Orange TH30 dirty channel

[cobrain]

Hi everybody, first topic for me!
I recently purchased a used TH30, it sounds great!
However I just noticed that, on the dirty channel, gain levels lower than 9 o'clock would make the amp sound very very low, almost not sounding at all.
After increasing the gain level over 9 o'clock then the amp begins to roar...
Is that normal? anyone have experienced that kind of settings with low gain? should I think my amp is damaged?

Thanks!

[Tiny Rocker]

I once unknowingly knocked the dirty gain on my TH30 down to a very low level, then fretted for a minute or two, wondering why the dirty channel was so quiet compared to the clean channel. I suspect that your amp is absolutely fine. Do you get some nice crunch around 10 or 11 o'clock? I do, using humbuckers.

[cobrain]

Yes, from 10 o'clock on I get a nice tone.
The issue is in the huge difference, in the same channel, from gain at 9 o'clock to 10 o'clock and more... It seems like it sounds from 10 to 100 with nothing in between!

[cobrain]

Here you can find some videos showing the problem...

http://sdrv.ms/1dtI1co

http://sdrv.ms/192FQNr

Hope someone could help me!

[Invin]

Here you can find some videos showing the problem...

http://sdrv.ms/1dtI1co

http://sdrv.ms/192FQNr

Hope someone could help me!

That definitely doesn't sound right to me... it sounds like yours has a lot less gain all the way through than mine. Was it loud when you were making the video? Because mine is painfully loud with the volume that high on the dirty channel at full power. You might have a bad tube. Is there any difference when you switch to 2 output tubes?

I use humbuckers as well, so if you're using single coils that might be why it sounds cleaner than it should to me. I'll check how mine sounds with the gain turned way down tomorrow and report back.

[cobrain]

That definitely doesn't sound right to me... it sounds like yours has a lot less gain all the way through than mine. Was it loud when you were making the video? Because mine is painfully loud with the volume that high on the dirty channel at full power. You might have a bad tube. Is there any difference when you switch to 2 output tubes?

I use humbuckers as well, so if you're using single coils that might be why it sounds cleaner than it should to me. I'll check how mine sounds with the gain turned way down tomorrow and report back.

Thanks Invin!
The difference between 2 and 4 tubes is pretty audible as much as the difference between full and half.
I use humbuckers too so the breakup had to come pretty soon but I recorded the videos on FULL power and 4 tubes (maybe the camera mic gives not the correct feeling of the volume, I think it's loud however) so I think there would be more headroom.

I think it's a bad tube too, maybe it's the first preamp tube (stage 1&2 as reported on the amp schematics), it seems like it doesn't engage at low gain levels. I'll try to swap with other tubes and see what it happens... however I'll surely end up changing all the pre and power tubes!

Let me know how yours sounds with the same settings.
Thanks!

[Les Paul Lover]

What you describe sounds very much like how my RV50 works - sounds perfectly normal.

[cobrain]

I swapped the preamp tubes with no better results so I start to think it's normal too even though I don't like it too much... By the way I think I won't use the dirty channel at low gain, for this the clean channel is far better!

[Invin]

Just tried the same settings on mine (full power, all tubes, volume at 5 aka. half). I got:

Gain below 2: Silent

Gain at 2: Sound starts, cleanish tone

Gain at 3: Tone starts getting dirty/crunchy

Gain at 4+: Sore ears from the loudness

It seems like I'm getting sound and breakup about 1 gain earlier on mine than yours. I still have the stock tubes installed.

[cobrain]

Just tried the same settings on mine (full power, all tubes, volume at 5 aka. half). I got:

Gain below 2: Silent

Gain at 2: Sound starts, cleanish tone

Gain at 3: Tone starts getting dirty/crunchy

Gain at 4+: Sore ears from the loudness

It seems like I'm getting sound and breakup about 1 gain earlier on mine than yours. I still have the stock tubes installed.

yes, it seems like yours begins to make sounds a bit earlier than mine.
however there's a spot in which the amp just doesn't make sounds so I think mine it's pretty normal...

[Tiny Rocker]

Here are the results from my TH30C (tubes are still the stock ones) with my 2004 Les Paul Studio's stock bridge pick-up. As per Invin's tests, I used all four power tubes and the full power setting on the front panel. Dirty volume was set to 12 o'clock. (Hopefully that was the same as Invin's "5".) I took some care to avoid succumbing to parallax error when reading the gain settings.

Dirty gain at 8 o'clock: No sound.
Dirty gain at 9 o'clock: Clean tone. Too quiet for rehearsing with a drummer but would be too loud for the neighbours if the house wasn't detached.
Dirty gain at 10 o'clock: Glorious loud crunch

Incidentally, I managed to scare myself during this test, by unwittingly (is there a theme across my posts in this thread? ) operating the amp with a cable plugged into the effects send socket, with the other end of the cable plugged into nothing; I could hardly get any volume out of the amp, so I thought a tube had gone bad!

[cobrain]

Here are the results from my TH30C (tubes are still the stock ones) with my 2004 Les Paul Studio's stock bridge pick-up. As per Invin's tests, I used all four power tubes and the full power setting on the front panel. Dirty volume was set to 12 o'clock. (Hopefully that was the same as Invin's "5".) I took some care to avoid succumbing to parallax error when reading the gain settings.

Dirty gain at 8 o'clock: No sound.
Dirty gain at 9 o'clock: Clean tone. Too quiet for rehearsing with a drummer but would be too loud for the neighbours if the house wasn't detached.
Dirty gain at 10 o'clock: Glorious loud crunch

Incidentally, I managed to scare myself during this test, by unwittingly (is there a theme across my posts in this thread? ) operating the amp with a cable plugged into the effects send socket, with the other end of the cable plugged into nothing; I could hardly get any volume out of the amp, so I thought a tube had gone bad!

mmm... at 9 o'clock mine sounds very very low, nothing comparable to a sound "too loud for neighbours"... at 10 o'clock however it starts to make a very loud sound...
I guess something's wrong with mine.
I swapped the preamp tubes but nothing has changed...
I think I'll go for a tech!

Thanks to everybody!

[cobrain]

Incidentally, I managed to scare myself during this test, by unwittingly (is there a theme across my posts in this thread? ) operating the amp with a cable plugged into the effects send socket, with the other end of the cable plugged into nothing; I could hardly get any volume out of the amp, so I thought a tube had gone bad!

uh! I guess the cold sweat on your brow!