Whose Owned, Still Owns Or Tried An Orange AD30? Opinions Greatly Recieved.

randomhandclaps

I am having a bit of a minor amp reshuffle after getting a VH100 back in the stable and it's killed of all but my Fender Frankenamp.  The still however fills like a hole in my life left from selling my old Orange OTR.  So.... I thought now might be the time to get another or an OR but then I remembered Adrian Utley (whom I love) eulogising about the AD30, then saw Mr Page using one and I thought it might be a more practical solution to itching my Orange scratch.

So do you have one, had one or tried one ?

xchrisv

Throughout the noughties I owned the single-channel AD30 head, single-channel combo with reverb and the twin-channel head. All saw plenty of action, hundreds of gigs and recording sessions and were extremely reliable... the combo was roughly as heavy and easy to transport as a baby rhino. For me, the single-channel version sounded best but the AD30TC is really close and the only current production option. I used to run them with the master at around 6-7 and the gain at about 3 for a slightly more muscular, warmer AC30 kind of chimey base tone then add pedals. It's a very British sound, plenty of Vox in there but warmer and with a less compressed, stiffer attack. Plenty of hair around the edges at higher gain levels, almost pedal-like, very seventies. The range of the EQ is pretty narrow so you can't do anything dramatic, just tweaks. I always felt these amps sounded killer with humbuckers at stage volume but they never really did as much for me with single-coils. Also, despite the master volume they don't really work too well at home... the sweet spot definitely occurs the master pushed past noon and the gain adjusted to taste. Just really loud, solid gigging amps that are at their best when used as such. I wish I still had my original AD30 head, I loved it, but foolishly decided I needed more than one channel... then 'went boutique' etc etc :-/

randomhandclaps

@chrisv Thanks for that.  In  a sense it sounds quite similar to the main issue I had with my OTR in that regardless of it having a master volume the amp was dead at anything below unacceptable home volumes.  The few times I gigged it (which was cleanish with pedals) it was phenomenally punchy and really beautiful.  I too actually sold it because I thought I needed more than one channel.

xchrisv

@randomhandclaps maybe this is your answer (and they don't come up very often) http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Orange-AD15-Combo-Guitar-Amp-and-Orange-Amp-Cover-/231448381287?pt=UK_MusicalInstr_Amplifiers_RL&hash=item35e3660767

ICBM

If you get one, try replacing the valve rectifier with a solid-state (not valve emulating, just a straight diode rectifier) plug-in. It will make the amp a bit brighter and clearer-sounding, less compressed and a tiny bit louder, and prevent the problem of it blowing rectifier valves because it was designed badly with the standby switch in the wrong place in the circuit…

No modification or adjustment needed. That's the only fault I've ever come across with them, apart from that they're well-built and reliable.

Corvus

I've got an AD15, very happy with it. Though I wonder if ^ is why mine blew a rec valve... Not sure how close it is to the 30, but I run mine like chrisv with gain from 3 for clean & 6 for hair. Add pedals to taste. When the gain gets high it doesn't sound too great to me on it's own. When the master is maxed it really sings esp with a pedal adding a bit, but it is fairly house-trained and sounds decent at lower levels.
Thinking of converting it to a head, the unit lends itself to that and I run it mostly to a cab anyway.