Orange Bass Terror - Mini Review and tips on getting the best out of it.

[Stub Mandrel]

I've had my Bass Terror for two years and done plenty of gigs with it. I wrote a summary for someone who asked what makes it special, and I thought it might be useful here.

I've been gigging one for two years. One line summary:

It's a hybrid amp, so you need to use gain to drive the valve input for the tone you want, and the master volume sends this to the clean class D output stage.

The main benefits are:

Valve tone - if it's the 'classic' Orange overdriven without ridiculous distortion tone that's important to you, then this amp has it.

Great basic tone - the amp sounds good with bass, middle and treble at 12 o'clock, and the controls give good shaping without being too severe.

Controllability - it's easy to find a place on the gain control (usually between 1 o'clock and 3 o'clock for passive basses) where you get a signature, only slightly raw, tone that can easily be overdriven by digging in - but the point does change between basses.

A switchable clean tone - if you want it.

Power - loud enough for anywhere, I saw Diamond Head use one as backline at Manchester O2, which is huge.

Plenty of headroom, helped by natural compression of the valve input stage - no compressor required to access that power.

Light - easy to carry.

Pad for active basses.

Very reliable DI with ground lift, I use this at 90% of gigs as I can shape the tone I send to the PA, including that control of the overdriven sound.

Speakon connectors.

Downsides:

Light, I have to strap mine down so it doesn't vibrate off the cab.

You can't use a jack speaker lead so you need a spare speakon (but I think jack speaker leads are poor IMHO).

Very powerful, so hard to adjust for low volumes - not suitable as a practice at home amp unless you use the pad with a passive bass (which means you lose the overdriven sound).

Three feet fell off the carry bag in the first couple of months. The fourth foot lasted over a year.

The internal shield started rattling at volume, so I had to open it up and bend the shield away from a nearby valve cover.

TIPS:

Run the gain high enough to get the tone you want, and use the master volume to set the output. Using gain to control volume defeats the point of a class D with valve preamp.

Always start with tone controls at 12 o'clock and work from there.

Use the ground lift on the DI as a precaution, UNLESS that stops you getting any sound.

Remember to set the switch at the back to match your speaker impedance for maximum protection.

Keep it strapped down!

 

 

[Lozz196]

Great review, is this the v1 or v2 version?

 

Edit - just reread and saw the switchable clean comment so v2.

Edited October 4, 2023 by Lozz196

[BassAdder60]

Good review .. a top tip for lightweight class d amps is to pop a bar mat on the amp top

 

I have a large black rubber one that sits on my cab and never had an amp move. 
 

I really wanted to enjoy this amp when I tried one but I had a rogue new one arrive and there was more wrong with it than right ! It was returned and I got something else 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by BassAdder60

[Paul C]

Great work. I'm a big fan of this head. My friend had the first edition and I found it went into overdrive way too soon. The new one is ace....nice di too. The EQ is not like a regular eq that I'm typically used to (at least not in my eyes). Took me a while to get my daft head around it. I like it all centred but have started running it with low and high around 9/10 and the mids up at 3. Love it like this. 

[bassbiscuits]

To add to the issue of lightweight amp heads moving, I use a roll of black rubber non-slip matting from our local Wilko store (RIP) which stops anything creeping about on top of my cab mid-gig.