11tonylevin wrote: ↑Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:12 pmthis is a very interesting thread. I have had my own sort of "revelation" playing Orange amps. First, they do not forgive sloppy playing with ghost notes. More importantly, I observed that playing some open chords, a D in particular always sounded out of tune if letting it ring. Same chord, same guitar, different amp and it was better/ok. This opened up an entire dialog on tuning and guitar imperfections. Ended up that for it to sound correct, I tuned my guitar to the notes on the 3rd fret instead of open tuning. I had noticed that the 3 notes in the D chord were all slightly sharp, by varying amounts when tuned open. The only conclusion I could draw is that the Orange amps produce such rich and plentiful harmonics that once these are all unleashed simultaneously on a hard strummed D chord for example, they could impact what your ear will hear if one or more notes is sharp, even by little. So this led me to be mindful of tuning for certain songs or, even to watch the strumming intensity to minimize the harmonics effect. My conclusion then is that these amps really authenticate what you feed them, kind of garbage in garbage out. So definitely an experience having switched from Marshall/Blackstar to Orange.
I play through a RV 50 MKIII by the way with a custom shop telecaster, set neck , 2 SD Antiquity Humbuckers, configured exactly like a lespaul. If I switch to my Godin with Loller El Rayo pickups, the effect is even more pronounced.
tony
I agree with what you have noted. I've spent a lot of time with the tuning on my 2 Les Pauls. The other factor for me is getting the guitars' pickups adjusted just so to take advantage of my Dark Terror's harmonics and (when I hear it) the chime factors. VOX is the only other make of amp that I hear something similar. My gain knob is usually set between 10 to 11 o'clock and more susstinctly 10:30. Using the right volume and e.q. levels seems to be where the Orange tone starts to happen for me.
The other factors are accurate and deliberate playing technique. That helps when choosing those simplified chords and intervals that I wrote about above. I keep mentioning Tim Sult of Clutch who often chooses Orange amps on stage. True, he can do the same tones with other amps, but my point is that his simplified playing brings out the best tones for the song or groove that the band is in.
adkguy07