The AD200 is an awful amp for the price and the Terror Bass 1000 sounds almost as good for way cheaper and has way more headroom. Also I own a Matamp GT 150 and there's no way it has enough clean headroom to play bass through at any reasonable volume. The GT 200 might because it has different transformers but I doubt it. Matamps are also built significantly better and are about the same price for a hand wired amp built by hand vs a chinese PCB amp from China put together in England.
Either get a SVT or some solid state amp. 200 tubes watts isn't enough headroom for clean tones on bass.
Edit: Also every good Orange amp was made by Matamp and none of the newer models even come close to being as good as the old ones and I'm a fan of Orange.
The early 90s reissue Orange amps were not really the same as the originals. The ones I have played through were very harsh and nasty sounding. The reissue amps did not sale very well and IMHO are really the biggest source of the bad blood between Matamp and Orange. During this era the name Orange was licensed by Gibson. From what I understand, Matamp essentially financed the run of reissue amps for Gibson, and Gibson never paid Matamp for making them. So AFAIK Matamp should really be mad at Gibson.
It's also possible Matamp deserves some of the blame, because it's hard to sell amps that sound awful. I have no idea if Matamp or Gibson specified the design changes.
After the Gibson era. The current version of Orange was reorganized under the original owner, and to be fair I think he had some shady dealing with Matamp as well. But I don't think he should necessarily be on the hook for Gibson's BS.
I totally accept that 200W is not loud enough for your needs, but it is loud enough for some people. The AD200B would be about the smallest amp I would want to use live. As I mentioned, it makes about 165-170W clean.
The lowest powered amp I have ever gigged was a blackface Fender Twin, which is considered 85W clean. I toured professionally for over two decades and used a 210 with about 250W for everything up to full stadium events and major fests. In most occasions where I needed more, the PA was equipped with huge fold back monitors and possibly side fills...which is why the amp was not enough.
IMHO it's really a mistake to compare the AD200B to a Matamp, because the comparison is essentially apples to oranges, if you don't mind me making a bit of a joke. My point is the only real heritage between the old OR200 and the AD200B IMHO is the appearance. I think the AD200B sounds great but it does not sound like a Matamp.
I also agree that Matamp's build quality is far superior. You can order a Matamp a MkII GT200 straight from there website for £1949 GBP, which today is just over $2500 USD. Shipping is extra. What you probably can't do is try out a Matamp, so you will be buying it blind, unless you happen to live in Britain and feel like a road trip. The impression I get is Matamp is great to deal with if you can visit them, but I have heard some negatives about dealing with them on the phone or via email.
The build quality on the Orange is not what I would really call sub standard. It's pretty much standard fare for a modern amp. AFAIK the amp does not have major reliability problems. But I believe the tube sockets and controls are mounted to the circuit board which does tend to cause problems long term. Essentially the amp is made for a finite life more like a solid state amp.
Traditionally, tube amps are made more robust and can be repaired indefinitely. However, there are plenty of modern tube amps are made to a similar quality level as the AD200B. I agree they are somewhat pricey for what you get, but they have also been holding their value surprisingly well. As I mentioned I bought mine in near mint condition a few years back for $1400. AFAIK you will be very lucky to find a clean AD200B for that price today.
I believe modern Matamps use turret board construction. A modern Matamp would probably survive a nuclear blast. So if your family is genetically predisposed to playing bass, you could hand a modern Matamp down through the generations.
I would not say the same about a vintage Matamp or vintage Orange, as they were made with circuit cards that are fairly fragile. Despite the low quality of the circuit cards, people seem to keep them running just fine. So I have no doubt that repairs could be done on an AD200B as well.
