Before Orange.

Orange Amps General Forum

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kpunk56
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Before Orange.

Post by kpunk56 » Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:07 pm

Over the years, some of us gear heads go through alot of gear before landing on what we think is the holy grail. For me it is Orange .... What kind of gear did you own before getting to Orange.

For me it was

Ampeg ss150 - solid state

Mesa Boogie studio pre amp using an Ampeg v4 for power.

Sovtek Mig 100


Marshall Jcm 800 2203

Fender Pro Reverb ( modded to El34) in conjunction with Ibanez tube screamer

Mesa Boogie DC10 Combo

Line 6 flextone 2

Ampeg reverberocket

Bugera 6262

Bugera 1960

Fender bassman silverface + fulltone OCD.


Maybe some of you still own older gear that you have used, but you can still state what kind of rigs you have had or used before making Orange your main gear.

Boy_Narf
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by Boy_Narf » Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:17 pm

Not too many to be honest.

Beginning amp: Peavy Rage 158 Practice Amp
Highschool amp: Washburn BD75R
First tube amp: Traynor YCV40WR (Still kicking myself for selling this one)
First Orange: Korean Tiny Terror (Still have this one)
Bad amp purchase: RV100MKI (stupid in college trying to fit in with the "post hardcore" ear bleeding amp scene)

Once I discovered the R30 my quest was over. I now have a head and combo.

Recently picked up a Micro Terror, but not a huge fan of it.

kpunk56
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by kpunk56 » Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:33 pm

Boy_Narf wrote:Not too many to be honest.

Beginning amp: Peavy Rage 158 Practice Amp
Highschool amp: Washburn BD75R
First tube amp: Traynor YCV40WR (Still kicking myself for selling this one)
First Orange: Korean Tiny Terror (Still have this one)
Bad amp purchase: RV100MKI (stupid in college trying to fit in with the "post hardcore" ear bleeding amp scene)

Once I discovered the R30 my quest was over. I now have a head and combo.

Recently picked up a Micro Terror, but not a huge fan of it.
Sort of the same here. The quest is over, I want more Oranges just to have them. But the Rocker is the Holy Grail.

kpunk56
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by kpunk56 » Wed Dec 31, 2014 9:53 pm

Boy_Narf wrote:Not too many to be honest.

Beginning amp: Peavy Rage 158 Practice Amp
Highschool amp: Washburn BD75R
First tube amp: Traynor YCV40WR (Still kicking myself for selling this one)
First Orange: Korean Tiny Terror (Still have this one)
Bad amp purchase: RV100MKI (stupid in college trying to fit in with the "post hardcore" ear bleeding amp scene)

Once I discovered the R30 my quest was over. I now have a head and combo.

Recently picked up a Micro Terror, but not a huge fan of it.

What did you hate about the Rockeverb Mk1 I hated the rockeverb 50mk1 I am sure probably for the same reasons, I felt too brittle, not very forgiving , although recorded well . The mk2 Rv's seem way better.

Boy_Narf
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by Boy_Narf » Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:59 pm

Oh man. That amp.

First of all the price. I must have been in a strange state of mine to pay that much for a head. Even now I would never spend that kind of money. The amp had pretty much no note definition. IMO there is a huge boost in the low mids that you can't dial out which made the tone very muddy. Plus, this bad boy had to be turned up LOUD to sound good. At bedroom/small gig volumes you might as well be playing any old amp. Like you said, at lower volumes it was pretty brittle and lifeless (this was after a tube change, and substantial bias experimenting). If you are into "stoner/doom" music and wham on ear blistering power chords all day long this amp would be brilliant. Thick muddy power chords are it's specialty. Me being into more melodic punk/metal/hardcore it was awful.

Where the amp was brilliant however is when you switched over to the dirty channel, dimed the master, and used the gain for volume. Glorious sparkly clean tones were the result.

kpunk56
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by kpunk56 » Thu Jan 01, 2015 12:01 am

Boy_Narf wrote:Oh man. That amp.

