Buying an orange amp

[dave.anthony.nemes]

Howdy, I am new to orange amps, but yesterday my girl took me to GC, blindfolded me and told me to pick whatever I heard and thought was the absolute best sounding amp. She blindfolded me so I wouldn’t pick based on brand or look, purely on sound.
I played through about five amps before I said “that one. That’s the one”
It was an orange rocker 32 2x10 combo.
I have a lot of questions and I would love to start the journey into the world of orange amps, so I was hoping someone could help me out.
I haven’t tried it yet but some one reccomended the AD30TC.
I was wondering how the AD30TC (combo) stacks up against the rocker 30 combo. I also wanted to know if the AD30TC (combo) can run an external cab while running both of its speakers.
I know Tonally, the AD30 will probably be a bit more expansive, but if the rocker 30 is enough volume wise, I think it might not be worth it to go for the AD30TC.
Please help, I’m torn. I haven’t even tried to the AD30TC, but if it’s a unanimous vote that the AD30TC is worth the money, I’ll get it delivered to GC ASAP.

[bclaire]

Good news: the AD30TC combo is pretty awesome.
Bad news: they discontinued it - only the head version is still available.

They can run external cabs well - and you can find them used out there. Just plan on retubing a used one so you are starting fresh with it.

[bclaire]

Oh, and welcome to the forum!

[Ronnie Robinson]

Ive got the head version ad30htc it is a great amp....but my main question is if the rocker 32 was 'the one' why not just buy that?

Also to point out if you can find an Ad30tc combo they only came as a 2x12 ....its big and heavy ...hence the head version - which is still made.

Ad30htc compared to the rocker 30 has 2 channels that can be clean or dirty or anywhere between. A great sounding clean tone when set clean with something like a telecaster also has a valve rectifier.
Rocker 30 has a natural channel no eq but voiced very nice when turned up. The dirty channel is a bit of a beast .
Both great for classic rock Rocker 30 sounds a little more fuzz tone on the dirty channel.

[Jondog]

Welcome, and let us know when your girlfriend is single. Love my wife, but any situation I’m being blindfolded I think thats the outcome I’d want!!! Sex is okay, but have you ever had an Orange amp bought for you?

[tugartheman]

I love my AD30HTC (and PPC212). If you're dead set on a combo, the ADs are out there but pretty rare. You could also check out an AD15 if you're on the used market too - that's combo only (think its single channel). There happens to currently be an Ad30R combo (2x12) and an AD30TC combo on Reverb...just sayin'.

I haven't played with the Rocker much but I would generally say its a little more "modern-american" flavor of Brit-crunch. The AD is more traditionally "British" with an Orange twist. If you're more of a Zep/Oasis/Mars Volta guy -- AD is your jam. If you're a little more modern, hardrock like Cheap Trick or harder then the R30 maybe a better choice.

Not to complicate things but there's also the TH30 Combo...heavier heavies and cleaner cleans. More "metal-y" if I had to classify it.

[Mystic38]

I have both the AD30HTC and the Rocker 30 and they are different amps... The AD30 has been in production forever and the Rocker 30 has obtained near cult status and hence was re-released with the benefit of an fx loop (but EL84 tubes instead of EL34.

If you liked the sound of the R32 then thats the amp for you, and, while one view is that the AD30 is more flexible I think this only applies IF you look at the amp in isolation..
Once you consider what you can do with pedals, the Rocker is by far the more flexible amp... after all.. the clean channel is very low gain and has a flat response..making it the perfect canvas for tone shaping.

the good news is that you cant go wrong with either amp... and you already know you like the R32....