Old Orange roll call

[fiveightandten]

On an impulse, I just picked up an OR-80. It's been a while since I owned one, and I found this nice Overdrive model locally. I also picked up this PPC212OB cab. Great cab!

I'm so happy to have one of these 90's OR heads again. I was stupid to have sold my last one. They're just sooooo good! Where are the rest of the old OR-amp guys? Pics please!

'71 GRO100
90's Overdrive 80
PPC212OB

[bclaire]

My OR80M's

[Hellavision]

My 1976 OR80. Love it. Really want to find a proper old head sleeve for it though.

[shedivineswater]

I'll get my (70's OR80) pic up soon. Glad to hear you scored one. I thought maybe I was missing something and bought an AD30 and an OR15 and sold both; I realized my TT and OR80 were best for me all along. Maybe a Dual Terror or Rocker30 would be my next GAS acquisition. But, for now I'm content. I still have regrets of fooloishly selling my 60's vintage Marshall cab - and that was ten years ago!

[Ade]

Does my '75 PPC412 count?

[fiveightandten]

My OR80M's

Great amps Billy. Hey, what is the serial number on your 90's model? The one I have is 941. I was wondering about what year it is. I think the info on the OAFG would put it around 95 or 96.

My 1976 OR80. Love it. Really want to find a proper old head sleeve for it though.

Nice amp! Have you thought about covering the head sleeve it's in? The proper Orange basketweave tolex is available. And you can get Vox style corner, which I believe are correct for the round over. Vintage Marshall style handle is correct for the amp as well.

if the dimensions are right, you can hit that with a different round over bit on a router and it will look much closer to the real thing. I think your edges are sharper than the real ones. Then with some tolex on it, I bet it would look pretty good.

I'll get my (70's OR80) pic up soon. Glad to hear you scored one. I thought maybe I was missing something and bought an AD30 and an OR15 and sold both; I realized my TT and OR80 were best for me all along. Maybe a Dual Terror or Rocker30 would be my next GAS acquisition. But, for now I'm content. I still have regrets of fooloishly selling my 60's vintage Marshall cab - and that was ten years ago!

Definitely post pics! Yeah, I know what you mean about selling gear. I sold my last OR-80 like 8 years ago and I probably shouldn't have. It sounded killer! I'm glad to have another one though, and I too will be selling my AD30.

Does my '75 PPC412 count?

Of course it does. Sweet cab. I have one just like that. Billy may remember that I got it with no grille cloth on it. Instead, the cab had an American flag stapled to the baffle in front of the speakers. Billy had a 70's Orange grille cloth sitting around that he VERY kindly donated to the cause. A friend of mine worked at an upholstery shop that his parents owned. We took the cabinet apart and he had all the proper tools to properly stretch and staple the grille cloth on. It was like it was never missing!

Here is it before I put the crest on.

[bclaire]

My OR80M's

Great amps Billy. Hey, what is the serial number on your 90's model? The one I have is 941. I was wondering about what year it is. I think the info on the OAFG would put it around 95 or 96.

Mine is serial number 850...

and that grille cloth looks perfect!

[fiveightandten]

Mine is serial number 850...

and that grille cloth looks perfect!

Cool. That looks like it puts mine at 1995, just based on estimate. The OAFG has an OR-120 listed as 1996 in the 12XX range, so i'm thinking '95 is most likely for mine, knowing your SN.

And thanks for the kind words on the grille cloth. It was a long time ago, but I still really appreciate you parting with that! It went to good use!

-Nick

[Hellavision]

My 1976 OR80. Love it. Really want to find a proper old head sleeve for it though.

Nice amp! Have you thought about covering the head sleeve it's in? The proper Orange basketweave tolex is available. And you can get Vox style corner, which I believe are correct for the round over. Vintage Marshall style handle is correct for the amp as well.

if the dimensions are right, you can hit that with a different round over bit on a router and it will look much closer to the real thing. I think your edges are sharper than the real ones. Then with some tolex on it, I bet it would look pretty good.

I was going to cover it but the guy who built it made it just a hair to big on the outside and it would bother me even more if I covered it. I was going to make my own sleeve but then I remembered I can't make a straight cut to save my life so she'll stay in that sleeve until it bothers me more.

[Gladmarr]

I hope these are old enough.

[Bensnake]

I hope these are old enough.

Modern pile of poop. I bet they sound tight and midscooped.

[Bensnake]

For the record: I want one of these. So bad.

[ironlung40]

I have come to the conclusion that I will most likely never own and OR100 and OR200 which is my dream for amplification. I am really envious of Gladmarr.

