Orange Terror Series

[EET_FUK]

What do you guys think of them? Looking at either the Dark Terror (FX loop) or the Dual Terror (two channels). Just for a simple, down and dirty rock amp. Must be loud enough to keep up in a band situation. How do these sound?

Are there any other lunchbox style amps that fit the bill? Not looking for ridiculously saturated tones, but it's gotta have a good amount of gain on tap. $1000 is the max as far as price goes. What do you guys think?

Thanks for the input.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I think Orange, Hughes & Kettner, and Egnater Tweaker own the lunchbox category, unless you jump into high dollar Bogner mini's.

I really like the Tiny Terror, and think it's tone is less metallic than the Dark Terror or #4. It's nice as a low volume bedroom amp, but gets louder and fatter the more you turn it up. No lack of tone or gain. And with all these lunchbox amps with a couple pre's and a couple small power tubes, you can dial the amps in with the tubes of your choice. You notice the difference more with these than high powered amps, because the tubes are really working.

The Hughes and Kettner TM 18 is more versatile, and can do blues cleans to Satriani type tones.

The Tweaker is darker, woodier, and more vintage than the other two. The least crunchy sounding of the 3, no matter what the gain level is. It's better for those Robben Ford to Allman Bros. tones.

I like my Tiny Terror, and will continue to enjoy it. But I still think the best amp for the money is the H&K TubeMeister 36. It's the ultimate "lunchbox amp." The heavy weight out of all of them. This amp really does it all.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I think Orange, Hughes & Kettner, and Egnater Tweaker own the lunchbox category, unless you jump into high dollar Bogner mini's.

I really like the Tiny Terror, and think it's tone is less metallic than the Dark Terror or #4. It's nice as a low volume bedroom amp, but gets louder and fatter the more you turn it up. No lack of tone or gain. And with all these lunchbox amps with a couple pre's and a couple small power tubes, you can dial the amps in with the tubes of your choice. You notice the difference more with these than high powered amps, because the tubes are really working.

The Hughes and Kettner TM 18 is more versatile, and can do blues cleans to Satriani type tones.

The Tweaker is darker, woodier, and more vintage than the other two. The least crunchy sounding of the 3, no matter what the gain level is.

I like my Tiny Terror, and will continue to enjoy it. But I still think the best amp for the money is the H&K TubeMeister 36. It's the ultimate "lunchbox amp." The heavy weight out of all of them.

I think the 36 is a little large for the intended purpose. Have you (or anybody) compared the TT to the Micro Terror? The Tiny sounds perfect but I only ask because of the huge price difference. And how heavy can they get without getting too fizzy/fuzzy?

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I have a TT and a DT and I don't think there is much of a tone difference between the 2. For an all round practise/ gigging amp the DT is awesome with the 7/ 15 and 30 watt modes. At 30 watts its easily loud enough to keep up with your drummer where the TT would be on the limit! The DT with the extra headroom can be set cleaner, don't expect pristine cleans mind, but does take pedals well. It's a real shame te DT doesn't have an effects loop but its a great sounding amp with buckets or singles!

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I have a TT and a DT and I don't think there is much of a tone difference between the 2. For an all round practise/ gigging amp the DT is awesome with the 7/ 15 and 30 watt modes. At 30 watts its easily loud enough to keep up with your drummer where the TT would be on the limit! The DT with the extra headroom can be set cleaner, don't expect pristine cleans mind, but does take pedals well. It's a real shame te DT doesn't have an effects loop but its a great sounding amp with buckets or singles!

Would I be pushing it volume wise with the TT even with a 4x12 cab? Or does the DT just sound better at those volumes? I want a clear sound all volumes. Nothing fuzzy or farty when I push it too hard, or weak sounding at bedroom levels.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I think the 36 is a little large for the intended purpose. Have you (or anybody) compared the TT to the Micro Terror? The Tiny sounds perfect but I only ask because of the huge price difference. And how heavy can they get without getting too fizzy/fuzzy?

The best feature of the H&K's is the power scaling. The bigger 36 has beefier transformers, which means bigger tone when turned up. But the 1, 5, 18W settings sound great too, and it pulls it down to speaking level. And the 36 has great features like midi, channel switching, reverb? It's only a matter of time before I find one of these cheap enough on the used market, then it's mine.

