I had a chance to give one of these a quick test drive yesterday. It was the head but the combo interests me. The clean channel was just fantastic. It has a feature that prevents any preamp tube distortion and you then get the true tone of the guitar until you really crank it and the pwer tubes strart to break up. Its not EL 84s either its 2 x 6CA7. I have a mint TSL 100 head I bought from my nefew a year ago and have never really used so I have some trade material. Any thoughts on the Orange? Thanks brianf
You'll find folks with lots of experience over at the Orange discussion forum. I didn't want the combo and went with a Rockerverb 50 head because of the reverb and effects loop. But the 30 is a great sounding amp.
The guitarist in the band I play bass for has one (head, with a Marshall HW 2x12"). It sounds really great. He mostly uses the dirty channel and runs it from the guitar volume, but sometimes the clean channel with pedals - the clean channel isn't all that inspiring on its own though. It's somewhere between the old Orange tone and the modern AD series tone, to me - it's got the chunkiness and punch of the old ones with some of the thicker midrange tone of the ADs. It's a much better amp than the AD30, IMO - a lot louder, bigger-sounding and more dynamic.
I got the head a couple months ago and really like it. I normally use just the dirty channel, pre gain 7-8, and roll down the volume to clean up. It loves vintage 30's, and my old Marshall 410 cab. The tone is british, tight, and thick. Each note rings out in chords, and single note lines sound great, notes bloom into feed back at fairly low levels. I'm actually letting a friend of mine use it at a gig tonight.
I've had an R30 combo for a few years now, and I still love it. I do run KT77's in it, though, instead of the stock EL34's; the tone is slightly smoother & warmer with 'em.
If you're looking for a 1x12 combo, it's a great one. Otherwise I prefer (and own) a Rockerverb 50 head.
I had the 1x12 combo version for about 8 months and loved it. It sounded good at all volumes and the clean channel is solid on it.
I just bought one (Rocker 30 head) and played my first gig with it last weekend. I love it. I actually just plugged it into the headliner's 4x12 cabinet (not even sure what it was) and it sounds just killer. But I'm picking up an Avatar vintage series 2x12 with G12H30s to play it through. Cleans are great, and I agree with you, I like the fact that any saturation you get on the clean channel is pure power tube saturation. But I really love the dirty channel. Great crunch, just the sound I was looking for. I looked into the 2x12 combo (comes with V-30's), but I wanted the flexibility to play through other speakers, so I decided on the head.
that was my experience as well. good cleans, but they don't stay clean once the volume gets where you need it... I used it for overdrive in the studio, but could not make the amp work for live settings, so i sold it
I've got the R30 head and Orange 2x12 cab. Great, great amp. I may end up selling it cause I've got terrible GAS right now, but we'll see. Very inspiring to play through, all the knobs set on 7 and this amp just kills. Though I must say, it possibly has the best master volume I've had on an amp ever. You get incredible tones at very, very low volumes. Could be one of the best gigging amps in the respect that when the sound guy keeps telling you to turn down, it'll still sound great. I get really good tones from the natural volume too. Pickups and guitars make noticeable changes on it. Talking about it makes me really not want to get rid of it, but maybe I'd snag a Tiny Terror if I do let it go. EDIT: I was just listening to some clips I have of this amp through a 4x12 cab, and with the natural volume @ 1 o'clock I'm still getting a pretty clean tone with a Duncan Jazz neck pickup coil tapped. I'm playing medium stumming hardness and I think if I would've dug in hard, I would've gotten a bit of breakup with it.
another rocker 30 combo here. I love the overdriven sound and if amp weight is an issue with you, this thing is actually managable. It fits right in the back floorboard of my car and I can carry it without breaking my back. I would say the only weakness of it is the lack of any tone controls on the clean channel. I wish they had just added a single tone pot there.
i had a tiny terror & rocker30 combo at the same time. prefered the rocker to the TT in every way. but the cleans on the r30 did absoloutely nothing for me (compared to my 15w cornell rambler they simply sucked). the crunch/od was very good! i now own a rockerverb50 which is imho the best of the bunch. better clean tone, great reverb, great fx-loop, great crunch/od tones. the r30 imho is a 2 channel 1-trick pony. this one trick is good though.
