To Orange or not to Orange

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

I'm just throwing this out there hoping that I may be able to pick up a couple of pointers and maybe avoid any obvious pitfalls. I have had two "occurrences" this week that if I'd just sat back and not hurried, everything would have panned out better. So, rather than jumping in with both feet....

I want to change my rig to something a little more powerful. Whilst considering my options I find myself gravitating towards Orange. The amps seem very simple to use (light on knobs and buttons). Does anyone have any Terror Bass horror stories? Do I go for the 500 or the 1000? Whichever I go for, which cabs do I get? Do I go Orange amp and cab or cab from another manufacturer?

I see Orange are phasing out the SP410 which looked to be quite a nice match for a Terror Bass amp. Are they planning on replacing it with something else? If I go Orange cab do I get the SP210 or SP212?

Any advice you guys could give would be gratefully received.

[cocco]

I've not heard anything bad about the tiny terror, and even if something does happen oranges after sales have been pretty good to me in the past. The most recent 500 is plenty loud enough, I A/B'd one against my AD200 through my 8x10 and there wasn't a lot of difference, The terror wasn't as warm but id did have a more precise sound. having said that I think I'd go for the 1000w for the price difference.

If you want light weight cabs the SP ones are great, I think you can still get the 4x10 too? failing that cabs are up to you really, Speaker configs are quite a personal thing in my opinion.

I hope that helps.

[Paul S]

Warren - Orange or not is going to be fairly subjective - when I tried one I found it wasn't versatile enough for what I wanted being very heavy on the valve gain sound side of things but I know a lot of people love that. Guitarist in one band had the guitar equivalent and after going back 3 times for repair he finally got shot of it - which is sort of backed up by Bass Merchant telling me, when I was shopping for amps, that they didn't stock Orange anymore for similar qc reasons.

If you want to try out Barefaced cabs to see what the fuss is about you are more than welcome to borrow mine for a couple of days if I am not using them. I have the Compact and Midget.

[RandomBass]

As ever you should give it a try before you buy. I have a TB500 which I use with a Barefaced Compact (sometimes two of them) and its a great pairing. I have lower gain valves in the amp which does give more clean before it goes into saturation. However I also like the original ones.

Cheers

Geoff

[Musicman20]

I think all manufacturers will have QC problems, but the all tube Orange heads and the big cabs are seriously strong bits of kit, and are very heavy to lift!

The TH500 is a simply marvelous lower priced AD200b, and its light. I don't have one, but I am always tempted to pick one up.

The TB500 is VERY loud. Unless you are powering a very 'watt hungry' cabinet with low sensitivity the 500 is more than enough.

[Lozz196]

Terror 500 is very loud. In a punk band, I used mine with Gain & Volume on 2 or 3, anything more was far too much. Not the most versatile of amps eq-wise, but if you like the sound, great amp to get.

[Icunningham]

I use mine with a 610 and it's an amazing set up and ridiculously loud, I think the 1000 watt version would be overkill

[Mr. Foxen]

Biggest criticism of the TB is you have to change out the valves to get a clean sound at volume. It has sounds good in the shop syndrome, similar deal with smart power cabs, isobaric alignment means you need twice as much power to get the equivalent volume of half the speakers you are carrying/paying for, the upside is the box is a little smaller.

If you have the luxury of time, look out for the Matmap mini bass head that is coming soon; [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/161672-i-just-ordered-a-matamp-d/page__view__findpost__p__1495465"]http://basschat.co.u...ost__p__1495465[/url]

Always best to phone them about the latest, then post about it. And say I sent ya.

Edited March 9, 2012 by Mr. Foxen

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Thanks for the information guys.

Having spent all afternoon reading the information on the Barefaced website and then having a look at Matamp, I think I'm going to sit it out for a little while longer. I'm now really interested to see what comes of the new head from Matamp.

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Having read all the technical information on the Barefaced site and had time to digest it over the past few days, I am now wondering which amp would be best to pair with the Big Twin? An Orange Terror, the new Matamp (as and when it is released) or something else entirely? I've never been much of a gear head regarding amps.& cabs. Basses I'm OK on, but not so much the other end of the lead, so any pointers gratefully received.

[Mr. Foxen]

With a really transparent cab like that, EQ becomes a bit relevant, the Orange has very limited EQ and the Matamp is a bit unknown, and the voicing will have been tweaked to suit fairly crude Matamp cabs.

