Some serious ampage here, both Orange and not. Particularly impressed with tarfungos vintage Vox collection - I can well understand
that little obsession. Billy, is (probably) always going to top out on sheer amp acreage here, just like with Teletonnage. Quality too though, not just quantity.
Thinline_slim wrote:What amp(s) do you own that aren't Orange?
And what about them really keeps you hanging onto it?
Yeah, well most of my amps aren't Orange. Guess I like some other sounds too. My Orange count = three, Micro Crush Pix 3, '06 Rocker 30 combo, '78 OR120. The rest, also in ascending order of (alleged) wattage...
TOA HA355 10W PA amp: Virtually
nothing on the internet on this amp (except for mine.) Well made, looks to be '70s, made in Kyoto, Japan, unusual ECL82 (6BM8) hybrid pre/power valves, basically true PTP wired. (Pic:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.p ... pg#p602092" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;).
Kept because it sounds glorious! Very like an old 20W Marshall: cleans = lovely, overdrive = smooth smooth smooooth, and plenty of it too. Super cool wee amp which cost me next to nothing.
Fender Pro Junior and Blues Junior 15W combos: The basic PJ (with a replacement Jensen and a dark brown yacht varnish cab respray) is my favourite. That + reverb = hours of fun. Despite the extra controls and bigger speaker the BJ while nice isn't quite so pure and open sounding. Still, pairs up about perfectly with my soapbar LP Jr. Special which is why it stayed too.
Mesa Boogie Subway Reverb Rocket: Beautiful wee single channel / 3 mode combo, superb build quality and I love the looks too which doesn't hurt. I mostly use it in 'clean' mode for it's rich fat cleans / superb crunch. Like a richer sounding Fender - far more mids - with (IMO) much nicer overdrive when pushed. 'Lead' and 'contoured lead' modes both impressive (and impressively loud for a wee 1x10), but you do need to get the amp cranked a bit for them to really work well IMO.
Peavey Classic 30 combo: Grabbed this 20 years back (!) when starting playing guitar alongside bass. Great choice, still a real favourite amp, going exactly nowhere. Cleans are beautiful, slightly darker than typical 'Fender', but still nice and lively. The reverb is
really sweet - better than those in either my Fender BJ or Mesa Subway combos! Whole variety of drive sounds from the dirty channel, with the boost button as a very clever secret weapon. (
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?t=2139" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;) This is the amp I used when learning to 'drive' electric guitar.
Vox AC30B Top Boost head (JMI gray panel, '65 / '66): Was SO lucky to find this in the same old TV / Radio shop as the TOA. (Was also 'pretty well priced' too!) Factory bass version with top panel TB. Working well but temperamental +++, sometimes it sings, sometimes it is like trying to wring blood out of a brick and I just can't dial in the greatness. (? very sensitive to line voltage variations and / or ?? just my ears / expectations / playing. Strangely though it never seems to sound 'average', it is either a great session or a non starter!
) When singing though there is simply no better amp. Tones and dynamics are both unbelievable, and IMO this is as much a musical instrument as any guitar ever made. Definitely the most characterful of all the amps I have owned (or played). Guess 'TB' also means 'temperamental b*****' though!
Ampeg B-100R combo: Very gig-worthy 100W solid state 1x15 combo - which doesn't see any of those things as a limitation. Loud, full sounding and toneful enough to fool anybody into thinking there was more ampage hidden away somewhere. This and a 'P' or 'J' bass = classic sounds and a great night guaranteed. Every jam session should have one of these to plug into!
'74 Hiwatt DR103 Custom 100 head: Depending on your needs, very possibly
the best instrument amp ever made. For me it really is to be honest. It is the amp I always wanted after first direct exposure in the early '80s, and even many years of happy Orange OR120 gigging never cured that GAS. But then I'm only a bass player, what would I know?
Serious amps though, in every way. Design and build quality, components used, performance - all are
top notch. Not specifically guitar amps at all, spec says 'AP' = 'all purpose', so, guitar, keys, bass, whatever, all can benefit from the Hiwatt treatment. Which means BIG, solid, yet very sweet and musical sounds. Notoriously loud and clean, that
never means 'sterile'. Far from it, even quiet they still sound 'big' and solid. When really loud they sound absolutely massive, both before and after they eventually start to overdrive, when things get truly unique. (Think "Who - Live at Leeds" where all guitar
and bass sounds were pure no punches pulled Hiwatt.)
I link the separate Normal (fatter) and Bright(er) preamp channels so that their respective volume controls effectively become extra overall tone controls. Then it is easy - leaving all the other EQ and Presence controls untouched - just to adjust those two for different overall bass / treble balances to suit different songs or basses. Super versatile, hugely dynamic, great sounding, oh and the background noise levels are incredibly low. What's not to like? Sheer quality. With apologies to my trusty OR - which I love dearly, but if I'm honest my DR103 is genuinely the very last amp I'd ever part with.
