*If some of you really take an interest, what experiences i made with effect-pedals and sound of the Orange "Micro-dark" -well - here is, what i learned:* - First: Don' t get fooled by the name....i bought me the "Orange Micro-dark" for home work, because i first thought of a well sounding, uncomplicated little amp which does good "tube-driven" high-gain-sounds, but when i got and explored it, i found, that it was much more versatile, then i first thought...- in fact (and i' m not alone with that assessment!) i now would say, the micro-dark would not be my no. 1 choice, if i'd only like to have an extremely specialized typical "metal kind" of distorted guitar sound!). But i was not sad about that, because my musical activities are in the area of straight, prog hard rock and - on the other hand - a kind of southern blues rock. What i can say now, is: There are some "lunchbox amps" that nail this scooped brutality you need for example for an extreme "metal sound" much better....- on the contrary, when you push in the gain, the "micro dark" shows a astonishing warm, for a hybrid amp appreciably natural kind of a typical british, tube-like - in the best sense - rock type of saturated distortion (and i do not say this, because i own one ;) - ...!.) - i can truely say, this little thing meets exactly the sound, "Orange" amps stand for, and i was amazed a little, for i would never have expected this from an amp of this size and price level!! - I made a lot of sound testings, using only the sound of the amp - and also integrating *different overdrive and distortion units* ( in the usual ways: gain-pedals & eq directly and different modulation & reverbs/delays in the effect chain and also some "special" pedals, like pitch-shifter & synths) - sometime it was a bit tricky, but finally the amp worked fantastic with all effects. I made good results with a t-rex "mudhoney 2" two-channel distortion box, which gave me a crisp, "juicy" crunch overdrive on channel one and a full creamy, "Gary-Mooreish" high-gain on channel 2. By using only the amp's sound settings, i got good results with the gain knob at 11 - 12 h and shape at 11 h for a bluesy solo sound and approx. 15 h for full frontal hard rock solo (i used both, humbucker and single coil pick-up equipped guitars). Because of the solid-state power section you can manage to get satisfying clean undistorted sounds by holding the gain below 9 - 10 h, but this is not the strenght of the device! - The "Micro-Dark" is definitely a rock-amp and wants his user to kick its ass!!😝🤘 When setting mudhoney's "gain" in one channel nearly to zero and turning "level" full up and seting the amps "gain" approx. to 11h position, the "shape" knob too at 11h position (so you have no scoop, but a light amount of mids!) and the amps "volume" were you like the master volume to be, you can get a fine hard crunch sound which reminds me of Billy Gibbons guitar sound with ZZ TOP (indeed Gibbons bought himself an Orange "micro dark" some time ago, and did say to an interviewer of a guitar magazin,, that he likes it and uses it sometimes for composing, recording and in rehearsals!!). Another real great thing that i found, and that i will truely recommend you, was using a *stomp-box eq* (f.e. as the boss ge-7 eq with boost function) straight into the input-section - you can additional colorize your high-gain-sounds, or, - by using it in the effect-loop, that will turn your "micro-dark" into a 2-....or even a 3-channel amp. My "micro dark" took the eq pedal well - but please keep here in mind, that the boost level must be aligned very careful with the total gain of the amp - i learned, that the switch must be used extremely careful, especially when you use clean or light crunched sounds, because the amp tends to react extremely sensible to every boosting of the signal in the effect chain! What i found mostly important was (and please keep this in mind!) - for a respectable sound, it is absolutly important to use an *accuratly as possible voluminous speaker cabinet! Never ever* use these inferior mini-cabs that they designed for all of these lunchbox amps!! - For a full, bright sound you need a box with good, at least 12" speakers, f.e. Celestions. In my opinion, the "Orange" cabs with Vintage 30' s are here recommended!! Hope you benefit from my experiences a bit - the "micro-dark" has - of course in its dimensions and price-zone - its limitations - but its a fantastic little animal and - in my opinion - a very good grip for the money!! You will hardly find an amp in this catagory that gives you so much respectable "british tube sound" for so little money - and, if you take a little time and experiment how to chain your effects and set them right into line - you can blow up this "lunchbox" to a versatile, multi-channel rock amp! And, with the right cab - it has far enough power and loudness even for rehearsals and - f.e., as i do, as a backup-amp - small club gigs!! All the best!! Stay healthy and keep rocking!!🤘🎸 Andy
What's great about this little guy is that you can use the fx loop to run it through the power section of a different amp. Plug the guitar directly into the Orange input, and "send" it into the "return" of a different amp. Then turn the fx loop on for the other amp. And boom, this little monster rips even more now! WARNING: You should *never* run an amp with a tube power section without being plugged into a speaker or loadbox. It will break! This works on the Micro Dark because the power amp section is solid state. The amp you use as a power amp should be set up just as it would normally, DO NOT unplug the speaker from it and into the Orange.
