Orange Amps Forum

Do any of the Orange amps currently in production have regulated power supplies?

At times, my Dark Terror sounds a bit dull and subdued in the higher frequencies. Other times, those frequencies are present and accounted for. I know that when tubes reach their proper operating temperature and speaker coils develop a warmer aspect, amps can change (somewhat) their core tone. Sometimes that what people admire about tubes, other times, not so much. The current tubes in my amp are in good shape, so during these summer months with a huge demand on power supplied by my local utility outfit, I get the sense that household electrical devices get a bit “starved” for proper voltage at times.

adkguy07

I find this happens from time to time as well. I have a Furman rack mount power conditioner with a voltage readout so I can tell what is happening but sometimes it just happens for no discernible reason.

I know this isn't really helpful but at least you're not alone....

Orange amps have a typical power supply found in most tube amps, which “clean up” or smooth the power being supplied by filtering it. This won’t regulate the voltage, and is highly affected by the voltage level being supplied meaning everything else in the amp is affected, voltage to the tubes and heaters. If you want exact consistency you need a variac and meter. A good way is to measure if you want to be exact is use the variac and measure the filaments and adjust the variac until you get 6.3 volts on them, thats the best voltage for the heaters and what the transformer should be designed to put out, the rest of the amp will correlate to that. Thats being very picky though.

bclaire wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 22, 2022 4:00 pm

I find this happens from time to time as well. I have a Furman rack mount power conditioner with a voltage readout so I can tell what is happening but sometimes it just happens for no discernible reason.

I know this isn't really helpful but at least you're not alone....

Thanks. It is helpful, and I suspect that I'm not alone in hearing the tone changes that I described.
It could be my hearing that's contributing to this, in part. It could also be Orange amps have plenty of low mids, rather those Marshallesque high mids.

adkguy07

Could be, but thinking about this we have occasionally had errant feedback coming through the PA monitors where with the same settings didn't at the last rehearsal. No changes - just an occasional feedback. Weird.

Well, it happened again yesterday when I could find no good tone from my Dark Terror when using my my Les Paul!? No amount of knob twisting between amp and guitar produced anything near the desired tone that was present just two days before! I am speaking of just guitar straight in with a delay set minimum in the effects loop. For now, I'm blaming it on my electric utility company, until someone can convince me it's my own hearing. I say Thanks for the replies posted here. It's good to be able to question knowledgeable folks who own Orange amps.

adkguy07