Orange Bass Terror

[Bassmonkey]

I took the plunge in December and bought the OBT and the SP212 cab. I couldn't be more pleased. It is almost plug and play, the sound is that good but you can of course tweak it to taste if you like. Can't wait to crank it up again on Saturday.

[algmusic]

[quote name='Bassmonkey' post='1095274' date='Jan 19 2011, 03:30 PM']I took the plunge in December and bought the OBT and the SP212 cab. I couldn't be more pleased. It is almost plug and play, the sound is that good but you can of course tweak it to taste if you like. Can't wait to crank it up again on Saturday.[/quote]

I really want to try the sp212, I have 210 which is sooo nice. I think I'd like the 210 with 212 :-)

[Low End Bee]

[quote name='razze06' post='1095113' date='Jan 19 2011, 01:31 PM']Would it be ok to express a less enthusiastic opinion on the terror bass head?

I went into a local shop to A/B the orange TB and my tecamp puma 350. I was looking for a more valvey tone from a small head, so the TB would be an ideal choice. I played both of them through an orange sp10 cab with my T40.

I walked back out with my tecamp. The TB has got a nice tone to it, but the eq on the orange might as well not have been there. I found that I wanted a bit more depth to the tone, but couldn't get it. The gain control does indeed add grit in a nice and touch-controllable way, but I found that it wasn't enough for me. Nice try, but i'll keep looking for something else.

Don't shoot me, please, I just wanted to share...[/quote]

Fair comment. They are a bit of a one trick pony. The EQ doesn't do a lot. I'm very happy with the sound but it depends what you're after and indeed how your bass sounds through it.

[algmusic]

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1095305' date='Jan 19 2011, 03:59 PM']Fair comment. They are a bit of a one trick pony. The EQ doesn't do a lot. I'm very happy with the sound but it depends what you're after and indeed how your bass sounds through it.[/quote]

It has one sound, you like it or you don't. The main control is the mids and the gain, but if you're solid sate man, you're generally not gonna be happy with it. I get more than enough to sound groovy or rocky with my old fender J.

I only use my sansamp in the studio as another sound option or if I'm using someone else's rig now, as the amp is very like and easy to take around

[garethfriend]

Completely agree about the eq, but it's never bothered me as I play through a cab that doesn't really colour the sound very much and I have decent eq on my basses, can understand why this might bother people with passive basses though.

[razze06]

[quote name='garethfriend' post='1095823' date='Jan 19 2011, 11:51 PM']Completely agree about the eq, but it's never bothered me as I play through a cab that doesn't really colour the sound very much and I have decent eq on my basses, can understand why this might bother people with passive basses though.[/quote]

That would be me then

It's one of those things: either its sound is a revelation and you love it, or you don't and you can't change it much. I was looking for something more portable and powerful than my "nearly bassman" head, but with a similar tone. Unfortunately this isn't, so unlucky for me, and good luck to you all out there who love it! (Peace...)

[algmusic]

[quote name='garethfriend' post='1095823' date='Jan 19 2011, 11:51 PM']Completely agree about the eq, but it's never bothered me as I play through a cab that doesn't really colour the sound very much and I have decent eq on my basses, can understand why this might bother people with passive basses though.[/quote]

I actually use a passive bass :-)

I've had no problems. TBH it's the true-est bass sound I've ever had. It's never too boomy or to light. I get enough form my old jazz between the pups and the tone control and the limited eg

Edited January 24, 2011 by algmusic

[razze06]

After all i've said in here, I ended up buying one.

The valve head I was after sold before I could get the money together, so I ended up buying this.

It's good, and it really shines when you drive it a bit. Also, not everything sounds good through it. I used it at the weekend with the old Ned Callan, and it wasn't great. Yesterday at practice i used it with the peavey T40, and it was better. I had to fiddle extensively with the controls on the amp and on the bass (there's lots of sound variations on the T40), but I got a good sound in the end. Again, best results were to be had on slightly driven sound, where you can control grit and warmth and smoothness with your touch.

I'm going to keep it for now, but I'm not selling the tecamp yet

[algmusic]

[quote name='razze06' post='1115048' date='Feb 4 2011, 10:56 AM']After all i've said in here, I ended up buying one.

The valve head I was after sold before I could get the money together, so I ended up buying this.

It's good, and it really shines when you drive it a bit. Also, not everything sounds good through it. I used it at the weekend with the old Ned Callan, and it wasn't great. Yesterday at practice i used it with the peavey T40, and it was better. I had to fiddle extensively with the controls on the amp and on the bass (there's lots of sound variations on the T40), but I got a good sound in the end. Again, best results were to be had on slightly driven sound, where you can control grit and warmth and smoothness with your touch.

