Marshall vs. Vox vs. Orange

Im debating between buying one of any of these brands. What are your opinions on them? Jim, I have an odd feeling I know exactly what youre going to say.

the 50+ watt new oranges are on the whole like high gain marshalls with a darker voicing, not like old ones which are really weird designs by modern standards (the current custom shop Orange model appears to be absed on an OD80, ut otherwise eventeh OR50 is more of a JCM800 in Orange clothing).... the elss than 50 watt Oranges are almsot always vox inspired, very much like hot rodded AC15s and 30s. The tiny terror and original AD15 and 30 pioneered this whole thing and they've basically been modding those 2 different riffs on a vox for like a decade. Ade, the chief engineer is a real marshall/vox guy and he just puts a little sheen of orange voicing but not so much the heft and weird hazy grit of the old designs ebcause its just not soemthing you can do with a marshall or vox circuit due to the phase inverter.... i encourage you to try every orange model in your local store. OH! 1 exception is the discontinued Rocker30, arguably Orange's best sounding and msot itneresting modern amp (so of course it didn't cath on).... I really like this amp and Ic an tell you what makes it special if you want. its unique in prduction designs. Also, the 1st gen Rockerverb50 is weir din tat it uses american 6V6 tube sin a quad, pushed hard like in a delux reverb, but ti still manages to sound pretty close to the alter EL34 powered 50s, maybe a little less amrshally and a little more sludgey if you get the mater open far enough.

Marshall's best days are long over. They no logner make reliable new amp designs and If eel the tone is compromised by too many features packed on. The vintage reissue mdoels are still great as they didn't change them at all, even the PCB based plexi is just like a late periodPCB superlead from the late 70s and 80s. The 800 and Silver Jubilee sound great and are built well and I even hear the ini-jubilee is pretty bad-ass and very reliable unlike the modern designs in the 2000 series and such. The discontinued VM heads soudned very good but apprently broke down a lot. Basically if you're looking for higher gaina nd a more modern, neutral voicing than a jubilee head get an orange if you're inclined to orange and not a less iconic (and cheaper) brand like jet city or soemthing. Best deal in amrshall these days is the JCM900SLX, the ebst sounding 900. its like a gained up JCM800 2203, 1 channel, no verb, a total throwback to the early 80s. Very good amp voerall, liked mine on the whole. Witht eh cost of 00s being high i would go Laney, theyve been making similar products sicne the 80s and virtually have cloned the 800 sicne it was discontinued in the GH series. Or I might get a ceriatone which will be handwired like a proper plexi but with JCM800 features.

Vox. I lvoe voxes. The custom classic and classic are not so hot but theya ren't bad. The Classic soudns better bu ahs an inferior cab. The current ac15s are allw rong except for the 59/60 hW they released at namm this year. The AC10 is wrong too but sounds good in its own way. You will have to try them. There are lots of other options in this style, Iw rote this up extensively in this generic vox review, so here:

http://equipboard.com/items/vox-ac30-guitar-combo-amp

I'm the top review, read the comments for off-brand options in the ac30 camp including my huge praise of the original tiny terror and dual terror

price range again? these 3 companies are the big guns in classic british rbands these days, they charge a lot for the good stuff and even their cheapies charge a premium just for the name.

I knew exactly what you were going to say, but the Marshall bit surprised me.

Yeah, I narrowed it down to an original Tiny Terror, an AC15, and even though i KNOW i cant afford it, that wont stop me from playing the JCM800.

JET CITY.... tell ,e more

try a JCM800 and then BUY a laney GH50L, damned simialr at half the price or less.... they have a new laney that looks cool too but I've not tried it. I owned a 50L as a abckup to my old 2204 when i was into that and my good friend had a 100L, sound just like amrshall 800s.... if you wanna get a darker version fo that sound? orange or50. Want that sound darker and at 15 watts? orange or15, basically the or50 preamp stapled to an ac15 poweramp. But i gotta say its ahrd to get a clean sound on the or15 and I rpefer the terror....

anyway, there's a lot ofs tuff in teh 800 camp and pretty much ANY post soldano gain banger's preamp is a descendent of the 800 stapled to some extra stages that are influenced by dumble's voerdrive sections.... so the SLO100, hotrods, 5150 and descendents, mesa rectifiers, dual calibers (the earlier calibers are more like mesa mk 1s).... umm, the jet city amps (even the new one that's not a sodlano cloneis 800ish absed on the cornford high gain marshall type amp), engl, I could go on and on.... if it ahs a crunch mode on a soldano inspired gain banger its pretty much an 800 thing in that mode, but even if you wanna use the low gain channel as a clean mode the high gain one in this format can be goosed down from liquidy lead or brash djenty metal tones into 800 turf resonably convincingly. Usually EL34s do this best, but the oldanos use 6L6es and still sound really marshally.... the 5150 by pevey is my elast favorite though the new EVH 5150IIIs sound better to me... I ahte the rectifiers too but you can make them sound good if you have enough time, they aren't bad amps but they have WAY too many options and that makes them bad to me.... and they break down like marshalls JCM2000s.... too many options, hard tos et, lots to fail

some itneresting amps are the laney AOR amps, the first gen, single channel ones are very much a goosed up 2203.... there's a 30 watt combo too that soudns good. Theya re not SUPER reliable like an 800 or alter GH50L but they have a wider range of toens than a 50L and cost even less.... the 2 channel ones sound very 80s though and they go down all the time so no channel switching on laneys man. BAD

but you should try the whole orange line, I suspct most of the rockers will be too brutal for you.... but the other amps? probably will pelase you unless you like super bright tones, that's enver been orange's thing. I think the best rockin' modern orange tone exampels out there are live Eagles of Death Metal. Not ym favorite band but its a good example of what the mid-gain, 800ish oranges do.

and if I found a decent sounding Orange solid state, should I throw it out with the rest? I think itsounds nice...

