Orange amps, one trick pony?

[lancer]

Or do any of you guys use them in on non Rock/Metal/Punk applications.

Their endorsers would suggest no 😊

Country/Jazz/Blues/Pop anyone?

How do you use yours?

[Paul C]

Hi I've got the orange Terror head now with the clean switch. I dont play the styles you mention but i really like the head. It's got a really simple, musical EQ and a warm sound. I've had an ashdown ABM combo for over 20 years and they make excellent gear but I'm enjoying the Orange too. It's also a hell of a lot easier to move than my old combo.

[knirirr]

36 minutes ago, lancer said:

Country/Jazz/Blues/Pop anyone?

Orange Terror (with 1x12 cab) for jazz. Sounds good and is much easier to transport than the Trace Elliot I used to use.

[Jus Lukin]

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Edited March 11, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[jrixn1]

I twice used a borrowed Orange setup.  With an acoustic folk singer-songwriter, it was an Orange Terror and was ok on bass guitar, although it only seemed to have two settings: off, and extremely loud.   

The other time, a straight-ahead jazz gig on upright, I can't remember exactly which Orange it was - it might have been a combo - but I struggled to get a good sound from it.

[Steve Browning]

I used a pair of OR120s in a blues band. Great sounding amps.

[Cat Burrito]

I use Orange exclusively now and I am not a metal guy, at all! I play across several acts ranging power pop, New Wave, Americana, post punk and 60s Garage rock. I use three different set ups; a 4x10 & 1x15 with a AD200B all valve head for big shows, an SP212 with terror head for smaller venues and an Orange Crush for home practice. If it is one trick, it's the trick I want.

[skychaserhigh]

I have a Four Stroke 500 and it's fantastic.  Yes it can be very rock n roll,  but with the powerful eq it can do pretty much any tone you like. Shame they discontinued it really. 

[attackbass]

Used the AD200b and 8x10 for a number of years touring and recording..

Can do a nice clean glassy tone. It was a great amp, the eq did very little really and it sort of has that orange sound, always felt it was quite a mid forward amp in comparison to say an SVT and not as clear as an SVT but it broke up a lot easier and sounded great still..

 

The 8x10 is amazing..preferred it over the ampeg 8x10 it just seemed to go deeper and was more articulate. Actually got to compare them side by side one tour.

 

Uses it for a few wedding gigs at one point but as the amp warmed up and I started to play more and more into it, the tone became a lot more BSSM RHCP than nice, inoffensive wedding bass tone. I loved it haha. 

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I've never owned an Orange amp, but over the last 56 years I've owned quite a few amps, and never found any of them to be genre specific. Having played pretty much every genre there is I wouldn't even know what would make an amp genre specific.

[Reggaebass]

A friend of mine has one and he plays the same as me,  reggae/dub, it sounds great and does the lows really well 

[bigjimmyc]

I have the OB-1 500 and yes, it’s for rock. Possibly not the most versatile amp, but the clean channel is massive and the blend dirty channel gives you a whole other dimension. 
My advice is try it with your music, your style, your other gear. You might like it. 

[EBS_freak]

On 04/03/2021 at 17:58, Bill Fitzmaurice said:

I've never owned an Orange amp, but over the last 56 years I've owned quite a few amps, and never found any of them to be genre specific. Having played pretty much every genre there is I wouldn't even know what would make an amp genre specific.

I concur - amps are amps, the rest is marketing it would appear.

Darkglass is the bass amp that springs to mind that out of all the bass amp manufacturers that I know, appear to be very genre specific.

[Al Krow]

5 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

I concur - amps are amps, the rest is marketing it would appear.

Darkglass is the bass amp that springs to mind that out of all the bass amp manufacturers that I know, appear to be very genre specific.

Interested if you are saying that as someone who has or previously had one?

The DG amps do offer a classic DG drive at the front end which you can engage full on "for metal", as it were, or just a bit of dirt to add a bit grit to your tone, or not have any dirt at all!

It does an excellent clean with a quality 6 band EQ and all the headroom you are likely to need in the 900 series 2. And several of us are using DG amps across a variety of genres.

