I say yay. I ended up with two el84 amps a budda sd30 and a bogner atma. Deals were too good to pass up. I never cared what tubes they had. They both sound fantastic through a 4x12 Marshall.
I've played teh AD30 for 3 years in two different bands/situations... it can sound like a plexy and be a very agressive vintage amp, but it wont have the bottom end to play in a sludge band, though it can sound doomy!
Nah for me.. I did like the SD1 with it and it with Black Sabbath stuff.. I was thinking the same about this amp with another amp live. Use it as well as a regular marshall type amp and blend the two and get a good heavy tone for metal maybe.. Just not my type of amp .. I do love love love their solid state amps believe it or not.. Their 60 watt 1 x 12 and 120 head with a 4 x 12 cab is amazing. Even their little hybrid amp that's small enough to fit in a guitar gig bag is killer! The metal version. Can't think of the name of it.. I do like Orange stuff, but this amp just isn't me.. Great review sir.. Thanks so much and be safe and well .. Tim
What a stooky video as usual Leon. I love my orange crush 35rt amp, though that EL84 sounds stooky as well. I quite like the tone at 3:05, as it sounds stooky to me. Once again thank you for providing stooky videos
NAY! EL84s always have a choked sound to me. The Orange doesn’t sound bad, but there just isn’t the headroom I gravitate to and when trying to get higher gain sounds, they sort of collapse on themselves. It’s kind of like somebody tossed a blanket over the cab. However....paired with another big-bottle amp live or in the studio, I’m sure some great sounds can be achieved.
Now, isnt it better to use big bottle amp in the first place .. collapsing seems to be the right word. Those puny tubes might have been ok for old cars radios... yeah, AC30 and Matchless.. but they never were a sound of real ROCK
People still want boring black tolex. They can't get past the color. They parrot the usual Orange myths. The AD30tc costs the same ten years ago as it does now. Orange is a brand I can stand by.
I really hope you can feature a Rockerverb on the channel one day because I think you’ll enjoy its high gain sound. I like orange amps. Just not the price tag 😂.
I compared a Rocker 30 running on 2 EL34s against this and a Vox AC30 with 4 EL84s, I honestly preferred both the Rocker 30 and the AC30 over the AD30. It's like the AD wanted to be either of them, but was a less satisfying compromise between the two of them. Thoughts?
Worth it for the wee hinty-poo of Heaven and Hell. Always wanted to like Orange Amps, just the aesthetics alone are awesome, but they just don't do it for me. They're definitely an acquired taste.
Yay for me. I have one of the twin channel heads and also a Rocker 30 head, so I have the best of both worlds. EL84s and a valve rectifier vs. EL34s and a solid state rectifier. The AD30 tends to suit my Teles, P90s and mini-humbuckers, the Rocker 30 is better for full-size humbuckers. Quite different sounding, but also somehow both very Orange. It's getting hard to ignore that new OR30...
One of my favorite amps I own is a Mesa rocket 440 (4x10 combo). It spanks. I think if you have an amp that takes advantage of their uniqueness instead of just chucking them into something high gain they can be great tubes.
To me, the entire video sounded on the muddy side to me. Not bright at all. Even with what looks like the treble knob cranked. The SD-1 helped a little bit, but not much. Leon's voice sounded fine/normal, so not on my end. Strange... never before has one of Leon's videos sounded so different from what he described. I'm not sure what tubes are in them, but a friend of mine uses Orange amps a lot and none of them sound like this.
If you ever get a chance to play a Dr Z. You will dig it. Vox Marshall rip all hand wired goodness. I have a Maz Jr and it’s my favorite amp. Does it all.
Same here. I have a Maz 18 NR & it’s my favorite amp. I’m not what I would consider a metal or high gain player (think QOTSA or Them Crooked Vultures, Idles, Modest Mouse) so I’m going for edge of breakup/pedal platform sounds. Most of Dr Z’s amps excel at that, I’ve always wondered why they’re not more popular in my crowd. They’re built like tanks as well.