First of all the price. I must have been in a strange state of mine to pay that much for a head. Even now I would never spend that kind of money. The amp had pretty much no note definition. IMO there is a huge boost in the low mids that you can't dial out which made the tone very muddy. Plus, this bad boy had to be turned up LOUD to sound good. At bedroom/small gig volumes you might as well be playing any old amp. Like you said, at lower volumes it was pretty brittle and lifeless (this was after a tube change, and substantial bias experimenting). If you are into "stoner/doom" music and wham on ear blistering power chords all day long this amp would be brilliant. Thick muddy power chords are it's specialty. Me being into more melodic punk/metal/hardcore it was awful.

Where the amp was brilliant however is when you switched over to the dirty channel, dimed the master, and used the gain for volume. Glorious sparkly clean tones were the result.
Yeh that was my experience with the mk1 pretty much. I had recorded with one once at a studio ( worst mistake that I ever made ) what sucked was I just was not feeling it. But the amp recorded great. I would listen back to playbacks and was thinking YEH that sounds awesome. So I kept tracking with it. But in the longrun, I was not getting the best out of my playing and was never quite happy. When you track you need something that pleases your ears and feel , even if it is sounding good on playback... if you arent getting it while tracking... its not worth it. Other Orange recording experiences were great.

Moonstone
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by Moonstone » Thu Jan 01, 2015 1:29 am

Before Orange I had only a Marshall MG100, probably one of the worst Marshall. Fortunately I sold it, after trying a valve amps I started to hate my solid state.
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a.hun
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by a.hun » Thu Jan 01, 2015 1:35 am

Before my Orange I only had a 15W WEM Dominator Mk3 combo and a solid state HH Studio 60 bass combo. Both were total rubbish for bass. Lucked out third time though!

That was the beginning of my amp learning curve I guess... :lol:

HAPPY 2015 BTW!


Andy.
aNDyH. :wink:

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In the bathtub of history the truth is harder to hold than the soap, and much more difficult to find!

bclaire
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by bclaire » Thu Jan 01, 2015 2:12 am

Over the years for guitar:

Montgomery Ward cheapo amp
Sound Electronics 2x12 combo amp
Ampeg VT-22 (really nailed that Foghat sound - ugh)
2 Marshall Superleads through 2 Marshall 4X12's
Fender red knob Twin
Fender silverface Twin
68 Fender Bassman
65 Fender Bandmaster modded with four output tubes *
2 Marshall JTM-45's (one head now in a Bluesbreaker combo) *
Marshall 6101 30th Anniversary combo *
Oranges: 2 OR80M's; AD140TC; 2 AD30TC's; OR15: Tiny Terror; Micro Terror *

Amps with an asterisk I still have... these are ones I've played out with - then there are other amps for practicing, etc.

jontheid
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by jontheid » Thu Jan 01, 2015 2:32 am

I've had a few amps over the years, some crap, some not so crap.

1st amp: Laney Mighty 8, when I was about 13. Awful, then it broke. Took it in to be repaired, then never picked it up.

Followed by:

HH IC100 - super f. loud solid state 2x12 charmer. Paid £60 back in 1993. Still have it, many used as an amp for our keyboard player now.

Torque TB50 bass amp - primitive but good enough for bedroom and small gigs. Gave it to a female bass player who didn't have an amp.

Wem Dominator Bass Mk1 - same amp as Andy's WEM but with a 15" speaker. My first tube amp. Still have it, still love it. University venue where I used to be a stage manager was having a clear-out,so I bagged it. Had all original mallards in it, one ECC83 duff though. Really good for guitar, and a good recording amp for bass, if you like it warm and dirty.

Ashdown ABM300. Bought as my band was getting better gigs and at the time I was still using the HH IC100 as a bass amp! I bought it as it had a tube preamp stage, but the tube 'grind' control actually blends between solid state and tube, not tube gain level. I've since modded the amp so that all the pream signal goes through the tube and the 'grind' control adjusts the drive through the preamp tube. Good, but never as easy to get a good tone out of as my Orange Super Bass.

Then . . .

Orange Super Bass - bought for £250, in a faulty state, from Johnny Barker: http://www.discogs.com/artist/1022101-Johnny-Barker" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I got this amp it had a mish-mash of El34s in it, one of which would arc if the amp was on top of a cab and a heavy note was played. It also had intermittent shorting wires due to dodgy insulation, when the shorts happened it would kill an output tube. Despite this as soon as I played though it I loved it. It is now in full working order and is incredibly easy to set up. I play the bass with a pick and like an overdriven, trebly bass sound but still with a good bottom-end thump. With this amp I can get this in a few seconds, with the Ashdown I can be fiddling about for 10 mins and still not be satisfied.