[EBS_freak]

14 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

Interested if you are saying that as someone who has or previously had one?

The DG amps do offer a classic DG drive at the front end which you can engage full on "for metal", as it were, or just a bit of dirt to add a bit grit to your tone, or not have any dirt at all!

It does an excellent clean with a quality 6 band EQ and all the headroom you are likely to need in the 900 series 2. And several of us are using DG amps across a variety of genres.

Im saying that as a person looking at the marketing. The wording, the endorsements, the branding. Go to their website and the first thing you are hit with are the words "Aggressively Distorting Advanced Machine" - yes, it's a pedal - but it sets the scene from the word go. Have a look at the apparel - the tees especially - that's very much targeting a rockier/metal audience don't you think?

I click on creations and specifically limited editions. The imagery I am seeing is very much with the rockier/metal audience.

Lets look at the amps, Microtubes 900v2. What's this Microtubes stuff about then - it must be cool to name the amp after it... I scroll down - "Use this push button to turn on or off the Microtubes Engine to add natural compression, organic harmonic enhancement, and saturation ranging from mild overdrive to high gain bass rage." Saturation, overdrive, high gain. Yup, that's pushing towards a certain genre... well, by my logic anyway.

Ok, lets forget the Microtubes thing... lets look at the Alpha-Omega and see what that's about. First thing I read, "The Alpha·Omega 900 takes the best elements of our most successful distortion preamplifier ever, combined with state of the art features to make a monstrous 900-watt amplifier with earth-shattering tone." So... the preamp is obviously pushing towards distortion for starters. Lets read more about this Alpha Omega stuff in the rest of the page.... I then read this - "Use this push button to turn on or off the Alpha·Omega Engine™ to add natural compression, organic harmonic enhancement, and saturation ranging from mild overdrive to high gain bass rage.". Again, naming the amp after this feature, which is clearly all about drive doesn't make me think that this amp is being pushed towards to the player looking for super cleans.

That's not to say these products can't do clean, after all overdrive is all about pushing clean amps to clip... but you have to agree, the marketing of these products is definitely towards a certain genre. 

I haven't owned a Darkglass hence clearly I can't comment whether they can do clean or dirty or everything in-between - but I can comment on the branding and approach to sales to say that it is targeting a specific genre (even if it can do other genres). Does the marketing appeal to me? Not at all, I don't play those genres. Hell, I don't even use bass amps anymore. They do look great though, even if they have clearly ripped off Apple's Mac Mini look and feel.

[Al Krow]

19 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

I haven't owned a Darkglass hence clearly I can't comment...

I'd leave it at that and move on 😉

[Al Krow]

@lancer - actually I wasn't on here to defend DG amps (even if I'm on my second one now and have never used it for metal!) but, like you, I'm quite interested in finding out a bit more about OTBs. There's a TB1000 in the FS that I've had my eye on and they don't seem to come up that often, but I've yet to try one out "in the flesh".

Having said that I'm a bit of a sucker for hybrid tube pre & SS power amps for their combination of warmth and portability, which the OTB provides. I came across this review recently which immediately got my attention with the opening P bass + TB tone, which sounded pretty good to me! 

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Al Krow

[SteveXFR]

I have the olderTerror Bass 500 without the clean switch. With the gain turned down it never really gets clean and it sounds a bit limp at lower gain settings. I believe the newer Terror bass is possible to get a good clean tone. 

Fortunately I play loads of punk and metal so it's great for me. 

[EBS_freak]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

I'd leave it at that and move on 😉

If you read my post and understood it, perhaps you wouldn’t respond with such dross.

I don’t need to have owned an amp to comment upon how it is marketed.

Edited March 7, 2021 by EBS_freak

[Al Krow]

27 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

If you read my post and understood it, perhaps you wouldn’t respond with such dross.

I don’t need to have owned an amp to comment upon how it is marketed.

Lol - I've got better things to do than to pick a fight with you about a DG amp you're not ever likely to own. Maybe someone else will humour you with a "proper response" (whilst hopefully not derailing the OP's thread too much).  Enjoy your evening.

