NAD: Orange CR120C

grayn

I had a problem.  I'd joined a classic rock band, in between the 2 lockdowns and had bought a a Boss Katana 100 (2X12) combo,

for the job.  It is great at lower volumes but this is a loudish band.  No trouble with volume though, the Katana is a loud amp.

The problem was that when cranked up the Katana lost all it's bottom end.  I EQed the hell out of it but up loud it always sounded

too toppy and even tizzy.  I had to give up on it and get an alternative.  About 5 years ago I'd owned a Orange CR120C combo and

I remembered how it definitely leaned toward the dark and full sound, that Orange are known for.  

I spotted a preowned model at one of my favourite guitar shops, Promenade Music.  So on Monday I popped over to try it out.  It

was in mint condition and sounded as I remembered.  They knocked a good lump off the asking price and home it came.  I took it

to band rehearsal last night.  My set up being nice and simple.  EBMM Stingray RS, into Blackstar HT-Dual, a dual channel, valve

based overdrive and the Orange.  Now the Orange is an all solid state amp.  No modelling and the only digital thing on it, is the 

rather nice reverb.  And this set up sounded just how I wanted it to.  Full and very sweet.  With the pedal, I had clean, mild crunch and heavy overdrive.  This was the first time I'd played this amp with a loud band and it exceeded my expectations.  Just great and at not much financial outlay.

And to add to the overall postive vibe, when I got home on Monday, I ordered a cover for the combo from GAK.  It arrived the next day, in time for the band rehearsal, so thumbs up to GAK and what was was even more impressive was that at only £17:99, I was expecting a cloth cover, like I got with the Katana but no, this cover had a reasonable amount of padding.  Superb.

p90fool

Nice one, are these class D amps or proper old school transistor amps?

I've always liked the sound of them, but I'm concerned about long term reliability and have had no luck with modern solid state PA gear. 

ThePrettyDamned

These are great sounding amps, I liked the cr60 too.

jpfamps

p90fool said:

Nice one, are these class D amps or proper old school transistor amps?

I've always liked the sound of them, but I'm concerned about long term reliability and have had no luck with modern solid state PA gear. 

They use monolithic integrated class B amps for the output .

These are run quite conservatively, and have proved to very reliable.

As with any SS amp for best reliability don't use them with the minimum load.

p90fool

Cheers @jpfamps ;

ICBM

jpfamps said:

They use monolithic integrated class B amps for the output .

These are run quite conservatively, and have proved to very reliable.

As with any SS amp for best reliability don't use them with the minimum load.

It's remarkable, really - there's nothing in the technology of these that couldn't have been done twenty years ago, or more... it's just basic IC-based analogue circuitry both in the preamp and power amp - and yet they sound really very good. Which proves what I've thought all along, that it's nothing to do with the technology and all to do with getting someone who knows what they're listening for to design it.

One thing that's worth mentioning if you're using them as a clean platform for pedals - the clean channel isn't necessarily the best choice, it's quite Fendery and can make some drive pedals sound buzzy and a bit thin. But if you use the overdrive channel with the volume up full and the gain down at around 9 o'clock, you get a great Orange/Marshall-type clean sound which takes pedals really well.

grayn

ICBM said:

jpfamps said:

They use monolithic integrated class B amps for the output .

These are run quite conservatively, and have proved to very reliable.

As with any SS amp for best reliability don't use them with the minimum load.

It's remarkable, really - there's nothing in the technology of these that couldn't have been done twenty years ago, or more... it's just basic IC-based analogue circuitry both in the preamp and power amp - and yet they sound really very good. Which proves what I've thought all along, that it's nothing to do with the technology and all to do with getting someone who knows what they're listening for to design it.

One thing that's worth mentioning if you're using them as a clean platform for pedals - the clean channel isn't necessarily the best choice, it's quite Fendery and can make some drive pedals sound buzzy and a bit thin. But if you use the overdrive channel with the volume up full and the gain down at around 9 o'clock, you get a great Orange/Marshall-type clean sound which takes pedals really well.

Cheers, I have been using the clean channel (with pedal) and am very happy with the results but I'll give the gain channel a try now.

Grunfeld

grayn said:

I have been using the clean channel (with pedal) and am very happy with the results but I'll give the gain channel a try now.

I've got the CR120 head which I used/will use again for gigs.

As you say, a rather nice reverb which covers all functional bases.

And for most of the time I just used the clean channel with a good amp-sounding pedal.*

But when you switch to the dirty channel for an intro or a chorus it's a really impressive contrast.

*Catalinbread Formula 55