Orange Overdrives

[i love sharin foo]

Like most, I've been through my fair share of amps. It took a log time, but I've found that nothing can do for me what an Orange can. I've been using a '76 Overdrive 120 for a while now. It is covered in original black tolex, so it is somewhat rare. But, this is a case where the rarity factor may not necessarily mean higher value, ie most prefer the orange ones. As long as it sounds great, I don't care what color it is. These older Oranges have a really different sound. Even with the treble control full up, it isn't that bright. It's like the highs are diffuse in an odd way where it never sounds too sharp or brittle. The FAC control is a really cool concept where you can switch between various slants of the EQ spectrum,  ranging from thick and bottom heavy to much thinner and brighter. The tone stacks are pretty cool too... Even though it has just a treble and bass knob, you can get scooped or mid heavy tones. If both tone controls are abcked off, the natural EQ curve comes through which is more mid heavy. By cranking the knobs, it becomes overpowered and somewhat scooped sounds are possible. I find the amp to be super versatile. Even with just a few knobs, there is a ton of versatility. The master volume works really well. The headroom from 120 watts (with the master high and gain low) really makes it a great bass amp, too.



Justin

[zhivago]

that looks so cool!

Orange amps are cool, and apart from sounding great, they last forever!

heavy duty , or what?

[cpeck]

Maximum droolage there.  I've played only reissues, but you can't beat an Orange (unfortunately, I can't afford one either!).  I plan on owning some Orange someday.

[Stereordinary]

I've been thinkin' about gettin' an AD140 for my Bass VI lately.

[i love sharin foo]

I've been thinkin' about gettin' an AD140 for my Bass VI lately.

That would be a great amp for the VI. I had an AD30 for a couple years, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. The extra headroom of the 140 would've tightened things up though and probably been about perfect. I bought the OD120 and sold the AD30TC a week or so later. I planned on keeping both, but the Overdrive was exactly what I had been looking for so I didn't think I'd ever use the AD30. So far the OD120 is proving a pretty good match for the VI too.

Justin

[Stereordinary]

Yeah, I saw this local band (Stationary Legs) play at a tiny coffee shop once and their bass player was playing a MIM Jazz Bass, that I sold their drummer about a week prior.  He had it plugged into an AD140 and a 1x15" cab and it absolutely slaughtered the place.  I know for a fact that my VI can pump as low end as that Jazz Bass did, so I'm just letting my imagination go.

There was another time that I saw this metal band (Graves at Sea) at a venue that couldn't hardly handle the volume these guys were playing at, and their guitar player was playing through two AD140s with two Orange 4x12" cabs.  He was playing an SG and it hurt.

So, I've definitely had good experiences with them, I just need to go down our local Orange dealer (Apple Music Co., in Portland) and bring my VI to try it out.  Oh, and my credit card.