Orange Rockerverb 50 Head

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Orange Rockerverb 50 Head

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An amp designed with the intention of having a perfect clean channel and a drive channel that can give you vintage and nu-metal tones..

The Rockerverbs clean channel is fantastic! It’s chime is clear and bright without being distastefully edgy or harsh. At first glance you may think just Bass and Treble for the EQ won’t be enough, but their interactive nature is more than enough. When this channel is pushed with the pre-amp gain it is happy to give a rock sound.

Orange wanted the Dirt channel to go from Clean through Vintage/Retro Rock and into Nu-Metal. The clean, even on the drive channel, is superb; the tonal subtleties differ from the clean channel and are obviously far more eager to breakup. The difficult part is the Retro Rock Sound.

If you were to use this amp to achieve an early 70’s rock sound you would not be disappointed at all, it really sings giving plenty of dynamics, sustain and crunch! But if you were to plug an Orange AD30TC in next to it then you would truly find a Retro/Classic Rock tone. If this is the sound you are looking for consider the AD30TC.

Nu-metal... strings like a rats tail and drop tuned to C with riffs fast enough to melt the average plectrum.. Can it cope? Yes, but buy a head and closed back cab (PPC212 or PPC412) or the speakers won’t keep up at volume due to back-pressure. The clarity of this amp at hi-gain is remarkable, it carries presence, punch and sustain. If this is your sound you should also consider the Thunderverb 50 and Thunderverb 200.

Effects Loop: Orange pioneered the effects loop in the ‘70’s - The Rockerverb series has a world class Tube Buffered and Tube Returned effects loop, but what does this really mean when we use it? You have the amp sound you want but you need to add delay and modulation.. If you put them in front of your amp you are reducing the signal with each pedal used. By using an effects loop like this you keep the pre-amp clear of the clutter and also add the richness of valves to the effects you are switching in. A Digital Delay will now blend into your analog investment.

Tube Failure Protection: Often, these amps are designed to work hard. Valves are undoubtably the sonically superior guitar amp sound, but valves also wear out. It is very hard to tell how long a valve will last, in the same way you don’t know when your kitchen light is going to blow. Orange have engineered a system that disables a blown poweramp tube allowing the amp to run on half power. The 50 watt amp fails a pair of the 6v6’s and with the 100 watt it is a pair of EL34s (1+3 or 2+4).

Tube Reverb: This design was new to Orange with the Rockerverb series, the 3 spring Accutronic reverb tank works in harmony with the amp, chiming without being overbearing.

Combo or Head and Cab? If you want a tight rock/metal sound then the separate head and cab will suite your needs, mostly down to the closed back speaker cabinets that maintain back pressure and allow the speaker to return quicker.
A combo is more convenient than a 2x12 and head, but more importantly it lends itself to a venue that needs a little more ambience. Combos are open back and tend to be less directional with the projection of your sound, you may be surprised how much of an amps sound can come out of the back. If you find yourself with the need to play quieter gigs then we would highly recommend a combo.

50 or 100 watt head? Orange amps sound great even at lower levels. But they sound at their best, for most people, when the power amp is at 6-7. With a “normal” drummer 50 watts is usually enough in medium/small venues. If you are a stage based band who have everything mic’d up and you can stand 6-10ft from your amp then may well need 100 watts. You will also need to consider 100 watts if you need your clean sound to remain at high volumes as is often the case with nu-metal.