Orange Amps Forum

Hi All -

Recently bought a new/used orange RV 100.

Clean channel sounds great, but i'm putting the Dirty channel's volume SO LOUD just to match the clean.

For example, Clean channel volume is at "3" (less than halfway), and loud.
Dirty channel's volume is at "9", just to match the clean channel volume.

Now, i'm a new orange user so i'm assuming, based on other amps i own, that this is not normal, and the Dirty channel should be much louder than it is.

I've had a tech look at it, resautered some caps, changed out some tubes, but still no-go.

Any ideas or similar problems?

any help is much appreciated.

thanks

I have heard that there is a difference in volume between channels on the RV50, but it should not be that drastic. The most likely cause would be a weak preamp valve in one of the gain stages for the Dirty Channel. If swapping preamp valves around doesn't solve it, I would take it back to the tech who worked on it or find a different tech if he's not up to it.

Thanks, Randy.

I've been going through the forum searching for folks with similar issues. I've seen a lot of mentions of the pre-amp valves so hopefully that's the problem.

Another friend mentioned possibly a messed up capacitor that needs to be replaced.

EIther way, this would now be the 3rd time i take it to the tech. First with 2 blown power tubes, which i thought caused the volume issue, but clearly not. 2nd visit I told him about the volume problem still being there, so he went in and resautered a bunch of points that were not to his liking (the tech is the dude that used to make amps for Harry Joyce/hi watt). The dirty channel volume improved from before, but it still makes no sense to me to be pushing it so much. I would *assume* that he looked into the preamp valves but who knows...

Also, if the dirty channel is not really functioning as it should, is it safe to just play through the clean channel and push it w/ a pedal for the time being? I don't want to cause any extra stress towards the amp.

You should be OK using the Clean Channel for now as long as the power valves are healthy. It can be frustrating to troubleshoot amp problems because current-production valves are so inconsistent. It is concievable that your tech could have actually swapped out a bad preamp valve already and the replacement may not be good either, or he may not have replaced enough of them. It could also turn out to be something else entirely. Good luck with it.

if you bought it used from someone maybe you should contact him/her and ask if he/she had similar problems...

I run my RV100 into a ppc 212cb cab. The nasty channel has much more volume and presence than the clean does. That is, straight into the amp with only a gtr and a cord. I manipulate the 2 channels with effects, compressors, and clean boost's depending on whatever tone that I'm going for. I agree, find a new tech, or contact OJ customer service.

Contacted the previous owner and they claimed they never had a problem.

I contacted Orange technical dept. and they sent over the schematics for my amp tech.

According to him, a previous owner tried to do some "gain boost" mod. Essentially they tried to replace a 10K resistor with a 15K - unfortunately the sautering job was not done well and that is where the volume problem stemmed from. The tech reverted it back to original schematics and put the 10K resistor in there.

I had this same issue when I bought a new RV100 as well. I got told it was many different things, so I continued to play it and after breaking it in for a while, it evened out the issue as well as (obviously) started to sound better since the tubes were starting to break in. But, since yours is used, I'd check into it and it should be just a bad pre valve.