Where's the Rockerverb MkII love?

[mesa-refugee]

i've got to ask where all the love is for the RV. it seems whenever someone is asking which model to choose and the RV comes up, people tend to suggest other Orange models or outright diss the RV altogether. as a RV MkII owner this puzzles me because mine absolutely kills it. i've owned some choice amps over the years- 2 Carr amps, Fender Prosonic, 5 different Mesa models, Budda, Marshall TSL, and the criminally overlooked Genz Benz Black Pearl 30. this is just the shortlist too, so i'd like to think i can identify great tone when i hear it. a few weeks ago i splurged on a Friedman online. long story short, my RV MkII stole it's lunch money in an A/B comparison. while i'll admit that i've played a few Orange models such as the Custom Shop OR-50 that made me go, "ooh/wow" they had nowhere near the versatility of my RV, not to mention the absence of an effects loop (a deal-breaker for me...for a live amp anyway). so am i alone here? where's all the love? with guitars, you can say, "oh, you must have gotten a 'good' one" but we're dealing with amps hear. idunno, just my two-cents rant. feel free to chime in.

[OU818]

Dude I don't know which threads you have been reading but there is constantly praise for the RV.

Maybe it just didn't suite the desired sound of the posts you saw.

Anyway, if you love it then who cares what other people on the internet think.

Personally I think they sound great however when I owned the MkI it ended up just not being for me mostly due to the lack of volume on the dirt channel (yes I know it got loud but it seemed to disappear in a loud mix).

[mesa-refugee]

Anyway, if you love it then who cares what other people on the internet think.

I don't care what others think, it's more of me just being puzzled by their statements.

[thejay]

I recently just got my RV and I think it's lovely, dare I say some fender cleans and orange high gain. Yes please! Fantastic amp

[Vertikal]

The Rockerverb will go down as one of the greatest amplifiers ever created long after we're all gone. I would struggle to come up with 4-5 more that will likely have that praise. All subjective of course, but I think I can speak for many others here.

[Randy Bass]

The Rockerverbs are at/near the top of the price scale, so less people tend to have personal experience with them. Nearly everyone here has tried the Tiny Terror, so it's easier to get input about it. I've seen plenty of praise for the Rockerverbs over the years on here though, especially when it was "fresher" and the Orange line was smaller.

[Spaceboy1]

I talk crap on the RV MKII a lot lately. But, don't get me wrong, it's a good amp but I feel like it gets more praise than deserved. I have a love/hate relationship with my amp. I adore the 1-2 things it does well, but it's those times that I want something beyond the 1-2 things that I'm audibly cursing at the amp.

The amp has almost no versatility beyond range of gain. The people who tout this as being versatile are dead wrong. The tone controls are weak. The reverb has a ridiculously unusable amount available. The clean channel is dull and lifeless, although it sounds much better when it's really cranked. It takes pedals like a wet blanket. I have not found a single overdrive that actually sounds good on the clean channel, although ONE was passable (BB Preamp). Oh... those occasional comments that say it doesn't cut? Yeah, that's accurate if you're in a two guitar band with a bright amp like a Marshall.

But, for me, my primary band is a single guitar and I'm not competing for sonic territory. In fact, brighter amps bother me when I'm not wanting to stand out and blend with the music. I stomp on an EQ for leads if needed. If I keep the gain knob between 11-1 oclock it sounds fantastic. Going less than 11 is a massive drop in volume which can be compensated for with the MV. Going more than 1 is in metal territory. If you see anybody going past 2 oclock, I find it hard to believe they don't sound like garbage, especially with humbuckers.

But that 11-1 sweetspot sounds so damn gorgeous for what I need. Seriously, I have not yet found an amp that has floored me the way the Rockerverb has. I bought it for that one sound and sometimes I need to remind myself of that when I get frustrated with trying to make the amp do something other than that one sound I bought it for.

[Ronnie Robinson]

i've got to ask where all the love is for the RV. it seems whenever someone is asking which model to choose and the RV comes up, people tend to suggest other Orange models or outright diss the RV altogether. as a RV MkII owner this puzzles me because mine absolutely kills it. i've owned some choice amps over the years- 2 Carr amps, Fender Prosonic, 5 different Mesa models, Budda, Marshall TSL, and the criminally overlooked Genz Benz Black Pearl 30. this is just the shortlist too, so i'd like to think i can identify great tone when i hear it. a few weeks ago i splurged on a Friedman online. long story short, my RV MkII stole it's lunch money in an A/B comparison. while i'll admit that i've played a few Orange models such as the Custom Shop OR-50 that made me go, "ooh/wow" they had nowhere near the versatility of my RV, not to mention the absence of an effects loop (a deal-breaker for me...for a live amp anyway). so am i alone here? where's all the love? with guitars, you can say, "oh, you must have gotten a 'good' one" but we're dealing with amps hear. idunno, just my two-cents rant. feel free to chime in.

That really surprises me, don't know where you got that impression..... No forget that i've just read Spaceboys comments! , I think it's a superb amp

Mine ain't going anywhere anytime soon!

I disagree with spaceboy.....

The clean channel is warm and lush and the amp has a good and effective range of eq. The reverb is superb and how easy it cuts through a band mix depends on the amount of preamp gain your using. I do agree about Od pedals though.....you certainly wouldn't buy one as a good pedal platform......and I play mine in a 2 guitar band.....the other guy uses a Marshall.

[Bensnake]

The OR100 and the RV Mkll are the two best sounding amps ever made IMO. Those who don't feel that way are wrong. Don't listen to them.

