube, so grabbed the Fender M80 combo I used as a backup, slapped a mic in front of it and was able to play the gig.

The moral of the tale is ALWAYS carry a spare amp, no matter how crap it is, because playing with a crap sound is preferable to not being able to play the gig at all. And my second piece of advice is dont always assume it is the amp that may fail.......the problem with the Orange rig was a busted speaker socket connection in the PPC 112 !!...........must have come loose with the vibration at the previous night's gig. A drop of solder next day and she was fixed, but I was glad I had a combo as a spare and not just a spare head !!

I have thought of using an amp modeller as a contingency backup. Certainly lighter to carry, maybe a line6 pod or similar.

Just my personal taste, but I'd want another tube amp as my backup. If you rely heavily on your pedalboard, consider getting something in the 20-40W range that runs fairly clean... a no-frills sort of amp, like a Peavy Classic 30.

nguideau wrote:Just my personal taste, but I'd want another tube amp as my backup. If you rely heavily on your pedalboard, consider getting something in the 20-40W range that runs fairly clean... a no-frills sort of amp, like a Peavy Classic 30.

I had been looking at those before I even bought my Orange back when my main amp was a Mesa Trem O Verb.

Peavey are a great company for cheaper good working amps. Even their high end tube amps like the 6505+ are still cheaper than most Gibson Les Paul's and many other high end tube amps.

Tech 21 into the PA is my backup. Haven't needed it . . . yet.

I imagine the utility of something like the Fractal is that you could potentially use it just as a stompbox modeller with your amp, in the effects loop (I think it can go both before and after the preamp) and if the amp craps out, just switch patches to one that has an amp model in it, bypasses the loop out to the pre-amp of the Orange, and has an amp model in it.

ie: go from guitar -> Axe-Fx -> RV50 preamp -> effects out -> Axe-Fx -> effects in -> RV50 poweramp -> speakers -> mic -> Mixer
to: guitar -> Axe-Fx (using a different patch with amp modelling and as close in sound to your Oranged setup as possible)-> Mixer (different channel, with more into monitors to make up for loss of stage volume) just by changing a patch.

I'm not sure it does that, but my understanding is that that's the kind of thing it can do.

I have a Vox AC15 as a backup. Relatively inexpensive and sounds good although it does not have the gain of a Rocker. We mic everything and it's pretty loud anyway, so it works for me. I use a Bad Monkey as a boost for solos.

An actual "Pro" has an identical amp head/cab or combo as backup. The rest of us giggers usually have something different as part of our collection.

This might be worth a look:

http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/ampl ... 920/review" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Basically a 20W amp in the same box as a small pedal... and a cheap too

http://www.hotroxuk.com/electro-harmoni ... 989-0.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

theres a vid with someone with hairyer shoulders than anyone should legally be aloud there too!

Borderline Productions wrote:Tech 21 into the PA is my backup. Haven't needed it . . . yet.

Yeah a Sansamp would be my solution too. Or the Award Session JD10.
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.p ... 8&start=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Both of these are totally analogue amp 'modellers', and will get you great sounds via the PA. You'll need to feed it through a monitor to hear yourself properly but either will get the gig done no problemo. (Bass or guitar.)

Failing that any decent sounding amp mic'd up should do as backup. I bought one of those compact 150W Crate Powerblock heads, but I've never yet needed it. That would also do fine for either bass or guitar as long as there was a suitable cab around.

For me if you are laying out the amount of cash needed for something like a Fractal Axe-Fx you are going to want to use it as something more than an emergency backup. Have heard amazing reports of them though.


Andy.

I used to bring a Crate Power Bloc (small, cheap, powerful, ok-ish sound) as back-up for my Rocker 30C. Then I got the RV50 halfstack and the Rocker 30 was the back-up. I had intentions on getting a Dual Terror for the job but I am now using the Rocker as part of my rig. Bottom line, always carry a spare amp.