Orange AD30HTC

[JJretroTONEGOD]

Anyone on here own one?

What are your experiences of it?

I am already saving up for the AD30HTC head, does it blow valves easily? how reliable is it? What is it like to use live? ect

Ben.

[hamfist]

The AD30HTC sounds quite different from the Rocker 30 and the Rockerverb 50. The AD30 (EL84's) has a more vintagey, looser, chimey tone to it. Neither channel on it has that much clean headroom. The amp also cannot do any chunky palm muting-type stuff (even with pedals). The bass response is simply too flubby to cope with that.  It's a bit like a darker version of a Vox AC30, with a generally more chewy distortion than the AC30.
   I know two people who gig regularly with them and, between them, they have only had one problem, which was completely user error, which fried the power tubes and OT (oops !). Despite being user error, Orange fixed the amp quickly and at cost price for my friend. Despite the amp still being within warranty (2 year warranty) I was impressed with the service.
  The Rocker/Rockerverb series are a much more "rocky" series of amps, with real clean channels, that have a reasonable amount of clean headroom. Most people prefer the more expensive RV50 to the Rocker 30.

  You'll find lots more comparative info searching on the Orange forum - http://www.orangeamps.com/forum/

[hamfist]

http://www.orangeamps.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=11913&SearchTerms=ad30

This is a detailed explanation of one person's experience with the AD30

[Brow]

I have a single channel AD30 head and completely agree with what Hamfist said above.

Mine actually has a fair bit of clean headroom, unless I set the gain above 3 and then it starts to crunch up slightly when I play hard. It's a very touch sensitive amp imo and is quite picky about what speakers it likes.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

From what I have heard so far, the Rocker does not have that 'sag' and it's the sag and looseness that I love so much, and as you said the 'chewy' like overdrive. It's that magic class A thing sound. Does it do clean but complex well? I only ever play blues jazz, classic rock, grunge, some alternative ect and never need to get into 'metal' or 'modern rock' territory, and I prefer a sound with less of an 'edge' in other words 'vintage' is the word I'm after, midrangey and WARM. I actually tried the Rockerverb 30 in a shop and also the Tiny Terror, they both were not quite what I wanted, but were still awesome. The rockerverb doesn't seem to have that complexity in it's clean tones, the Tiny Terror is not loud enough for serious gigs it seemed. I hate clean tones that are too clean. aka Roland JC120, this sound is my worse nightmare lol Hope this makes sense...

thanks for all your help guys!

bear in mind, I will buy a 2x12 orange cab w/greenbacks in it.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

I have a single channel AD30 head and completely agree with what Hamfist said above.

Mine actually has a fair bit of clean headroom, unless I set the gain above 3 and then it starts to crunch up slightly when I play hard. It's a very touch sensitive amp imo and is quite picky about what speakers it likes.

I was hoping someone would confirm it has enough headroom, I like the fact it's very touch sensitive too.

any chance you could show me a link to some sounds? what cab are you using with it?

what setting do you have the master volume? lol

[hamfist]

It's that magic class A thing sound.

It most definatately is not that magic class A thing, because the only class A amp that Orange makes is the AD5.

  I don't know why Orange  persist in calling the Ad30 a class A  amp in their marketing blurb.  "Class A" specifically describes a type of power amp arrangement, and the AD30 does not have it !

  However, it would still seem that the AD30 was perfect for you JJrTG. Let us know how you get on.

[Brow]

I was hoping someone would confirm it has enough headroom, I like the fact it's very touch sensitive too.

any chance you could show me a link to some sounds? what cab are you using with it?

what setting do you have the master volume? lol

I mainly used it with a Marshall JTM60 1x12 combo as a 1x12 speaker cab  :lol:  I'm not sure exactly what kind of Celestion speaker it had it it though. After that, I got an Award Session 1x12 cab with a Celestion Classic Lead 80 in it and didn't like the amp too much with that cab.

I liked to keep the Gain at around 3 or 4, with volume at about halfway or more so that I got a 'clean with hair' when I played softer or a crunch when I played harder. I boosted this with a Fulltone Fulldrive 2 or a G2D Custom OD and that was my main sound.

As regards clips, there's 4 songs on my ex bands myspace (www.myspace.com/forthisdaymusic) that had the AD30 on through a Marshall 2x12 cab. The other guitarist used an AC30 CC for his sounds.

The songs I played on were Life Is Only Breathing, Bittersweet Waste Of Time, Only Human and The Real you. They could've re-recorded the songs since I left, but it may be worth a listen incase iit's the original versions and you want to hear the amp  :lol:

[JJretroTONEGOD]

It's that magic class A thing sound.

It most definatately is not that magic class A thing, because the only class A amp that Orange makes is the AD5.

  I don't know why Orange  persist in calling the Ad30 a class A  amp in their marketing blurb.  "Class A" specifically describes a type of power amp arrangement, and the AD30 does not have it !

  However, it would still seem that the AD30 was perfect for you JJrTG. Let us know how you get on.

that's really helpfull thanks.