I have a DrZ Maz GT... his hot rodded AC30 (nothing Marshall at all, sorry..), with two knobs . Vol and Cut. I love simple amps, so far so good.. But the sound ?? Clanky town.. absolutely useless with a Strat, with Les Paul nothing to write home.. and it buzzes like crazy (bought new). Never any Dr Z again, anymore.. hand wired shlt
Probably one of the best sounding el84 amps I’ve played was the OR15. To the question el84 yay or nay at least for high gain rock and metal, it’s a nay for me . I had a Rectoverb 25 and I thought it was great until I got a DSl20 suddenly I never used the Rectoverb 25 unless I was also using the dsl at the same time, and then as Leon said it was glorious . I bet the AD30 would sound great with one your Marshalls Leon. El84 amps can do a lot of things but for articulate high gain they fall apart in a “muff” like way that’s not for me. I’d like to see Leon review some of the EL84 Friedman’s everyone says Dave Friedman is the only one that can make el84 sound like big glass. If you want to play metal on a lower wattage amp, get a DSL20 or MT15 or if you can spend a little more the Marshall studio 20 watt stuff . Let’s get real honest for a second though you could get you a 350 dollar Boss ME-90 a Duncan Power Stage and spend the big money on a good 2x12 from Orange or Boogie and could do just about anything you needed to from JC120 cleans to Thrash to super modern chugga chugga, in fact you could probably dust your old Peavey Bandit and run a ME-90 and play anywhere you’d ever need to.
@@marcaustin it really surprised me. I demoed one at a guitar center through a well worn 1960a cab and I thought with the gain past half to3/4 . This is what people who’ve never played a JCM800 think a JCM 800 sounds like. It really gave me more of a modded Marshall vibe than an Orange. I passed on it because I wanted a two channel amp, but I couldn’t quit thinking about it so I went back a couple days later to buy it and it was gone. I’m surprised more UA-cam creators and people in general don’t use the OR15 it’s small and relatively cheap but it’s the best sounding “high gain”el84 amp I’ve ever played. It definitely sounded better than the el84 Boogies I’ve played. One of these days I’ll have an OR15.
The Friedman Pink Taco is pretty impressive for an el84 amp. It was too tight for my liking, so I sold it. But that’s one of the best sounding amps I’ve ever owned.
I think Friedman is the only one that can get that out of an el84 amp. I haven’t had a chance to try a Pink Taco but I think it’ be probably exactly what I want BE tones but cheaper and lower watts.
I don't hear any major difference between this and other EL84 amps such as Mini Rectifier, all sound great. Seriously, all the bottom end gets cut out by sound guy anyway...
El84s just don't have the headroom, ive had several el84 amps and they all were unreliable as hell nothing but problems out of the power tubes.. the friedman pink taco v2 is an amazing sounding amp but I just can't buy something with that tube configuration again.
my friend led our worship team for a few years using an ad30 half stack. amazing pedal platform. he used my fender mij fotoflame strat w/corona custom shop 57 neck, lindy vintage hots w/bassplate, and callaham hardware. touchdown!
I don't know if it's EL34's vs EL84's or what, but not particularly my cup of tea. I enjoyed what I heard in the demo, but I guess I'm just so much a Marshall nut it didn't sound right to me. Which is not to say I would mind having one around. It'd be nice to have choices.
Orange amps all seem to be more in the fuzzy gain category rather than distortion type gain of Marshall family of amps. I don’t care for it personally.
I think a simple MXR micro amp boosting it further would yield incredible results. I used that pedal on the cranked clean of a TH30 to get vintage lead tones and i had the dirty channel to play and that channel could play any modern metal.
Nice! Yea the orange stuff has its own thing! I have a little micro terror and it's really loud and I get a beautiful clean for pedals out of it,and some deep "st Vitus" doom tones 🤘
Very Cool, Thankyou. Stunning Sounding Amp and Playing as always. I have not owned an Orange Amp yet, but am always looking to get one...... Just Because, lol. Most probably not as high spec/cost as this awesome sounding amp, but probably a more 'entry level', but still thinking Tube amp. Any recommendations? Cheers
Orange amps have never really been my thing. To me they sound pretty flubby in the low end and as you said Leon, they have their own thing going on. They certainly look cool though. I was wondering whether adding an overdrive pedal would tighten the low end up a little? And then you did it LOL. But it still sounds like it's farting out a bit there. Maybe a treble booster in there? I reckon you'd be in Black Sabbath heaven. Did you ever try the Artist Tweedtone with EL84's?
I'll never forget when I was checking all of the amps on the Line 6 Stomp for clean tones and A/B them when I stumbled on a great, lush, mid-forward tone. Was so fun to play and sounded great and I looked down and it was the Orange. I couldn't believe it. Never would have thought to try it for cleans but was my top 5 cleans in the Helix. Love the video. You showed the amp's character really well.