Edited March 7, 2021 by Al Krow

[EBS_freak]

2 hours ago, Al Krow said:

Lol - I've got better things to do than to pick a fight with you about a DG amp you're not ever likely to own. Maybe someone else will humour you with a "proper response" (whilst hopefully not derailing the OP's thread too much).  Enjoy your evening.

Ditto.

in my defence, it seems that you deliberately go out your way to find my posts and throw the opposite opinion or try and undermine what I say? For what purpose?

My post is on topic. I stated that all amps are essentially genre indeterminate. You even quoted me where I stated amps are amps. I stated that amps are marketed in a manner to make them fit with a genre. I then even gave evidence which supported that. Likewise Orange are marketed as a more rocky amp. It makes sense, they were born out of an era of British rock n roll. There’s no reason why they couldn’t be used in pop and jazz. I am sure they have been. But they certainly aren’t marketed that way.

I am not likely to own a DG amp. I don’t understand why you seem to have some grievance with me bringing them up.  I’m unlikely to own another amp again - as you know I am on inears and PA based setup - but I don’t see why I can’t comment on equipment, especially when it’s supported with reasoned supporting evidence.

Out of everything you chose to post in response, you decided to quote me, out of context, to fit some weird narrative you are choosing to pursue. It’s puerile. Give it a rest.

[ EDITed this part: because you appealed to my better nature ]

Oh and if it makes you feel better, please free to add the obligatory laughing “like” response.

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by EBS_freak

[Cuzzie]

32 minutes ago, EBS_freak said:

Ditto.

in my defence, it seems that you deliberately go out your way to find my posts and throw the opposite opinion or try and undermine what I say? For what purpose?

My post is on topic. I stated that all amps are essentially genre indeterminate. You even quoted me where I stated amps are amps. I stated that amps are marketed in a manner to make them fit with a genre. I then even gave evidence which supported that. Likewise Orange are marketed as a more rocky amp. It makes sense, they were born out of an era of British rock n roll. There’s no reason why they couldn’t be used in pop and jazz. I am sure they have been. But they certainly aren’t marketed that way.

I am not likely to own a DG amp. I don’t understand why you seem to have some grievance with me bringing them up.  I’m unlikely to own another amp again - as you know I am on inears and PA based setup - but I don’t see why I can’t comment on equipment, especially when it’s supported with reasoned supporting evidence.

Out of everything you chose to post in response, you decided to quote me, out of context, to fit some weird narrative you are choosing to pursue. It’s puerile. Give it a rest.

And let’s not forget that you were the one that’s attempted to slide into my DMs to try and ascertain my location, my level of education and university alma mater. That’s just plain weird. Please, take a look at your behaviour before you start picking on an individuals contribution to the forum.

Oh and if it makes you feel better, please free to add the obligatory laughing “like” response.

 

I thought the response on marketing was actually spot on as well as amps not being genre specific.

To me that’s a real shame for DG products, they are more versatile than for what they are marketed for, but it’s the direction they want to take

[dannybuoy]

The Terror Bass is perfect for blues and Motown type stuff. The overdrive is quite dark and spongey, and not actually well suited for aggressive rock and metal without a pedal in front IMHO.

[Bankai]

11 hours ago, dannybuoy said:

The Terror Bass is perfect for blues and Motown type stuff. The overdrive is quite dark and spongey, and not actually well suited for aggressive rock and metal without a pedal in front IMHO.

I owned a 1st Gen TB500 and spongey sums it up nicely. I’d maybe even go so far as to say woolly. I have an AD200B now (which is for sale on this forum!) and it’s very different. That can do glass clean through to grind.

[EBS_freak]

That's an interesting point @Bankai. I raised my eyebrow when you said glass clean and my mind wondered towards Marshall vs Fender clean. Both can do immensely clean - but both are of a very different timbre.

That's not to say either can't do clean, or can't be used in different genres, as Fender and Marshall, arguably more than any other amp brands, have shown that they span all the genres.

Funnily enough, I popped over to the Fender site last night and its quite interesting to note that Fender are largely genre neutral in their marketing. I was going to compare with Marshall - but their site looks like it's down at the moment.