Custom Shop 50!

[msmith4432]

I'm heading right now to go compare the custom shop 50 to the retro and ad50.. I'm selling my rockerverb and quite possibly going with one of those.
I'll post what I can perceive as the diffrences in the 3 amps

[Les Paul Lover]

Looking forward to read your thoughts.

I heard someone trying the CS50, it certainly did sound very nice, lovely cleans.

[OrangePaul]

This isn't helping my CS 50 gas any... but yeah post away please

[msmith4432]

Well I got to play the CS50 and the ad50. This is the first time I have been to humbucker music and since they are the number 1 orange dealer in the US I thought I would walk in and it would be orange heaven... Well not quite it a pretty big warehouse but more of a shipping hub than a shiny showroom. They said 85% of their sales are online and not local. Anyway any amp you want to play they have to go open up the box in the back and bring it out so the guy didn't seem to thrilled about me wanting to play 3 amps in fact he kinda hinted that I should just pick the one that I want to try the most. I didn't push to hard but I did tell him I definitely wanted to play the ad50 and the CS50.

CS 50: let me sum this amp up in one word.. AMAZING. Ever sense I started my love for orange amps this is the sound I have really wanted. It is bright enough that I know it would cut really well in a mix, its extremely punchy and the clarity is out of this world. It has more clarity than any amp I can ever recall playing. I took my gibson les paul standard and everything Ihave grown to not like about the rockerverb is totally absent from this amp. Even with humbuckers its hard to make it sound muddy. In class A it's almost impossible to make it sound muddy. The only negative is that its very difficult to get a real clean tone even with very low gain settings. I imagine with single coils you could but with humbuckers the only way to get real clean is max the MV and set the gain real low. With the master volume at 10 o'clock and th gain at 9:30 their is still some raspyness to the tone.. Very pretty just not crystal clean.


Ad50: honestly I was not blown away, certainly a cool amp but it was very uncompressed and not nearly as pleasing to my ears is the CS50. Not nearly as much articulation and note definition and certainly quite a bit of muddy tones with the EQ set certain ways. That being said there were some very nice sounds to be had but overall less articulate and just a lot less bite than the CS50, after writing this I may call back and order it and then worry about selling my rockerverb. IMO the rockerverb mk11 is a sad peice of gear compared to the CS50. And don't get me wrong it's a nice amp in its own right but sounds like a pile of wet blankets in comparison

[nlimbaugh]

You need to play that Retro next to the CS50. I'm curious.

[msmith4432]

You need to play that Retro next to the CS50. I'm curious.

Before I make a final descion I may go back and do that

[JimmyOhio75]

How did the Custom Shop 50 sound in comparison to your OR50? Did it blow it away or can the OR50 sound similar?

[msmith4432]

How did the Custom Shop 50 sound in comparison to your OR50? Did it blow it away or can the OR50 sound similar?

It blew it away, very similar in the tonal characteristics but much more clarity and punch. It's like a platinum version of the OR50

[OrangePaul]

I guess a pedal to help cut signal would be useful probably to help clean things up..

Did you get to try the EQ lift function on the CS50?

[bclaire]

I played one at Orange HQ and it was truly an amazing amp! Although I then plugged in a Dual Terror and the thing made me jump back a little bit - in terms of volume and tone.

Edit: not a CS but 40th Anniversary OR50...

[Eddie Famine]

That would be a cool comparison , a CS50 and a 40th anniversary . If you could get them both in the same room, same time.

[msmith4432]

That would be a cool comparison , a CS50 and a 40th anniversary . If you could get them both in the same room, same time.

Are you guys talking about the custom shop 40th anniversary, the ones they made 40 of?

That would be interesting but supposedly the circuits are all slightly different. Isn't that right

[msmith4432]

I guess a pedal to help cut signal would be useful probably to help clean things up..

Did you get to try the EQ lift function on the CS50?

I did play with the EQ and it is fairly responsive, another difference in it and the or50 is that the HFdrive on the or50 is very aggressive, maybe that's not the best word but it makes a big difference between having it at say 9 o'clock and all the way cranked. The HF drive on the custom shop definitely makes a difference but it is more subtle

[Eddie Famine]

That would be a cool comparison , a CS50 and a 40th anniversary . If you could get them both in the same room, same time.

Are you guys talking about the custom shop 40th anniversary, the ones they made 40 of?

That would be interesting but supposedly the circuits are all slightly different. Isn't that right

There is someone on the the forum who has 2 40th Anniversary heads and said they were quite similar .

[ironlung40]

How did the Custom Shop 50 sound in comparison to your OR50? Did it blow it away or can the OR50 sound similar?

It blew it away, very similar in the tonal characteristics but much more clarity and punch. It's like a platinum version of the OR50

I'm wondering if a retube may be in order for your 40th anniv. OR50 non custom shop?

Reason being, is I have heard more than 1 comparison between the OR50 40th anniv. CS and the Non CS model, and the non custom shop model got the nod as being a punchier sounding amp with more aggression, etc.

It could be that the lastest CS 50's are that much better, but I am wanting to think not because I don't need more G.A.S.