I generally like the sounds *other* players get with Orange amps (Ty Tabor's tour rig, for example), but whenever I plug into one it sounds like a room temperature stick of butter rolled in used playground sand. 😆
For hi gain, who really cares for power tubes .. it is all preamp distortion mess. Why you even asking ? 🤣 You could play a transistor radio instead. That said, I have an AD 50, CS handwired and all that hoopla. It is a solid amp, dependable. Puts all el84 amps to shame. None of that screeching chalk, shuttering glass sound. El 34s rule, if youre into hearing the amp cooking, with no pedals. Same with 6V6s .. Three 70s Hiwatt DRs, old plexi and metal panel 1987s here, with some tweed amps, 59 Gibsonette-.. my El84 amps just collect the dust.. Dr.Z, Orange something.. Since you´ve asked 😇
If you like high-gain, maybe, but clearly, no. The natural vintage-y distortion before that is incredible and full of grit and texture, the pedal just makes it sound more high-gain metal, and less Orange.
EL84's - yay or nay?
I say yay. I ended up with two el84 amps a budda sd30 and a bogner atma. Deals were too good to pass up. I never cared what tubes they had. They both sound fantastic through a 4x12 Marshall.
I've played teh AD30 for 3 years in two different bands/situations... it can sound like a plexy and be a very agressive vintage amp, but it wont have the bottom end to play in a sludge band, though it can sound doomy!
I've got amps with both, and I definitely default to my EL84 amps... love all my kids, but the edge I get on them is my jam.
Yay! 1000s of Vox amps can't be wrong.
Nah for me.. I did like the SD1 with it and it with Black Sabbath stuff..
I was thinking the same about this amp with another amp live. Use it as well as a regular marshall type amp and blend the two and get a good heavy tone for metal maybe.. Just not my type of amp ..
I do love love love their solid state amps believe it or not.. Their 60 watt 1 x 12 and 120 head with a 4 x 12 cab is amazing. Even their little hybrid amp that's small enough to fit in a guitar gig bag is killer! The metal version. Can't think of the name of it.. I do like Orange stuff, but this amp just isn't me..
Great review sir..
Thanks so much and be safe and well ..
Tim
Those amps are very articulate. You can hear every note. I noticed it on a th30 that’s when I fell in love with orange
What a stooky video as usual Leon. I love my orange crush 35rt amp, though that EL84 sounds stooky as well. I quite like the tone at 3:05, as it sounds stooky to me.
Once again thank you for providing stooky videos
I came for the review.. stayed for the playing.. and rewatched for the signature faces Leon makes while playing
NAY! EL84s always have a choked sound to me. The Orange doesn’t sound bad, but there just isn’t the headroom I gravitate to and when trying to get higher gain sounds, they sort of collapse on themselves. It’s kind of like somebody tossed a blanket over the cab. However....paired with another big-bottle amp live or in the studio, I’m sure some great sounds can be achieved.
Now, isnt it better to use big bottle amp in the first place .. collapsing seems to be the right word. Those puny tubes might have been ok for old cars radios... yeah, AC30 and Matchless.. but they never were a sound of real ROCK
Orange is so underrated these days. You really have to play one yourself. Loud.
People still want boring black tolex. They can't get past the color. They parrot the usual Orange myths. The AD30tc costs the same ten years ago as it does now. Orange is a brand I can stand by.
I really hope you can feature a Rockerverb on the channel one day because I think you’ll enjoy its high gain sound. I like orange amps. Just not the price tag 😂.
I always liked the EL34's better. Thats just me though. Still sounds good, but they do have some kind of muddy darkness to them.
Not just you - EL34s are just perfect guitar amp tubes.. and I have KT66, KT88, and many 6L6s amps.. only 6V6s are just as great, in smaller amps...
I compared a Rocker 30 running on 2 EL34s against this and a Vox AC30 with 4 EL84s, I honestly preferred both the Rocker 30 and the AC30 over the AD30. It's like the AD wanted to be either of them, but was a less satisfying compromise between the two of them. Thoughts?
Worth it for the wee hinty-poo of Heaven and Hell. Always wanted to like Orange Amps, just the aesthetics alone are awesome, but they just don't do it for me. They're definitely an acquired taste.
Yay for me. I have one of the twin channel heads and also a Rocker 30 head, so I have the best of both worlds. EL84s and a valve rectifier vs. EL34s and a solid state rectifier. The AD30 tends to suit my Teles, P90s and mini-humbuckers, the Rocker 30 is better for full-size humbuckers. Quite different sounding, but also somehow both very Orange. It's getting hard to ignore that new OR30...
Maybe it’s just the speakers you’re playing through but this sounds a lot darker and fuzzy compared to the 2 channel version.
Ypu sold me on that boss pedal.
It's probably just me, but i never liked orange tones. They all sound..farty? to me. I don't like fuzz either, so that's probably it
Hi my friend. Do you know the difference of sound between this Ad30 and the new orange Or30?
