@phaynes12 i pair my Orange with a celestion Blue speaker instead of the traditional V30s cause I wanted more sparkly and thin clean tones and a little bit more throaty-ness to the distortion, I think that’s a good call if you’re gonna get one. The speakers more so than the amp are what pigeon hole it as a classic rock / garage rock amp, different speakers open up the versatility
Yeah i don't mind coloring the sound, i was more worried about there not being enough headroom/the cleans not being that great. im interested because the midrange and dirt tone haha but i don't want to be too boxed in by it.
Also in some cases the amp coloring the tone of your effects pedals can be a good thing. I love how my orange sounds with my boss DD-20 delay pedal. The more midrangy tone actually helps you hear the delay front and center, which is great for how I use it to create specifically timed polyrhythms, rather than just as an atmosphere effect. And with the Analog setting on, or with a tape delay, the midrange is real nice and angular when the higher and lower frequencies dissipate with each reverberation. However I don’t like it as much as my Vox for reverb and distortion, it’s a little messier sounding on the Orange
If you want nice cleans I’d go for the AD30TC / HTC over a Rockerverb Rockerverb’s gonna give you an even better natural distortion tone but less head room / less clean/crunch options
right this is what i meant haha - i don't mind it coloring the tone, just most videos ive seen of it break up way too early so i was worried about that
this is kinda why i was looking at the badcats ... seem to mix vox cleans with more JTM dirt. just not crazy about marshall gain staging haha. why oh why can't i find an amp with the exact perfect cleans i want and the exact perfect gain staging.
genuinely doesn't seem to exist ... like maybe some of the mesa mark series are close but seems like the craftsmanship on those is rough and they're a pain to get work done on them
if money were not an issue i'd just get a hiwatt and do all my gain staging with pedals but sheesh those are insanely priced
I have an orange crush pro 60 that I only ever use on the clean channel and I get all my sounds from my pedals. Been wanting to get a JC-40 (for stereo purposes) and a Vox AC15 (to have my first tube) but I’m not sure which one to get first. I’ll get both eventually
im very with you on all of this, it’s why i searched far and wide for my amp. I have the 50th anniversary model of the Vox AC15, the limited edition model with the Mahogany cab. That EF86 rectifier tube the 50th anniversary models have sounds so much creamier and less brittle when you crank it, and the ability to switch pentode / triode on either the rectifier or the preamp, kinda simulates gain staging in the best way a Vox can while still maintaining their trademark sparkle and headroom. Between that and the “brilliance” and “bass shift” knobs (also unique to the 50th anniversary model) I get all sorts of shapes and variety between brittle/thin and thick/creamy tones, I just find them way more versatile than the standard Vox. and if I need extra gain it sounds great with an overdrive with more definition than the standard Vox AC15 offers. The Mahogany cab is great for pairing it with my Tele cause that also gives it a low-mid boost that Teles often lack in a live setting to help it be heard more clearly. But you could much more easily find a 50th anniversary model in the standard white tolex exterior, those aren’t as rare. surprisingly my Vox is both my main clean amp and my main dirty amp lol, using the Orange simultaneously really just adds extra body and midrange when I want it (and I have an EQ pedal I use to roll that back for a cleaner part of a song). however with all of that said, probably the best amp out there that combines Vox style cleans/crunch with much better gain staging is the Matchless Avalon 30. That’s a dream amp of mine but I’m happy with what I got for the foreseeable future. I’d also very much consider either a Mesa Mark III or Marshall Plexi if my music career got somewhere and I could justify having an amp I only use for power chords and heavily distorted leads lol.
you should check out the bad cat black cat, the founder of matchless left to start that company in like the 90s or whatever and the version that came out in like 2025 ("mod shop" model i believe) is the last amp design he made before dying. the bad cat i am considering is a bit higher gain on the second channel than that one but i believe that one is considered neck and neck with the matchless as the best el84 amp on the market (i prefer el34s or 6v6 amps but just personal flavor)
Sick yeah I’ll check out some videos! I like EL84 amps cause they specialize in exactly what I do - guitar writing that isn’t separate leads and chords, but kinda weaves the two together into one guitar part. EL34 / 6v6 amps have really nice distortion but it tends to get too messy when you try to play more complex chord voices and mix in a lot of leads / transitional melodies, clarity is my #1 priority and I like to add overdrive to an already very clear sound rather than trying to clean up the sound of a heavier amp
This is a little oversimplified since the predominant 6l6 amp is the fender twin which is kinda regarded as “the best” clean pedal platform amp there is to the point it is the majority of venues’ back line amp for a neutral tone. It is more just if you want a bright clean tone (el84) or a warm one (6l6). But I get what you mean.
I never knew this existed tbh, kind of an interesting combo but honestly anything vox handwired is gonna slap. From 16-22 I had a mesa dual rec half stack, played in bad punk bands, etc. Eventually sold it and got an AC30CC2X which sounded much less brittle once I did the Caldwell bright cap mod to it. Few years after that I ended up starting another hardcore band but one that played a lot and I was never satisfied even with all the pedals I use. After that band stopped I ended up finding a used orange 212 and then got a mini rectifier which is what my main amp is now mostly on the clean channel with pedals doing the work. I would love nothing more than like a lunchbox version of a Twin Reverb, that would rule. Don't know much about Bad Cat or Matchless besides Steve from Thursday used them for a Long time, but maybe look at a Swart? My friend used to have an Atomic Space Tone and it sounded killer. Currently if I could snap my fingers for a new amp it'd be the marshall studio silver jubilee or the no longer made SL5C which was a 5 watt 1x12 combo slash signature model. But I'm like a dog chasing cars with gear. The current goal is to find another japanese jazzmaster, hopefully mid to late 90s, to totally hot rod and put black mass pickups in. Guitars are fun
im winnowing down a list of contenders (still very long lol) and im at: marshall 2555x (silver jubilee reissue) marshall 1987x (plexi reissue) orange OR60 orange rockerverb 50 PRS archon 50 bad cat lynx mesa mark v: 35 mesa badlander 50 mesa fillmore 50 evh 5150 6l6 if i realllllyyyy wanna stretch my budget (i don't lol) diezel vh2, which is kinda what i want most but alas
That is such a confusing list of contenders. Of the Marshalls, have you considered the Studio JCM 900? Marshall cleans are generally a bit underrated and that amp actually has a proper 2 channel setup, so might be something worth trying out to see if you like both sides? Unsure if the Filmore would do what you want. Isn't that meant to be Mesa's answer to a classic Fender amp? Unsure weather the drive side would be what you're after. Also confused about what the EVH is doing in that list. Maybe a bit of an out there suggestion, but have you looked at the Synergy amps and whether they do a pair of modules to give you what you're after?
They all do certain things I want but not all of what I want haha. I ended up just getting two cheaper ones vs. one more expensive one. Sovtek Mig-50 reissue and a prs archon
Nice. I've never had chance to play them, but I've only ever heard good clips and positive chatter about the Archon (and also the MT amps).
Seeing red after an old "master luthier" guy I trusted (last time!) either fucked up or let his teenage apprentice fuck up the nut on my prized electric that took me four years to get back..... someone tell me this is fixable. holy shit that wood crack. i literally asked him not to do anything invasive and to call me if there were problems with fit. WHYYYY
My heavily modded player ii strats. I’m in love. Coral Red with Alnico V hot rails and maple neck for the harvest green metallic player II modifed strat. Harvest Green Metallic player ii modifed strat with Seymour Duncan Hot Stack Plus bridge pickup, stock noiseless middle/neck pickups, and rosewood neck from the coral red strat.