The new Orange OBC-112

[Al Krow]

THE OBC112

What orange have to say:

"... A SMALL CAB WITH A BIG SOUND

The OBC112 cabinet is Orange’s newest addition to the range. With rear porting and featuring a 400 Watt Lavoce Neodymium 12″ bass speaker, the OBC112 produces a surprising amount of bottom end despite its modest size.

Built from 15mm Birch ply, the OBC112 is light enough to be truly portable and the classic Orange picture frame design and our iconic livery are your guarantees of solid craftsmanship and build quality."

A few observations from me:

• 400W at 8ohm
• So a rig of two of these can effectively deliver 800W at 4ohm with two 1x12 speakers pushing the air out. That should be plenty for most small / medium sized venues and anything larger is anyway likely to have it's own house PA.
• From a British manufacturer to boot (made in Bexleyheath).
• At £399 competing directly with Markbass 121 cabs and significantly cheaper than VK or BF 112s.

Seems to me definitely worth checking out!

Thanks to @karlfer for bringing to our attention - much appreciated, let us know how you get on with your new stack.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Al Krow

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Speakers don't deliver watts, and Hoffman's Iron Law is immutable. That doesn't necessarily mean it's not a decent enough piece of kit, but I'd have to see some real data before making any assumptions about how well it compares to the competition.

[CyberBass]

I have two of the cabs that are paired with an orange OB1-500 head and they are wonderful cabs, they project well and sound sweet. When I get time I’ll write a review, but I would recommend them highly.

Edited October 27, 2018 by CyberBass

[CyberBass]

Forgot to say they are Compact and light (11.85kg each) for ease of transportation, you could carry one in each hand and not break your back or break into a sweat. Roqsolid are making me some covers, so they will have the dimensions for other purchasers also.

Edited October 27, 2018 by CyberBass

[Dood]

Interestingly, TC Electronic K-Cabs, Laney SL cabs and now these Orange models are all using LaVoce speakers. I liked the sound of both the Laney and the TC, so I expect I will like these when I review them next month. Not bad for the money at all!

[stewblack]

3 hours ago, Dood said:

Interestingly, TC Electronic K-Cabs, Laney SL cabs and now these Orange models are all using LaVoce speakers. I liked the sound of both the Laney and the TC, so I expect I will like these when I review them next month. Not bad for the money at all!

So it sounds like a choice of which livery one prefers. 

[Dood]

15 minutes ago, stewblack said:

So it sounds like a choice of which livery one prefers. 

I couldn’t comment if the speakers are all the same model, certainly the cabinet sizes differ which could lead to varying responses.

[Al Krow]

13 hours ago, Dood said:

Interestingly, TC Electronic K-Cabs, Laney SL cabs and now these Orange models are all using LaVoce speakers. I liked the sound of both the Laney and the TC, so I expect I will like these when I review them next month. Not bad for the money at all!

Looking forward to your review.

The direct competition seem to be compact Markbass cabs (NY 121) in terms of both price and size and power handling. So a comparison to those but also how they stack up against eg a BF SuperCompact which is 50% more expensive, would be really interesting. 

A lot of us agree that a high quality cab can make all the difference to our sound as bass players. If these stack up well against the more expensive competition such as Barefaced, I could easily see myself switching out from a single BF SC to two of these. 

Edited October 28, 2018 by Al Krow

[Al Krow]

15 hours ago, CyberBass said:

I have two of the cabs that are paired with an orange OB1-500 head and they are wonderful cabs, they project well and sound sweet. When I get time I’ll write a review, but I would recommend them highly.

Very interested to hear what else you considered or have previously owned on the cab front and how these new Orange cabs stack up?

[Rich]

43 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Very interested to hear ... how these new Orange cabs stack up?

One on top of the other..?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. As you were.

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

One on top of the other..?

Sorry, I couldn't resist. As you were.

Ok that's you in the sin bin for the rest of the day... 😁

 

[JohnDaBass]

Looking forward to seeing & hearing some reviews of the OBC-112.

Healthy competition is always good to keep pushing the boundaries of product offerings to us the customer. It keeps manufacturers on their toes and maintains reasonable pricing. 

Had a quick look at the LaVoce site and the XMax figure for the only 400W 12 speaker appears quite low compared to our Old friend the Beyma SMS 12.

Anybody with more technical prowess able to comment?  

[CyberBass]

1 hour ago, Al Krow said:

Very interested to hear what else you considered or have previously owned on the cab front and how these new Orange cabs stack up?

I’ve owned many set ups with cab combinations including:

accugroove el whappo and Barefaced Super 12, but all with different heads and all were and are of a much higher purchase price point than the orange cabs.

what I can say is the orange cabs are extremely well constructed, rear ported and lite at 11.83kg each. The cabs don’t take up a lot of room on the back seat of your car, so their easy to transport.