I'm going to keep it for now, but I'm not selling the tecamp yet [/quote]


Try it with some other cabs.. everyone has a different take on it. Th orange cabs for me work and with jazz I use the bridge pup for groove and the front pup for a warmer rocky sound

[razze06]

[quote name='algmusic' post='1115083' date='Feb 4 2011, 11:20 AM']Try it with some other cabs.. everyone has a different take on it. Th orange cabs for me work and with jazz I use the bridge pup for groove and the front pup for a warmer rocky sound[/quote]

My main gigging cab is the TC electronic RS212, but I need to shut the tweeter off, it seems to really dislike the when when it overdrives. That's physics, and it can't be helped really...

The amp sounded very good through an aguilar 4x10, and even the ashdown 4x10 was doing a sterling job there. Boomy cabs are bad, I suspect, given the amount of low end this guy gives out!

[algmusic]

[quote name='razze06' post='1115194' date='Feb 4 2011, 01:05 PM']My main gigging cab is the TC electronic RS212, but I need to shut the tweeter off, it seems to really dislike the when when it overdrives. That's physics, and it can't be helped really...

The amp sounded very good through an aguilar 4x10, and even the ashdown 4x10 was doing a sterling job there. Boomy cabs are bad, I suspect, given the amount of low end this guy gives out![/quote]


I saw your sig and I thought TC212 might not work well with the TB.. ask Musicman20 has he has some orange gear and TC stuff, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mix them. Ask him

[Raslee]

I love the OTB! I've been using this amp for reggae and dub and couldn't be more pleased. I've sold my Ampeg pro 4 as result which was a great amp but the Orange seems to perform similar if not better yet a third of the weight. Great amps!

[Norm]

[quote name='garethfriend' post='1095823' date='Jan 19 2011, 11:51 PM']Completely agree about the eq, but it's never bothered me as I play through a cab that doesn't really colour the sound very much and I have decent eq on my basses, can understand why this might bother people with passive basses though.[/quote]

Garethfriend, the pic of your set up looks like my ideal set up too. I'm gassing for valves (Orange AD200, Matamp or Trace V) but cost is the main issue so OBT is the way forward. I favour 15's over 10's so the Barefaced Vintage is top of my cab shopping list.
& IMO your rig looks the mutts nutts, tell me I wont be dissapointed if I get one?
Cheers,
Norm

[garethfriend]

[quote name='Norm' post='1116508' date='Feb 5 2011, 01:37 PM']Garethfriend, the pic of your set up looks like my ideal set up too. I'm gassing for valves (Orange AD200, Matamp or Trace V) but cost is the main issue so OBT is the way forward. I favour 15's over 10's so the Barefaced Vintage is top of my cab shopping list.
& IMO your rig looks the mutts nutts, tell me I wont be dissapointed if I get one?
Cheers,
Norm[/quote]

Cheers, I reckon the orange + barefaced combination is a winner. Think I mentioned it somewhere else but swapping the valves for something else does make a big difference to the sound on this head so theres tweaking options too.

Gareth

[fryer]

I have another thread ' amp for a 410 cab', saying that I like the sound of my Peavey 410 cab with a Peavey Firebass head. But I want to get another amp, and was thinking of the OTB 500. I did try one previously with 12" speaker cabs and it was ok, before I decided on the 410 route.

So do you Oranges think the TB 500 would be ok with my P 410 ?

[Raslee]

I've been playing the OTB through both a Ampeg SVT 4x10HLF and occassionally a Peavey 4x10 TX or 2x10 TX....i must say i'm impressed with the Peavy sounds....holds up very well

[algmusic]

it should do.. I haven't got experience on that particular cab, but they work very well with 4x10's

[Salt on your Bass?]

I used mine in anger last night at rehersal through two ampeg 15s. Very, very nice amp! I love the tube break up it gives with the gain cranked. Its such an aggressive little box and it cuts through a mix wonderfully! I love it!

However, in my haste to play it i forgot to switch the impedence to 4 ohms! Woops! Only realised an hour into things! Seems ok though. Im guessing i got lucky and no damage has been done in the long term??! Lesson learnt though!

One thing i noticed is the volume curve us very steep.

Absolutely in love with it though and i love the aesthetics as well! Bonus!

[ianSB]

someone do a review of it with the ampeg 610

[guybrush threepwood]

This has made for very interesting reading; I'd like to try one of these out as I'm thinking about it as a backup to my AD200B.

Regarding the not-so-powerful eq... Is it passive like the AD200B? If so, I find that tone stack to work well, but you need to know how to use it creatively. For example, if the bass needs boosting but it's already right up, turning the mids and highs down and the master up works a treat!