Oh nice! A single channel AD30 too!
One of my favorite amps I own is a Mesa rocket 440 (4x10 combo). It spanks.
I think if you have an amp that takes advantage of their uniqueness instead of just chucking them into something high gain they can be great tubes.
Too "doom metal" for me. Nice clean tone but that distortion is just too muddy. The SD-1 seemed to brighten it up a bit.
Yeah it's an acquired taste isn't it
To me, the entire video sounded on the muddy side to me. Not bright at all. Even with what looks like the treble knob cranked. The SD-1 helped a little bit, but not much. Leon's voice sounded fine/normal, so not on my end.
Strange... never before has one of Leon's videos sounded so different from what he described.
I'm not sure what tubes are in them, but a friend of mine uses Orange amps a lot and none of them sound like this.
I’ve had an OR100 for years, I love it.
I had the Super Crush for awhile. Ran an MXR 6 band on it and was fantastic
If you ever get a chance to play a Dr Z. You will dig it. Vox Marshall rip all hand wired goodness. I have a Maz Jr and it’s my favorite amp. Does it all.
Same here. I have a Maz 18 NR & it’s my favorite amp. I’m not what I would consider a metal or high gain player (think QOTSA or Them Crooked Vultures, Idles, Modest Mouse) so I’m going for edge of breakup/pedal platform sounds. Most of Dr Z’s amps excel at that, I’ve always wondered why they’re not more popular in my crowd. They’re built like tanks as well.
I have a DrZ Maz GT... his hot rodded AC30 (nothing Marshall at all, sorry..), with two knobs . Vol and Cut. I love simple amps, so far so good.. But the sound ?? Clanky town.. absolutely useless with a Strat, with Les Paul nothing to write home.. and it buzzes like crazy (bought new). Never any Dr Z again, anymore.. hand wired shlt
6l6...still beef kings
Kt77 are best of both worlds
Probably one of the best sounding el84 amps I’ve played was the OR15.
To the question el84 yay or nay at least for high gain rock and metal, it’s a nay for me . I had a Rectoverb 25 and I thought it was great until I got a DSl20
suddenly I never used the Rectoverb 25 unless I was also using the dsl at the same time, and then as Leon said it was glorious . I bet the AD30 would sound great with one your Marshalls Leon.
El84 amps can do a lot of things but for articulate high gain they fall apart in a “muff” like way that’s not for me.
I’d like to see Leon review some of the EL84 Friedman’s everyone says Dave Friedman is the only one that can make el84
sound like big glass.
If you want to play metal on a lower wattage amp, get a DSL20 or MT15 or if you can spend a little more the Marshall studio 20
watt stuff .
Let’s get real honest for a second though you could get you
a 350 dollar Boss ME-90 a Duncan Power Stage and spend the big money on a good 2x12 from Orange or Boogie and could do just about anything you needed to from JC120 cleans to Thrash to super modern chugga chugga, in fact you could probably dust your old Peavey Bandit and run a ME-90
and play anywhere you’d ever need to.
OR15 is a surprisingly good amp for classic rock
@@marcaustin it really surprised me. I demoed one at a guitar center through a well worn 1960a cab and I thought with the gain past half to3/4 . This is what people who’ve never played a JCM800 think a JCM 800 sounds like. It really gave me more of a modded Marshall vibe than an Orange. I passed on it because I wanted a two channel amp, but I couldn’t quit thinking about it so I went back a couple days later to buy it and it was gone. I’m surprised more UA-cam creators and people in general don’t use the OR15 it’s small and relatively cheap but it’s the best sounding “high gain”el84 amp I’ve ever played.
It definitely sounded better than the el84 Boogies I’ve played. One of these days I’ll have an OR15.
I love el84. They have a killer grind while keeping clarity.
Riff! Raff! Such a fun riff/song to play...
The Friedman Pink Taco is pretty impressive for an el84 amp. It was too tight for my liking, so I sold it. But that’s one of the best sounding amps I’ve ever owned.
I think Friedman is the only one that can get that out of an el84 amp.
I haven’t had a chance to try a Pink Taco but I think it’ be probably exactly what I want BE tones but cheaper and lower watts.
I have tried and tried and tried to find a single channel AD30!!
They seem rare these days. Fun amp
I’ve always liked the AD30 TCH …….But now I’m going to go down the Swollen Pickle Wabbit hole 🕳️🤦🏼♂️🥸😂
I don't hear any major difference between this and other EL84 amps such as Mini Rectifier, all sound great. Seriously, all the bottom end gets cut out by sound guy anyway...