[Lozz196]

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1331510849' post='1574101']
Having read all the technical information on the Barefaced site and had time to digest it over the past few days, I am now wondering which amp would be best to pair with the Big Twin? An Orange Terror, the new Matamp (as and when it is released) or something else entirely? I've never been much of a gear head regarding amps.& cabs. Basses I'm OK on, but not so much the other end of the lead, so any pointers gratefully received.
[/quote]

I believe Alex at Barefaced uses a Genz Benz as his amp to give his product range a workout. Give him a call/e-mail, his customer service is amazing, and he should be able to point you in the right direction. For what it`s worth, when I was looking at a new amp, I contacted The Bass Merchant, and the recommended the Genz Streamliner as being very good, and very versatile (went with GK though).

[Toasted]

Don't you have a Trace V8?

[JTUK]

For me it is simple. Get the big all valve amp with a cab or cabs to handle it.
You don't have to worry about tone...you just want that room full of valves sound.
Same with Ampeg...don't bother with the hybrids.

[Musicman20]

Don't rule out the Orange OBC115, it is not by any means built to the modern lightweight and high powered specs of some of the super 15s, but it is a lovely warm, articulate cabinet. If you want a big large rock tone, or indeed a more subdued motown thump, this cab really delivers.

It weighs a fair amount but it aesthetically looks stunning. Tone is key, and as mentioned above, it really took me back after using lower quality 15s and then moving to the Orange,

I've used one on its own with the AD200b Mk3, low ish gain, medium master volume, and that speaker filled the room. Sure, they probably nicked the port and cab design from somewhere, but its works. For the first time with one medium sized cab I could really 'feel' the bass even though it wasn't on super high volume.

Edited March 12, 2012 by Musicman20

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

[quote name='Toasted' timestamp='1331549967' post='1574431']
Don't you have a Trace V8?
[/quote]
Yes, I do.
It's a hefty bugger though.
It weighs more than the Big Twin!

[danweb22]

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1331552818' post='1574519']
Don't rule out the Orange OBC115, it is not by any means built to the modern lightweight and high powered specs of some of the super 15s, but it is a lovely warm, articulate cabinet. If you want a big large rock tone, or indeed a more subdued motown thump, this cab really delivers.

It weighs a fair amount but it aesthetically looks stunning. Tone is key, and as mentioned above, it really took me back after using lower quality 15s and then moving to the Orange,

I've used one on its own with the AD200b Mk3, low ish gain, medium master volume, and that speaker filled the room. Sure, they probably nicked the port and cab design from somewhere, but its works. For the first time with one medium sized cab I could really 'feel' the bass even though it wasn't on super high volume.
[/quote]

+1 to this, I have just cancelled my second one I had on order as I think it would be too much!

[slumjacket]

I've had the TB500 and a SP212 for nearly two years now and I love it. I rehearse once a week and gig at least once a month with it and it's never let me down. The volume is immense, I play my fender precision strung with D'addario flat wounds through it and it booms with bottom end and punches through the mix nicely even when our keyboard player is driving his Lesley cabnet full blast.

It is a really basic amp when it comes to eq. That suits me fine but if you want an amp with really versitile tones it's a bit limited. I was a bit worried about the cab in larger venues but it seems to keep up although I'd like to try the head through something more conventional to see the difference. As mentioned by everyone else Barefaced is a good place to look if you're up for something light weight.

Couple of things to mention. I played a large Biker festival last summer and the engineers complained that it ran a bit hot into their desk but by just rolling the gain off sorted the problem. Another thing is that if you're using pedals forget the effects loop it seems to distort the tone even at low volumes. I emailed Orange who said the effects loop was designed for high end rack units and to put any pedal through the front of the amp.

Anyway I'm well pleased with mine and it all fits in the back of a small hatchback.

[mrdirtyrob]

I have a Terror Bass 500 horror story I'm afraid, bought one 2-3 years ago, fairly soon after they first came out. Worked great during that whole time until...
Set up in practice room as normal, the moment I switched it on there was a loud bang, and half of the lights went out*.
Turns out the FET had had enough and shorted, literally blowing up the fuse on the power input and taking a lot of the internal components with it. Currently in the process of getting it fixed but it's requiring a lot of time and a lot of new parts.
The guy fixing it for me has a hatred of class D power sections for this reason- manufacturers use the FETs they would in an all-valve amp but they are subjected to far, far higher electrical frequencies than they can handle.
A look at the Orange forums show many had the same problem, some of them the very first time they used the amp. It's possible this only affected older models though.
If I can get it fixed I'll still use my TB as I absolutely love the sound and portability, but I'll never quite trust it again.

*to clarify, I mean half of the lights in the [i]entire building - [/i]it tripped the circuit breaker for the whole practice space, which means it was sucking an insane amount of current.

Edited March 15, 2012 by mrdirtyrob

[hiram.k.hackenbacker]

Thank you one and all for the time and thought put into your replies.

I am now fairly determined that I owe it to myself to try the Big Twin. I just have to decide which amp I'm going to get to go with it...