Orange Amps Forum

I was listening really closely today while practicing playing using my Dark Terror. The E.Q. on this amp that has just three controls, is quite sensitive and after using this amp exclusively, I have learned that though it is not the conventional 3-band type, there is a “world” of settings to find or discover and when combined with the volume and gain controls, presents quite a few takes on then”Orange” tone. The amp has a V30 now broken in well. I use two Les Pauls with this setup. I've wondered if an e.q. pedal would provide even more tones to explore, but hesitate to pick one without hearing what other Orange owners have to say about the subject.

Just to let all know, I'm am pretty much a guitar into amp type with just a reverb and delay pedal to my name; used in the effects loop and subdued. I don't get along with OD or distortion pedals or typical boosts. I just like that Orange gain in all its flavors, but changing “shape” knob ratios with gain and volume control experiments is all I need.

adkguy07

An eq pedal is one of the most useful effects pedals you can have on your board. I know the shape control on your amp shifts the tone parameters rather than making it more bassy or more trebely (forgive the technical jargon there) but an eq is really useful to help boost or cut certain frequencies which in turn helps to dial in another sound to your amp.

I use mine after my drive pedals where I cut the two lowest bands and then boost the high mids and the highs just to give the stacked gain stages a bit more cut in the mix.

You can also boost the level if you have enough headroom in your amp. The DT is 15 Watts so putting it in the loop as well can give you a bit of a boost unless you have the thing dimed!

A lot of people put them last in the chain in order to dial in the room. For example at a wedding gig I used one for my bass guitar because the room was literally a glass conservatory. The low end was making the whole place shudder so I dropped out a lot of the lowest frequencies of my signal... Still sounded like a bass but the room wasnt a vibrating mess.

Essentially EQs are very handy. I use a boss GE7 but I really like the look or the Orange 2 stroke. It has a parametric eq which is a pretty powerful tool!

B

as a quick addition to bfits' comments, i think the way either a graphic or parametric eq works is fundamentally different to the shape knob on the dark terror.

i use a tiny terror, and the 'eq' on that is a tone knob... brighter / darker.

i feel like the shape knob is a little more versatile for dialing in certain tones. coupled with an eq in the loop, it could be really powerful... certainly useful as a utility pedal for getting different tones out of your guitar... boosting lows + highs for lower volume playing too can work to make it sound bigger at lower levels.

My suggestion is to go try them all out and listen for added hiss. I tried a lot of pedals WAY back in the day and I was appalled at how hissy many of them were. To show you how long ago that was, the only EQ pedal I found that didn't add any hiss was a Ross. Long out of business....

I did use the Orange Two Stroke quite briefly, but returned it because there was not one useable tone for my way of playing. I tried it in front and in the effects loop. For home use, I think a regular 6 band might work, but I'm waiting on replies and opinions here before making a decision. Thanks Billy for the heads up on hiss as part of some e.q. offerings out on the market.

This Dark Terror has the shape knob which is a double-ganged pot that when activated can increase highs and simultaneously reduce mids and lows. Turned the opposite direction; decreases high and adds in more lows and mids. I've also learned that the effect of the shape control can be enhanced further by how one tweaks both the amp volume and gain knobs; thus sort of making all three amp knobs part of the e.q.”system”. Moreover, it seems, when playing loudly enough to get the speaker(s) into the mix, there is even more variety in tone. In other words, the louder the better, and less loud means not so good due to fewer choices.

adkguy07

Finally, after much self-debate, very recently I went thru a downsizing of my 3 pedalboards not so much for any financial reasons but more so for an attempt to streamline them for a cleaner tone and less weight and size, less FX pedals meant less patch cabling and reduced power requirements. I do the 4-cable method splitting the signal path into two. After building 3x new single row pedalboards, one of 8 pedals, one has 6 pedals, and the smallest is a 3 pedal board. The 2x pedals I removed from each board was the compressor and the EQ (I used them in front of amp not thru FX Loop).

I wanted to try using my 4 Terrors without them and hear the difference. I was amazed at how my tone improved and in fact seemed that I really didn't need them. I know they serve a purpose and can offer quite an array of versatility but I loved how much cleaner and more natural my tone sounded, this may not be the case for everyone else but looking back, for me they were altering my tone in a way I know now I do not prefer.

I was using the BOSS GE7 and the MXR 6-Band EQs.

I use an old TC electronics Booster/Distortion to smooth out my RV100

Bentfinger wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 01, 2021 12:25 am

I use an old TC electronics Booster/Distortion to smooth out my RV100

I wonder how that compares to the Boost that's built-in to the TC Electronics G-System that I use? I use it sparingly but when I really want a boost, it's good!