What's the correct procedure to set an orange amp?

[VergDan]

Hi I'm new to orange amps and this forum.It seems to me that the tone of orange amps is affected by not only gain but also volume. I've seen threads on dialing tones suggesting that pushing the power amp hard is necessary for an orange amp to sound good.
I've seen folks set the volume on their orange amps around 12 o'clock and then start tweaking the gain knob. Is this the correct way?
I play both bluesy rock and metal. The crunch tone on my amp sounds great. But the bedroom level high gain tone is a mess.

[Ronnie Robinson]

Hi, you dont actually say what Orange you have or what volume you play at but in any case any valve amp needs to be played at a certain volume to gets its best tone, dynamics and responsiveness to playing.The amp will feel more alive .This is why lower wattage valve amps are a lot more popular ....people can now get the best tone, dynamics at realistic volumes.

Sure if youve got a valve amp and can set the volume to 12 oclock then the valves are going to be working hard and your going to get good tone etc out of the amp.

If you can only play the amp at the other extreme say volume under 9 am your sound will be choked and your get poor responsiveness to your playing and dynamics.

It sounds like your just not using enough volume.

[fiveightandten]

As a general rule, all tube amps sound best with the master volume up full.

Turn the master up all the way, then turn the gain knob up until it’s distorted enough for your tastes (that’s an entire different discussion as well). That is how most amps will sound their best.

The problem is; this is going to be REALLY loud. Most of us can’t play at these kinds of volumes. So, you turn the master down to a reasonable volume and work with it.

In general, high gain amps get more of their sound from the pre amp, and will sound as intended at lower volumes. Amps that have less gain rely on more on the power amp distorting, therefore they need volume to sound proper.

Short answer, buy an amp that has the right amount of power for the volumes you play at.

[D|C|M|E]

Hi I'm new to orange amps and this forum.It seems to me that the tone of orange amps is affected by not only gain but also volume. I've seen threads on dialing tones suggesting that pushing the power amp hard is necessary for an orange amp to sound good.
I've seen folks set the volume on their orange amps around 12 o'clock and then start tweaking the gain knob. Is this the correct way?
I play both bluesy rock and metal. The crunch tone on my amp sounds great. But the bedroom level high gain tone is a mess.

Which exact model amp are you using? If its a head, what cabinet are you running it through?