Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: math2014 on March 26, 2006, 10:13:15 PM
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Hi all,
I am looking at those 2 amps. I have tried recently the RV50 and i was amazed by its low volume capabilities for home use. It was the best valve amp at low volume i have ever heard, and it also delivered what i wanted.
Now my other idea was the Laney GH50L, and i am wondering on how this would compare to the Orange. What makes me wonder is that the Orange costs 900quid and the Laney costs 400quid. So whats the catch there?
Furthermore, will the Laney have the same tone quality at low volumes as the Orange did? Build quality comparison?
Cheers guys
Yannis
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Sorry but i haven't played the Orange so I'm not much help but i've heard that oranges sound a LOT better at low volume than Laneys do
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I thought the laneys didn't sound too bad at lowish volumes (vh and tt heads), but i haven't tried the gh.
The oranges do sound great at low volume. Engl are another valve amp that do, and koch as well, i think. So look into all of those, lol.
:D
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My tone requirements (as usual) are 60s and 70s classic hard rock and blues by the way.
To give you an idea, the RV50 was at vol 1/10 on the master and it had better tone than my LC30+Hotplate . So i was a bit floored by this. I am just wondering now what justifies the 500GBP price difference between the GH50 and the RV50
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ah.
go with the orange, lol. The laney might be a bit metal/modern rock (from what i hear- think paul gilbert's tone)
or a koch multitone, but be warned, it's even dearer than the orange, lol.
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Hmm i definately need to try out a GH50L, but damn man, i wonder where do these 500 extra quid go.
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Hmm i definately need to try out a GH50L, but damn man, i wonder where do these 500 extra quid go.
Thats a good point - surely there can't be much more than £100 difference between making a Laney and making a Orange??? How DO the bar-stewards get away with it??
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Hmm i definately need to try out a GH50L, but damn man, i wonder where do these 500 extra quid go.
Thats a good point - surely there can't be much more than £100 difference between making a Laney and making a Orange??? How DO the bar-stewards get away with it??
Well to be honest with you, matterials arent the only thing that drives cost up, since one could claim that with 300quid you could build a cornford (guess figure).
All i know is that the RV50 had the bestest MV i have heard so far.
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MV?
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^master volume
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oooooooo :roll: :roll: :oops:
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Bear in mind it's not just materials, it's also labour time and the circuit etc. It took time to design, it takes time to make, and I imagine that a lot more care is taken in the creation of an Orange.
The Orange is in all likelyhood a better amp, I've never been dissapointed when plugging into one, that said, it's also a lot more expensive, and Laney still make a good amp. I think it's best that you play both and decide if the extra £400 is worth it, personally, I'd pay it, but that's just me. I'm young, work almost full time and still live at home, disposable income like this doesn't come around often so I'm making the most of it. If I had a nipper to feed, a mortgage to pay or a missus to buy shoes for I'd probably look at it differently. :lol:
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Bear in mind it's not just materials, it's also labour time and the circuit etc. It took time to design, it takes time to make, and I imagine that a lot more care is taken in the creation of an Orange.
The Orange is in all likelyhood a better amp, I've never been dissapointed when plugging into one, that said, it's also a lot more expensive, and Laney still make a good amp. I think it's best that you play both and decide if the extra £400 is worth it, personally, I'd pay it, but that's just me. I'm young, work almost full time and still live at home, disposable income like this doesn't come around often so I'm making the most of it. If I had a nipper to feed, a mortgage to pay or a missus to buy shoes for I'd probably look at it differently. :lol:
Honestly i dont have any problem forking out extra 500quid if this 500 buys me a 500quid better amp. Either in materials or design or in tone. So it is no issue to me. However i need to get some facts (apart from tone) as to where the extra money goes. thats all.
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Bear in mind it's not just materials, it's also labour time and the circuit etc. It took time to design, it takes time to make, and I imagine that a lot more care is taken in the creation of an Orange.
The Orange is in all likelyhood a better amp, I've never been dissapointed when plugging into one, that said, it's also a lot more expensive, and Laney still make a good amp. I think it's best that you play both and decide if the extra £400 is worth it, personally, I'd pay it, but that's just me. I'm young, work almost full time and still live at home, disposable income like this doesn't come around often so I'm making the most of it. If I had a nipper to feed, a mortgage to pay or a missus to buy shoes for I'd probably look at it differently. :lol:
+1 on basically everything there, :D I spent £1700 on a halfstack on the basis that if I don't do it now, I might never do it.
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yeah, orange are expensive aren't they?! i thought that too... i know laney goes for a more budget construction method, no idea what orange do construction-wise, but for that price i'd have thought it might even be hand wired.
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do non-master volume amps sound a lot better? is it worth getting a bypass circuit put in? can that be done? sorry for the slight off-topicness
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^well it depends on what you're after... you aren't going to play metalcore on a non-master volume amp, lol
but yeah, apparently the less bells and whistles, the better the tone- of course then you have much fewer options.
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yeah, orange are expensive aren't they?! i thought that too... i know laney goes for a more budget construction method, no idea what orange do construction-wise, but for that price i'd have thought it might even be hand wired.
Well Orange and Matamp used to be the same company once long ago, Matamp has moved in a more bespoke direction since then, with Orange becoming more oriented in the mass production direction, although retaining the tone and quality inherant to their reputation.
