NAD - Orange Super Crush 100 Combo.

NCo

After a solid few months of trying to find someone to fix my Silver Jubilee and not having any luck, I just gave up on valve amps. Having it sit around for months waiting to be serviced, dealing with the hassle of finding a tech, then waiting another four weeks after finally finding someone, plus driving three hours round trip to drop it off and then another three to pick it up, made me rethink my whole setup. Plus, I hardly ever got to crank it up to really make those valves sing. So, I decided to sell it and switch to a solid state.

I had a good run with my Orange Crush 35RT before the Jubilee, despite a couple of annoyances like the power switch being on the back and the volume knob being useless until it hit two. So, I went for its bigger sibling, the Super Crush 100, expecting it to be the same but better. The Super Crush sorted out the issues I had with the 35RT and then some: The cabinet is well-built and the Celestion is a really nice upgrade.

After a few weeks of looking, I finally found one. I was worried that the lack of these amps in the second-hand market was a bad omen, but I was patient and found one for £310 posted and pulled the trigger, although I wish I found an Orange cab version.

A few hours in, and I'm blown away. Sure, it's no Jubilee, but then again, the Jubilee only really beats it when I'm blasting the lead channel, which doesn't happen frequently and is more about my taste than anything. The clean sounds on the Super Crush are more up my alley, and the lead channel's got such a range. Even dialling down the gain on the lead channel and messing with the EQ produces incredible clean sounds.

The thing sounds massive even at low volumes, which totally took me by surprise. It's like it doesn't even need to be loud to sound big, which is something else. It kinda gets into Marshall territory on the gain side, which I wasn't expecting. It's not a Jubilee or a Plexi, but it's got a crunch that's definitely in the ballpark. I'm thinking with a few of my pedals, I might get it even closer.

Now, for the downsides. This thing is surprisingly heavy for a solid state. We're talking as heavy as the Silver Jubilee, which is nuts. And the reverb for me is unusable, the trail length is just way too much. I have to turn it all the way down and use my pedal instead. But really, those are my only gripes. I'm seriously impressed that a solid-state can pack this much punch. It's a quality piece of kit, no doubt.

ICBM

NCo said:

Even dialling down the gain on the lead channel and messing with the EQ produces incredible clean sounds.

I've been going on about this ever since I discovered that the clean channel on the Crush Pro 60/120 can be a bit fussy with some harder distortion and fuzz sounds - the dirty channel set as a 'British clean' sound works perfectly with them. Not all amps can have the dirty channel dialled down far enough to totally clean up and/or still sound good, but this one does.

NCo said:

And the reverb for me is unusable, the trail length is just way too much. I have to turn it all the way down and use my pedal instead.

That's surprising, since the reverb on the Crush Pro is very good - but it has three settings, so the new one may not be identical to any of them.

NCo

Yea, the British Clean is fantastic, and the clean channel itself is also great - just a different flavour.

The Reverb is no biggie, I don't use one often and when I do my pedal more than covers it.

Honestly, I am floored by this amp.

Nikc

I've been a proud Cr60c owner for a while now and it is a monster amp - Congratulations on your purchase

Grumpyrocker

I've got the combo and it's fabulous. And unlike its predecessor works wonderfully with dirt pedals on both channels. They specifically changed the clean channel to make that so.

Weighs a ton though. 

blacknblack

nice one @NCo - I have a Super Crush 100 head and I think it is superb.  Out of interest what OD and Distortion pedals have you (or anyone else) found to be particularly good with it?  I think a RAT is good on the clean channel and a blues driver type on the dirty channel.  

Grumpyrocker

I currently have a Digitech Hardwire SC2 and an MXR EVH 5150 Overdrive in front of mine. 

NCo

blacknblack said:

nice one @NCo - I have a Super Crush 100 head and I think it is superb.  Out of interest what OD and Distortion pedals have you (or anyone else) found to be particularly good with it?  I think a RAT is good on the clean channel and a blues driver type on the dirty channel.  

Honestly I don't see a reason why any pedal won't work well with it. The amps OD is great, there'a a lot still for me to figure out with playing around on the gain/volume/master volume, but it does the breakup really well.

Currently my OD is Kingtone Blues Power, Okko Diablo as Distortion/Green Russian alternate on my board.

newi123

Nice review thanks - also considering a move here away from the inconsistency of gigging valve amps! I love the clean on the orange AD30 I get to play at jamnights, so if the clean is anywhere in the same ball park I`d be happy.

Thinking of buying two for a stereo rig. 

57Deluxe

newi123 said:

Nice review thanks - also considering a move here away from the inconsistency of gigging valve amps! I love the clean on the orange AD30 I get to play at jamnights, so if the clean is anywhere in the same ball park I`d be happy.

Thinking of buying two for a stereo rig. 

At best price just a smidgen over £1000 for the TWO, this actually make a lot of sense...

NCo

57Deluxe said:

newi123 said:

Nice review thanks - also considering a move here away from the inconsistency of gigging valve amps! I love the clean on the orange AD30 I get to play at jamnights, so if the clean is anywhere in the same ball park I`d be happy.

Thinking of buying two for a stereo rig. 

At best price just a smidgen over £1000 for the TWO, this actually make a lot of sense...

The Super Crush heads go for £250 used.

HAL9000

NCo said:

Now, for the downsides. This thing is surprisingly heavy for a solid state. We're talking as heavy as the Silver Jubilee, which is nuts.

I used to own a Crush Pro CR60 which, despite being less powerful, actually weighs a couple of Kg more! Go figure.