Meant to reply to that too.PENLIYL wrote:I'm getting the feeling that the TB1k is just a TB500 with twice the power and not much more. I've read some threads in the past couple of weeks that Orange is having QC issues with the TT/TB series amps being produced in the PRC. Any truth to that?
The bass and guitar Terror versions don't have much in common apart from the metal case styling. The Terror Bass is a clever high tech follow up to the clever low tech (all valve!!!) Tiny Terror series guitar amps.
The early TTs (first few thousand) were made in Korea before production was moved to China. The move didn't seem to harm quality / reliability though and while there may be a little 'Korean built' one upmanship here I think it is pretty tongue in cheek, not really reflecting anything real world.
In fact proportionally speaking we've maybe even heard of more actual problems with the UK built Hard Wired version of the TT. Hard to say without knowing how many are out there, but it sometimes seems that way. Anyway if actually wanting a TT myself I'd happily buy the standard version rather than fork out extra for the HW one.
The BT is a totally different amp though, a new move with new technology for Orange. Occasional teething troubles are nearly inevitable when doing that and early versions of any new models (in any type of manufacturing!) are more likely to have them than later ones where any issues will have been addressed. However one thing you'll find here is that Orange are generally very good at getting any customer problems sorted. So if you are one of the unlucky few who experiences a genuine reliability issue (and most don't!) then they'll do their best to see you sorted.
Orange have a pretty good name for quality which they aren't going to throw away by not addressing any issues which do happen. Those of us who have been here a few years well remember a lot of problems with new or nearly new valve amps due to the cheaper valves then being fitted. As a result they started fitting much better quality valves. Just one example, but that is the sort of thing which gives you some faith in a company!
Andy.