Going straight into Micro Dark & in order: T.C Electronic 'Polytune' 'TC 'Forcefield' Compressor, ProCo 'Turbo Rat', Carl Martin 'Crush Zone', EHX 'Holy Stain' . In effects loop : T.C '3rd Dimension' Chorus, Cuvave 'Multi Digital Delay' MXR 'Phase 90' EHX 'Memory Boy' T.C 'Gauss Tape Echo' T.C 'Hall of Fame' all into 'DItto X2'. How would you do it differently?! All going straight into a mixer via headphone out sounds great, can play around with gain a lot more. Trick is to not let it get too muddy and shit. But a great amp none the less, sounds great. Not as good as my Vox 'night train' but as far as budget amps go, its a no brainer. Its great as a back-up amp or for mucking around recording stuff (I put a synth on my I Phone through the set up and also a 'Teenage Engineering' PO-12 Rhythm also, surprising how different stuff you can do! Oh and , If u got a 'Korg volca' or anything like that It's fun building textures through your peds into this amp then straight into a mixer! Name on here is also same as SC profile name if u wanna hear how it records, first 3 tunes are with micro dark.
hello bro, how are you? Can this head be used clean and put a Distortion pedal to use the pedal's distortion? Some recommend the white one, but the problem is that the other one doesn't have a loop, and I also want to put pedals in the loop.
Great review as always. I didn't like the tube screamer so I tried the digitech bad monkey and also the MXR Wylde OD and both made it sound much better then I expected. May also swap the tube to a Mesa pax7
Everyone here can bitch all they want about the FX loop setup you have, but they're forgetting something. If you've ever heard of the "tube screamer and big muff" trick, it gives the muff a mid boost and makes it sound more defined and fit for a live situation. That's basically what the preamp is doing when you put the muff into the FX loop. That's also why it sounds so friggin good in the video. Shoot, now I wanna try it.
lando27music mxr phase 100, Moore fuzz, Marshall delay, obviously time based ones through the effects loop. Sent it back to orange, they fixed it, but that click of the pedals still came through just enough to be annoying. I loved the amp and sound. The product was ex shop. I intend to take my own pedals in to a local dealer and try the amp again. This was a couple of years back. Hoping faults will have gone on newer ones. I have read that I'm not alone in my complaint of this product.
I think the idea of the drive pedal is to take over all the controls of the orange giving you the full adjustments of the legacy pre-amp. Its a portable version of the Carvin Legacy 3.
i'm sorry but this is kinda pointless... do you have any idea what the effects loop is meant for? why don't you do another video with the distortion pedals il the front, reverb in the effects loop and the chorus in different positions to see the difference? in that configuration you could try and crank up the gain and see how those distortion pedals can boost or change color to the amp's native distortion. here you're putting distortion after the preamp and you only show how horrible it sounds... thanks but we knew already
+Jacopo Tersigni ya I could do a whole other series about fx looping or not. for simplicity I ran everything together in one strip through the loop, even though it's recommended to run dirt in front. In the room it all sounded great, sometimes that doesnt come across in the mic'd recording. this was just a quick test to see how things sounded, but thanks for the recommendations 👍
4:34 Those cleans sound gorgeous! What pickup is that? Do you think that head would give you good Fender-like cleans paired with a Vox Night train 112 cab? Thanks.
