$2,000 Amp Still Needs A Boost :) Options

[Todd Simpson]

You might not think that a $2,500 amp would still need a $100 boost (tube screamer) pedal to sound decent, but yup, sure does You'd think they would incorporate a little boost circuit of sorts that would do what the screamer is doing, but nope!!! By golly Orange makes em the same way they did in the 70s so .... TRADITION! darn it Anyhoo, here's OLA doing a demo of this pricey beast, with the tube screamer

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[klasaine]

You'd think they would incorporate a little boost circuit of sorts that would do what the screamer is doing, but nope!!! By golly Orange makes em the same way they did in the 70s so .... TRADITION! darn it

I agree with you, they should incorporate a 'boost'.
Because they don't really make them at all like they did in the 70s. If they did they'd probably cost 4 grand.
They were louder and cleaner back then with one (1) channel and rarely a master volume.

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This post has been edited by klasaine: Nov 19 2014, 12:51 AM

[Mertay]

They were louder and cleaner back then with one (1) channel and rarely a master volume.

No wonder I personally never connected with Orange stuff...Never heard one from that era but always thought something is just not right (or intended to be) on those amps...

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[klasaine]

They were and still are on the 'darker' side of tone but that's about the only thing that's similar between todays Orange Amps and the ones from yesteryear.
A lot of guys really dig them and sound great through them. I never really got on them though either. For the louder, tighter, higher gain thing I'm a Marshall (type) fan. I like the tight attack of a non MV marshall.

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This post has been edited by klasaine: Nov 19 2014, 02:44 AM

[SixStringSamurai]

High price doesn't mean high gain. Not that that's a bad thing.

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[Todd Simpson]

Spot on!!! I mean just like the 70s, with no BOOST!!

I agree with you, they should incorporate a 'boost'.
Because they don't really make them at all like they did in the 70s. If they did they'd probably cost 4 grand.
They were louder and cleaner back then with one (1) channel and rarely a master volume.

I'll tell ya what's not right!! 2 thousand bux and NO BOOST!!!

No wonder I personally never connected with Orange stuff...Never heard one from that era but always thought something is just not right (or intended to be) on those amps...

VERY TRUE!! The two are not the same. But this amp in particular IS a "High Gain" amp and it's EXPENSIVE. Despite the high cost, still has NO BOOST and you have to use a tube screamer.

High price doesn't mean high gain. Not that that's a bad thing.

EDIT: I don't mean to complain, but EGAD!!! At that price point, they could certainly add a little boost switch with a couple of knobs on it just to keep all the bits inside the amp. They know full well that Metal/High Gain folks use this amp and that most of them have to resort to sticking a tube screamer in front of it to tighten up/boost it. Without the screamer, it's just way to freaking muddy. Needless to say I won't be buying one.

Even the ORANGE JIM ROOT amp that I reviewed suffered BADLY from needing a tube screamer IMHO. I was doing the review as a favor for the ORANGE folks for being nice enough to let me grease up the last one they had for nearly a month. But it really could have used a screamer on it!!

Here is that vid. (P.S. the guitar sound in the intro is OVERLOUD TH1)

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This post has been edited by Todd Simpson: Nov 19 2014, 06:19 AM

[Yash]

That gain style is something I can not play with.. So, fuzzy.. Not saturated nor smooth. Though it was fine for leads, I can't just get a good rhythm tone out of those things.

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[Todd Simpson]

I must agree. However!! With proper "pre treatment" of the guitar signal it can be great. There are a couple of tricks.

1.)Parametric EQ.
*The secret sauce IMHO is using a TECH 21 PARADRIVER which has a sweepable parametic MID eq. This allows you to dial out the mud and kills the fuzz/fizz a bit.

2.)Add a Tube Screamer
*Similar impact as the paradriver but without the tweakable parmetic eq.

This is what a lot of folks do that use these for recording Rythm sounds on Metal albums. Tricks of the trade

That gain style is something I can not play with.. So, fuzzy.. Not saturated nor smooth. Though it was fine for leads, I can't just get a good rhythm tone out of those things.

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[SixStringSamurai]

Try the TH series, they're a lot higher gain out of the box, probably more your thing.

The AD/Rockerverb series are more about turning up loud and rocking it old school.

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[Todd Simpson]

Thanks for that SIXSTRING!! You are spot on there The TH series is a bit more to my liking. I had not heard of it before you mentioned! Everyone always talks about the ROCKVERB as being the "thing" Here is a vid of and ORANGE TH vs a MESA recto. Gotta say the ORANGE Rawks like a BOSS!!

Try the TH series, they're a lot higher gain out of the box, probably more your thing.

The AD/Rockerverb series are more about turning up loud and rocking it old school.

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[AK Rich]

Not sure what the big deal is here. Are we talking strictly rhythm? Has there ever been an amp in the history of the world where someone hasn't felt the need to toss some kind of boost in front of it, especially for lead playing? And even if those amps had a boost channel, would it be right, or enough for everyone? It seems to me that no matter how badass an amp is made, some folks are still going to toss their favorite boost or eq in front of it to further tailor their tone.

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This post has been edited by AK Rich: Nov 27 2014, 09:00 PM

[Mertay]

I have this old Peavey that doesn't have much gain to it even when full driven on dist. channel from amp. Very subtle sounds really good though considering the price...

But since I've been using its fx send to computer, that subtle dist. works amazing with heavy distortion plug-ins. Sort of like the tubescreamer usage but from amp. Made me think they should've designed it with 2 fx sends

Amp brands to me should be terrified as processors and computer is replacing them stronger than ever before. One thing I noticed is Marshall is including emulation outs to their bedroom type amps which is great but not enough. These days there is strong demand to amps that has processors built in.

I love analog but it must adapt.

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[Todd Simpson]

I Hear ya It's not a huge deal of course, and just a small amount of money to grab a boost. Also, as you mention there are wads of ways to boost with various pedals so would the built in solution work?

Perhaps the best feedback so far was from SIX STRING SAMURAI. The problem is actually that the guy in this vid is sorta using the wrong ORANGE amp To get it to sound like that, you have to boost it beyond it's standards input spec. Good news is that ORANGE makes a series of amps that DOES sound like this without the boost as SIX STRING pointed out.

I do like the results of boosting Don't get me wrong, I use it all the time on everything. Amps, plugins, etc. The roots of boosting like this vid involve semi clean boost with, essentially, a high pass filter (the stomp acts like one).

One amp that did incorporate input tweaks like parametric input eq before gain and boost switch was the DAR amp. Sadly, only half a dozen or so were ever made so it's a RARE bird. It's on my long term GAS list for sure!!

Not sure what the big deal is here. Are we talking strictly rhythm? Has there ever been an amp in the history of the world where someone hasn't felt the need to toss some kind of boost in front of it, especially for lead playing? And even if those amps had a boost channel, would it be right, or enough for everyone? It seems to me that no matter how badass an amp is made, some folks are still going to toss their favorite boost or eq in front of it to further tailor their tone.

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