Clips: AD30TC, OR-80, and GRO100 shootout with Hiwatt and Vox amps

[fiveightandten]

Here's a shootout I did of 7 amps that I own, including 3 Oranges. Low gain crunch tones, the same riff played for each amp. First single tracked, then double tracked. All input and output variables were constant for each amp.

In order of appearance:
1 - Orange AD30TC - 2006 model with Mercury magnetics upgrade output transformer

2 - Orange OR-80 - circa 1997 Overdrive 80

3 - Orange GRO100 - circa 1971

4 - Hiwatt DR504 - home built Custom 50 clone with Heyboer transformers

5 - Hi-Tone HT30 JP - Jimmy Page model with NOS mustard cap option

6 - Vox AC-50 - circa 1965

7 - Vox AC-30TBX - circa 1996, Sozo signal cap upgrade

Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGM7RBTRbuw

Linked time stamps in vid description for easy AB'ing.

[bclaire]

Really cool... I liked it!

My favs are the AD30HTC, the OR80, and the HIWATT basically in that order. That HIWATT had some really nice tones!

[fiveightandten]

Really cool... I liked it!

My favs are the AD30HTC, the OR80, and the HIWATT basically in that order. That HIWATT had some really nice tones!

Thanks Billy! Glad you enjoyed it. The Oranges are obvious picks. Gotta love those classic Orange tones.

And I agree on the Hiwatt. I built that clone from scratch about 15 years ago. This was before there were kits available for them, and somehow I came across an abandoned 70's Hiwatt chassis to build the amp in, so it worked out very well. I still use it regularly to this day. It's a great sounding circuit.

[langmurf]

Nice! I liked the AC-50, especially double tracked. The only one I didn't like that much was the AC-30. All others sounded great!

[Les Paul Lover]

From the AD30 to the DR504, great tones! After that, it seems to be missing some low end oomph to me. I particularly like the AD30 channel 1 and OR80. OR100 too.

Ok, I'll admit it - I like them all. But I'll only kill you for your OR80. And perhaps OR100. High praise indeed???? (just joking about the killing malarkey!!!)

[bclaire]

Wow... that's a clone HIWATT? Nice job... makes me want a HIWATT....

[fiveightandten]

Nice! I liked the AC-50, especially double tracked. The only one I didn't like that much was the AC-30. All others sounded great!

Thanks! Yeah, I like that AC-50 a lot. The AC-30 is the amp I've played the most over the years, by far. I doesn't sound the same here as it does in nature. I recorded these direct, through a reactive load and digital cab IR's. It's actually pretty terrifying, as the AC-30 is running full bore, and still doesn't distort as much as it does when I'm using it live at 75%. Guess where the rest of the distortion is coming from...

The speakers! I never recorded the amp direct before, and it's scary knowing how much of the dirt comes from pushing those blues. It's a lot of the sound as well, the amp just doesn't have the same sound through a Hiwatt 2x12 cab IR (the IR I used here).

Anyways, thanks for watching!

From the AD30 to the DR504, great tones! After that, it seems to be missing some low end oomph to me. I particularly like the AD30 channel 1 and OR80. OR100 too.

Ok, I'll admit it - I like them all. But I'll only kill you for your OR80. And perhaps OR100. High praise indeed???? (just joking about the killing malarkey!!!)

Haha, thanks! Yeah, it was a bit of a balancing act here. In reality, the Hiwatt and the AC-50 are capable of huge amounts of low end. But I like the upper mid grind that those amps get when you back the bass off, so that's kind of what you're hearing here. They all have pretty powerful tone controls, so there's a lot of ways you can dial things in, and with different sounding amps, something is bound to sound too bright/thin/scooped/clean/harsh up against something else.

The old Orange is actually a GRO100. This pre-dated the OR-80 and OR-120, and is a bit of a different circuit. It's a bit more polite, less fuzzy, and warmer. Great amp though, I like it a lot. Thanks for watching...it's good to see some more Hiwatt love here, and AD30 love, of course.

Wow... that's a clone HIWATT? Nice job... makes me want a HIWATT....

Yup! I pieced it together with parts I bought off guys from the Plexi Palace forums, in 2003. The chassis was a gutted Hiwatt PA100 head. I had someone make the tag boards for me. I had someone make the head sleeve. I made a big parts order from Antique electronics, and went to town wiring it up from the early 70's 4 input schematic. It took me about a week, working on it a few hours a night.

I originally used some old Dagnall transformers out of a Marshall JMP. It sounded ok, but when I dropped the Heyboer OT in the amp, it was completely transformed (no pun intended). Hiwatts NEED those wide response Partridge type transformers. It's a huge part of the sound.

It's a great sounding circuit. They're so clear, and they clean up great when you roll back the volume knob on the guitar. I probably have $500 into this amp, all said and done...oh and 20+ hours of labor. Well worth it! If I was to buy a Hiwatt DR504 now, I'd probably get a Hi-Tone HT50. They're simply awesome clones. Pricey, but worth it.

[Boy_Narf]

504 surprised me. Think it might be my number one from that vid. The OR80 and 100 sounded killer too. THREE WAY TIE!

[langmurf]

Nice! I liked the AC-50, especially double tracked. The only one I didn't like that much was the AC-30. All others sounded great!

Thanks! Yeah, I like that AC-50 a lot. The AC-30 is the amp I've played the most over the years, by far. I doesn't sound the same here as it does in nature. I recorded these direct, through a reactive load and digital cab IR's. It's actually pretty terrifying, as the AC-30 is running full bore, and still doesn't distort as much as it does when I'm using it live at 75%. Guess where the rest of the distortion is coming from...

The speakers! I never recorded the amp direct before, and it's scary knowing how much of the dirt comes from pushing those blues. It's a lot of the sound as well, the amp just doesn't have the same sound through a Hiwatt 2x12 cab IR (the IR I used here).

Anyways, thanks for watching!

Thanks for putting that together. There was an AC-50 on CL here (ATL) for months... I gassed real hard for it, but it was unobtainium for me. A Vox with EL-34's... oh, man!

I had a '65 Cambridge Reverb... it was a phenomenal amp. D. Denney did go to Thomas Organ in CA to help tweak the design... when I bought it, it had all original Mullard glass in it. I still have a 12AU7 and 2 12AX7's that I use in my Marshall 1w and they sound great. But I digress...

I'm sure the AC-30 sounds killer in real life. If I had my choice, it'd be the AC-50 or the OR80. Or both, lol!

[Adam James]

Man.... That was awesome. My favorites were the Orange AD30TC, GRO100, OR80, and the Hi-Tone. In that order.

[a.hun]

My ears said the same as Billy. AD30, OR80 and DR all sounded great in the clips. AC30 sounded the weakest, but I’m sure it isn’t.
What struck me though were the similarities not differences in tones. Orange, Hiwatt, Vox? Just goes to show that a good player can get their own great tones out of most any decent amp...


Andy.