I bought an Orange guitar amp. I really, really like it.
TL;DR version:
A very unusual and kind of symbolic day for me.
I've played mostly bass since 1983 and acoustic bass at that since about 2000. As a result, I've been playing through wedges and ultra clean bass amps for a very long time.
Then several months ago, I switched to baritone, mainly because a friend's song needed a big, stupid, guitar solo, the kind where you walk out of the wedding church in your leathers to play soaring lead in a storm. Or something. And after that I started seeing what else one could do with baritone and blah blah blah moved completely to baritone blah blah bass dead to me for the time being blah blah.
And then my faithful Wharfedale wedge lost a channel and I started to feel it still sounded all lovely, esp. with the TS9 and an IR pedal to give it a little crunch but there didn't seem to be anything behind the sound. And lead singer/mixer didn't want me to have an amp of my own making uncontrolled noise onstage. And what kind of amp anyway.
Agonised over it for months. I'd watch YouTube reviews way past my bedtime. Cheap amp. Prefer something with a largeish speaker. Clean sound for ambient stuff. LIGHT (I have osteoporosis so I really mustn't lift heavy amps). I tried various small Voxes, Blackstars, Katana, had high hopes for the Fender Champion 50XL. Didn't like any of them, really. And so much digital fuckery (you need an app? really?)
On the 24th, after trying out the Fender (clean sounds, right?) I randomly tried an Orange Crush 25 bass amp. Wonderful. Clean sound right there. Great platform. Very light. Can use it for bass, too. Heaps nicer than the guitar version. Crank it up and... uh... doesn't this get any louder?
Tried the 50W version. Ah. Nice. About $200 more than I had though.Woke up this morning at about 4:00 and decided fuck it, I'll sell whatever but I'll get the amp (not a blues song then) Listed as Out Of Stock on the RS website but I'd played it, surely it can't be gone? Spent the rest of the night checking out vids, reading reviews, etc.
I expected huge Boxing Day crowds in the Hutt. Got there at 8:40. Only one other person there, a big Maori who assured me he just wanted some strings. Glad I didn't have to fight him for the amp, he was huge.
Doors open, I plug in and... lift the amp... no. The osteoporosis will be an issue. Shit. I sighed and tried the 35RT again. Hmm... well, it's lightish. Sounds like dropping bottles down a staircase but all guitar amps sound like that to me. But clean channel. Sounds ok with the treble rolled off. LOUD, Shop guy asks me to please turn down. LOUD.
So yeah, I bought it. First non-bass compatible amp I've bought in about 30 years. Big symbolic step.
Always liked the looks of Oranges, and that LOTRish logo, and the whole Swinging London thing. Not crazy about the texture on the Tolex. I think it's called Nubtex and looks like an alligator's skin, not like the smooth stuff on the bass amps. Solid state but analog circuitry, whatever that means. Sounds good though. Warm and fuzzy. Just two channels clean/dirty channel. Footswitchable. No OTT emulations or onboard effects just a tuner and what sounds like a digital spring reverb. Funky stickers! Effects loop. Power switch on the back. Why? 10" speaker. Bottom string on the baritone (tuned to A) sounds a little dead but that may be the string itself. The dirty channel is quite good. I like that there's no dialling up yet another of the 256 possible emulations and 25K possible effect combinations. LOUD. What you see is what you get: work with it. It sort of puts your mind at rest, there IS no silver bullet. Unlike the wedge though, this guy loves bringing up the earth hum from the baritone's single coil pickup. Humbucker one is all good though. Definitely have to get the guitar earthed more. Don't really need some of my pedals for now, smaller pedal board ahead? I'm so looking forward to really getting to grips with this thing.