more worried about video editing bells and whistles than actually demonstrating in a practical way. like everyone else said dirt and wah up front, modulation in the effects loop
*If some of you really take an interest, what experiences i made with effect-pedals and sound of the Orange "Micro-dark" -well - here is, what i learned:*
- First: Don' t get fooled by the name....i bought me the "Orange Micro-dark" for home work, because i first thought of a well sounding, uncomplicated little amp which does good "tube-driven" high-gain-sounds, but when i got and explored it, i found, that it was much more versatile, then i first thought...- in fact (and i' m not alone with that assessment!) i now would say, the micro-dark would not be my no. 1 choice, if i'd only like to have an extremely specialized typical "metal kind" of distorted guitar sound!). But i was not sad about that, because my musical activities are in the area of straight, prog hard rock and - on the other hand - a kind of southern blues rock. What i can say now, is: There are some "lunchbox amps" that nail this scooped brutality you need for example for an extreme "metal sound" much better....- on the contrary, when you push in the gain, the "micro dark" shows a astonishing warm, for a hybrid amp appreciably natural kind of a typical british, tube-like - in the best sense - rock type of saturated distortion (and i do not say this, because i own one ;) - ...!.) - i can truely say, this little thing meets exactly the sound, "Orange" amps stand for, and i was amazed a little, for i would never have expected this from an amp of this size and price level!!
- I made a lot of sound testings, using only the sound of the amp - and also integrating *different overdrive and distortion units* ( in the usual ways: gain-pedals & eq directly and different modulation & reverbs/delays in the effect chain and also some "special" pedals, like pitch-shifter & synths) - sometime it was a bit tricky, but finally the amp worked fantastic with all effects. I made good results with a t-rex "mudhoney 2" two-channel distortion box, which gave me a crisp, "juicy" crunch overdrive on channel one and a full creamy, "Gary-Mooreish" high-gain on channel 2.
By using only the amp's sound settings, i got good results with the gain knob at 11 - 12 h and shape at 11 h for a bluesy solo sound and approx. 15 h for full frontal hard rock solo (i used both, humbucker and single coil pick-up equipped guitars).
Because of the solid-state power section you can manage to get satisfying clean undistorted sounds by holding the gain below 9 - 10 h, but this is not the strenght of the device! - The "Micro-Dark" is definitely a rock-amp and wants his user to kick its ass!!😝🤘
When setting mudhoney's "gain" in one channel nearly to zero and turning "level" full up and seting the amps "gain" approx. to 11h position, the "shape" knob too at 11h position (so you have no scoop, but a light amount of mids!) and the amps "volume" were you like the master volume to be, you can get a fine hard crunch sound which reminds me of Billy Gibbons guitar sound with ZZ TOP (indeed Gibbons bought himself an Orange "micro dark" some time ago, and did say to an interviewer of a guitar magazin,, that he likes it and uses it sometimes for composing, recording and in rehearsals!!).
Another real great thing that i found, and that i will truely recommend you, was using a *stomp-box eq* (f.e. as the boss ge-7 eq with boost function) straight into the input-section - you can additional colorize your high-gain-sounds, or, - by using it in the effect-loop, that will turn your "micro-dark" into a 2-....or even a 3-channel amp. My "micro dark" took the eq pedal well - but please keep here in mind, that the boost level must be aligned very careful with the total gain of the amp - i learned, that the switch must be used extremely careful, especially when you use clean or light crunched sounds, because the amp tends to react extremely sensible to every boosting of the signal in the effect chain!
What i found mostly important was (and please keep this in mind!) - for a respectable sound, it is absolutly important to use an *accuratly as possible voluminous speaker cabinet! Never ever* use these inferior mini-cabs that they designed for all of these lunchbox amps!! - For a full, bright sound you need a box with good, at least 12" speakers, f.e. Celestions. In my opinion, the "Orange" cabs with Vintage 30' s are here recommended!!
Hope you benefit from my experiences a bit - the "micro-dark" has - of course in its dimensions and price-zone - its limitations - but its a fantastic little animal and - in my opinion - a very good grip for the money!! You will hardly find an amp in this catagory that gives you so much respectable "british tube sound" for so little money - and, if you take a little time and experiment how to chain your effects and set them right into line - you can blow up this "lunchbox" to a versatile, multi-channel rock amp! And, with the right cab - it has far enough power and loudness even for rehearsals and - f.e., as i do, as a backup-amp - small club gigs!!
