Hi - Can someone shed some light on what is superior about the Orange AD200 vs the OB1 amps? Thanks!
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Orange OB1 VS. ad200
- Thread starter G Stilphen
- Start date
I only have experience with the AD200. For me it’s a very organic, simple amp which I like. It sounds like whatever bass I plug into it, with lots of big and fat. By today’s standards 200 watts doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is plenty loud. It helps if you love toob amps.
Haven't played the OB1 but I own an AD200. The AD200 is an all tube amp, and AFAIK the OB1 does not have even one tube. I find that many people seem to take sides on the tube VS solid-state argument. Neither side is wrong; and it depends on the sound and feel that you want. So, IMHO, "superior" may be the wrong word.
I have seen several comments that the AD200 makes about 165W clean. If you run the bass control too high, you won't have a lot of headroom. The lows tend to mush out pretty easy, so I think this amp is best if you lean out the lows a bit. IMHO this amp makes a nice bit of power if it's adjusted properly, but "not enough volume" is actually a frequent complaint. An Ampeg SVT is definitely louder, and also sounds significantly different.
The AD200 has a pretty gainy preamp that can easily be pushed into distortion, but it's not switchable. So if you want a different sound you have to stop and fiddle with the controls.
The OB1 has a two channel preamp that is designed to blend clean and distorted signals. The idea with the channel blending is so you can use heavier distortion while retaining nice focused lows. The Gain and Blend controls can be bypassed with a footswitch, so you should be able to set the amp up for both a clean and distortion. The OB1 500 makes 500W at 4 ohms. No idea how much power it makes at 8 ohms. It may make 500W at both 4 and 8 ohms, or it may make about 2/3rds of 500 (333W) at 8 ohms. I would expect it to be noticeably louder at 4 ohms than an AD200.
If possible you should try both amps, and a several others.
Here are a couple of videos that showcase each amps unique drive characteristics:
The OB1 does a lot better job with extremely high gain IMHO, and the distortion has more of a modern sound. The AD200B sounds way more vintage when pushed hard, but notice how the low end mushes out when the amp is pushed too hard.
If you want max clean power with the AD200B, crank the Volume all the way up and set your SPL with the Gain control. When set up this way, the AD200B sounds and responds a lot like a blackface Fender. The Orange has about twice as much power as a vintage fender.
The OB1 does a lot better job with extremely high gain IMHO, and the distortion has more of a modern sound. The AD200B sounds way more vintage when pushed hard, but notice how the low end mushes out when the amp is pushed too hard.
If you want max clean power with the AD200B, crank the Volume all the way up and set your SPL with the Gain control. When set up this way, the AD200B sounds and responds a lot like a blackface Fender. The Orange has about twice as much power as a vintage fender.
That AD200 demo was one of the worst demos of any kind I have ever seen.
That AD200 demo was one of the worst demos of any kind I have ever seen.
I don't play anything like the guy in the demo, but his technique is fairly characteristic of some heavy styles, and I think the video actually gives a pretty good idea of the AD200B's OD characteristics (which is why I selected it).
If you have a better demo, feel free to post it
.
My favorite review of the AD200b, which I'm also looking at, is this one. The dialogue is in German (and it helps that I can understand it), but there are plenty of tone examples at various settings throughout.
I've tried them both back to back. The AD200 just sounds huge. The clean on the OB-1 is great, but doesn't have that huge sound that the AD200 has (EQ's are similar). IMO, the distortion on the OB-1 sounds good (and modern as Wasnex stated), but they should've added a level control. I had a hard time dialing in the OD on the OB-1 to get it to the same volume level as the clean channel. I own the Orange 4 Stroke 300, and prefer the EQ controls of this over the other two amps, but dang the AD200 sounds so good.
If I was to buy an OB-1, I would use my favorite OD pedal instead of the distortion on the amp.
If I was to buy an OB-1, I would use my favorite OD pedal instead of the distortion on the amp.
Last edited:
There’s been a bunch of good reply’s so far. They are very different amps but neither is superior. The biggest drawback with the AD200 is there is no line out as far as I know and most places won’t let me crank a tube amp anymore so it’s hard to get to that sweet spot live. The OB1 series is cool if you are into very distorted sounds. Personally I would go with the Orange terror bass because it sounds very much like the AD200 but has a line out and is light. What tonal qualities are you going for?
