Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

kcj · Post by **kcj** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 7:57 pm

Hello,
Recently I bought an Orange AD-5 of 1999. It should be nr 61 of 64 hardwired pieces. It is only numbered on the inside and has somekind of autograph. There is no tech plate on the back like on the current amps.
How can I check if this is a genuine one? Anybody any info on these amps?
Thanx &
Best Regards,
Koen

a.hun · Post by **a.hun** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 3:23 pm

kcj wrote:Hello,
Recently I bought an Orange AD-5 of 1999. It should be nr 61 of 64 hardwired pieces. It is only numbered on the inside and has somekind of autograph. There is no tech plate on the back like on the current amps.
How can I check if this is a genuine one? Anybody any info on these amps?
Thanx &
Best Regards,
Koen

Hi kcj. Welcome!

Well, is it hand / hard wired or is the circuitry on a printed circuit board? You can tell us, but don't touch anything inside due to potential very high stored voltages even after being unplugged.

If PCB it is a regular production version, though there may actually have been less of the first batch of those made than of the original Custom Shop ones. How certain is the date though? If right than it should be hand wired. I don't think the PCB ones happened at all until about late '02 or 2003. There were apparently about 75 of the original PCB batch made, after around twice as many HW ones had been made.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23729" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Then a couple of years ago they started making PCB AD5s again.)

What is the signature? Could it be 'A G Emsley' or similar? If so it sounds like the real (Custom Shop) deal. Though I'd not expect there to be any significant performance differences if it was a PCB one to be honest.

Andy.

kcj · Post by **kcj** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 9:11 pm

Hello,
In this folder there are some pics of it http://s1187.photobucket.com/albums/z399/kcjcoony/.
Maybe that can help out a little. It doesn't look like the AD5 in the other topic, it has the same knobs but no backplate (info-tag). I think it comes from 1999 because, it look like a turret board & not a print board.
Thanx,
Kcj

Post by **bclaire** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:31 am

Boy, that's nice! Ade's signature in there as well... as well as hand-lettered serial number- that's real!

a.hun · Post by **a.hun** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 4:29 pm

Yep, hadn't seen the guts of one before, but that looks like it should. Nice wee amp you've got there, built by its designer!

Andy.

kcj · Post by **kcj** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 8:29 pm

Unbelieveble what a tone in that little box... I owned several amps like a marshall class 5, a tiny terror, a tiny terror hardwired, a fender pro junior, a vox ac-15, a recent AD5... but nothing had the roar of this little animal... Strangely it doesn't sound like the new AD5... The only strange thing about it was the price tag, thats why im wondering if this is a genuine one... The housing & knobs are the same as on the AD5 mentioned in the other topic and the tolex is still in a very good condition.

Orphin · Post by **Orphin** » Sun Apr 17, 2011 6:43 am

Ouch! I'm allergic to that kind of wiring when you have wires laid over the board. Why did he do that!?

The wiring is otherwise really neat.
If that was my amp I wouldn't stand the looks of those two shielded wires and would have to rewire them.

a.hun · Post by **a.hun** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 7:25 am

Orphin wrote:Ouch! I'm allergic to that kind of wiring when you have wires laid over the board. Why did he do that!?
The wiring is otherwise really neat.
If that was my amp I wouldn't stand the looks of those two shielded wires and would have to rewire them.

Why allergic?

Why did he do it? Probably because he messed about with various possibilities and found that this routing gave the least noise. Looks logical to me too. Would you rather route it right under either of the transformers? I'd trust Ade on this one. He knows how to design and make a quiet amp.

Compared to push pull designs single ended amps like this are a lot more susceptible to certain sonic problems, especially hum. In push pull amps a lot of both noise and certain types of distortion are self cancelling when the phase inverted signals are re-combined. (Bit like a humbucking pickup that way.) Single ended designs don't have this noise self cancellation and normally need more hum filtering. Ade is hardly going to go to all that trouble and then run those signal wires in anything other than the quietest position in relation to the biggest DC induced magnetic field sources in the amp - the transformers.

I'd reckon if you changed anything there you'd only succeed in making the amp noisier. Stuff the aesthetics, this is an electronic circuit. He'll have done it for all the right reasons!

Andy.

Post by **bclaire** » Fri May 27, 2011 8:42 pm

The value is whatever you can get on ebay.... there's no listing items on the forum for sale FYI.

a.hun · Post by **a.hun** » Fri May 27, 2011 10:38 pm

bclaire wrote:The value is whatever you can get on ebay.... there's no listing items on the forum for sale FYI.

I take it someone posted and got unposted again Billy...?

Andy.

Sooner · Post by **Sooner** » Sat May 28, 2011 4:14 pm

kcj wrote: The only strange thing about it was the price tag, thats why im wondering if this is a genuine one...

Do tell, what sort of bargain did you get on it?

Hard to say how much it's worth because they're so rare. I've seen a few pop up on eBay for 1000 pounds or so but have never seen one actually sell there. The highest price listed on Harmony Central is $1125 and that was several years ago: http://www.harmonycentral.com/products/94125" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cool amp. I wonder if the new Orange book says anything about them?

Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

Re: Orange AD-5 1999 #61 of 64

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