RV100 + Fuzz sounding better than...

[Alex Sheeny]

Hi, it's been a long time since my last post here, but I just found myself in a curious situation. I always read here that orange amps don't get along well with fuzz boxes. Well, I just went last week to rehearse in a studio and my fuzz sounded a lot worse on a JCM900 or/and on a Fender Twin Reverb. I mean, I don't really know the real condition of these amps, they clearly weren't in a ideal state but I couldn't understand that, it just went against everything i read about it.

The way I tweak my RV to go along with the fuzz is placing it on the clean channel and it just sounds good with any eq settings, in the dirty channel it doesn't work at all. I like that this clean channel has a darker voice than most amps, but I never expected preferring more it's sound through an orange. My fuzz is a Scarab Deluxe by Basic Audio (which is an awesome pedal btw). Does anyone here ever had any similar experiences with pedals - specially fuzzes - doing well -or even better - through an orange amp?

So far I liked all the pedals I tried on my clean channel, specially big muffs, tube screamers and fuzz+wah combinations (even a carbon copy + wah + fuzz combination sounded like heaven)

[everdrone]

I think my black arts pharaoh sounds GREAT through my Orange Thunderverb 50 and Orange 212PPC closed back cab. It is a high gain vintage voiced amp, which will always be the main sound no matter what pedals, it is the canvas. I use it with a decimator sometimes.

I note that fuzz pedals require lots of tweaking and a general understanding of how they behave, no matter what amp you use. Fuzz pedals are like distortion pedals in a sense, but for many, they try their first fuzz pedal and do not realize it is their lack of experience with any fuzz pedal and not the amp.

Also like any distortion pedal, you cant use a distorted amp and then a distortion or fuzz pedal at a high gain setting cause it turns into total mush.

[snickerpuss]

Fuzz sounds gooood on the clean channel. The overdrive channels are very very finnicky when it comes to dirt boxes. I cannot get my velvet fuzz to sound decent at all on my or100 dirty channel, but it sounds great on my jcm800 dirty channel. The only pedal I have that works well on the dirty channel of the orange is a keeley bd-2.

I am surprised the fuzz didn't sound good through the fender, though. My experience has always been they take most pedals like champs.

[hitgar]

I'm glad this post was started. I have been playing around with a few settings for my Mojo Hand Colossus Fuzz on my OR15 and I found the exact opposite to be true. When I set the amp clean, the fuzz sounds thin and harsh even with tone switch on the bass setting, the tone knob rolled back and the mids kicked up. When I add in a bit of light drive on the amp and drop some of the gain off the pedal, then it comes alive. It sounds like a muff in a stadium if you know what I mean. The only other way it sounds great is when I set it up like this; I set the amp on classic crunch, I use a tech 21 Blonde as a volume/gain drop to get a clean channel, then I set the fuzz pedal about mid way on the gain. This still sounds great but different. Anyway, I've been looking at either getting the TV50, the RV50, or the new DD50 and was curious how it would sound on the amps that don't have a dedicated clean channel.

[Alex Sheeny]

It's really interesting to hear some more opinions about dirty boxes + orange amps. I really didn't tried any of my boxes with a low gain level through a dirty channel. I only had good experiences through the clean. My Tiny Terror also is an amp that I really can't tame to work with anything besides gain boosts.

[jax510]

I don't think oranges have a hard time with pedals, I think they just sound so awesome that the coveted overdrive pedal is not as comparatively awesome. So then people think the amp doesn't work with pedals when it's just leaving the pedal in the dust . Also the orange amp sound is unique and so you will need to tweak pedals accordingly, and that might be why it didn't sound as good on the fender. I have had some fuzz/overdrive sounds with my ad30 set clean but once the volume gets above a certain level the amp sounds more musical and enjoyable for a base sound 100% of the time for me. I will use fuzzes to get a different feel to a song but the amp itself is definitely the best for me overall.

[hitgar]

I don't think oranges have a hard time with pedals, I think they just sound so awesome that the coveted overdrive pedal is not as comparatively awesome. So then people think the amp doesn't work with pedals when it's just leaving the pedal in the dust . Also the orange amp sound is unique and so you will need to tweak pedals accordingly, and that might be why it didn't sound as good on the fender. I have had some fuzz/overdrive sounds with my ad30 set clean but once the volume gets above a certain level the amp sounds more musical and enjoyable for a base sound 100% of the time for me. I will use fuzzes to get a different feel to a song but the amp itself is definitely the best for me overall.

I agree that my OR15 sounds heads and shoulders above any distortion pedal I have ever heard. I love that fuzzy dark throaty growl. But double tracking with a nice muff style fuzz just sounds awesome to me. Or popping over the amp with the added low end of the BAT Black Forest OD (Colorsound OD clone+) sounds great for stoner stuff.

[Spaceboy1]

I absolutely hate almost every overdrive I've used on my Rv's clean channel. I don't do fuzz so I haven't tried that yet.

[everdrone]

pristine cleans are not needed for my pharaoh and keeley rat together (decimator as necessary)

just ugly dog-eared nasty cleans not quite suitable for blues cause they are too nasty

that is the dirt I crave!!