In the years we have been active in the music scene, we have known of the legacy of Orange amps. We saw their resurgence in the 1990's with Gibson owning them, and then disappearing. This was followed years later with Orange resurfacing, and releasing some great boutique amps that were great sounding, and expensive as hell. Our original stance was that with their outrageous pricing, the sound wasn't different enough from Marshall to justify paying 2-3 times the price of the JCM's that were being produced at the time. To barrow a phrase from a fellow musician, we all agreed; "How can you tell if there's a douchebag in the band? There's an Orange amp on the stage".
Now looking at what Orange has been releasing, we have to take another look at their products. They still have their Rockerverb heads which still cost in the ballpark of $2000+, but they also have amps that are more budget orientated that have better sound quality than amps in the budget category by other manufacturers. Orange has released some great heads that still may seem pricey when compared to other budget amps, but when compared to their higher end models, and Marshall's current lineup, are quite affordable.
Orange has increased their popularity with their Terror series of amps. We have gained access to the Tiny Terror, which though made in Korea, has given us a great class A British high-gain sound for a great price. The concept is that it is a 15-watt "studio" head that switches down to 7-watts, but we use it live quite regularly through an Orange PPC112 1x12" cab, and it works spectacularly. That 30-watts of class A goodness is also enough to push a 4x12" cab as well!! They have also released a Dual Terror (a 2 channel version of the Tiny Terror with both channels being clones and 30-watts switchable to 15-watts), and the Dark Terror which boasts to have a slightly darker sound than it's counterparts. There are also some terror bass heads that are solid-state that we really haven't looked at too much. Mercury Magnetics even makes a output transformer mod kit that's supposed to make the TT sound even more like vintage.
Another 2 channel wonder that we've mentioned before is the TH-30. This is a 2-channel 30-Watt head that is all about simplicity; 3 knobs per channel, and switchable to 15-watts, and 7-watts. This is another amp we've found to sound comparable to other amps costing 2-3 times as much.
What should really be mentioned as well, is Orange cabs. In the past, Orange cabs were exceptionally high priced, but with moving production to ROC, they have brought themselves into the world of affordable. Their PPC series offers a 4x12" cab with Celestion Vintage 30's that comes in at over $100 less than Marshall's 4x12" cab with the same exact speakers; the 1960AV and 1960BV, and just a hair more than the standard 1960A and 1960B cabs.
