Orange OR50 with bass

spcmstrbtasp · #1 03-25-2010, 07:20 AM

So last night, I found myself at a low volume rehearsal/gtg with some guys I usually don't play with. I'd brought one of my Yamaha BB100S cabs and an Acoustic Image Clarus plus my MIM EMG equipped jazz for the occasion as I wanted to travel light, and I had no idea what I was in for...

When I got there, one of the guitar players asked if I wanted to try playing through one of his two Orange heads instead of what I brought, as he had heard they can sound good for bass. In the spirit of experimentation, I said I was game-

He proceeded to hook up an Orange OR50 to my tiny Yamaha cab, and I proceeded to power it up- (with caution_turning up slowly). The overdrive tone was like nothing I've ever heard! Buttery is where I'd start to describe it- thick, gritty, yet smooth...Amazing! Inspirational even...

Now, the volume was kept low overall, so I couldn't see this combo ever working on a gig, but for practice and recording- unbelievable.

So, has anyone else had a similar epiphany? I know there are threads here about low wattage tube amps for bass, and even some guitar heads etc.

I've played through an AD200B in a store once, but this tone was better than that, as far as I can recall. Not versatile, mind you- and not clean either, but as far as overdrives go- It is the best I think I've ever heard from my bass- hands down. It made me want to sell all my solid state amps and fuzzes and other pedals...at least in the moment anyway...

So there...

anderbass · #2 03-26-2010, 06:07 PM

I hear ya spcmstrbtasp, my OR80 sounds great with my P-basses/bass cabs but kinda runs out of headroom pretty fast with my loud-ish rock bands. It does record really nice though.

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smo · #3 03-26-2010, 08:25 PM

The OR120, whilst not clean at all, is loud enough for gigs and rehearsals. And I like them for bass guitar.
Find yourself one of those and you'll be happy.

spcmstrbtasp · #4 01-26-2011, 06:50 AM

So this is a follow up to my original post-

I'm still rehearsing with this band in a small room (Guitars, drums, keys, bass) and up until yesterday, borrowing the guitarist's OR50 head to drive a modified Yamaha 110 with an 8ohm neo driver in it. As stated before, very happy with the tonal results if not the headroom.

Yesterday, for experiment's sake, I hooked up my LMII to the Yamaha for the rehearsal. While I didn't expect it to sound as buttery as the OR50, I did expect it to keep up volume wise, even though wasn't really moving that much air with a 110. To my disappointment, the tone was lacking and the volume couldn't keep up with the rest of the band the way it did with the OR50.

I use the LMII on a regular basis (usually with 2 Yamahas or with 1 or 2 Bag End 15s so I am familiar with the head. I generally eq the lows out to avoid overexcursion, and boost the mids a bit, with minimal use of the filters. While that tone was acceptable solo, it was lost completely with the whole band playing. ( I would not characterize this as a loud group, fwiw)

So, I guess this illustrates how the pleasant harmonic characteristics of tubes and tube overdrive trumps sheer watts in band setting. (50 vs 300 in this case). I think I'll be leaving the LMII at home for future rehearsals with this band.

MichaelThomas · #5 01-26-2011, 07:20 AM

This is pretty interesting. The OR50 and the old OR80s are some of my favorite heads from Orange. Never thought of plugging my bass into one. I used to run an old 70s 100 watt Ampeg V4 guitar head through an 810 and it gave me a really gritty sound that I could crank for days. Were you able to get a clean tone out of it or was it mostly a gritty overdriven tone?

spcmstrbtasp · #6 01-26-2011, 07:36 AM

Michael-
With the OR50- I wouldn't say it was a clean tone at all, just pleasantly thick, if that makes any sense.

I can't say the tone would be useful for all styles of playing, but I found it difficult to get a sound I thought was unpleasant or inaudible in this particular context. I am using a jazz bass with TI flats, so I'm not necessarily going for a Marcus Miller type vibe anyway. Still there's treble content that's there- enough so that notes are clearly defined when I want them to be.

The OR50 has a gain knob that when turned up, increases the overdrive and associated harmonic content. There was definitely a point where the tone was 'dirty', but this was also a situation where I could back off the volume on the bass and "clean" it up to a degree. This is something, I couldn't do with the LMII for example.