That is a good looking OR80, OP, and it is inspiring me to pull my overdrive out of the closet as I have a 70's 120 overdrive that needs a going over by a tech before playing it, but my OR120 with MV mod is essentially the same thing. I love the core sound of these amps. I only wish they were a bit more pedal friendly. I hear people say that they love pedals, but I just haven't had the same impression.

[Les Paul Lover]

I have come to the conclusion that I will most likely never own and OR100 and OR200 which is my dream for amplification. I am really envious of Gladmarr.

That is a good looking OR80, OP, and it is inspiring me to pull my overdrive out of the closet as I have a 70's 120 overdrive that needs a going over by a tech before playing it, but my OR120 with MV mod is essentially the same thing. I love the core sound of these amps. I only wish they were a bit more pedal friendly. I hear people say that they love pedals, but I just haven't had the same impression.

I know, different people on this forum have reported very different experiences with regards to using pedals with OR80/120.
I've been wondering if that is down to how much gain is set on the amp, and how recent the capacitors are ?

[fiveightandten]

I hope these are old enough.

Yes! I was hoping you'd post up in here. Love it! Nice amps

I'm assuming that's a 200 on the bottom. It's crazy how much bigger it is!

That is a good looking OR80, OP, and it is inspiring me to pull my overdrive out of the closet as I have a 70's 120 overdrive that needs a going over by a tech before playing it, but my OR120 with MV mod is essentially the same thing. I love the core sound of these amps. I only wish they were a bit more pedal friendly. I hear people say that they love pedals, but I just haven't had the same impression.

Thanks. It was filthy when I got it, but they're barely a mark on the thing. I cleaned all the beer stains off the tolex and it looks fantastic now. I'm very happy with it.

If that's your 70's head in your sig, it looks awesome. Get that thing sorted out so you can use it! If you get stuck in a bind and can't find anyone local, i've worked on old Oranges for forum members in the past. Usually output transformer replacements and big stuff, and shipping sometimes isn't cheap.

I know, different people on this forum have reported very different experiences with regards to using pedals with OR80/120.
I've been wondering if that is down to how much gain is set on the amp, and how recent the capacitors are ?

It's down to a lot of things. I'll be blunt and hopefully it doesn't ruffle anyone's feathers.

First off, if you have an OR-80/120 with a factory master volume in it, the master has to be turn up to at LEAST 7 or so. Some other PPIMV circuits work better, but the signature sound of the amp comes from the very asymmetric clipping of the power section, and there's only one way to get that. If it's set low, the amp sounds like a solid state Peavey from the 80's. The master works well to shave a little volume off, but the amp becomes a shell of itself unless it's cranked up pretty hard.

These amps were made to play stadiums and very large venues. There are a lot of guys who get enamored with the brand cachet and the OR amp mystique, and hear with their eyes more than their ears. They buy an OR-120, which is WAAAAAY too loud for them, and never actually play the amp cranked up, and never hear what it actually is supposed to sound like.

If you're playing it at low volumes and running an overdrive pedal into it, you will find that the pedal blends quite well with the amp. It blends well because the amp sounds like an overdrive pedal when it's not turned up loud enough. If you play the amp at proper volume, you simply will not be able to find a pedal that doesn't thin the sound out considerably, and take away the ruthlessly jagged character of the natural overdrive.

The same goes for the non master volume models. If you have the volume low and you're boosting it with an overdrive pedal, you'll get the former affect (plays nice with the pedal, inferior sound overall). If you crank the volume up, the pedal will sound thinner in comparison and take away from the tone of the amp.

Again, the signature tone of the old OR amps is very asymmetric and jagged. Most amps are much smoother, and an overdrive pedal can add some texture and character to them. With an OR at proper volume, you get the prominent texture of the amp mixing with the texture of the SS pedal clipping, and they very rarely blend well. It gets too messy, and the amp has so much low end, the pedal makes it thin. With the amp at low volumes, the signature jagged prickly texture isn't there, so an overdrive pedal doesn't have much to clash with.

I've owned both 70's and 90's amps and worked on MANY. I've found very few where the caps were contributing to bad sound. They're good quality and the amp has a **** load of filtering, so drifting caps aren't going to mud it out like it would with a Fender or Vox. What does have a notable affect is how the amp is biased. Again, it's the asymmetrical clipping.

At cold settings, it's brutally jagged, very toothy, and has a very prickly texture to it, with great clarity but very abrupt transition into breakup. At hot settings, the amp gets warmer, the jagged character smooths out a bit and yields to more of the Orange "fog". Clarity and detail go south a bit, but it get a very unique warm, dark, "foggy" tone. There are fans of both sides of this spectrum of the amp's tone. I like them both, but prefer it on the colder side.

I hope that clears things up a bit.