orange amps

[pinebrookjohn]

is there a big difference in English and American issue orange amps? a friend has one and swears theres a big difference. I haven't heard his amp yet so i cant say.

[Tim1]

As far as I know all the AD200s are made in England, and my new one (last week!)actually come with a hang tag proudly stating so on an English flag. I do not know where the Terror Bass heads are made. I think there was talk a few years ago of them starting an American assembly plant, but I don't think this happened. FWIW the AD200 is one amazing head and is giving my SVT VR a run for its money when I have to decode which to take to a gig. If they all come from the same factory the only difference should be the transformer tap for the relevant country's voltage.

[pinebrookjohn]

thanks tim that is what info i was getting online.

[JGR]

The Terrors are made in China.

[AwkwardLoudness]

There are significant differences between the vintage Orange amps and any of the newer ones regardless of where they're assembled. The only thing they have in common is the orange tolex and 'Orange' label. Vintage is the way to go with Orange, although not all of the new ones have a vintage counterpart. The new Orange amps I've seen had power tube sockets soldered direct to PCB board....

[Timi]

Originally Posted by Tim1

As far as I know all the AD200s are made in England, and my new one (last week!)actually come with a hang tag proudly stating so on an English flag.

This is just getting creepy dude!

[pinebrookjohn]

i was talking about the newer ones. I think he just got bullshited by a salesmen

[Tim1]

The newer ones are the Mk3 versions. Mk I and 2 were hand wired point to point and were more expensive because of this, the Mk 3 uses a PC board and also has one extra 12ZAX7 preamp tube. Tonally most users agree that there is no real difference between any of the versions, although I have made a comparison and think the Mk 3 might get dirty marginally earlier than the earlier versions - no real advantage or disadvantage. Since even the much vaunted early SVTs were on PC boards I don't really have an issue with this. One huge plus - I have just been looking at the insides and they come with Winged C power amp tubes as standard!! I am really enjoying mine.

[Tim1]

Hi Timi, thought you might drop in. I got the Orange to avoid the weight of the SVT VR for practices and small gigs. Love the tone, quite different although definitely not as much clean headroom as the VR. Just tried dropping a GE 5751 into the first preamp slot, but although I got more clean headroom I did not like the way it seemed to muddy the tone slightly. Not too worried about the headroom issue, it seems to really love my jazz bass but does dirty up a bit quickly with the gruntier pickup on my 68 telecaster bass. Fantastic value at the moment with the pound being so low - cost me half what the SVT VR cost.
And for the person who thought I was having a conversation with myself last time we talked to each other on Talkbass - I am not schizophrenic and neither am I!

[Bassmec]

Originally Posted by AwkwardLoudness

There are significant differences between the vintage Orange amps and any of the newer ones regardless of where they're assembled. The only thing they have in common is the orange tolex and 'Orange' label. Vintage is the way to go with Orange, although not all of the new ones have a vintage counterpart. The new Orange amps I've seen had power tube sockets soldered direct to PCB board....

The best Orange tube amp to get is one made before they where even really called Oranges.
They used to be called Matamps, made in Yorkshire.
They will still do you one in orange but they just wont write orange on it anymore.

Here is my 68 Pre Orange Matamp, Custom built for Celestions Louspeaker Testing Facility at Foxhall Rd Ipswich.


Check the build quality on TaySte_2000's new amp.
So I finally caved - Soon to be a Matamp build thread

[Timi]

Originally Posted by Tim1

Hi Timi, thought you might drop in. I got the Orange to avoid the weight of the SVT VR for practices and small gigs. Love the tone, quite different although definitely not as much clean headroom as the VR. Just tried dropping a GE 5751 into the first preamp slot, but although I got more clean headroom I did not like the way it seemed to muddy the tone slightly. Not too worried about the headroom issue, it seems to really love my jazz bass but does dirty up a bit quickly with the gruntier pickup on my 68 telecaster bass. Fantastic value at the moment with the pound being so low - cost me half what the SVT VR cost.
And for the person who thought I was having a conversation with myself last time we talked to each other on Talkbass - I am not schizophrenic and neither am I!

Weight was the main reason I got mine over an SVT 5 years ago, but I'm glad I did because I really dig the Orange. I will be retubing soon so will probably hit you up for some recommendations, still running the stock tubes in mine.