final conclusion, ad50 cs

[kars0747]

Please excuse me for considering myself as a bit of an expert on this amp by now. It has surprised me how difficult it has been to come to terms with an amp so relatively simply. Here are what I have learned: If you play a les paul or another humbucker guitar the amp feels a little dark. Until I really started to bring the presence up (around 3 o´clock) it seemed to be a bit muddy. Another thing I have learned is that the 50 watt setting seems to work best with a les paul. So it is worth it having it biased when you change the power amp tubes. Also I found out that the amp sounded the best when turned up past 2 o´clock which was way too loud, so I bought an attenuator (Palmer - which I can really recommend) Regarding pre amp tubes - I have tried several. What seems to work the best for me is a nos jan ge6072 (12ay7 with a gain factor of 45 in contrast to 12ax7 with a gain factor of 100). This tames the pre amp section and seems to allow the power amp section more space to really shine. Also this takes away any mud tendencies. I have tried a 1972 tele with the amp. It was very bright compared to the les paul. I had to turn the presence back below noon position. This guitar sounded best on the 30 watt setting and I had to add a little bass and turn the gain up to allmost full when using the 12ay7 pre amp tube. No matter what I tried with the tele, the les paul sounded the best. But I have spent lots of hours on making the les paul and the orange work together and I am sure I could make the tele sound fantastic too. Right now though I am considering an epiphone as my second guitar. Maybe one with classic humbuckers instead of the burst bucker pro´s which are in my les paul.

[Jondog]

Orange is "a little dark" to begin with compared to other British styles. To be honest with you, I think you're looking too hard at it. In a short amount of time you've pulled and replaced all kinds of tubes, questioned biasing, speakers, guitars etc, etc... I really think it's just not the right amp for you. It shouldn't be that hard. It's a typical Orange circuit, based around the same principles in terms of voicing. Its a great amp.

[kars0747]

I don´t know. I think you need to try to get the absolute best out of your gear. Especially when you spend quite a bit of money on an expensive amp. I think I have found a few tricks to work especially well. With this mother **** it is definately the presence knob which holds the secret and a lower gain tube in the first preamp section

[Les Paul Lover]

To be honest, a bit like Jondog said, Oranges are pretty simple amps.

They are a little dark by nature, though shouldn't be muddy. My LP has the burstbucker pro pick ups, and it's a lovely dark, thick grunt through my AD15, R30 or RV50, but also totally articulate, with excellent single string definition.

It can do most styles really well, but whether the way it does it suit a particular individual is another story.

Kars, do you always fiddle around with your amps like you have with your AD50?

[kars0747]

Kars, do you always fiddle around with your amps like you have with your AD50?
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HA HA. Yeah - guess I do. I had a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Which I guess is one of the most sold amps in the world and I modded it quite a lot and it sounded killer in the end. But I guess I just got bored and updated it for an Orange and it has been a step up but not without lots of tweaking and hours of effort. Guess it´s just me. I am quite happy with my Orange Ad50 cs now. It sounds a bit like an old Fender Bass man head I once used/borrowed for recording which is one of the best amps I have ever come across. Another absolutely magnificent amp I used to own was an old 100w highwatt with a 4x12 which I sold back in the days because of stupid money decissions. That one with my old fender strat (which I also sold) sounded absolutely amazing. But as I said. I am quite happy with my Orange as it is now with my Gibson Les Paul. Time to let it rest and dig into playing instead. My band has had a period of non playing and I just had to fill in some time. Guess it is a nerdy side of me.

[Les Paul Lover]

Kars, do you always fiddle around with your amps like you have with your AD50?

HA HA. Yeah - guess I do. I had a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. Which I guess is one of the most sold amps in the world and I modded it quite a lot and it sounded killer in the end. But I guess I just got bored and updated it for an Orange and it has been a step up but not without lots of tweaking and hours of effort. Guess it´s just me. I am quite happy with my Orange Ad50 cs now. It sounds a bit like an old Fender Bass man head I once used/borrowed for recording which is one of the best amps I have ever come across. Another absolutely magnificent amp I used to own was an old 100w highwatt with a 4x12 which I sold back in the days because of stupid money decissions. That one with my old fender strat (which I also sold) sounded absolutely amazing. But as I said. I am quite happy with my Orange as it is now with my Gibson Les Paul. Time to let it rest and dig into playing instead. My band has had a period of non playing and I just had to fill in some time. Guess it is a nerdy side of me.
[/quote]


We all have our ways and habits. Nothing wrong with it!!! I like to set up guitars. Whenever I get a long enough break from the kids (every 3 or 6 months...... ), I like to take one of my guitars, take all the strings off, clean it, condition the fret board, restoring it, check/adjust truss rod, action, intonation......

Building fx is good fun too. Got a few mods to carry out at the moment..... but no time for them!!!!

[kars0747]

There is an old saying "don´t change horses in the middle of the stream" - I guess the same goes for amps and wives. You can´t just expect it to be happy (new circumstances) ever after. You can expect to have to spend time to adjust to the new

[Jondog]

There's nothing wrong with tinkering, I do a lot of that myself just because I enjoy it. There are specific mods I do to pretty well to all my amps just because I know I like them, not necessarily to "fix" the amp. My first post was directed towards it seeming like you've never been happy with the amp. If you have it where you like it now, that's good.

[Dark Helmet]

if the amp is stressing you that bad.... SELL IT TO ME!!!!!!

[Les Paul Lover]

There is an old saying "don´t change horses in the middle of the stream" - I guess the same goes for amps and wives. You can´t just expect it to be happy (new circumstances) ever after. You can expect to have to spend time to adjust to the new

Interesting. So what valves do you recommend for wives??

[Jondog]

There is an old saying "don´t change horses in the middle of the stream" - I guess the same goes for amps and wives. You can´t just expect it to be happy (new circumstances) ever after. You can expect to have to spend time to adjust to the new

Interesting. So what valves do you recommend for wives??

Ones that get hot and blow

[Les Paul Lover]

There is an old saying "don´t change horses in the middle of the stream" - I guess the same goes for amps and wives. You can´t just expect it to be happy (new circumstances) ever after. You can expect to have to spend time to adjust to the new

Interesting. So what valves do you recommend for wives??

Ones that get hot and blow

I bet that sounds fantastic.
I'm worried about the maintenance aspect though, having to change the valves so regularly could be time consuming and costly.

Perhaps there's a model that simply increases their output, and proves reliable over time?