Orange amps feedback

Jack-Flash-Jr

Not that kind of feedback! Just, anyone here had any experience with them? Worthwhile? Look at replacing Marshall Valvestate 40w that's a little creaky...
EDIT: search function on the forum not working so well... 'orange' had no results but just found older threads by clicking through! Any feedback on the amps still would be welcomed!

AlanRatcliffe

Not the current crop. I always preferred the older valve models to the Marshalls as they generally are the same type of sound, but without the harsh edge and with tons more low end on tap.

The small Orange Crush has a lot of positive press for a little solid state practice amp.

Jack-Flash-Jr

Thanks Alan - will keep an eye for older models... looking for something that can be used for practice and small club settings. Do you have any recommendations for smallest practical size that can still be used for a bar/club? I once saw a clip of Joe Strummer walking onstage in a fairly large venue, amp in hand (!), place it on a chair, plug and go! Maybe a shand miked it up quickly or there was a line out...

Vick

15watt valve(talking about a small bar hear...),but if u want clean head room,think ul need sum more try the orange AD-15 8) but ul have 2 import,think orange is outa SA...

Vick

Make that the ad-30,sumhow mis read 'club' for 'bar' ?

AlanRatcliffe

Sorry - I meant I don't really know the newer models. Don't know how good they are.

One that is pretty nice (although not a typical Orange sound) is the Tiny Terror head - a class A head switchable from 15W to 7W. &W cranked is still a bit loud for home use though. The local distributor didn't see fit to import any (they seem to concentrate on the small solid state ones and the big 50 Watters), but there are one or two floating around. Best described as "Marshall (ish) with a touch of Vox". The nice thing about a head is you can match it up with different cabs for different gigs - anything from a single 10" to a 4 x 12.

Speaking Vox - the Night Train is a similar amp head with the same 7/15W switching but with a bit more of a Vox tone (a bit more modern and with more drive too). The AC15 is always a good choice too - especially the handwired (I would say that though) - loud enough to hang with a drummer (as long as you don't want crystal cleans).

But it all boils down to what kind of sound you are chasing... Rock? Jazz? Metal? Orange generally are squarely in the rock camp. Are you prepared to do more with pedals for drive or do you want all amp drive?

Jack-Flash-Jr

Vick wrote Make that the ad-30,sumhow mis read 'club' for 'bar' ?

Thought you might have meant 30! Got a 40 at the moment and was just wondering how small I can go... my roadie (ahem) is getting older...
Alan, looking to pedals for drive right now because my valvestate 40's clean channel sucks, so I go low gain on the gain channel for clean and pedal for overdrive (punk blues). That might change if the amp covers both nicely!

AlanRatcliffe

If you're using 40W SS now, a 25W valve amp will be about the same. Also depends hugely on how efficient the speaker is.

How small you can go isn't really an issue if you have good monitoring - a little amp that sounds good and has all the features you need will do the job with a mic (or a DI if it's a modelling amp) - and work better for low volume practice and to keep stage levels sane. The downside is you become wholly dependent on the monitors to hear what you are doing. IMO the minimum for stage volume without monitors is a 15W with an efficient speaker (100dB sensitivity or better) or 25W with a less efficient model (97dB or less).

Jack-Flash-Jr

Alan Ratcliffe wrote If you're using 40W SS now, a 25W valve amp will be about the same. Also depends hugely on how efficient the speaker is.

How small you can go isn't really an issue if you have good monitoring - a little amp that sounds good and has all the features you need will do the job with a mic (or a DI if it's a modelling amp) - and work better for low volume practice and to keep stage levels sane. The downside is you become wholly dependent on the monitors to hear what you are doing. IMO the minimum for stage volume without monitors is a 15W with an efficient speaker (100dB sensitivity or better) or 25W with a less efficient model (97dB or less).

Got it, I will see what's out there - BTW I've saved my notification mail of your response with an ever growing list of your posts... I really appreciate the time you put in to your hyper professional responses, thanks again!