Orange Thunderverb TH-50 "Review"

[GuitarIv]

Hey fellas,

so I've been a little bit bored today and thought I could waste some time by paying a visit to my local musicstore.
Been roaming around the shop, saw an ISP Decimator I will hopefully get sooner or later, noticed that Jackson started building low budget guitars which are utter cr@p and tried out the Jeff Loomis Schecter Signature only to notice that the neck was fat like a baseball bat. However after a while I stumbled across the Amp Section and saw a lot of Orange Amps standing around and in the guitar booth a TH-50 was smiling at me, begging me to play it. Since Sylosis is one of my favourite bands and I know they use JCM 800s and Thunderverbs, I grabbed a guitar and gave it a try.


Going through a 4x12 Orange Cab, 2 Channels, one with seperate Treble, Middle, Bass and the other one with the infamous Orange Shape knob. Now first thing I noticed: the Attenuator Knob forkin rules. You can turn the baby up and really let the tubes breathe, but lower the volume without loosing tone. Really good idea, more amps should have it. As for the overall tone: I used a Mayones Setius GTM 7 with Duncans at first and felt that the Amp was sounding too muddy with the gain turned up quite high. However I would be a bad "metalhead" if I would not get some aid by a Tubescreamer. So I grabbed a Maxon and put it in the front. Ah. Much better. Who ever said that you can't do metal with an Orange obviously hasn't toyed around with it. I'd consider it rather a Classic/Hard Rock Amp on it's own, with a very warm and organic tone and closer to the Marshall kind of Overdrive, but with the TS in front of it you can do metal. Very well. Not the modern kind of 6505 br00talz tone, but as said, a more organic, warm and characteristic one. I guess it depends which sound you prefer.

It does the "Djent" stuff very well too if you turn the mids up quite high and use a 7 String.

However I changed guitars and got an ESP Eclipse with a Duncan JB/59 since I feel more comfortable with 6 strings. Then I tried out the B Channel. Amazing. Whereas the A Channel is more the crunchier,  vintage rythm sound the B Channel has plenty of gain and Thrash just explodes out of the cabs. All in all I was really impressed and must say the folks at Orange know what they do.

Remember: the Tubescreamer did the trick for me, and if you're not into the Metallica, Slayer and other JCM like metal sounds, this amp surely isn't something for you. Otherwise, I'd recommend it.

Sorry for my poor ability for reviewing :P

Cheers!

[itamar101]

Nice review :)

I've got an Orange Thunder 30 which is obviously based on a thunderverb and it $%&#ing rules.
You've got to use these amps for a while in order to understand them but the basic rule is... These amps have STACKS of gain and you shouldn't put it above 2 o'clock because by then there's so much gain that you can't differentiate and it just gets muddier and muddier. If you want more power just use a tubescreamer... But ive personally never felt the need for more push. I tend to put mine at around 12 for hard rock and about 1:30 for metal and about 10 for classic rock/blues. That shows how much gain there is.

Also, Orange amps work very well with JBs as you found. When I bought my orange I was playing a guitar with JBs and that's what sold it to me and it's part of what attracted me to the Holy Diver because of the similarities.

[JJretroTONEGOD]

I'd really like the AD30 one day...I have a very unhealthy amount of GAS for that amp, also liking the OR15 as well, will have to try the thunderverb one day

[Telerocker]

Great review. I have the Rockerb 50 head (6V6) /  2x12 cab and I love the creamy, organic tones of it. Not really a metalamp, but very versatile. The Thunderverb is a different animal,. Tonewise both have the Orange-signature.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

I love Orange amps and always play them a lot at shops, but I could probably never actually use/own one. A bit too dark for my taste

[GuitarIv]

Well as said, they surely aren't everyones cup of tea, however I like them a lot. Right now I'm playing a Micro Terror 20 Watt Head through a 8' cab and that thing is unreal for it's size and price. Orange rules.

[Kiichi]

I really wanne try one of those Micros out. Love my Tiny already.
 I saw Beardfish (swedish prog rock) live recently, where the singer / guitarist / keyboardist tried one out as his back up for a marshal modern vintage. Best to try it through a full live set he said. Had that little baby power a marshall 4x12" and it sounded pretty darn good I gotta admit. On drop D you could hear some issues, but sides that, very impressive. Tone wise better than a lot of bands I saw using bigger heads (though when he uses his bigger heads he still beats the Micro by a lot).

[GuitarIv]

Yes, tried the Micro out on my 4x12 as well. You can really use it in a live situation and it's a perfekt backup, especially because it fits almost in ones pocket.

[sgmypod]

have tried one of the TH's and are very nice, would love ad30 and another rocker(sold mine while ago) if I had room for lots of amps

[Telerocker]

What I remember when I played the Thunderverb 50 in the store, is that it is more suited for the heavier stuff - direction metal - then the Rockerverb 50. Due to the EL34's I think.