Where is the orange love?

[micguy]

Amp heads aside, I'll throw a bit of Orange love in here. I have their "Two Stroke" pedal - a boost/eq/preamp pedal. A lot of pedals are made without regard to noise - apparently "we won't notice" or something like that is the prevailing wisdom. This pedal does what it should, and is very quiet on the noise front - a very well done pedal. If it was smaller, I'd love it even more, but it's good enough that I'm OK with its size.

 

[shawshank72]

I love Orange gear, but my wallet doesn't.
And they are not transparent by any means.

 

[BaltBass5]

One of my live rigs is the Terror Bass 500 with (2) OBC 112 cabinets. It's a mini stack that absolutely crushes in tone, volume and portability.

 

[Bleecker]

I love Orange gear, but my wallet doesn't.
And they are not transparent by any means.

Thats funny...mine is...

 

[gbazinet]

 

[Edgetone]

I'm a big fan of Orange. I started with their OB1 300. Now I have a 4 Stroke 500, that I purchased used for $700 CAD. It's fat, warm, versatile and the parallel compression is fantastic. I also have a Bass Butler pedal to give me a bit of that OB1 overdrive feel. It's not quite the same, but it's still great sounding.

If only they made an amp with the 4 Stroke's compression and the OB1's overdrive. I'd be all over that.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I am absolutely certain you did not see an Orange AD200 in any live performance videos from the 70s. Orange had a pretty troubled history, and the current version of the company did not come into existence until the late 90s. The AD series amps were developed by the current company, and although they may look similar to the old amps, the AD200B sounds more like a vintage Fender than a vintage OR200.

View attachment 4003823
Some call these old Orange heads Ormats. This is an OR200.

AFAIK, all of the OR200s were made by Matamp and are extremely closely related to the vintage Matamp GT200. The early amps had James tone stacks and put out a bit more than 200W clean. The AD200B tone stack is pretty much a direct copy of a Fender tone stack, although the component values are a bit different. Also the AD200B only makes about 165-170W clean. It sound fabulous as long as you don't run really heavy bass. If you crank up the bass too much, the amp tends to lose focus and mush out at fairly low volume.

I own an AD200B and I think it is a fabulous sounding amp and have written quite a few posts here on Talkbass. IMHO if you max out the (master) Volume control it sounds and behaves more like a big blackface Fender Showman than any other amp I have played. However if you dial the Volume back and crank of the Gain control, the preamp quickly transitions into OD. A lot of people complain this occurs much too quickly. I learned to play on a blackface Fender Twin so I really like the AD200B (it feels like home), and 170W is a nice amount of power.

My SVTs are noticeably louder and have a different voice. Their frequency response is actually flatter, but I think some people will have the perception that the AD200B is a bit more HiFi because it scoops out some of the mid range frequencies that you may not want to hear. This is not good or bad, it's just different. You can't make an SVT sound like an AD200B and you can't make an AD200B sound like an SVT. Nothing wrong with having both IMHO...or choose the one you like best.

For the record I also own a vintage Matamp GT120 which is fairly closely related to their old GT200s and the old Orange OR200s. I don't really think my AD200B and GT120 sound very similar.

AFAIK there is plenty of love for the AD200B. There is also a fair amount of criticism. IMHO try it out and form your own opinion.

I believe you're mistaken on the timeline for Orange. Jimmy Page used Orange amps when he was with Led Zeppelin as well as Marshalls, Fender and Hi-Watt. You can see an Orange amp or two behind him in some Zep photos/videos from that era to include; an Orange on the stage during "The Song Remains the Same" live concert video which I think was recorded around 1976.

 

[Sixgunn]

There's an Orange thread not far away here.

So we can't talk about them here?

 

[ac100X]

I am not very sophisticated, I plug in my bass and I like the sound, in my opinion it is transparent. I agree, there is an extra fee to be paid for anything Orange which hurts the bang for the buck equation. I like the sound of tubes, I like the Orange tolex and graphic, it appeals to the 60'/70s side of me, ...I'm totally happy.
The Tiny terror is for small gigs with a 1 x 12.

 

[markjazzbassist]

View attachment 4004169

Or120 and tascam 388, great setup!!'