The Tiny Terror can get pretty freaking loud, especially through a 212 or 412. With the gain around 1:00, it's like Angus. With the gain around 2:00, it's like Dokken or Ratt. With the gain around 3:00, it sounds like Iommi's modern Laney/Sabbath tone. It's an amp that get's thicker and fuzzier the higher the gain is. The range between 12:00 and 3:00 on the gain control is dramatic. It's the thing that makes the Tiny Terror such a cool amp. No other amp does what the Tiny Terror does, with the way it morphs from a bedroom amp to a wall of sound with tiny increments of volume/gain.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Would I be pushing it volume wise with the TT even with a 4x12 cab? Or does the DT just sound better at those volumes? I want a clear sound all volumes. Nothing fuzzy or farty when I push it too hard, or weak sounding at bedroom levels.

Joe is right when he says the TT is pretty loud. However it will depend on your band set up. I'm in a 5 piece rock band, 2 guitars, bass drums and acoustic/ vocal. As we don't generally mic the back line for pub/ club gigs, the TT got lost in the mix as did my 20watt Cornford Hurricane.... no head room left for lead breaks. If you do mic the back line the TT will be fine. Tone wise there isn't much in it between the 2 and on the DT I prefer the clarity and tone of the TT channel over the Fat channel as the TT side has more clarity and definition. I think if I were you I would check out the DT if you want that raw rock n roll sound but also try the H&K 36 as Joe says, it will give you more options and I'm sure if he says it sounds great then it will!!

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I've heard bad and good demos of the TT. If it's set the right way, it sounds really great. Keep in mind that the louder you turn up the volume, the better it will sound. If simplicity is what you're after, I don't think it gets much simpler than a TT.

 

[SongsForTheDeaf]

Re: Orange Terror Series

you may like the Traynor Ironhorse or Darkhorse aswell they are good lunchbox amps with a good price tag and durability but other than that I would get a Dark Terror.. those things sound dirrrtty!

 

[agentzero12]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I really like my tiny terror. It's for plenty of volume even at the 7 w setting to get through the mix. But the problem is boosting. It takes pedals well but you can only distort and boost so much. That's the problem I'm having with mine now. And with no effects loop on the TT I can't even boost that way. I will say that although it sounds great, I miss the 3 band eq a lot. I miss being able to dial in a more specific tone. But the tone from them is great as is.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I really like my tiny terror. It's for plenty of volume even at the 7 w setting to get through the mix. But the problem is boosting. It takes pedals well but you can only distort and boost so much. That's the problem I'm having with mine now. And with no effects loop on the TT I can't even boost that way. I will say that although it sounds great, I miss the 3 band eq a lot. I miss being able to dial in a more specific tone. But the tone from them is great as is.

Would you say an OD in front would be a good way to shape the gain further than the single tone on the amp?

 

[agentzero12]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Absolutely. I currently run 3 dist pedals in the front (with more on the way). It takes pedals beautifully. My only complaints are lack of reverb and fx loop. I could even live with the single tone control.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Absolutely. I currently run 3 dist pedals in the front (with more on the way). It takes pedals beautifully. My only complaints are lack of reverb and fx loop. I could even live with the single tone control.

Awesome. I think I'm gonna have to find some Terror's at the local GC and try some out. I'm not bothered by the lack of 'verb or a loop anyway, since this will just be a straight up rock amp for me.

Pedal wise I've thought about grabbing a Blackstar HT-Dual pedal. If I'm not mistaken it's the whole preamp stage from the HT-1 and HT-5. I figured I could essentially have both amps this way. Sort of having my cake and eating too.

*Edit: Also, what speakers work well with the terror series? I know V30's are a common choice, but I'm wondering what else would work well.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

And does anybody have experience with the Dark Terror and Micro Terror, and how they sound compared to the Tiny Terror?

 

[Jeremiah]

Re: Orange Terror Series

There's also the Orange OR-15. It's a bit bigger than a Tiny Terror, but still kind of lunchbox sized, and has a 3 band EQ plus FX loop. It doesn't really do cleans well (IMO of course,) but from what you described it could be what you're after.

Edit: Also, I think the Traynor Darkhorse is great for cleans but I don't like the dirty sounds as much.

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Bump. Any other opinions? I will probably pull the plug on one of the Terrors soon, but I want to get as much feedback as possible before I do.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Eet Fuk, go try one! :haha:

 

[EET_FUK]

Re: Orange Terror Series

Well duh. I played a Tiny Terror at GC the other day and was pretty impressed with the tones, but they didn't have any other Terror heads in stock. There haven't really been many comments on the Dark Terror, and I'm wondering how those compare.

 

[LatsMcGee]

Re: Orange Terror Series

I own a Dark Terror and I love it, I am a gain freak who's used to bigger amps and this amp can melt faces.....With the gain backed off the cleans are passable....When I play mine clean I run an older boss reverb/delay with it and that gets it in the ballpark as to what I like clean wise.....I'm in the market right now for another lunchbox amp though....either going to get the mini rec or a dwarvenaut......