Articles in ‘Amplifiers’
Orange Bass Terror - First Review!
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
The Orange Bass Terror has landed. Well not quite, we’ll have to wait a few more weeks until the first shipment has arrived, but this reviewer has been lucky enough to see it, hear it and play through it and I’m here to tell you, it’s sensational!
You cannot believe an amp this small can pump out 500 Watts, and that’s at both 8 and 4 ohms. It’s the same size as the Tiny Terror, about the same weight, and uses two ECC83 preamp valves and a Class D solid state … continue reading ‘Orange Bass Terror - First Review!’
Orange Dual Terror - Gig Report
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
No sooner than the Orange Dual Terror had landed in our warehouse, it was whisked off smartly by our very own Digital Village neo-punkists, Hans Briikx, to be shown off to their admiring fans at the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town. This is a great room to play, there are no reflective surfaces causing unwanted frequencies to bounce around, therefore everything can be heard clearly, an ideal situation to evaluate a piece of gear.
Mike Fletcher, Hans Briikx guitar player and DV store manager, told me afterwards that the Dual Terror was a real surprise … continue reading ‘Orange Dual Terror - Gig Report’
Laney - It’s a Brit Thing Part 2
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
This Laney VC15-110 is a limited special edition 15 Watt combo finished in OEW, or ‘old English white’ vinyl. It’s a slight departure for the company, which doesn’t really have a history of making small runs of special amps. It’s Class A/B, has reverb, and sports a 10″ custom Jensen speaker. There are only 350 available wordwide and once they’re gone, that’s it, no more.
Of course it’s a valve job, with two EL84s in the power section, a set up which is now widely used by nearly all manufacturers in the amp business making 15 watters. It’s especially appealing visually, having a whiff of ’boutique-ness’ about it. There will be a review from … continue reading ‘Laney - It’s a Brit Thing Part 2’
Hiwatt - It’s a Brit Thing Part 1
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
We have a long tradition in this country of building guitar amps, and we should be rightly proud of the companies who have dedicated themselves to producing a quality of product, both in design and engineering terms, that’s both coveted and imitated throughout the world.
One of these companies is Hiwatt. The picture on the left of a stack finished in the union flag was made for a trade show, so you won’t see it for sale in your local music store, although you could order it from the custom shop! The regular production models look like this; Hiwatt HG50RC Hi-Gain Combo, and very fine they are too.
Hiwatt started out like nearly all guitar amp manufacturers, with one guy responding to the needs of local musicians or friends in need of a repair. Dave Reeves, who was working for Mullard in the mid sixties, found himself in this very position, and started … continue reading ‘Hiwatt - It’s a Brit Thing Part 1’
Tiny Terror vs. Tiny Terror Hard Wired
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
The Orange Tiny Terror has been an amazing success, with over 30,000 units shipped worldwide. Those are serious numbers for a single model of amplifier and those sales have helped put Orange back amongst the big boys in the amp game.
I was lucky enough to grab one of the first Terrors when they first appeared in 2006. The first thousand were actually manufactured in Korea and everything since has come out of China but don’t pre-judge, this is a killer amplifier.
If you’re not familiar with the Tiny Terror, it’s a 15 Watt, portable valve guitar head with only three controls, volume, gain and tone, which produces clean, crunch and massive overdriven sounds. It has true British gain characteristics - aggressive, punchy and loud! It can be switched down from 15 watts to seven, a facility that renders it indispensible in any recording situation where overdriven guitar sounds from a ‘real’ amp is the order of the day. Most players will use it with … continue reading ‘Tiny Terror vs. Tiny Terror Hard Wired’
A Free Tube Guide
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
By the addition of a third electron to the simple diode valve the current could be modulated between cathode and anode for a given voltage between the cathode and anode. The relationship between plate and grid voltage and current flow can be seen as a characteristic curve. Voltage gain is the achieved using the modulated current flow. If you’re still reading, thanks. And no, I don’t understand it either.
Up to the late forties when the transistor was invented, every radio, gramophone, TV set and lot of military hardware relied on the valve or tube but the lower wastage and manufacturing cost of the transistor has enabled it to dominate in the production of almost all electronic goods since. The result was that the traditional valve … continue reading ‘A Free Tube Guide’
Valve Combos: How Small Can They Get?
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
When I saw this Laney Cub 8, naturally I thought that it was just another practice amp. You know - 10W or so with built in gain/master volume and distortion, that sort of thing. But when I looked again, I jumped! Whoa, it’s a valve amp! With a 6V6 in it! And a Celestion speaker!
After my other half located the smelling salts and I’d recovered consciousness, I wanted to find out more. After all, a valve amp usually has to have two hefty transformers and a strong chassis, so how is this possible in an amp that costs so little?
Now, I’m very much in favour of smaller amps - I’ve blathered on about it before. Give me a 20 watter that can be turned up without everybody in the vicinity reaching … continue reading ‘Valve Combos: How Small Can They Get?’
Fender: The Tweed Legacy
by Marc Noel-Johnson, in Amplifiers, No Comments
At last, in line with ‘reliced’ guitars, Fender have brought out some artificially ‘reliced’ amps. Actually, that’s not true, this is a real 50’s Fender Tweed Deluxe which has obviously seen some good days on the road over the best part of its 50 plus year lifetime.
Leo Fender started using the yellowy tweed covering on the amps made in his radio shop in the late forties, and it was used all the way through the following decade. The best sounding amps form this period are the ‘narrow panel’ design (like the one pictured) made from 1955-60. They have more powerful circuits and are the ones desired by collectors today. … continue reading ‘Fender: The Tweed Legacy’