Love my peavey c50 4x10 with el84s
El84s just don't have the headroom, ive had several el84 amps and they all were unreliable as hell nothing but problems out of the power tubes.. the friedman pink taco v2 is an amazing sounding amp but I just can't buy something with that tube configuration again.
my friend led our worship team for a few years using an ad30 half stack. amazing pedal platform. he used my fender mij fotoflame strat w/corona custom shop 57 neck, lindy vintage hots w/bassplate, and callaham hardware. touchdown!
why didn't you crank it to 10? Its very plexi/JTM45 when crancked ;)
I don't know if it's EL34's vs EL84's or what, but not particularly my cup of tea. I enjoyed what I heard in the demo, but I guess I'm just so much a Marshall nut it didn't sound right to me. Which is not to say I would mind having one around. It'd be nice to have choices.
Nope no nada nein….this Orange is based in a misunderstanding of low mid overdrive and how EQ curve reacts with a mid range instrument.
You should try the new OR30. Its like an AD30 that can get even heavier and tighter.
Orange amps all seem to be more in the fuzzy gain category rather than distortion type gain of Marshall family of amps. I don’t care for it personally.
A little too grimmy for me. I like the sound tho. I like el34s better. 😀
I think a simple MXR micro amp boosting it further would yield incredible results. I used that pedal on the cranked clean of a TH30 to get vintage lead tones and i had the dirty channel to play and that channel could play any modern metal.
man you knocked it out of the park here with tone. really thinking about buying the newer version
They're ok for what they are but more like a one trick pony
Nice! Yea the orange stuff has its own thing! I have a little micro terror and it's really loud and I get a beautiful clean for pedals out of it,and some deep "st Vitus" doom tones 🤘
Pretty chewy for 84s... impressive
Very Cool, Thankyou. Stunning Sounding Amp and Playing as always. I have not owned an Orange Amp yet, but am always looking to get one...... Just Because, lol. Most probably not as high spec/cost as this awesome sounding amp, but probably a more 'entry level', but still thinking Tube amp. Any recommendations? Cheers
Dark Terror!
1st.this is a great amp.well played bro.🙏👍👍🌷🌷🎸🎸🎸🔥🔥
Thanks a lot!
Best amp orange ever made
Orange amps have never really been my thing. To me they sound pretty flubby in the low end and as you said Leon, they have their own thing going on. They certainly look cool though. I was wondering whether adding an overdrive pedal would tighten the low end up a little? And then you did it LOL. But it still sounds like it's farting out a bit there. Maybe a treble booster in there? I reckon you'd be in Black Sabbath heaven.
Did you ever try the Artist Tweedtone with EL84's?
Yeah the treble booster might be the way!
Mate, that sounds beautiful. The edge of breakup tones are superb
Surprised me for sure! Showing off it's UK character I guess.
AD-30 is the 🐐
really liked the clean chimey tones
Did I hear 'Gold' 😁
You did!
Nahh
Yeah!!
Oh yes!
“ when the lights go down in a California town”
So glad you noticed that!
I'll never forget when I was checking all of the amps on the Line 6 Stomp for clean tones and A/B them when I stumbled on a great, lush, mid-forward tone. Was so fun to play and sounded great and I looked down and it was the Orange. I couldn't believe it. Never would have thought to try it for cleans but was my top 5 cleans in the Helix. Love the video. You showed the amp's character really well.
Yeah the low to mid gain stuff on it is so sweet!
Pedal seems to clean it up. Doesn't sound as grimmy.
Some of the best tones you ever had on your channel. Suits your playing style really well
Thankyou! There's a nice mix of punch and sludge in there
I generally like the sounds *other* players get with Orange amps (Ty Tabor's tour rig, for example), but whenever I plug into one it sounds like a room temperature stick of butter rolled in used playground sand. 😆
For hi gain, who really cares for power tubes .. it is all preamp distortion mess. Why you even asking ? 🤣
You could play a transistor radio instead. That said, I have an AD 50, CS handwired and all that hoopla. It is a solid amp, dependable.
Puts all el84 amps to shame. None of that screeching chalk, shuttering glass sound. El 34s rule, if youre into hearing the amp cooking, with no pedals. Same with 6V6s .. Three 70s Hiwatt DRs, old plexi and metal panel 1987s here, with some tweed amps, 59 Gibsonette-.. my El84 amps just collect the dust.. Dr.Z, Orange something.. Since you´ve asked 😇
The pedal makes it sound a lot better. 😀
If you like high-gain, maybe, but clearly, no.
The natural vintage-y distortion before that is incredible and full of grit and texture, the pedal just makes it sound more high-gain metal, and less Orange.