[mesa-refugee]

i too agree with the comments that it doesn't take pedals well. it took a lot of trial and error but i found that, for me, the JHS Superbolt, and the Timmy pedals worked best. i use either one in front of the clean channel to create a quasi-channel for light crunch sounds. obviously i use the clean channel for cleans, and the dirty channel for distortion duties. when i need to bump up the distortion channel (i keep my gain @ noon) for more gain and/or leads, i hit it with an Xotic EP Booster. never played a gig where some guitarist in the audience doesn't come up after and tell me how great my tone is.

[Les Paul Lover]

i've got to ask where all the love is for the RV. it seems whenever someone is asking which model to choose and the RV comes up, people tend to suggest other Orange models or outright diss the RV altogether. as a RV MkII owner this puzzles me because mine absolutely kills it. i've owned some choice amps over the years- 2 Carr amps, Fender Prosonic, 5 different Mesa models, Budda, Marshall TSL, and the criminally overlooked Genz Benz Black Pearl 30. this is just the shortlist too, so i'd like to think i can identify great tone when i hear it. a few weeks ago i splurged on a Friedman online. long story short, my RV MkII stole it's lunch money in an A/B comparison. while i'll admit that i've played a few Orange models such as the Custom Shop OR-50 that made me go, "ooh/wow" they had nowhere near the versatility of my RV, not to mention the absence of an effects loop (a deal-breaker for me...for a live amp anyway). so am i alone here? where's all the love? with guitars, you can say, "oh, you must have gotten a 'good' one" but we're dealing with amps hear. idunno, just my two-cents rant. feel free to chime in.

That really surprises me, don't know where you got that impression..... No forget that i've just read Spaceboys comments! , I think it's a superb amp

Mine ain't going anywhere anytime soon!

I disagree with spaceboy.....

The clean channel is warm and lush and the amp has a good and effective range of eq. The reverb is superb and how easy it cuts through a band mix depends on the amount of preamp gain your using. I do agree about Od pedals though.....you certainly wouldn't buy one as a good pedal platform......and I play mine in a 2 guitar band.....the other guy uses a Marshall.

Yeah, mine is a MKI, but it doesn't sound like space boy and I are talking about the same amp.

I think the RV have the best reverb ever. The clean channel is incredible, and the dirty channel can do anything you want.

My only gripe would be that the gain stages are a bit abrupt, but it's quite possibly the Greatest Amp on Earth in my book.

Oh. And like the OP, I love the genz Benz Black Pearl. Great great amp.

[Boy_Narf]

Had a love hate (which turned into a straight up hate) relationship with my RV100. I do think they are a bit overrated, especially considering the price of them new. The used market is almost over saturated with these amps (IMO) which causes them to sell for next to nothing second hand.

The reverb wasn't that great until I did a full JJ retube. It became beautiful after the tube swap.

I didn't have any issues running pedals into it. My favorite tone was setting the dirty channel clean. It was absolutely glorious, but kind of eliminates the point of this amp just to run it clean.

I'll agree with the point above how it doesn't cut with another amp in the mix. I was in a band with a Triple Rec and they constantly asked me to turn up to the point where I was almost maxed out. Perhaps it was the directional nature of the PPC412, but I'm thinking it is sitting in that same low mid frequency range of the bass guitar. This amp is mud city with complex chords at higher gain settings. I can see it excelling at doom/sludge music where a thick wall of messy gain is needed. What initially lead me to the RV100 was several recommendations from fellow Orange forum members. I wanted the TT tone but with more volume. The RV100 was what everyone recommended. IMO It's not even close. The R30 is what people should have recommended. There is a part of me that thinks the TT preamp might have been based off the R30. Then again I have no idea which one came first

Perhaps I would have liked the 50 watt better, but I've never tried one. I'm now 110% happy with my amps. The R30 is everything I wanted my RV100 to be, and my old TT is equally as glorious.

If I was on the drugs and in the market for another 100 watt Orange head it would be the OR100 without question. Just the power scaling options are what do it for me.

[kpunk56]

no love for the RV because they cost too much ... and there are way better models that are much more affordable.

[Ronnie Robinson]

no love for the RV because they cost too much ... and there are way better models that are much more affordable.

So your view is based on the fact they are expensive and you don't don't even say that you've ever tried one.

[Ronnie Robinson]

Had a love hate (which turned into a straight up hate) relationship with my RV100. I do think they are a bit overrated, especially considering the price of them new. The used market is almost over saturated with these amps (IMO) which causes them to sell for next to nothing second hand.

The reverb wasn't that great until I did a full JJ retube. It became beautiful after the tube swap.

I didn't have any issues running pedals into it. My favorite tone was setting the dirty channel clean. It was absolutely glorious, but kind of eliminates the point of this amp just to run it clean.

I'll agree with the point above how it doesn't cut with another amp in the mix. I was in a band with a Triple Rec and they constantly asked me to turn up to the point where I was almost maxed out. Perhaps it was the directional nature of the PPC412, but I'm thinking it is sitting in that same low mid frequency range of the bass guitar. This amp is mud city with complex chords at higher gain settings. I can see it excelling at doom/sludge music where a thick wall of messy gain is needed. What initially lead me to the RV100 was several recommendations from fellow Orange forum members. I wanted the TT tone but with more volume. The RV100 was what everyone recommended. IMO It's not even close. The R30 is what people should have recommended. There is a part of me that thinks the TT preamp might have been based off the R30. Then again I have no idea which one came first

Perhaps I would have liked the 50 watt better, but I've never tried one. I'm now 110% happy with my amps. The R30 is everything I wanted my RV100 to be, and my old TT is equally as glorious.

If I was on the drugs and in the market for another 100 watt Orange head it would be the OR100 without question. Just the power scaling options are what do it for me.

Thats interesting what you say about getting recommend the rv100 as a louder version to the TT, the Rv50 and TT are very different.