Happy New Year my fruity friends!
Jon

Jondog
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by Jondog » Thu Jan 01, 2015 3:03 am

...were the dark ages
Image

jontheid
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by jontheid » Thu Jan 01, 2015 3:16 am

I thought Oranges were dark.

Les Paul Lover
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by Les Paul Lover » Thu Jan 01, 2015 12:23 pm

Mainly a SS H&K blue attax.

That thing had lovely cleans.

I used to have a Marshall 20w practice amp too. I used to love it when I was a kid - I could sound EXACTLY like my guitar heros, i had bought the holy grail. :roll:

The H&K was replaced by my RV50 - quite the upgrade!!!! I lo e this amp.

I've had an Orange AD5 too, but upgraded to the AD15 so sold it.
Boy_Narf wrote:Oh man. That amp.

First of all the price. I must have been in a strange state of mine to pay that much for a head. Even now I would never spend that kind of money. The amp had pretty much no note definition. IMO there is a huge boost in the low mids that you can't dial out which made the tone very muddy. Plus, this bad boy had to be turned up LOUD to sound good. At bedroom/small gig volumes you might as well be playing any old amp. Like you said, at lower volumes it was pretty brittle and lifeless (this was after a tube change, and substantial bias experimenting). If you are into "stoner/doom" music and wham on ear blistering power chords all day long this amp would be brilliant. Thick muddy power chords are it's specialty. Me being into more melodic punk/metal/hardcore it was awful.

Where the amp was brilliant however is when you switched over to the dirty channel, dimed the master, and used the gain for volume. Glorious sparkly clean tones were the result.

We've already had this "argument", but my perception of this amp is so different from yours! I find it a terrific rock amp, one of the best blues amp I've ever played, and a fantastic jazz amp too. It can do heavy metal brilliantly too - just not my thing.

What matters is that we're both happy with our current amps!
Ant

Orange Gear: RV50 MKI, R30, AD15, PPC212
And.... Genz Benz Black Pearl 30
Past Orange: AD30TC Combo, TT, AD5


Guitars: Gibson Les Paul Standard Faded, Vigier Expert Retro 54, Gibson SG 70s Tribute, Aria Pro II RS X80, G&L ASAT Special Tribute

jesperbc
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by jesperbc » Thu Jan 01, 2015 2:19 pm

1) Roland Cube thing - was very old and sounded horrible overall
2) Carlsbro 60w Twin Channel Power Amp - was very old and sounded horrible overall
3) Vox Valvetronix AD120VTX - has lots of great amp simulation (especially distortions) and effects, along with a super nifty board with two rocker pedals, tap tempo and easy layout to change presets, but in the end I sold because I could never get a good clean tone out of it (was playing with active pickups and was still in the early stages of learning about amps, pickups and guitar-related electronics in general)

And then there was Orange...

4) Orange Crush PiX 35LDX - was brand new and sounded horrible
5) Orange AD30HTC - bought brand new, however the voicing of the amp was not really to my taste, so I traded it for the TH100 I have now
6*) Vox AC15C1 - bought used, use it at home, sounds fantastic, especially with gnarly fuzz, but also delivers great cleans and crunch.
7*) Orange TH100 - traded my AD30HTC for this one. Love it!

Amps with *) I still own.
Gear: Orange Rocker 30 head, Orange TH100 head, Orange PPC212OB cab, pedals galore, Fender MIJ 52 RI Tele w. BKP Blackguard Flat '52s, Fender MIA Standard Strat w. Fender CS Fat '50s, ESP LTD MH-1000 w. BKP (AlNiCo) Nailbomb/VHII.

MikeD
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Re: Before Orange.

Post by MikeD » Thu Jan 01, 2015 2:54 pm

1. Crate gx-40c
2. Vox vt 60
3. Blackstar ht 100 + 412
4. Orange rockerverb mkll + 212 cob

...my only excuse is I was a late bloomer when it comes to playing live....
Gibson: Angus Young SG 03 / LP Standard 05 / Firebird V 01
Orange: RV50 mkII & ppc212-c / Micro Dark & ppc112 / TH30 Combo

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