NAD - Soon (i waffle on a bit)

samzadgan

So i put some more money onto this purchase today...now over half way paid off. Should have the rest by next week.

I'm buying this new, which would usually be too expensive, but this particular shop has it at around $2000, about GBP1000...which is second prices really. I asked them why so cheap, given its also a limited edition...their answer was: "It's our last one and it hasn't sold for 2 years, no one wants a 200w amp here". At almost 40% off, I'm sure they still have a bit of margin on it, but for me its a no brainer as I've wanted one of these amps for a while.

Back story is, I tried it out this model at another shop and didn't fall in love with it...the dirt channel (Channel wasn't as good as i thought it would be...and the clean channel (Channel A) seemed really nice but wasted if it was the only channel i would use.

So then fast forward 2 weeks and I see an add for this one in a shop at a heavily reduced price. The add was a month old, so i assumed it was sold. I called them up, and no, it was still there. I went in and decided to try something different, I switched the way i set the channels before and how internet reviews have them set. 

I used the gain channel, as my clean, rolling off the gain and turning the volume up. Given the massive amount of head room, i could get it really loud with out distortion, and the clean was really nice, with the shape i could get exactly the clean i liked. Then going back to the clean channel, I turned the gain up and adjusted the eq, and bang...got the gain that was after...a little fuzzy, warm and loose...the low end was immense. Obviously, this was the vintage channel and the other one was the modern channel, because the other channel could not come close to this style of dirt - it was way too tight.

The best thing was the guy who was showing the amp came over and decided to impress me volume, yes i was impressed, but the most impressing thing was when the volume went over 2 o'clock, there was a kick, as if you could almost hear the gain switch to the power valves...the sound pretty much transformed into the most luscious gain ever. At this point we both had smiles on our faces, luckily no other customers were in the shop. Later I found out that he was into very similar music, and he wanted to hear them play that music at the volume it should be played.

Now, I've played rockaverbs before and had them on full volume at rehearsals and they were nice, but nothing that stuck with me, I've also had Rocker 30's which had great cleans and with an OD the gain channel was really nice too...and, in my current orange search i played an OR100 and OR50 which were both good, but again, nothing that would warrant me wanting to buy them. But I think in the modern orange models this, to my ears, has to be the best one, hands down.

The other plus on this is that it comes with 6550's...but has a switch that allows me to put in KT88's...i'll see how I go, but one could only imagine how good a set of KT88's would sound in this beast!

Anyway...here's a stock picture of the amp...i'll now have to find another white cab to complete my dual white half stacks...(oh yeah my Matamp half stack is all white too)
 

Strat_a_tat_tat

Very nice. Congrats.

Sassafras

You need some white earplugs to go with it.

Dopesick

Niiiiiiice. I would get a TV200 but I just don't have the need for 200 watts right now, even with the attenuator. My neighbours would agree. Plus I bet it's bloody heavy! A TV50 would be just stellar though.

ICBM

Very cool.

The way you set it makes far more sense to me, I can never understand why amp designers make clean channels with full tone stacks and dirty channels with just a single tone control (whatever they call it). You need precise tone control on the dirty channel, not the clean.

200W doesn't *have* to mean loud either, if it has a volume control… and I always find having more welly behind it makes the tone at low volume sound bigger, even at very low volume.

samzadgan

Not that i will be using this at home, but if i did the attenuator is actually really well designed. it loses nothing when playing at low home volumes.

Also at 200w its not much louder than my matamp...but it stays clean where my matamp distorts.

randomhandclaps

Great score, Sam.  Have been really contemplating one recently.  I desperately want an OR120 but they seem either thin on the  ground or ridiculously overpriced.  Was looking really closely at the OR50 (or the CS version) but haven't have a chance to try one.  Currently have a R30 and AD30 so the TV200 was also on my radar but didn't know if the concept of 200 watts seemed ridiculous.

samzadgan said:

Also at 200w its not much louder than my matamp...but it stays clean where my matamp distorts.

This is good to read because although I like Orange growl, I their cleans and the way they take fuzz.  A big concern with the OR50 is that on the Orange forum I read folks complaining that it had very little head room.

Dopesick

Hmm strange, my old OR100 couldn't take fuzz/distortion through the clean channel at all. Sounded buzzy and icepicky. On the drive channel on the other hand...woah momma.

McToot

Time to buy yourself a nice little ranch in the outback so you can really crank it up without the neighbours (200kms distant) complaining too much.

Dopesick

Just as a heads up - I have seen a couple of brand new TV200s going for good prices. £1249 from Andertons and £1199 from PMT! I've also seen that a few retailers have stopped selling the OR50 and lowered the prices of the OR100.

Is there something going on at Orange Towers?

samzadgan

Dopesick;973436" said:

Just as a heads up - I have seen a couple of brand new TV200s going for good prices. £1249 from Andertons and £1199 from PMT! I've also seen that a few retailers have stopped selling the OR50 and lowered the prices of the OR100.



Is there something going on at Orange Towers?

Maybe their just getting rid of old stock.

Or...new line of amps is coming and they need to make room.

randomhandclaps;973282" said:

Great score, Sam.  Have been really contemplating one recently.  I desperately want an OR120 but they seem either thin on the  ground or ridiculously overpriced.  Was looking really closely at the OR50 (or the CS version) but haven't have a chance to try one.  Currently have a R30 and AD30 so the TV200 was also on my radar but didn't know if the concept of 200 watts seemed ridiculous.




samzadgan said:

Also at 200w its not much louder than my matamp...but it stays clean where my matamp distorts.





This is good to read because although I like Orange growl, I their cleans and the way they take fuzz.  A big concern with the OR50 is that on the Orange forum I read folks complaining that it had very little head room.

Yeah they do take fuzz well. Not sure about the TV though...ill have to try it when i get it. On headroom...i tried the or50 and it didn't have much head room at all. If you're a guitar-volume-knob-rider then its ok I guess, just not for me.

Also the shape control on what i call the clean channel is more of a mids knob...turn left it boosts mids and right it scoops. For clean this is really nice because at about 1 o'clock it starts to sound a little like a fender