[dannybuoy]

I've asked the question about the EQ before, and while there wasn't a straight answer, most seemed to suggest it was active. It's supposed to be the same preamp as the AD200B but I'm not certain this is the case. The EQ does have the trait of most passives where turning all 3 knobs down cuts all the sound out, but it's flat with all knobs around 12 unlike the AD200B.

[thebassman]

Has anyone tried or owned the terror with an Orange sp212?
Would be good to get some opinions.
Cheers
Thebassman

[watchman]

[quote name='razze06' post='1095113' date='Jan 19 2011, 02:31 PM']Would it be ok to express a less enthusiastic opinion on the terror bass head?

I went into a local shop to A/B the orange TB and my tecamp puma 350. I was looking for a more valvey tone from a small head, so the TB would be an ideal choice. I played both of them through an orange sp10 cab with my T40.

I walked back out with my tecamp. The TB has got a nice tone to it, but the eq on the orange might as well not have been there. I found that I wanted a bit more depth to the tone, but couldn't get it. The gain control does indeed add grit in a nice and touch-controllable way, but I found that it wasn't enough for me. Nice try, but i'll keep looking for something else.

Don't shoot me, please, I just wanted to share...[/quote]

I'll back you up here. Apart from the lack of eq, which I guess you could fix with a graphic pedal or something if you needed to, the one I tried had a definite nasty little edge of distortion going on at the high end regardless of gain settings and so forth. This was through a little Orange 2x10" cab, BTW, whatever the one is that runs the speakers in tandem in order to be small (and heavy and sound awful, although of course this is only my opinion). I was actually trying out basses at the time, so my comments apply to using it with some Fenders (passive) and Sandbergs (active) and the odd Ibanez (both). I could never get rid of the nasty distortion. And I don't mean tubey sound, this was far from warm drive. Honestly, I think it may have been a dud. A pity, as I too was taken by the power/size ratio and intrigued by the valves - being as susceptible to a bit of audio voodoo as the next menopausal male.

I wound up with an Ashdown Little Giant 1000w. I gather these have a fearsome rep for blowing up, as did my previous Ashdown rig, but I get 'em cheap and work 'em hard and take it philosophically when they fail. Twenty five or so gigs in, no problems yet. And I run it close to full chat. I love the clarity and cleanness of class D power amps, but I thought that marrying that to a valve pre was probably the worst of two worlds. Tubes do their magic in output stages driving output transformers (Heat! Weight! Bulk! Expense!). Although in a preamp they warm it all up a bit, I'm sceptical that there is some valve magic inherent.

Which said, some likes an egg and some likes an onion. Good to hear that many players here are happy with the little Orange. If your rig makes you smile, and does the required in the band you play in, it doesn't matter a fig what I or others think does it?

[algmusic]

[quote name='watchman' post='1179051' date='Mar 28 2011, 01:29 AM']I'll back you up here. Apart from the lack of eq, which I guess you could fix with a graphic pedal or something if you needed to, the one I tried had a definite nasty little edge of distortion going on at the high end regardless of gain settings and so forth. This was through a little Orange 2x10" cab, BTW, whatever the one is that runs the speakers in tandem in order to be small (and heavy and sound awful, although of course this is only my opinion). I was actually trying out basses at the time, so my comments apply to using it with some Fenders (passive) and Sandbergs (active) and the odd Ibanez (both). I could never get rid of the nasty distortion. And I don't mean tubey sound, this was far from warm drive. Honestly, I think it may have been a dud. A pity, as I too was taken by the power/size ratio and intrigued by the valves - being as susceptible to a bit of audio voodoo as the next menopausal male.

I wound up with an Ashdown Little Giant 1000w. I gather these have a fearsome rep for blowing up, as did my previous Ashdown rig, but I get 'em cheap and work 'em hard and take it philosophically when they fail. Twenty five or so gigs in, no problems yet. And I run it close to full chat. I love the clarity and cleanness of class D power amps, but I thought that marrying that to a valve pre was probably the worst of two worlds. Tubes do their magic in output stages driving output transformers (Heat! Weight! Bulk! Expense!). Although in a preamp they warm it all up a bit, I'm sceptical that there is some valve magic inherent.

Which said, some likes an egg and some likes an onion. Good to hear that many players here are happy with the little Orange. If your rig makes you smile, and does the required in the band you play in, it doesn't matter a fig what I or others think does it?[/quote]

++1000

try what works for you and if you like... you buy.. simple

[lojo]

Saw these cabinets for the first time in the flesh the other day, can they really deliver like the traditional 2 speakers in front cabs, such small boxes ?