I know the Orange heads I am looking at only have a valve in the pre amp but I like the tones I have heard from them, I don't use the effects on my Champion amp now so I am not phased by the lack of that. I just want a nice small amp for practice and bedroom use. Looking at the Vox BC112 or Orange PPC112 cabs. I will eventually build up a pedal board as my playing advances further. Ttying to decide if I should get an over drive pedal for the Orange or just the head and cab for now. I really liked the EVH 5150 pedal
Advice needed
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Agreed. The micro heads are good amps for what they are.. but unless youre certain thats exactly the kind of sound you want.. youd be better off with a katana type amp. This will give you plenty of versatility.
The flip side is.. if youre certain.. then go for it and load up on pedals to get the nuances in sound you want.
Also to consider.. if you like metal and heavy rock.. any reason youre looking at an OD pedal? OD into a valve amp and into a solid state are very different animals. And I would not call the micro series amps valve amps.. even though they have a 12ax7.
Might want to consider mxr fullbore metal or the ht pedals.. they can at least back the gain down for lighter stuff. But to V8 point. If you havent got these answers... a katana may well be the answer
I will go to a Guitar Centre while I am in the States and try out some head and cab options. I saw a youtube video with Rob Chapman and the winners of the metal pedal shoot out were the EVH 5150, the Freedman BE a Diesel pedal and the Boss Metalcore. I like the tone of the EVH5150 and the noise gate. I will try out some pedals along with the heads
EVH5150 pedal gets rave reviews - like the fact there's a noise gate built-in!
But...it's the same price as a katana. I do prefer versatility, so the katana is my choice. It's does cleans, funky sound, ambient, rock, metal and - since chappers and rabea use it - it must djent like a mofo ?
Are you talking about the Katana combo? Or the head plus a cab?
I am looking more for a head and cab but i will check out the katana combo and also the head thanks
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Sean1983 I saw a youtube video with Rob Chapman and the winners of the metal pedal shoot out were the EVH 5150, the Freedman BE a Diesel pedal and the Boss Metalcore.
Just be aware that here Lee was randomly turning knobs, which is not the best way to tweak a pedal to get a good sound, and there was only a small pool of pedals they went through. With that said the drive pedal market is completely oversaturated so it's difficult to choose.
But the Orange amps should have a ton of gain, and you might not even need a pedal, unless you don't like the Orange flavour of gain (then why buy one), or you want to go from clean to dirty and the amp only has one channel. But I'd always choose tube gain over transistor gain (hint: pedals are full of transistors).
If you want a tube amp get a tube amp. People rave about the Katana but it's known more for its versatility and features than it's amazing tone. A tube amp will have a beautiful quality about it that the Katana can't capture.
It makes more sense to get the amp (and cab?), then decide if you actually need a pedal. And if you do, you may just need a boost (like a Tubescreamer or whatever) to push the tube gain a little further, rather than a distortion pedal.
ChrisDanger Makes sense. I am going to get the Micro Dark head probably, but I will try out some all tube amps and see if I can fit one in the budget. I like the idea of a head and cab so I can add or trade in heads at a later stage as my playing progresses and build up some cabs. I may just get the 1x8 Orange cab to haul to lessons and keep a 2x12 at home
Pedal wise I want to try out the MXR Super Badass Distortion