OR50, where does it excel?

[misterMagoo]

What does it do best? How useful is the HF Drive? What type of music are you playing with it? Thanks in advance!

[Randy Bass]

It does gainy, fuzzy distortion best, though it cleans up if you crank (or bypass) the Master Volume. I find myself playing War Pigs through it more than anything else. It would be less modern-sounding than your RV50 by a fair amount. It's kind of like a giant Tiny Terror. It does have a solid-state rectifier though, so it doesn't sag like Madonna or anything . I think it sounds pretty close to a 50-watt JCM800 (the way I have it adjusted), though people always seem to disagree with that comparison. That's probably because they play with the treble up on the JCM800, which I didn't.

The HF Drive is very much like a Presence control, and I always have it on full. Otherwise, it is super dark-sounding. It is dark enough even with HF and Treble all the way up. At the price Humbucker is charging right now, it's an awesome deal as long as you don't need a ton of versatility.

[Eddie Famine]

It's a high gainy rock and roll amp. Doesn't take pedals well so get the lead tone you want and turn your guitar down to clean it up. The HF control on mine is always maxed. It doesn't seem like a presence control on a Marshall, more like a gain stage . Even maxed it's way darker (IMO) than the JCM800 . If you use the Master Volume, the bypass swith is an accident waiting to happen on stage.
Versatile, I don't know how you define that. I play in a cover band that goes from AC/DC, Zeppelin to TIng Tings and the Killers. Kicks ass for that. Metal, Punk, Country, I don't know. You'd have to try it.
.

[misterMagoo]

Well I can't try it. But I see that Humbucker has 2 left at an excellent price (don't tell anyone) that is within my range. It seems like a great amp, and I can hear sound clips but they may not be the best quality, plus I can't get the feel for it.

What are it's weak points? Randy you have one and an R30 right? How would you compare them?

[Eddie Famine]

BTW, I mostly use a PRS with humbuckers, but I've been using a Danelectro with 3 single coils, and forget about the "dark" thing. I'd love to try it with a Tele or Strat.
Weakness? It's one channel and it's dislike for pedals. Some people can't live with that.

[misterMagoo]

So single coils = plenty bright (for you).

When you say t doesn't like pedals, are you referring to mainly distortion pedals or all kinds? (Wah, fuzz, boosts, phaser, delay, madulation)

[Eddie Famine]

Single coils= plenty bright
I use a wha and delay pedal, and they work fine .Remember though, the delay is going in the front, not any effects loop. Might not be as good as you like, or are used to.
I haven't found an overdrive it likes
Randy, anyone else have one that works well?

[xenious]

It works with some pedals. I've been using a Nova Drive box with it and getting great sounds. Pretty much stock it gives you that 1970s rock feeling. Def not modern rock or such. It does a really great crunch sound. It is darker as stated, the Nova Drive can take some of that off and I def keep my HF drive up around 2-3 o'clock.

[Randy Bass]

I have not tried any distortion-type pedals with the OR50 because it produces the exact distorted sound I want from it. A clean boost would be useful though to provide a solo boost for live use. I would expect that it would not get along that well with most pedals. I can run a compressor or delay (both HBE) through it to see how it sounds if you would like.

The Rocker 30 might be a better choice if you play more contemporary stuff (like emo wussy stuff ). It might be the best amp on Earth. As long as you don't want a real clean channel. I would probably pick the Rocker if I had to choose between the two for versatility, but I don't have to .

[indianDYsummer]

Someone tell me when the market for rocker 30 heads is at the ultimate low point, because I'm going to buy one.

EDIT: its probably right now though. hmm...

[baytamusic]

Someone tell me when the market for rocker 30 heads is at the ultimate low point, because I'm going to buy one.

EDIT: its probably right now though. hmm...

Find a used Ebay Buy It Now or Best Offer and lowball them. I bet you could get one for $700-800 with some patience within a month.

[indianDYsummer]

Someone tell me when the market for rocker 30 heads is at the ultimate low point, because I'm going to buy one.

EDIT: its probably right now though. hmm...

Find a used Ebay Buy It Now or Best Offer and lowball them. I bet you could get one for $700-800 with some patience within a month.

yeah, I agree. I might do that just because I think they'll be going up in value in a few years. The only hard part is to justify it when I have a retro 50. It's like, do I really need another 30w 2xEL34 orange head? I guess it has 2 channels and the retro can go to 50w. That's different enough, right?

[Randy Bass]

I don't think the Rocker 30 is much quieter than your Retro 50. I have noticed in a direct comparison that the R30 is louder than the OR50 when both are at 12:00 on both gain and volume. That could suggest a difference in volume pot taper, but I can't really crank them to find out for sure.

[indianDYsummer]

I don't think the Rocker 30 is much quieter than your Retro 50. I have noticed in a direct comparison that the R30 is louder than the OR50 when both are at 12:00 on both gain and volume. That could suggest a difference in volume pot taper, but I can't really crank them to find out for sure.

Yeah, I would expect it to be pretty much about the same. The retro 50 probably has better clean headroom at volume, but I'm sure the actual perceived volume of both amps is probably about the same.

If I got another orange, I should get a TV50 because it has the loop, "attenuator", and reverb. The draw of a r30 is really huge, regardless. I was going to get one, and then I got a retro 50 for practically the same price haha.

[jason41224]

Someone tell me when the market for rocker 30 heads is at the ultimate low point, because I'm going to buy one.

EDIT: its probably right now though. hmm...

Find a used Ebay Buy It Now or Best Offer and lowball them. I bet you could get one for $700-800 with some patience within a month.

for the heads, yes. but the combos are actually fetching a lower amount, if you wanted to save a few bucks.