ironlung40 wrote:Great reply 5-8-10.
You described exactly what I have noted when trying to use pedals with my OR120. Most thin it out and almost sound like they are actually choking it out.
The best luck I have had with the limited amount of pedals I have been able to try was with the Fulltone Bass Drive (ran only in comp-cut mode as a boost), MXR Microamp, John Mcneece made Color sound overdrive clone (this is a great pedal. got to tweak it and change a lot with your amp settings, but it works), Black Arts Toneworks Pharoah fuzz (in the neutral non diode clipping mode), fulltone ocd.
The amp in my signature picture is my OR120 1974 model. The great electronics tech and Orange and Matamp enthusiast John Mcneece added his designed master volume mod to it for me. He used the slave out on the back, so it's reversible with no damage. It is a great master volume mod. He tweaked on it for a day or so and came up with the best sounding MV for that circuit that he could. It sounds very meaty and thick/full at low levels surprisingly. Much, much improved over the stock mv on the overdrive series.
I also have a later 70's overdrive 120 model. That is the one in the closet. I first used it to a/b to the master volume added to my OR120. This amp has not been played in a long while and needed a retube that last I used it. It probably also needs the capacitors checked, and had a very sticky FAC knob on it. I probably need to source a FAC selector switch/pot. Do you know of any?
Oh, and thanks for the heads up on working on these amps. It is seemingly hard to find people that understand the circuit well enough to not try and treat them like marshalls or fenders. Where are you located, as shipping sure has gotten a lot more expensive in the last few years?
Nice, it sounds like you have a good thing going on with the '74. The master volume in these amps was an afterthought, and to have someone spend time tweaking a PPIMV circuit for the amp probably made a big difference. I've tried a few different circuits and tweaked the values, but I never could get a MV that I really liked. I have a variation of the OTR master in my GRO now, and I think it works better than the Overdrive MV. The amp still needs to be turned up to sound good though.
If the amp has been sitting for a while, the caps often get cranky. It's not a bad idea to have a tech bring it up on a variac if it's been dormant for a period of years. You could always just turn it on. When I got my GRO100, it had been sitting for many years. The caps were barely working when I turned it on. The amp had terrible hum and at high volume, the voltage swing was causing crazy volume swells. After 20 minutes of play time, it was like new again. I replaced the caps for good measure a few weeks later.
For the FAC knob, any properly sized rotary switch will work as long as it has enough positions. Most of them have a ring with a stopper on it that lets you limit the travel, so you can buy a 10 position switch and still use it if you needed to. This 6 position would work:
https://www.tubesandmore.com/products/s ... -shaft-mbb" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
That being said, your 70's FAC knob is likely not a sealed unit, so it may be possible to clean it up with some Deoxit and make it function properly again.
I'm located in Wallingford, CT 06492. Shipping amps is more expensive than it used to be, for sure. I just shipped an amp in a road case (75 lbs, 31x14x14) and it was about $60 each way to Indiana. If you have a good tech local to you, hang on to him. Shipping is expensive and carries risk with it. Amps can get damaged in transit, or even worse.
adkguy07 wrote:
Very interesting post from fiveightandten on those OR80 and 120 models. I learned quite a bit from reading it all. Would the last part be more or less true for ALL Orange Tube amps? By your term "Orange Fog"; I take that it means that when warmed up sufficiently, the dividing line between what we'd call "clean" and "grainy" gets blurred and that in itself is what Orange affiacandos like.
I don't own an Orange tube amp, hope to at some point in time. I do however, have their Micro Dark and granted it's
20 watts and a hybrid and not in the same league even. When that single preamp tube gets warmed up, I do notice something of that"fog" you write of. I guess that the effect would be even more noticeable if the Micro Darks' power stage were tube and not solid state. Would this a true statement?
adkguy07
The "fog" is a descriptor that has been around for a long time. It pre-dates any of the modern Oranges. It may mean different things to people who play the newer amps, but to me those don't have the foggy quality. It's the combination of the fuzzy, prickly character, and the very prominent midrange that the old amps have. When the amp distorts, there's a blurring of the notes that rides on top of the sound. The amp has clarity of note definition and blurry fuzzy overtones at the same time. It's a sort of fog of sound.
It's tough to describe if you haven't heard it. I just looked through youtube to find some sound clips that capture this, and it's tough to find an example of it, as the amps are loud and there are a lot of OR-120 clips that just sound like the microphone being saturated.
I'll see if I can plug one of mine in sometime soon and get some clips or video.
In the meantime, to me, this has always been a good example of the "jagged" OR-120/80 overdrive. (It should start at 2:27 when the guitars are solo'd so you can hear it.
https://youtu.be/lESbn_HGh4Y?t=147" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
-Nick