The guy that I know with an AD200b just uses a Countryman DI in between the amp and cab... sounds great. That's probably the route I would go if I buy one (that or a Radial).
I'm offended.
Dude sounds like he's probably a guitar player doing his best impression of a bass player (read: an objectively terrible impression).
The eq designs are opposites as far as I know. The OB manual lists the eq as active, and seemed to be to be a standard modern solid state type sound. The AD has a passive fender style stack, mid scooped at noon and less versatile. I briefly owned a OB1-500 amp, I found the clean channel very unremarkable and the drive character too modern and harsh for my tastes. For modern solid state options there are better sounding (IMO), smaller, lighter, and cheaper amps which could be combined with a distortion more to your liking.
Yes, the OB-1 is an active EQ, while the AD200 is passive. To me, the frequencies in the Low, Middle and Treble seemed to be at the same frequencies. 2 different methods for achieving the same goal of an EQ. I certainly wouldn't say the OB-1 sounds modern like a TC Electronic RH750 or Markbass amp. I agree with you that the OB-1's EQ is very lackluster, and I thought the distortion was decent when dialed in perfectly, although I don't think it even came close to the AD200 with the gain at a similar level.
Disclaimer: I’m an AD200B lover. I don’t do ridiculous drive levels.
The AD200B has an enormous weight to the tone (authority as I called it in another thread) that’s hard to find in the other orange amps. It’s great for clean and veeery slightly overdriven sounds (think Motown where there’s basically just a little crunch on the attack) and can go heavier as well. Because of this I too do think that the usual YouTube vids about the AD200B don’t do it justice. (The one above, for example- for a passive tone stack noon on all knobs is not really a smart starting point…)
i have never been in any situation where the 200 rated watts of the AD200B left me with a wish for more power. I figure with all due respect that whoever thinks the AD200 lacks in volume, should fire their drummers and guitarists because that must be ear-bleedingly horribly loud. But whatever keeps your boat afloat I guess.
The OB1 really only seems interesting if the O part of the name is what you’re aiming at. The rest is nothing too special.
maybe that helps
Best
Sidecar
The AD200B has an enormous weight to the tone (authority as I called it in another thread) that’s hard to find in the other orange amps. It’s great for clean and veeery slightly overdriven sounds (think Motown where there’s basically just a little crunch on the attack) and can go heavier as well. Because of this I too do think that the usual YouTube vids about the AD200B don’t do it justice. (The one above, for example- for a passive tone stack noon on all knobs is not really a smart starting point…)
i have never been in any situation where the 200 rated watts of the AD200B left me with a wish for more power. I figure with all due respect that whoever thinks the AD200 lacks in volume, should fire their drummers and guitarists because that must be ear-bleedingly horribly loud. But whatever keeps your boat afloat I guess.
The OB1 really only seems interesting if the O part of the name is what you’re aiming at. The rest is nothing too special.
maybe that helps
Best
Sidecar
Well, respectfully, no.
A typical active eq is boost/cut with neutral at noon on all the bands. You have a fixed frequency at which the boost/cut occurs (the TC EQs can be different as to how fixed the freqency is but that’s a different story).
A passive eq works differently: the “mids” are more or less cut only and the bass and treble are more or less boost only. The typically most neutral setting would be treble and bass all the way counter-clock or just slightly above and mids at 2 o’clock. Plus, the frequencies are not strictly fixed but the three bands influence each other.
Last but not least, typically all controls fully counter-clock gives no output at all.
i like to think of it like this: the “mids” on a passive stack is more or less full range volume. The treble is high mids to high volume, start from full counter clock until happy. But be aware that raising the treble can take away “punch” or deep attack.
Bass control- volume for low frequencies, add as much as you can use.
best
Sidecar
I recently gigged some large outdoor venues with the AD200. Eight piece 60’s soul and Motown band. For these stages I wasn’t anywhere near using up the headroom it has. I’m using it with a 2x12 cab. If I needed more volume I have a 6x10 or 2x15 I could use. I can’t imagine needing more volume though.
Another thing I can do for large gigs is add a cab (2x10) and amp using the slave out to drive the second amp which in this case is a qsc rmx850. It’s nice to have separate control for the volume of the second cab. The QSC amp also has a built in high pass filter (30 or 50 hz).
A compromise to consider is an Orange Bass Terror.