All the best!! Stay healthy and keep rocking!!🤘🎸
Andy
What's great about this little guy is that you can use the fx loop to run it through the power section of a different amp. Plug the guitar directly into the Orange input, and "send" it into the "return" of a different amp. Then turn the fx loop on for the other amp. And boom, this little monster rips even more now!
WARNING: You should *never* run an amp with a tube power section without being plugged into a speaker or loadbox. It will break! This works on the Micro Dark because the power amp section is solid state. The amp you use as a power amp should be set up just as it would normally, DO NOT unplug the speaker from it and into the Orange.
Well done Landon. I like the big pointers and graphics. Nice touch. Adding you to my music expert list.
Just got this amp. Appreciate the vid. Learning how to tap into its full potential
Are you still happy with it?
Put the pedals where ever you want. Steve Via says so !!!
I put mine in the car.
The Orange Micro Dark takes those pedals very well.
Thanks for you video. Don’t you see a lost of bass frequencies after turning the overdrive on it ?
I really can't remember 2017! :)
Never trust a guitarist who doesn’t move his mouth with the wah pedal. 😂
Is that a requirement? Lol
@@Itzsweetniss yeah
Guilty lmao
Good review but I would have liked to hear how the amp sounded with the chorus and reverb plugged into the effects loop.
I don't even remember making this! 😊👍
Going straight into Micro Dark & in order: T.C Electronic 'Polytune' 'TC 'Forcefield' Compressor, ProCo 'Turbo Rat', Carl Martin 'Crush Zone', EHX 'Holy Stain' . In effects loop : T.C '3rd Dimension' Chorus, Cuvave 'Multi Digital Delay' MXR 'Phase 90' EHX 'Memory Boy' T.C 'Gauss Tape Echo' T.C 'Hall of Fame' all into 'DItto X2'. How would you do it differently?!
All going straight into a mixer via headphone out sounds great, can play around with gain a lot more. Trick is to not let it get too muddy and shit. But a great amp none the less, sounds great. Not as good as my Vox 'night train' but as far as budget amps go, its a no brainer.
Its great as a back-up amp or for mucking around recording stuff (I put a synth on my I Phone through the set up and also a 'Teenage Engineering' PO-12 Rhythm also, surprising how different stuff you can do! Oh and , If u got a 'Korg volca' or anything like that It's fun building textures through your peds into this amp then straight into a mixer! Name on here is also same as SC profile name if u wanna hear how it records, first 3 tunes are with micro dark.
pulpapple get rid of all those damn pedals that is ridiculous
How do you feel the micro dark handles the fuzz compared to the regular terror?
hello bro, how are you? Can this head be used clean and put a Distortion pedal to use the pedal's distortion? Some recommend the white one, but the problem is that the other one doesn't have a loop, and I also want to put pedals in the loop.
Great review as always. I didn't like the tube screamer so I tried the digitech bad monkey and also the MXR Wylde OD and both made it sound much better then I expected. May also swap the tube to a Mesa pax7
+Brandon Cruz Treihart cool thanks for the recommendations!
You had me at Orange....
Orange you glad I didn't say bana...... nevermind :)
Everyone here can bitch all they want about the FX loop setup you have, but they're forgetting something.
If you've ever heard of the "tube screamer and big muff" trick, it gives the muff a mid boost and makes it sound more defined and fit for a live situation. That's basically what the preamp is doing when you put the muff into the FX loop. That's also why it sounds so friggin good in the video.
Shoot, now I wanna try it.
Orange Amps are always good for a thumbs up.
I'm 5 years late for the party 🎶 Thanks for sharing 🎸 🎶
Rock on!
I had this amp, when I ran effects through the loop on the back I would get the click of the pedal come through the amp. Have you experienced this?
oh that's not good! no I never experienced that. was it with every pedal?
lando27music mxr phase 100, Moore fuzz, Marshall delay, obviously time based ones through the effects loop. Sent it back to orange, they fixed it, but that click of the pedals still came through just enough to be annoying. I loved the amp and sound. The product was ex shop. I intend to take my own pedals in to a local dealer and try the amp again. This was a couple of years back. Hoping faults will have gone on newer ones. I have read that I'm not alone in my complaint of this product.
ah k doesnt sound like an isolated issue then.
Alexander Wheeler some cheaper pedals do that, it’s kind of a pop right?
