Orange and Friedman, what a combo!

[ilikeoverdrive]

At long last, I finally found the matchiest match for my strat and bucker tone needs!
It's the second time I'm buying an Orange OR15, after having to sell the last one for traveling purposes. And I just knew the moment I sold it that, if I'll ever buy another tube amp, I will still end up with my trusty little citrus.

As for the cab? I was just surprised at the tones this Creamback loaded box of joy can push: tight and punchy lows, full mids and a very nicely detailed treble response. The Friedman PT112 quickly earned its top place in my 112 tone ranking! And the slightly less efficient speaker does let you turn that MV up for even more tubey goodness at rather humane levels, haha! You can get away with bringing both the master and the gain up to 12 o'clock if your place has walls on the thicker side. Thick gain and sparkly clean tones wait for you there with just picking dynamics (no guitar volume knob roll-off needed anymore)!

But a motion picture with Sennheiser E906 and Shure SM57 sounds is worth slightly more than 1000 words, so here's a short unboxing and playthrough with all the pot turnings, picking dynamics and powerful gain needed! Enjoy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUPbGlAiI3c

And so, my low watt high gain rig is complete (for now)! I might still get a '57 Champ at some point, but that's a story for another day.

So what's your go-to low watt head and cab/combo set up? Any more wacky combos out there?

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Orange and Friedman, what a combo!

OR15s are so rad.

I use an Orange Rocker 30 combo for similar vibes, but the Rocker has a cleaner 'Natural' channel and runs EL34s for a more Marshally tone -- I find Oranges with EL84s taste a bit more like Vox amps than I prefer.

[ilikeoverdrive]

Re: Orange and Friedman, what a combo!

OR15s are so rad.

I use an Orange Rocker 30 combo for similar vibes, but the Rocker has a cleaner 'Natural' channel and runs EL34s for a more Marshally tone -- I find Oranges with EL84s taste a bit more like Vox amps than I prefer.

OR15 are indeed rad, Sir!
I've heard much about the mythical Rocker 30, but haven't had the chance to play one myself. How would you say it compares to the new Rocker 32? And is it fixed or cathode biased?

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Orange and Friedman, what a combo!

I have no idea about the bias.

As I understand it, the new Chinese Rocker 15 and 32 have essentially the same preamp as the old British 30. The major differences are that the 15 uses a single EL84 power amp, making it sound more similar to an OR15H. The 32 uses two of the same 15w EL84 power amp, each with their own speaker.

For me, the Rocker 32 is better for people with a lot of pedals building a big stereo rig and the 30 is just a straightforward little rock amp, which is what I wanted. I have big tube amps and giant cabs when I want to do the stereo pedalboard thing.