Orange Micro Terror

Wormwood

Morning Guys

After selling a 50w tube amp, both because it was too big and to defray expenses, i wondered into a store and grabbed the nearest thing for a grand.
A roland cube 15. My reasoning was; "well I have a pocket pod, so all I need is something clean".

Then I plugged it in and my soul died.
I have a studio with some Duncans in it and I might as well be playing a red Smasher strat copy, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't tell the difference.

Until June next year my amp budget is under 2k, which is like lying at the bottom of the ocean looking toward the surface.
Then I saw someone selling the orange Micro Terror on the classifieds and checked it out on the net. It seems too good to be true (marshaldirect has it listed at 1054 for the head and 695 for the cab).
Could I have a "similar" experience to my tube amp with this little beggar?

Has anyone here played with this amp?
I hear good things from the internet and I love the way it sounds miked up on youtube, but id rather hear it from here.

In case anyone asks, my application will be playing alone, jamming with a bassist. nothing more taxing.

Squonk

Wormwood wrote: Morning Guys

Then I plugged it in and my soul died.
I have a studio with some Duncans in it and I might as well be playing a red Smasher strat copy, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't tell the difference.

It wasn't the Roland that killed the old soul it was the Pocket Pod. I even upgraded to a Pod XT and it sounded like a Nachos Mexicana through the Cube. On the other hand I am busy testing an old Korg AX1500 and it sounds awesome through the cube.

AlanRatcliffe

Good point - did you try plug straight into the Cube?

I don't know the Micro Terror, but orange does some great small solid state amps, so I would expect decent results.

Wormwood

I did try though the cube after I mistakenly coupled the pod into the drive stage of the cube and made terrifying space noises. ( no one came to visit though :'( )

While it had more soul, it was still a flat robot soul.

What's nice about the Micro terror is the 12ax7 as the preamp stage:

Andertons makes entertaining videos:

=

Its just that this sounds almost too good, must be the mikes?

Big-G

It was my Micro Terror that was in the classifieds, and it was a great little amp, especially for the money, but I did find that it was either great for heavier distortions, or clean sound, but not able to give that in between sound of gentle 'just starting to break up' type distortion.

Thats why I upgraded to the Vox AC15.

So I guess it boils down to what you are looking for sound wise? For a bit more (around the R2k mark, aybe slightly higher) I would seriously recommend the Vox 'Lil Night Train'... I was close to settling on that amp because the AC15 was just too much money, but I thankfully found an absolute steal on the AC15.

The Lil night train is only 2w, but its still pretty loud considering, but the tone out of it to my ears out performs the Micro Terror. And the other advantage is that its 'full valve' rather than just a valve in the preamp.

Either way, they are both great little amps, but I think the 'lil night train' is the better of the two, so see if you can try one out?

Cheers
G!

Wormwood

Thanks for chiming in G ?

I wasn't sure if you were someone who posted here or just a passing through classified guy, or I would have PM'd you.
I do like the sound of orange distortion, and from what I hear the micro dose it better than the crush ect.

I did see the lil night train and got painful GAS but I was under the impression that with the cab it was a great deal more expensive than say 2.5k.
Perhaps its time to do some shopping around. (and this is where your budget goes to hell and comes back with a half stack and a bunch of flowers for the wife).

Big-G

Yer, the main issue with the lil night train is that you need to pay extra for the cab. The little 10" cab that you can buy as a combo with the lil night train is to be honest, rather boxy sounding, so I would not recommend that cab. As I described in my other thread ('does the AC15 sound like the AC30 only quieter' or something like that), the cab for the night train made it sound like someone was trying to contain the Hulk in a shoe box. Brilliant amp, but really let down by the cab.

The other feature I like more about the lil Nightrain is that you have more control over tone, as you can control bass and treble separately, which can give you more flexibility than the single tone knob of the orange. Whilst its more expensive, I'd definitely say that its an amp that you are more likely to keep hold of than the Orange, and you could always add a better cab down the line?

Not sure what area you are in, but Paul Bothners in N1 city had the head and cab, and I think it was about R2800 that they were asking for them both? That will only be till the end of the month though, as its their guitar month, so the specials stop then!

Hope that helps?

Cheers!
G!

Wormwood

"I think it was about R2800 that they were asking for them both? That will only be till the end of the month though, as its their guitar month, so the specials stop then! "

Thanks for the info, that hit me straight in the wallet, will have to make a turn there for better or worse.
will also read that thread.

Big-G

As pointed out above, if you do get to try the lil night train out, I would suggest trying it both through the matching cab, as well as a larger more expensive cab, so you can actually hear what the lil night trains capable of.

Let us know how you get on?

Cheers!
G!

Wormwood

You know, after reading your other thread it seems that you had a soft spot for the Micro terror, which is what I was looking for.

In the long run ( 6 months, say) i will probably upgrade to something like a blackstar HT5 / marshall class 5 or even possibly the craig 2w.

The micro terror will possibly smooth over the pain of owning a cube ( no offence cube owners, subjectivity ect.) for the mean time and I will not worry about selling it / keeping it as a cool toy when I upgrade.

The vox might be too much in the middle price wise for me at the moment and Im not sure about the trebly / jangly vox thing. That isn't to say that I'm not going to take a little road trip to bothners and play both, since that is where the rub really lies.

singemonkey

I'm going to again recommend the Laney Cub 12. It's a full tube amp. Has a 12 inch speaker to bring out the tone (although a lot better if replaced with a quality speaker) and has a 1W input for bedroom level overdrive. They can be had very cheap. To my ears they also sound a lot better than the little Orange tube amps (or the Vox Night Train) and certainly any solid-state, or hybrid amp I've ever heard.

Wormwood

I have been looking at the Laney since you made that thread, definitely did not fall on deaf ears.
There was one going recently on gumtree along with some sort of jap tele for 3.5k

Reinhard

I don't know if buying a new amp "to hold you over" is the best idea. Also, did you test the Cube in the store?

It seems that a lot of money is being spent and you still don't have what you REALLY want. I'm sure the POD has a headphone out. Practice with the POD, sell the cube while it is still rather new and save till you can buy what you really want. When you are ready to buy, take your gear along and test it on the amp you are interested in. Try everything in your price range and take what you like best.

Also, deals can be had on gumtree which can save a lot of money.

Norman86

Reinhard wrote: I don't know if buying a new amp "to hold you over" is the best idea. Also, did you test the Cube in the store?

It seems that a lot of money is being spent and you still don't have what you REALLY want. I'm sure the POD has a headphone out. Practice with the POD, sell the cube while it is still rather new and save till you can buy what you really want. When you are ready to buy, take your gear along and test it on the amp you are interested in. Try everything in your price range and take what you like best.

Also, deals can be had on gumtree which can save a lot of money.

+1 dont waste money... only the stores make profit like that, and you end up with tone you hate, wishing you hadnt bought wha you did! ?

Sean

Reinhard wrote: It seems that a lot of money is being spent and you still don't have what you REALLY want. I'm sure the POD has a headphone out. Practice with the POD, sell the cube while it is still rather new and save till you can buy what you really want. When you are ready to buy, take your gear along and test it on the amp you are interested in.

Wormwood

I suppose it could be worse than a cube for the next couple of months, that is good advice.

Reinhard

Wormwood wrote: I suppose it could be worse than a cube for the next couple of months, that is good advice.

And continue tweaking the cube, I am sure you will get a workable tone ?

Wormwood

"continue tweaking the cube"

I will, but remember what happened to this guy's career ???

Reinhard

Wormwood wrote: "continue tweaking the cube"

I will, but remember what happened to this guy's career ???