My Rocker 30 seems overly bright. Help with diagnosis.

[Jimmyohio]

I just snagged a Rocker 30 from Craigslist last week. After a week of putting it through its paces I find it to be super bright. I have owned two Rocker 30’s in the past and they were not nearly as bright as this one. For the record I am using a 2017 Gibson Les Paul Tribute with the 490R/490T pickups. I am using the following settings and it STILL seems real bright. This is on the Dirty channel
High- 0 (all the way down).
Mids- 2 o’clock
Low- 5 o’clock (all the way up)
The amp has JJ tubes all around. I was told that the tubes have 40 hours on them. I am perplexed because Orange amps are usually voiced darker. I have never had an Orange amp that was this bright.
I have raised and lowered the pickup height and that did not help with the brightness. Playing through an Avatar 1x12 vintage cab with a Celestion V-Type speaker. Any idea what is causing the brightness? Could the bias be set too cold? Pickups? I am stumped. Could the fact that this amp was modded with an effects loop somehow be causing the brightness?

[Boy_Narf]

I would assume when the EL was added he had a few of the caps changed out. Probably complained it was too dark. I'm betting it would sound killer with a band or in a mix, nice and cutting. It's possible there is a buffer in the EL as well which could be adding brightness. I would recommend an EQ pedal to tame it.

[Boy_Narf]

Did you contact the seller and ask about additional mods?

[Gordy G]

For what it's worth I have made a few posts on here about the same problem with my R30C,i started to try eliminating the brightness with a new set of JJ valves & while the Amp has benefited from them it's still too bright (to me),
If I plug in my cheap Roland Cube cab,it starts getting better,at the moment I think the V30 in my amp is the worst speaker I have ever used.
But the Amp has other issues & it's at a tech shop at the moment,so depending on what the tech finds this view may change.
I am very subscribed to this thread.

[Jondog]

Hard to say when the amp has been subject to mods.

[Boy_Narf]

I love the V30 in my R30 combo, as well as with my R30 head and stack. Very thick midrange. Combo sounds way bigger than it looks

Is the V30 broken in? I've heard reports of them being pretty bad until they are at several hundred hours of play. That said, you might indeed just hate the speaker. My only experience shooting out speakers is with my TT. I tried the combo through a greenback and it was killer. Much smoother than a V30. If you like the V30 sound but want less harshness check out the WGS Veteran 30. I've got them in one of my cabs. Apparently it is supposed to eliminate the ice picky nature, but I have no idea. It sounds like a speaker to me

[fiveightandten]

All bets are off if the amp is modded. I'd go through this checklist:

1) Be sure the speaker in that cab is wired the right way (absolute polarity). Tip (+) to the OT secondary hot tap, sleeve (-) to the OT secondary ground.

2) Try ALL different trusted tubes.

3) Run the amp into a different cab that you know sounds good.

If none of those things help out, I'd take the amp to a tech and have him go through it. If you don't need the loop, have it removed.

[Les Paul Lover]

If it's too bright with the treble rolled all the way down, your amp has a problem, probably created when the mod was carried out.

I suspect the fx loop will be the culprit somehow - perhaps he tapped it before the treble pot rather than after the tone stack? Do the other tone control work Ok?

Is the natural channel ok, or does it appear overly bright too?

[Jimmyohio]

If it's too bright with the treble rolled all the way down, your amp has a problem, probably created when the mod was carried out.

I suspect the fx loop will be the culprit somehow - perhaps he tapped it before the treble pot rather than after the tone stack? Do the other tone control work Ok?

Is the natural channel ok, or does it appear overly bright too?

Natural channel seems bright too.

[jontheid]

Rocker 30s are definitely not bright-sounding amps.
Between me and my bandmates we now have 4 Rocker 30 combos, and they all sound great, but to me they are only just bright enough!

If when the effects loop is removed the amp is still too bright I'd have the tech check if the negative feedback loop has been modded at all, and if the coupling caps have been changed at all.

[cddsix]

That's is mind blowing, that the treb knob is all the way down and its too bright. Every Orange amp I have owned I have to put the Treb knob almost all the way up and boost brightness with an EQ in the loop to add enough edge to the brightness.

[Boy_Narf]

Agreed! I usually have all the EQ cranked.

I'm betting though that it would sound great in a mix/live, as Orange amps can get lost in a mix pretty easy. Usually a great sound for a mix means a bad sound on it's own. I would suggest you contact the seller and ask if any treble mods were done, otherwise remove the loop/get a tech to investigate how it was installed and perhaps they can sort it out.

I forget, was this a combo? Try running it through a Cannabis Rex speaker. I had a pair of them in my Port City cab for a while and they were SOOO DARK! Almost blanket over the cab dark. I had the tone cranked on the TT and it was still very "murky". It did get rid of the "fizz".

An easier option than modding/speaker would be a LPF pedal. You put it in the loop and cut off everything above a certain frequency. There is a guy on the TalkBass forum that makes them for a very reasonable price.

And I'm sure you have tried this but, can you just roll the tone knob on your guitar down? Might be nice to have some headroom (tone wise) in case you need a bit of a treble boost to cut through for solos/what not.

This is why I NEVER buy gear that has been modified. You never know what has been done.

[Les Paul Lover]

Did you manage to bring it tone tech yet?

I hope you can get it fixed.

[Jimmyohio]

Did you manage to bring it tone tech yet?

I hope you can get it fixed.

Not yet. I am assuming that my tech will charge me through the teeth fr any minor changes he makes. It’s like taking your car to a mechanic. He is gonna find something wrong. He will probably suggest replacing the tubes which will be another $75. With Xmas in two weeks I can’t afford to pay out $150-200. My kids need toys! One thing I did that helped a little bit was swapping out the 490’s in my Les Paul with Pearly Gates pickups. The PG’s are slightly darker and infinitely more articulate. Amp is still very bright though.

[pedecamp]

Did you manage to bring it tone tech yet?

I hope you can get it fixed.

Not yet. I am assuming that my tech will charge me through the teeth fr any minor changes he makes. It’s like taking your car to a mechanic. He is gonna find something wrong. He will probably suggest replacing the tubes which will be another $75. With Xmas in two weeks I can’t afford to pay out $150-200. My kids need toys! One thing I did that helped a little bit was swapping out the 490’s in my Les Paul with Pearly Gates pickups. The PG’s are slightly darker and infinitely more articulate. Amp is still very bright though.

Stick an EQ in the loop for now and after the holidays take it to a GOOD tech that wont rip you off and knows what hes doing. I bet he can sort it out and leave the loop in.