The biggest unpleasant surprise though, was how anemic the LMII was in comparison, and how it didn't seem to want to compete volume wise. Turning up the Master would have only served to cause the speaker to bottom out as it passed its excursion limits.

Spc

big Idiot · #7 01-27-2011, 02:47 PM

Crap. I was planning on selling the OR80 I have... now I'm going to have to try it through a bass cab. I hadn't even thought about it until reading this thread.

@ spcmstrbtasp and anderbass... what style of playing/music were you using it in? Any idea on the efficiency of the cabs/speakers you were using?

I'm starting up a rock power trio, with me playing some busy/melodic basslines to fill out the sound, sort of ala Andy Rourke/Peter hook kind of thing, but dirtier. The guitar player is mostly banging out chords through a Vox AC30TB, and the drummer isn't incredibly loud. I'm thinking this just might cut it...

Also, the cool thing about the OR80's (as far as I know) is that the chassis was actually made to be OR120's, and it's quite easy to add two more tube sockets. More headroom if necessary!

Mojo-Man · #8 01-27-2011, 03:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by smo

The OR120, whilst not clean at all, is loud enough for gigs and rehearsals. And I like them for bass guitar.
Find yourself one of those and you'll be happy.

+1
The OR120 sounds great for bass.
With two OBC 1x15 cabs, you will rock the house.
My favorite Orange Head of all time is the AD140B.
I wish Orange would reissue it.

anderbass · #9 01-28-2011, 09:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by big Idiot

anderbass... what style of playing/music were you using it in? Any idea on the efficiency of the cabs/speakers you were using?

I've been using my OR80 with my Mesa Powerhouse 1x15. I'm not sure of this cabs sensitivity rating but its an older 400 watt models without a horn.

I've got larger tube amps I typically use with other cabs for my loud-ish rock bands but I settled on using this Orange/Mesa pairing with a low volume, female fronted, acoustic guitar cover band I've been playing with lately. There is a drummer in this band but he's got a light touch and plays a small Jazz kit with hot sticks.

Both acoustic guitars in this band are usually amplified through a small PA but I'm typically not. (we just gig small coffee shops/private party's) But even at these lower volumes I'm pretty much always pushing my OR80 to the very limits of its cleanish headroom limits, but that's exactly where my Orange hits its sweet spot and sounds/feels the best to me, and the reason I select it over one of my bigger tube powered amps.

If your OR-80 is one of the 90's reissues like mine, are you aware that you should be setting your Ohm selector switch to one notch lower than your cabs actual ohm rating? (and not using it with a 4 ohm cab) The reason for this is they used OR120 output transformer/ohm selector switch configuration in these models and didn't compensate anything for using 2 less power tubes. I found out about this on several guitar forums and my amp tech absolutely confirmed this on mine during testing.

An interesting side note about my OR80 is, my amp tech discovered it has an extra preamp tube not shown in any OR80 schematics. After some serious research I learned my Orange was originally sold at a Gibson employee sale and was most likely a one-off factory experimental model Matamp made that never went into the Orange production line.
More info/pics about my amp here:
http://forum.orangeamps.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=33234
http://www.vintageamps.com/plexiboar...hp?f=4&t=82400

spcmstrbtasp · #10 01-28-2011, 05:16 PM

I'm sorry but I cannot speak to the efficiency of this cab because it does not have the original driver in it. I replaced the original 4 ohm OEM 10 with a neo 10 8ohm speaker.

As far as style of music- this particular group is doing stuff that varies from surf inspired to dare I say, stuff that has a bit of a Radiohead influence to it. It's a bit hard to categorize.

I should emphasize though, that I would not take this combination on a gig. The 110 is not loud enough with any amp for that kind of volume. This situation began as a demo recording session of sorts and evolved into additional rehearsals. As a basis for a recorded tone, and for practice though, it sounds awesome to me. I'd imagine that a head like this would compete on some gigs with more speakers. Then again, it might lose some of its charm, but I highly doubt it.

I hope that is helpful-

Spc.

big Idiot · #11 01-30-2011, 07:30 PM

Thanks for the answers guys. I actually picked up a cab on friday and tried the whole shebang out on Saturday at practice. It sounded GREAT, and was plenty loud for a threesome. I usually had the master at about 3'oclock and the gain at noon. Picking a P-Bass, just slightly dirty... mmm, tasty.

Now to decide if I keep my Orange or not. Crap.