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Official Orange Club II
- Thread starter Chef
- Start date
What's your impression of the amp's sound? I was curious how "clean" the amp is without an input gain control, though from what I've read the compressor acts as a boost of sorts on higher settings. I like "on the edge of subtle overdrive" type of sounds and wondered if that was part of the amp's baked in sound.
I would say that "in the edge of subtle overdrive" is an accurate description when you're boosting the compressor. At the lower levels it fattens the tone up nicely but the higher you go it makes the amp more and more punchy and it starts to grunt. You start hitting the speakers nice and hard.
The general tone of the amp is clean, punchy and immediate sounding. Mids are present and smooth. Tweaks with the EQ and you can get just about classic amp sound you're looking for. I'm really digging it.its a loud sucker that's for sure.
Thanks! I'm debating between the 4 Stroke and OB-1 as I have an Aguilar compressor already, but it sounds like the 4 Stroke's compressor also acts as a voicing control to an extent. I don't need the OB-1's more extreme drive settings, but given the lower price point of the amp and the use of the blend knob with the gain low/off to add voicing I still am debating which way to go.
I agree, this compressor doesn't act like some others that I've used but I like it for sure. It makes a hard hitting amp hit even harder at extreme settings rather than amp overdrive. If you need an amp to stay pretty clean at high volume, I would certainly check out the 4 stroke.
Question for anyone here who may happen to know: I've been looking at the OB1-500 and 4 Stroke 500 and am wondering if these amps have any sort of built in limiter/overload/overheat protection to prevent clipping the output stage.
The majority of SS amps on the market seem to include some verbiage in their user manuals or have an LED on the front panel clearly showing that the amp has some sort of limiter or protection circuit, but the Oranges to not make any mention of this sort of circuitry. I would imagine the amp has something to dampen peaks at higher output levels and I've seen a photo of the amp's internals so I know it has a fuse, but I was curious if anyone knew. These seem to be capable of getting extremely loud and I like knowing my amps have something to save my speakers from clipping (in addition to the volume control... haha).
I emailed Orange to ask and will share any replies I receive, but I was curious if any owners of these amps already knew. Thank you!
The majority of SS amps on the market seem to include some verbiage in their user manuals or have an LED on the front panel clearly showing that the amp has some sort of limiter or protection circuit, but the Oranges to not make any mention of this sort of circuitry. I would imagine the amp has something to dampen peaks at higher output levels and I've seen a photo of the amp's internals so I know it has a fuse, but I was curious if anyone knew. These seem to be capable of getting extremely loud and I like knowing my amps have something to save my speakers from clipping (in addition to the volume control... haha).
I emailed Orange to ask and will share any replies I receive, but I was curious if any owners of these amps already knew. Thank you!
Orange is not known as the amp of choice for people wanting clean power, so it's not really a necessary feature. Dial down the gain setting if you hear too much crunch.
I also have a Demeter VTBP-M-800D, which is known as one of the amps of choice for people wanting clean power, and it has no input clip LED either. The gain is set via an internal trim pot, and arrives factory set to the mid-sweep point.
I also have a Demeter VTBP-M-800D, which is known as one of the amps of choice for people wanting clean power, and it has no input clip LED either. The gain is set via an internal trim pot, and arrives factory set to the mid-sweep point.
True, I'm expecting the input stage to have some "character" to it and I like playing with a hint of overdrive. I was more curious about the amp's power section, rather than preamp, and if it had any "self preservation" measures built into it (haha).
I received a response from Orange regarding the OB1's power section:
"The OB1-500 doesn't have a limiter built in because it's not necessary and they don't tend to sound good. The best way to protect your speakers from high output from the amp is just to use a cab that's rated at more than 500W RMS."
Seems straight forward enough. I run a compressor pedal full time and never find myself pushing my amps past halfway on the master volume dial so I'm not concerned. The OB1-500 is still top on my list of candidates for my next amp head, but I want to close out this year's gigs with my current setup. Is it January yet? (Haha)
"The OB1-500 doesn't have a limiter built in because it's not necessary and they don't tend to sound good. The best way to protect your speakers from high output from the amp is just to use a cab that's rated at more than 500W RMS."
Seems straight forward enough. I run a compressor pedal full time and never find myself pushing my amps past halfway on the master volume dial so I'm not concerned. The OB1-500 is still top on my list of candidates for my next amp head, but I want to close out this year's gigs with my current setup. Is it January yet? (Haha)
I still use the old TB500 with either the Orange 410 rated at 600 or the Orange 115 rated at 400 without any problems. I must not be playing loud enough.
I still use the old TB500 with either the Orange 410 rated at 600 or the Orange 115 rated at 400 without any problems. I must not be playing loud enough.
I also own an Orange OBC115 and currently use it with a Fender Rumble 500 head. At 8 ohms, the head drops down to 350 watts, but the Eminence Kappa 15A (rated for 450 watts) in it is more than efficient enough to make up for it and doesn't need to be cranked. The OB1-500 also drops down to about 300-350 watts at 8 ohms so it would be roughly the same amount of power I currently am running. I also have an Ampeg 8x10 and a pair of Fender Rumble 2x10 cabs for getting the minimum 4 ohm load on the head; either of those setups are totally fine with 500 watts.
The Terror is an Amp that mantains its rating at any impedance, which is quite impressive when you have the 1000 Watt version. I had the 500, and it never possed a problem for my cabs, i first had a TC Electronics 4x10 then an OBC410 and then the OBC115. Fact is, you don't want to play it to the limit, your ears will give up before your cab does.
That has been my experience - the things are just stupid loud. I've never heard the newer OB line so I'm not sure if that holds true for them or not.
I had emailed both the UK and US support emails and received a second reply today, as well:
"The OB1's do have a protection circuit in case something were to short out or overheat internally. It does not have any sort of output limiter or anything like that in it though."
Good to know!
Ive used an AD140 for bass. It works pretty well. The bottom end gets squishy and a bit strange (too much sag/compression, note kinda dissapears when you attack for a bit) if you push it too hard with drive pedals. Thats true of using it for guitar too, not just bass. Old Marshalls do this too, but the AD140 did it more.
It was only on certain notes, sort of like higher register but on the fat strings.
I pulled the trigger on the AD140. It wiill take some time to get here, if it does not work on Bass, I can always use it on my keys, so win win?