They pair perfectly with my orange ob1-500 and can handle whatever I throw at it volume wise without deterioration in quality of sound.

I know it is subjective and my pairing and choice may and will not be for everyone, but to my mind, my wallet (especially as I got £100 saving off retail price because I bought two), my ears I am extremely happy with my purchase and set up.

Not sure if that helps but I recommend at least demoing them at retailer.

Edited October 28, 2018 by CyberBass

[Bridgehouse]

I’ve always found Orange stuff to be a bit catch 22 myself. 

It’s orange. I’m not sure orange would be my first choice of cab/amp colour. So they do some stuff in black. But then it says orange on it - and people are like “why does your black speaker say orange when it’s black?!”

Mind you, I know quite a few people who would say I have a Barefaced cheek for calling myself a bass player...

[CyberBass]

Just now, Bridgehouse said:

I’ve always found Orange stuff to be a bit catch 22 myself. 

It’s orange. I’m not sure orange would be my first choice of cab/amp colour. So they do some stuff in black. But then it says orange on it - and people are like “why does your black speaker say orange when it’s black?!”

Mind you, I know quite a few people who would say I have a Barefaced cheek for calling myself a bass player...

I don’t care what it says on either a cab, an amp or headstock of the bass, let your set up do the talking 😊👍.

if it sounds good you’ll soon get compliments.

[HazBeen]

At least they are not isobaric, so yeah on that.

It concerns me when cab builders do not list things like frequency handling. Looking at the size not sure how well they would handle a low B stand alone....... I think I can guess the answer.

[Rich]

Yes. Frequency range is the very first thing I look at in a cab's specs, followed by weight and SPL. The last thing I want is a cab that's going to fart out every time I hit low notes on the fat string. Although I'm sure somebody will be along in a minute to tell me that the freq range is no indication of a cab's robustness at 30Hz.

[Al Krow]

6 minutes ago, Rich said:

Yes. Frequency range is the very first thing I look at in a cab's specs, followed by weight and SPL. The last thing I want is a cab that's going to fart out every time I hit low notes on the fat string. Although I'm sure somebody will be along in a minute to tell me that the freq range is no indication of a cab's robustness at 30Hz.

We should hopefully be able to put the B string question to bed pretty quickly - either @CyberBass has a 5 string, or Dood will no doubt cover off when he does his review.

1 hour ago, CyberBass said:

I don’t care what it says on either a cab, an amp or headstock of the bass, let your set up do the talking 😊👍.

if it sounds good you’ll soon get compliments.

+1 ^^

It's ok, I've had to put up with plenty of ribbing from fellow BCers about Markbass "bumble-bee" colouring over the years...and then they quietly remark about just how reliable and well made the gear is  

[CyberBass]

25 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

We should hopefully be able to put the B string question to bed pretty quickly - either @CyberBass has a 5 string, or Dood will no doubt cover off when he does his review.

+1 ^^

It's ok, I've had to put up with plenty of ribbing from fellow BCers about Markbass "bumble-bee" colouring over the years...and then they quietly remark about just how reliable and well made the gear is  

I am unable to comment regarding 5 string basses through cab as I only play 4’s. The basses I use through the rig are: Fender Mike Dirnt roadworn, Fender JP Mustang and Orange O Bass and I mainly play with a pick with finger style also, and mainly punk or rock and it can eat low E’s and detuned all day without a problem or deterioration in sound quality. They really shift air. 

if dood can’t clarify, there are plenty circulating in the retailers to test out, and I do recommend at least demoing them. I am more than happy with them.

Edited October 28, 2018 by CyberBass

[karlfer]

They do a good job for the pub band I'm in. Thanks @Dood for the Reidmar 750 settings on his excellent & comprehensive review.

Although they've aged the guitarists quickly.

Edited October 28, 2018 by karlfer

[Al Krow]

1 minute ago, karlfer said:

They do a good job for the pub band I'm in. Thanks @Dood for the Reidmar 750 settings on his excellent & comprehensive review.

 

Do you reckon you could get hold of a 5 string and give the cabs a good "seeing-to" on the open and low end of the B string for us?

Love the look of the rig btw!

[CyberBass]

[Al Krow]

Is the bottom cab the same model but just in black?

[CyberBass]

Yes both obc112’s, I wanted one of each colour to coordinate with head. 😊👍

[Al Krow]

12 minutes ago, CyberBass said:

Yes both obc112’s, I wanted one of each colour to coordinate with head. 😊👍

Not helpful 😂 So I could get two cabs in tasty black to set off my white basses, and cause mass confusion as to why they had been labelled "orange"...now there's a thought!

I wonder if @thebassgallery in Camden are going to be stocking these any time soon?

Edited October 28, 2018 by Al Krow