Orange Amps

ealdrett · Post by **ealdrett** » Sun May 14, 2006 6:52 am

Just wondering if anyone here has had the opportunity to test run the Orange AD200 bass head or the Orange Crush 25B and 30B bass combo amp. I ask since my wife LOVES the bass sound from Dead Meadow's "Feathers" album. Steve Kille plays a 4003JG and runs it through a AD200 head with two 4x10 cabs.
I was thinking of getting the 30B combo amp for starters and wondering how my 4005 will sound through it.

chefothefuture · Post by **chefothefuture** » Sun May 14, 2006 7:11 am

I used to have an AD140 Custom(Hand Wired).
It sounded Killer with a Rick!

sloop_john_b · Post by **sloop_john_b** » Sun May 14, 2006 7:25 am

Dunno about the bass amps, but I can vouch for the guitar amps - they are amazing.

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Sun May 14, 2006 7:52 am

awesome!

If I could find one here...

throw_this_away · Post by **throw_this_away** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:08 am

A few people on talk bass have them. good place to look. I for one have tried one briefly and was impressed... but my 200W traynor was neck and neck with it in the tone department.

I found that both had powerful lows and smooth highs but the orange was more low mid voiced, and my traynor more high mid voiced. The traynor also had more tone shaping options and the orange preamp was easier to overdrive (same tubes in both amps except for the preamp which is easier to distort in the orange).

My impression is that they are top notch amps... but the orange tolex must be expensive stuff.

loendmaestro · Post by **loendmaestro** » Sun May 14, 2006 9:59 am

"but the orange tolex must be expensive stuff."

No kidding!

los_sentidos · Post by **los_sentidos** » Sun May 14, 2006 12:59 pm

I tried one (not with a Ric alas) when I saw one in a shop in Birmingham. When I did hve the money to get one Orange didn't want to know me when I called

endlessbassic · Post by **endlessbassic** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:15 am

Have you heard of the bands 'Sleep' or 'Om'? If memory serves, Al Cisneros uses a 4001 through several Orange amps, as well as some Matamp heads/cabs (basically the same thing; designed my Matt Mathias, who designed the original Orange amps). Def. worth a (repeated) listen..

The Matamps are being in production again, and look AMAZING (you can custom order them in about 6 different colors with a matching front plate!), and sound even better from what i hear.. not for the faint of wallet, but i guess you can't put a price on tone!

Also, there's a (possibly related) company called Electricamp that's doing some similar work to the Orange/Matamp stuff..

For what it's worth, i've heard horror stories about the newer Orange stuff.. it's all pcb, as opposed to the Matamp etc. which are all wired point-to-point (as are the older Orange amps)..

endlessbassic · Post by **endlessbassic** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:28 am

Check this out.. 'Sleep' video at the top right:
http://www.earache.com/bands/sleep/sleep.html

If that's the same bass, it's the sparkle-y turquoise 4001 that i one saw him use.. heavy!

rhampshire · Post by **rhampshire** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:32 am

Cale - I play bass in Earthride, ever hear of us?
My guitar player has:
Two newer Matamp 4x12's and a Matamp GTO120, one old Orange 4x12 and one newer one, an old pix-only OR120, and (get this!) an original 1969 OR200. That thing is a MONSTER.

Al used a Hiwatt 400 for a while, too.

Oh, Orange and Matamp amps have *always* been PCB, by the way.

I've tried Kyle's OR200 for bass, and the tone is awesome, but 200 watts isn't enough for me. Plus, I like my vintage SVT's better.

endlessbassic · Post by **endlessbassic** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:52 am

Oh man, those OR200's are amAzing. How many of those are kicking around? Maybe half a dozen?

I thought that the originals (as well as the new Matamp) were all p-t-p.. my bad. Tough contenders for the almighty SVT! Btw, here's a quote from a recent Matamp article that may have lead to my confusion: "..the internals are point-to-point hand wired on special patent-applied-for turret boards, which have PCB tracks in the base." So, best of both worlds?

Yeah, man, i've heard of Earthride.. and certainly Southern Lord! Speaking of which, i will most assuredly see Sunn0))) in Chicago in a few weeks.. hopefully get to say hey to my old pal Greg Anderson!

rhampshire · Post by **rhampshire** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:57 am

Yeah the OR200 is rare, rare, rare.

You know what? You're right - some of the new low-wattage Matamp stuff IS p2p. I really only concern myself with the ones that have four big EL34's in the back, of which I'm pretty sure all were PCB.

Yeah, we're not as well-heard-of as Sleep or anything, but we've been around the block a few times. We just recently played in chicago on a sunday night to about 20 people. ha!

endlessbassic · Post by **endlessbassic** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:58 am

My apologies for misspelling Mr. Mathias' name: should be 'Mat' - only one 't'.. oopsy!

endlessbassic · Post by **endlessbassic** » Wed May 17, 2006 10:02 am

Wish i would've known, Rob.. i would have made it 21! Where did you play?

"I really only concern myself with the ones that have four big EL34's in the back"... good policy!!
The smaller ones seem counter-intuitive, somehow..

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Wed May 17, 2006 11:58 am

How far from Chicago are you Cale?