Well, it's a New Amp Day but it's not the one people might have been expecting given my recent thread about solid state amps. In fairness, I did buy the Orange CR60C and I stand by the fact that it's a seriously good solid state amp but in the cold light of day, I just couldn't live without the tone of real valves so I took it back. What I now have instead is an Orange TH30 head and Orange 1X12 cabinet. I tend to prefer 1X12 cabs because they're portable and take virtually no space. So, a quick review and then some questions I'm hoping you guys can help me with.
GeneralThey say that 'less is more' but while that may sometimes be true, it isn't always true. This seems to neatly sum up the TH30. There are very few controls here and that's great because you don't have to spend an age setting things up. If 'plug and play' is what you like, you'll love this. As it happens, I do like that simplicity but in my view they've gone just a bit too far. Both channels would have been much better off with a full 3-band EQ and a master volume would have been good too. The lack of these things does compromise you a bit. Having said that, it's very well built and does offer some useful features like the ability to move to either 30w, 15w or 7w. The effects loop is also a very welcome feature and for those valve purists amongst you, this is a proper valve amp, including preamps, power amps, effects loop and phase inverter.
Clean ChannelAwesome. That is the only word for it really as this amp certainly has the best sounding clean channel I've ever used. It's probably closer to a Vox clean than a Fender clean but either way, it's seriously good and incredibly loud. It will start to break up at about 12 o'clock but by that point it's so loud, even at 7w, that it's deafening. This is where a Master volume would have been handy as I see no possibility of me using it as anything other than a straightforward clean channel. While the 2-band EQ works well, I would rather it used a 3-band. The voicing of the clean channel is very different to the drive channel and the volume settings are also very different. If you have the volume on the clean channel set to just 1, you'll need the volume on the drive channel set to at least 3. Overall the clean channel is superb and all the more remarkable because it appears on an amp with a seriously high gain drive channel.
Dirty ChannelThis took a lot more getting used to and I confess that initially I wasn't a fan, to the point that I seriously thought I'd made a mistake. The distortion is very tight, aggressive, dry and hairy. The voicing is undoubtedly modern and lacked the saturation and compression I like. On top of that, the more you pushed the gain knob past 12 o'clock, the more it turned to fizz. Not a promising start, so what has changed? Well, after some experimentation, I discovered a few key things about it:
1) You need the volume set to at least 30% as below that it really doesn't sound as good but once you reach that figure it seems to start to breathe properly. The downside for home use is that even on the 7w setting, that's loud. The plus side of this, however, is that you have no need to fear at a gig because the more you drive it, the more it likes it. This does create a bit of a balancing act for you as 15w at full tilt sounds awesome but there is more body in the tone using the 30w setting, but then you have to reduce the volume. Perhaps it's six and half a dozen but there are certainly a lot of tonal options here as whenever you change wattage, the tone changes.
2) It's best not to put the gain knob past 1 o'clock if you want to avoid fizz, though that already gives you lots of distortion. I have mine set to 11 o'clock and there I have enough distortion for many songs while it is tight enough and open enough for Classic Rock and Hard Rock. There's a LOT of punch in this amp compared to my old Blackstar. To get more distortion I use an overdrive instead, with the gain set low and the level set quite high. This adds the compression and saturation I like while keeping things very articulate. Using the amp this way I have two very distinct tones whereas with the Blackstar they were both superb but much closer.
3) The Shape knob is limited in what it can do even though it's not bad but this really isn't an issue as I just use an EQ pedal instead.
1X12 CabinetBuilt like a tank, closed back, very light and comes with a Celestion Vintage 30 speaker. Personally, I find that this speaker has too many harsh upper mids and this only serves to highlight those characteristics I'm not too keen on so I think a speaker change is on the cards but more of that later.
ConclusionIt's an amp with a distinctive character that won't suit everyone (what would?) but it does give you two very usable channels, excellent build quality, all valve tone, superb effects loop and all at a very fair price (thanks to Chinese manufacture). A special note on the effects loop. This is the first time I've owned an amp that uses a valve in the effects loop and it really is superb. All of my effects, including those out front, seem to have come alive with this amp.
QuestionsNow for the bits I need help with
Earlier I described the drive channel on this amp as being tight, aggressive, dry and hairy and generally speaking, I've always preferred things to be warm, smooth, organic and thick. Think of a combination of Jake E.Lee, Carlos Santana and Gary Moore. As a result I'd like to move things a little more in that direction, without completely losing what the amp already has and it seems to me that the two areas that I can easily alter to achieve this is new valves and a new speaker.
ValvesThis is an area I know very little about. It has been suggested to me that I should go for lower gain preamp valves like a JJ 5751 but I've no idea why that would get me closer to the tone I described. The other option would be to go for high quality preamp valves that are warm, smooth, sweet and articulate but I'm not sure what they might be.
SpeakerI'm pretty sure I want to get a WGS speaker but I have no idea which one so I'm hoping somebody on here can help me out. This is what I have so far:
HM75 - This one was suggested to me by WGS in America on the grounds that one of their techs loves Orange amps and this is his favourite speaker. It's basically their version of a G12T-75
Reaper - I can't recall where I got this idea from but I think it's a bit like a beefed up Greenback.
Liberator - This one was suggested to me by WGS in the UK but I'm unsure about their reasoning.
Invader - I came up with this one myself as it's based on a Creamback and that description of it being smooth and sweet sounded appealing.
Any help and advice would, as always, be gratefully received