Did you run all the pedals including dirt pedals through the loop?
+choplass yes, it's all through the fx loop
Where do I recognise the music at 0:45??
Shloggy not sure, it's just a generic backing track from Final Cut Pro. 😁
A year later but WatchMojo use the same backing track in their videos too, so perhaps that's where you've heard it before
informative Demo! but in my opinion, the Muff or the screamer arent in the right Position in the effects Loop ;-)
I don't recall, but thanks for the feedback! :)
Could the Carvin VLD1 in the FX loop be used with this?
Drive pedal right? Not sure you'd want that in the loop. but there's no right or wrong. it's whatever sounds good to you :)
I think the idea of the drive pedal is to take over all the controls of the orange giving you the full adjustments of the legacy pre-amp. Its a portable version of the Carvin Legacy 3.
Reverb (time based fx) in the loop...the rest in front
What about the micro terror? I just got one and i'm thinking about getting a small pedalboard. Would it take a tube screamer in front of it well?
It takes it well. I have a Behringer T808 clone I put in front of my Micro Terror and Micro Dark.
Thank you
Is better that vox behibd you or this orange?:)
it's better if it's better to you!
Do you believe is it worth tò buy It with a cabine even though i know i shoudi i change Place every week?
micro dark does cleans? XD
from what I remember yes :)
With a Jensen speaker it sounds like it can.
i'm sorry but this is kinda pointless... do you have any idea what the effects loop is meant for?
why don't you do another video with the distortion pedals il the front, reverb in the effects loop and the chorus in different positions to see the difference?
in that configuration you could try and crank up the gain and see how those distortion pedals can boost or change color to the amp's native distortion.
here you're putting distortion after the preamp and you only show how horrible it sounds... thanks but we knew already
+Jacopo Tersigni ya I could do a whole other series about fx looping or not. for simplicity I ran everything together in one strip through the loop, even though it's recommended to run dirt in front. In the room it all sounded great, sometimes that doesnt come across in the mic'd recording. this was just a quick test to see how things sounded, but thanks for the recommendations 👍
cute intro!
4:34 Those cleans sound gorgeous! What pickup is that? Do you think that head would give you good Fender-like cleans paired with a Vox Night train 112 cab? Thanks.
that's a Lace Sensor Blue. I can't really say of it would give Fender cleans because I'm not familiar with those Vox Nightrain amps/cabs at all.
Lando27Music That's ok. I'll try that cab. It has a 25 W Greenback. I hope it sounds good.
The amp has an fx loop, so why would it not take pedals?
haha! yeah rite. that's what I thought too! DIdn't watch the vid, but already know the micro dark sounds great (for the price) with pedals!
nice intro haha
more worried about video editing bells and whistles than actually demonstrating in a practical way. like everyone else said dirt and wah up front, modulation in the effects loop
no I wasn't worried. any tips for a more practical video? I'm always open for advice
If you have ghost you have everything
+Victor Arnett ghost?
He’s referencing a Roky Erickson song
i dont think that the micro dark need a overdrive
It sounds so much better with an OD, so much more crisp.
@@strugl3snugle245 OD + clean boost will hit the front end of it like a sledgehammer xD
Welcome to K.Billy Lando's Music of the Not Seventies....my god... you are a Reservoir Dog !
Those are all really sweet sounding pedals, bro! 🤘
This guy needs to raise hit t levels. Beta extreme.
🤔🎸
@@landonbailey *his
Why would you use a metal amp for that tone, why wouldn't you buy the right micro amp
Because only this model has an effects loop.
@@Texturas75 fair enough didn't know that actually
ahh the good ol days when Corona was just a beer, where fenders are made and a pedal.
the background music sounds like generator rex lol
🎸👍
it appears as I am the first to comment. even though I have nothing to say haha
+stepvan Joe it's all good. 🎸🎸👍
Am I the only one who thinks it's kind of funny to pay more for pedals than the amp itself?
Albin Ahlström those pedals can be used in any rig.
This is a toy......if you like brutal hi gain stuff.it won't even get close...even with a screamer in front
ok. fine. problem: that guitar sounds like crap. try a FENDER Telecaster. Hello!
please enlighten me with how only made in USA Telecasters are real.