 

[donahue]

I believe you're mistaken on the timeline for Orange. Jimmy Page used Orange amps when he was with Led Zeppelin as well as Marshalls, Fender and Hi-Watt. You can see an Orange amp or two behind him in some Zep photos/videos from that era to include; an Orange on the stage during "The Song Remains the Same" live concert video which I think was recorded around 1976.

I believe he meant that the AD200 did not exist in the 70's.

 

[Downunderwonder]

I believe he meant that the AD200 did not exist in the 70's.

Hard not to twig that when he also posted photos of the old and the new.

 

[keith1r]

Watch old Black Sabbath videos of them and they're playing through Orange amps. Geezer said he hated them

 

[cableguy]

FWIW, I've never played an Orange tube amp. But 2 of my favorite emulations are Orange if the counts. The Tech 21 Oxford pedal was flat out nasty sounding (in a good way). My Fractal Audio AX8 had an Orange AD200 emulation (Citrus Bass) and it was to my ears, the best sounding bass amp in the Fractal universe. Would I love to play an AD200 through an 8x10, yes, without a doubt. Would I love to move it, no. Emulations are the closest I'll get.

 

[Wasnex]

I believe you're mistaken on the timeline for Orange. Jimmy Page used Orange amps when he was with Led Zeppelin as well as Marshalls, Fender and Hi-Watt. You can see an Orange amp or two behind him in some Zep photos/videos from that era to include; an Orange on the stage during "The Song Remains the Same" live concert video which I think was recorded around 1976.

I am not saying Orange was not around in the 70s. I am saying the AD series amps were not around in the 70s.

Per this timeline the AD series came out in 1998: History – Orange Amps but they did not immediately introduce the AD200B. Click on the 1999 link. First they made the Custom Shop AD140, which evolved into the AD200B Mk I and Mk II. From the reading I have done the signal path is a bit different on the Mk 1, Mk II, and Mk III. The Mk1 and Mk II are of course desirable because they are hand wired, but the comments I have read suggest the Mk III runs quieter and sounds better.

 

[chaosMK]

I like Orange, every time I've seen em on stage tone has been great whether bass or guitar. Tend to be simple controls but you get a great sound easily. Owned 3 Orange guitar heads, like em. Feel they are a bit (20%) overpriced in the US. I use Mesa for both bass (Bass 400) and guitar (Dual Rec/Tremoverb), pretty much my end all... they got a few more knobs, more tone range. Recto has it's thing (chainsaw and boom) and it's my jam for metalz.

 

[Wicked G]

How's this for some Orange love?

 

[anderbass]

 

[HOOLIGAN]

My "small" rig- TB 500 w/ SP 410

 

[Sascha Erni]

Hit the 'clean' switch, crank the volume and use the gain for loudness and its clean and load! Flip the switch back turn the gain to about 1-2 o'clock, turn up the volume and get a nice Orange OD sound... I love this amp. It also sound awesome through my old Peavey TVX 410 @4ohm, and it weighs less than 20 pounds.

That's what I do with my Terror Bass plus two OBC 112. If I need the rig to function as a monitor / amplify the sound of my pedals (say, if I use my Ampeg-based pedal board), hit the Clean switch, dime Volume, and get to stage loudness via Gain. So far, I've never run out of steam, not even nearly. If I need to sound clean, but super-loud, well, there's usually a PA I can go through anyways. There's only so much noise you want onstage.

I prefer the other way round, though – dial in the OD I enjoy with Gain, and Volume for, well, volume.

I found Orange Support to be swift and friendly, and pragmatic – when I inquired about the Terror fan's noise, they immediately offered to send me a replacement fan should I feel mine to be too loud. When my order for cabinet covers got delayed, they sent me a spare free of charge.

Their newer offerings are interesting for me, too. I'm in my mid 40s, don't have roadies, and don't enjoy lugging about an AD200 by myself. I'm glad they still do the all-tube thing, and I'm always smiling if one's in the provided backline, but well – I enjoy their practical approach more. The Bass Butler for example is my favourite preamp "pedal" of all time, it has everything it needs, and nothing it doesn't. And sounds awesome. The LBT impressed me when I test-drove one, too. This "new" Orange, as a company, seems to really care for (and about) bass players, not simply cashing in on name recognition and nostalgia. IMHO, of course.