Orange Amps Forum

Over on another forum devoted to a popular rock amp manufacturer, a lot of people say they've never turned their masters up above 3 or 4 because it causes them physical pain, and can't imagine being in the same room as one of that company's dimed classic non master volume amps.

One guy keeps starting threads asking if there's something wrong with his amps or ears, because he loves full volume. And many people say "impossible, your ears would bleed, nobody could possibly enjoy that, there must be something wrong with your JVM, JCM900, and/or your 1960 cab".

(Oops, did I just give away the brand? )

I'm one of very few who says I've loved every minute I've spent standing in front of dimed 100w and 130w amps.

I accept and understand that many people experience pain at lower volume than I do. And some sounds hurt my ears at lower volume than guitar amps do -- circular saws make me wear earplugs.

And I know that high volume cumulatively damages hearing, and extreme volume can cause instant damage. Permanent, irreversible damage. So I've always tried to limit length of time and frequency of exposure, even though I love the sensation.

Just curious how many people enjoy dimed big amps.

I have but i always use really nice earplugs to make sure I don’t damage anything. It feels incredible still and my ears feel fine after.

Heh...I’ve been playing in bands regularly since 1994 and I can’t think of a time that I’ve actually done that.

Next practice is tomorrow night. As good a night as any to pull a Marty McFly! I’ll give you a report by Tuesday (CR120H and CRPRO412).

I love running amps wide open but only when I have ear plugs in and ear muffs on or the speaker cabinet is in a separate, acoustically-treated room with the door closed. Tinnitus is for keeps and can happen fast.

I've cranked my RV50 full bore before.

It makes the floor boards rattle too much in my house..... it's like playing a glorious amp in the middle of an earthquake......

Fascinating.

I'm wondering if it's an age/era thing. I was born in '59 and started playing in '72. It was understood that extreme volume could be bad for your hearing, but at what SPL/duration was unclear.

All our rock gods dimed their amps, so we did too. And you could do it in bars and clubs.

The first master volumes were beginning to appear, but they sucked because preamp stages were pretty clean -- the magic only happened when everything in the amp was adding distortion.
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Guess it was a riskier time. Houses still had 2-prong electrical outlets. The majority of adults smoked -- and they were allowed to smoke in hospitals and movie theaters. Gasoline had lead in it. Plastic bags didn't have labels printed on them warning "danger of suffocation".

Rlw59 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 12, 2018 8:47 am

Fascinating.

I'm wondering if it's an age/era thing. I was born in '59 and started playing in '72. It was understood that extreme volume could be bad for your hearing, but at what SPL/duration was unclear.

All our rock gods dimed their amps, so we did too. And you could do it in bars and clubs.

The first master volumes were beginning to appear, but they sucked because preamp stages were pretty clean -- the magic only happened when everything in the amp was adding distortion.
-------------------
Guess it was a riskier time. Houses still had 2-prong electrical outlets. The majority of adults smoked -- and they were allowed to smoke in hospitals and movie theaters. Gasoline had lead in it. Plastic bags didn't have labels printed on them warning "danger of suffocation".

I think putting that warning on plastic bags was a mistake!

lunchbox wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 12, 2018 3:21 am

Heh...I’ve been playing in bands regularly since 1994 and I can’t think of a time that I’ve actually done that.

Next practice is tomorrow night. As good a night as any to pull a Marty McFly! I’ll give you a report by Tuesday (CR120H and CRPRO412).

I'd really like to hear how that goes and how loud it actually goes I have never dimed mine.
I have only ever had 30 watt valve amps (and now the CR120) but would love to dime a big valve amp.

Yeah. I used to have two Marshall Superleads and I dimed them on a regular basis. Ran both of them together, too. Loud and stupid but hit an A power chord and you could feel the hair on your legs move right through your pants, ie trousers.

My hearing is still pretty good.

what? What? WHAT???

All the time. I posted in the orange group on Facebook recently about how my rv 100 mkiii didn't seem as loud as other 100wers I've owned and it made a lot of people argue and then the post got locked by an admin. Whoops

I have dimed a Hiwatt DR103 through an SE4123 quad box.

It was glorious. Hammer of the gods level of volume.

I stood about 5 meters from it and my jeans were flapping around my ankles. I have also run my AD200 master on full and gain at 12:00. Serious levels of bass but only practical on a big stage. It also makes sure everyone hears how loose my finger style playing is

OU818 wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:04 pm

It also makes sure everyone hears how loose my finger style playing is

ha ha ha ha ha!

I have several times with different amps and wasn't a fan. Every amp I can think of has a "sweet spot" thats well below dimed and turning it past that point doesn't make it all that much louder, just more harsh and unpleasant sounding IMO.

In the 90's and early 2000s I used to play 100W amps on full volume into 4x12s. This was par for the course.

I had 2 OR-120's, a 50W Hiwatt DR504, a 100W Marshall '71 Superlead, a 100W '85 JCM800 2203, a 100W '73 Ampeg V-4, a Peavey Classic 100, a 100W '74 Marshall JMP, a 100W Laney AOR, and probably a few others. Most of these were non-master volume, so they had one volume. LOUD. I played them all up full...mainly used a Hiwatt 4x12 or a 70's Orange 4x12. But I also had some Marshall, Ampeg, and other cabs too.

These days, I can barely get a 30W amp + 2x12 past 3 or 4 without someone complaining about the volume. I can rarely match the volume of the drums, so our guitars aren't as *ahem* present as they used to be. Times have changed.

fiveightandten wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:26 am

In the 90's and early 2000s I used to play 100W amps on full volume into 4x12s. This was par for the course.

I had 2 OR-120's, a 50W Hiwatt DR504, a 100W Marshall '71 Superlead, a 100W '85 JCM800 2203, a 100W '73 Ampeg V-4, a Peavey Classic 100, a 100W '74 Marshall JMP, a 100W Laney AOR, and probably a few others. Most of these were non-master volume, so they had one volume. LOUD. I played them all up full...mainly used a Hiwatt 4x12 or a 70's Orange 4x12. But I also had some Marshall, Ampeg, and other cabs too.

These days, I can barely get a 30W amp + 2x12 past 3 or 4 without someone complaining about the volume. I can rarely match the volume of the drums, so our guitars aren't as *ahem* present as they used to be. Times have changed.

Did you blow any speakers with the Ampeg? I had a VT-22 (V4 head in a 2X12 combo) and I blew speakers a lot. Finally replaced them with "never-blow" Altecs (making a heavy amp even heavier) and when those blew, I reconed the speakers and sold the amp.

At one point, my amp tech tested my two Superleads (72 and 74) and one put out 135 watts and the other 147. They were LOUD!

Still, my Orange AD30TC's are easily as loud as those were - my drummer's a hard-hitter and these more than keep up.