Crate Powerblock: Early class D guitar amp, 150W @ 8 ohms or 2 x 75W (stereo) @ 4 ohms. Useful backup amp for guitar, bass or as a small stereo PA amp. Won't win any best amp ever prizes but the decent basic clean and drive sounds will get the job done.
Genz Benz Streamliner 900: Got this 3kg 500W @ 8 ohms / 900W @ 4 ohms bass micro head when I realised my
lightest gigging valve bass head (the Hiwatt) was just as heavy as my
biggest and heaviest bass cab, a 20kg 600W Tecamp M212 vertical 2x12. Amazing amp too the Streamliner, best take on a big ballsy all valve head I've come across that isn't actually one. Does have a full valve (3 x 12AX7) preamp with a sweet modified Baxandall Treble + Bass EQ + separate switchable active mids. Simple controls but, like good valve amps,
way more versatile than you'd expect. It really is like exploring and getting to know a good valve amp, and I'm still learning new tricks with it. Preamp gain goes from very clean to well dirty, and the balance between preamp gain and volume (there is a 3rd power stage master volume control too) also has a lot of effect on tone, so like on the very best amps these are real tone controls too. Class D power amp section has clever power management which pushed hard gives much of the feel, dynamics,
and speaker safety of a big valve output section. Though with that much power I don't really need to push it that hard to be honest.
Basic sounds are big and full - just pillows and pillows of real low end which somehow always sounds punchy, never wooly. Clever and impressive stuff. And 300W / kg - that's just nuts! But yeah there are happy ex-SVT users out there proving that this amp can genuinely replace a 320W all valve Ampeg SVT.
Big shame that Fender grabbed Genz Benz then just very recently discontinued the name.
I hope that Jeff Genzler (who answers his e-mails very quickly + helpfully BTW, cool guy!) and his GB colleagues will still be able to do their thing, either under the Fender name or with a new company. Like OP Thinline_slim I'm a big GB fan!!!
And some 'breaking' news...
Tecamp Puma 900: Yep,
NBAD announcement, and yep, more micro madness... Another silly powerful micro bass head, this one from Germany, same make as my 2x12 cab. Near identical power output figures to the GB Streamliner, but a
totally different style of amp, genuinely a 'Hiwatt' to the GB Streamliners 'Ampeg' / 'Orange' type of delivery. Lots and lots of sweet, dynamic, yet muscular (and versatile) clean power. Very 'plug and play' too: simple effective 4 band EQ with a super neat and useful 'Taste' control which is basically an EQ low / high balance, pivoting everything around about 650 Hz, one of the really important midrange frequencies for bass. (This works for me almost exactly the same as changing the 'Normal' / 'Bright' channel balance on the Hiwatt!
)
Plugging most basses in with everything (except the volumes) set at 12:00 works incredibly well. If needed there is plenty of room for tweaking, with controls centred at 30 / 250 / 800Hz / 8kHz. The two midrange bands cover a lot of the lows and highs by themselves for setting your basic sounds. The very low / high centred bass and treble frequencies mean these work best for final tweaking. It is nice to have another amp which works well with all EQ controls at or near the centre of their range. And again there is tons of true low end available with a clear but controlled (never boomy or harsh!) delivery. Another fantastic amp, even better than I expected or hoped for. And it is
even smaller than the Streamliner, only (W x H x D) 10.75" x 2" x 8.5" including knobs feet and sockets, and HALF the weight at 1.5 kg = 3.5lb. I have plenty paperback books which are both (much) larger and heavier -
truly nuts...
Just one slight fly in the ointment. Fan was setting off a quiet but annoying high pitched resonance, think higher pitched fridge noise - not that loud but (to me) real headache inducing stuff. Case screws were all nice and tight, so not that, but I found that simply pressing the bottom of the chassis could stop it. A real resonance then, not plain fan noise. E-mailed Tecamp and within 10 minutes got a reply from Thomas Eich, the main man there, saying to send it back directly to them in Germany and he'd have it sorted and heading back my way the same day. So the amp is away right now and I'm hoping for the best. He is also kindly sending me a small updated part I asked about for my speaker cab - no charge, very cool.
Pretty crazy if you think about it this way. My amps range from under 1.5W rated output per kg (my old '33W' AC30 head weighs almost exactly the same as my OR120 head!) right up to 600W / kg for the wandering Tecamp Puma.
Have had a few more amps, not so many. But I didn't keep those - so stuff 'em!
Andy