I'm not sure, but I've got a good idea they're done point to point. And the AD series are class A apparetly, but I don't know if this is really class A or what Vox considers class A.... which basicly isn't. It's A/B biased hot enough to be A when clean, but as the dirt creeps in it becomes A/B, so I'm told. I hope I'm remembering that right. :lol:
Either way, aside from the forgetable "Orange Crush" amps, they seem to be built very heavily (therefore durably) in a similar vein to HiWatt or Matamp. The AD series sound fantastic, and the Rocker series I've not played *but* they have had good reviews, and though it's a bit irrelevant the bands I've seen with Oranges in their backline tend to sound good. But that never means much when you take into account things like ghost building etc.
http://orangeamps.com/rocker/reviews/review50100.htm I think that's from the month where they had Buddy Guy on the front.
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Well the Rockerverb series is ALL pcb albeit with what it seems like good components all around (Demeter trannies).
I just wish i could find a 30 to 50W head, with chassis mounted valves/pots/jacks/switches, and a good MV to make it sound good at low volumes (like the RV50) for the tones i listed.
Price? up to 1000-1100GBP.
Any ideas would be GREATLY appreciated.
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Can't go wrong with Matamp.
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I think I've played all the modern Oranges ( :D ) and the RVs are the best IMO, especially the twin channel one, which was surprising! At stage volume the higher gain channel on the RV sounds better than a boosted AD30 as far as tightness/richness goes.
They all sound good in a workhorse sort of a way........no matter what Jeff@Matamp says about the cost of Orange's components!
That said, I reckon you've got to try a Matamp King Street head before you buy either. Frankly it's just bloody fantastic for the type of sounds you described. Yeah its 15 watts, but I've played the majority of new Matamps side by side ( :D :D !) and its surprising how little volume difference there is between, for example, the KS and one of the 80 watt GTOs or GTLs. It's a cliche but it is a loud 15 watts!
Try it you'll love it!
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Forgot to add it's only - ahem 'only' - 700 quid as well! So you could almost buy the KS AND the Laney!
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Good point man, i ll try to test a King Street at some point. Is is PTP?
Does it have good low volume performance as the Orange RV50 does?
I am also considering a Zinky Blue Velvet.
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I can't vouch for its low vol. performance, I just turned it to 12 o'clock and beyond straight away. I've heard that all Matamps sound better when they're turned up, which I think is true based on the one overdrive-biased Matamp I've tried at low volumes, the C7. However, the KS does have a preamp gain knob where the C7 is relying on power stage overdrive.
It is 'turret-tag' wired - from looking over their tech's shoulder everything appears to be wired on to a central strip which contains the majority of its components laid out along its length. Apparently Hi-Watts were done in a similar fashion. Basically it's hand wired and there's no PCBs!
Guitarist mag did have one or two criticisms re. the Blue Velvet. Considering this magazine (as with most, to be honest) gives out gold awards etc like it's reviewing play school kids, probably means it's not very good for the price.
Check out www.matamp.co.uk
BTW I called Jeff@Matamp half an hour ago and put down a deposit on a Chino combo......which should give you an idea of how much I rate them! :D
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I can't vouch for its low vol. performance, I just turned it to 12 o'clock and beyond straight away. I've heard that all Matamps sound better when they're turned up, which I think is true based on the one overdrive-biased Matamp I've tried at low volumes, the C7. However, the KS does have a preamp gain knob where the C7 is relying on power stage overdrive.
It is 'turret-tag' wired - from looking over their tech's shoulder everything appears to be wired on to a central strip which contains the majority of its components laid out along its length. Apparently Hi-Watts were done in a similar fashion. Basically it's hand wired and there's no PCBs!
Guitarist mag did have one or two criticisms re. the Blue Velvet. Considering this magazine (as with most, to be honest) gives out gold awards etc like it's reviewing play school kids, probably means it's not very good for the price.
Check out www.matamp.co.uk
BTW I called Jeff@Matamp half an hour ago and put down a deposit on a Chino combo......which should give you an idea of how much I rate them! :D
Ah well, i dont trust ANY magazine for any review, either guitar or bike mags. I have heard the best about Zinkies and talked to Bruce Zinky himself, he is one of the few around to treat the customer like a human and not a purse.
I just havent heard a Zinky before.
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he is one of the few around to treat the customer like a human and not a purse.
Well in my book then his amps deserve an audition at least!
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he is one of the few around to treat the customer like a human and not a purse.
Well in my book then his amps deserve an audition at least!
You bet, i just wish more shops carried them
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Guitarist mag did have one or two criticisms re. the Blue Velvet. Considering this magazine (as with most, to be honest) gives out gold awards etc like it's reviewing play school kids, probably means it's not very good for the price.
+1
You have to read between the lines with magazine reviews (if not just totally take them with a pinch of salt lol.
Magazine: "the valves get a little overheated, but this shouldn't cause any long term concern"
reality: the amp didn't work. at all. and then set fire to their office.
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lol
thats too funny not to be close to truth :)
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True, but i dont trust them in general so...
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Magazine: "the valves get a little overheated, but this shouldn't cause any long term concern"
reality: the amp didn't work. at all. and then set fire to their office.
:lol: exactly!!