I haven't used the fancier ones like the big Crush head. People rave about them. I've seen soem demoes (which are no indication) but they sound off to me. They are in the ballpark but i would go quilter isntead. The quilter deoes sound way livelier and tubier. And I did go quilter LOL. Just have't received it yet. it seems like quilter and roland/boss are the way to go in solid state, man. Roland still ahs the jazz chorus and they do that blescube amp that sounds 98% right and also those boss modular solid states that get good reviews..... then tehre's quilter. In a recording Ic an't tell its a tiny solid state amp in a pedalboard. Just nice all aorund tubey tones, can get a little fender and a little amrshall. The Crush demoes sound flat and lame by comaprison.... but YMMV, they're video demoes

i would put the crush enxt to a rolandbluescube, similar orange tube ehad and a quilter if possible and elt your ears decide and look at the oricetags too. The roland and the orange solidstate amps aren't exactly cheap!

but you can invest in whatever you want as long as you know going tube will retain resale. In your shoes overall I think I would await the jim verdict on the quilter micro.... for 150 bucks you could get one and just invest in a good cab with money to spare

OK. Whats rhe quilter called?

its a quilter micro45, its some crazy new school soldi state technology that doesn't behave like traditional solid state....

anyway, I'll review it when I get it

if you wanna spend more than 150 to 500 go tube or resale purposes, man

Heard it, buying it. What cab do you recommend?

you just ought the quilter epdalbaord amp too? HAHAHA, i hope I am not off base on this little guy, but the price is right to experiment, right? I've spent more at teh ar on a friday or a dinner out with the wife when she was alive enough to eat dinner

don't get anything particle baord in cabs.... make sure its all batlic birch play, 3/4" thick or so, particle baffles are okay on plywood cabs I guess.... if you wanna get a tweed tone get something in solid pine with a thin (1/2" or less) floating plywood baffle and open abck... erpsonally I prefer 2x12s over any other format and I like 'em in open or closed back depending on the speakers. I also like closed back 4x10s soemtimes but pretty much commited to 12s now. If you wanna go small and light try a mesa thiele ported cabinet for a bigger cab kick in a small enclosure. A good friend of mine often uses one to great effect laoded with a huge EVM12L and thoght eh speaker is ehavy tis still a pretty lightweight cab that soudns hevyweight.... in openbacked 1x12 or 2x12 type ofs etups bigger is generally ebtter as 12s get boxy in a small open-back enclosure. I find 2x10 openbacks are a bit boxy but can have a sound. Tend to eb best with jensen type speakers for that tweed super kidna thing, but you probably want 1 or 2 12"s given the music you like.

you als can't gow rong with old post-CBS fender cabs if you don't want a new generic cab.... when those oversized fender 2x12 cabs are parted from their mathcing ehads they tend to go for very little ebcause they are unwieldly.... pre-CBS cabs are smaller though plenty ehavy, but they tend to go for more money ebcause of colelctors trying to complete full blackface piggyback rigs.... try tog et an empty fender cab though because the speakers were junk in all but the top of the line upgrade cabs and you will wanna replace the stock utahs, oxfords and CTS 12s. The upgrade jensens will be good but maybe dunerpowered for 45 watts and the upgrade JBL's? you won't see any of those dude.

But for me erpsonally its an ac30/bluebreaker type open back or convertible 2x12 OR a diagonal sealed 2x12. You can go on avatar and get whatever speakers you want (some fo their speakers are proprietary too) but theya ren't as cheap as they once were or get an emptycab cheaperand source your own speakers, I think one of the ebst deals going is stagecraft

look around locally first and see wat you like, check craigslist in your town, people ahte shipping cabs bigger than a 1x12, especially affordable ones! maybe theyll have nice speakers.

I don't know what to tell yu about speakers, its personal preference. I know what i liek and tis varried and I change shit out all the time as I get bored. i am mostly a vintage celestion guy, anything blue or green if you know what I mean... but I use fanes, JBLs, CTS, jensen, whatever...

did you buy the quilter from soeone with a no-questions-asked return policy? I assume you did. i did.... if it sucks its going abck

didnt buy it yet- gotta find that return policy.

I ordered mine through these guys.

https://www.zzounds.com/returns

45 days, no questions asked.

here's the amp http://www.zzounds.com/item--QUIMICROBLOCK45

The answer, knowing that you play metal, would be Marshall. You would have more resources of metal players and their settings with Marshall. Vox I think is more country, christian, U2'ish popularized. Orange is orange. I've not heard people coming out of the woodwork to proclaim the praises of Orange.

Honestly, with your yurning for experimentation and such and with the prices being close enough for the high end stuff, I would tell you to get a Kemper head and you coul dpotentially have all three.

I will come from left field and say Supro...

In all seriousness, probably a Marshall or Marshall clone (depending on your budget)

I see more broken supro reissues than any other brand, mostly in stored with a 'not for sale' tag on them, shit you not.... though the model 24 and black hoodoo or whatever get close in tone to the old one I had. A little tighter and clearer.

LOL! i would love a kemperXD

anywho, i dont JUST play metal, which is why i want an orange or mayyyyyybe a vox. Slipknot's guitarist uses an orange terror head, so it can cover that base. and look at matt bellamy, who played ac30s for a bit, or kurt cobain. i want something that can cover all the bases in my arsenal, so thaqts why its even a question.

i want something that can cover all the bases in my arsenal, so thaqts why its even a question.

I stretch across a few genres (Punk, grunge, hard rock, acoustic, folk, goth, metal, industrial, pop rock) and use a Marshall.

People think Marshall and think GAIN GAIN GAIN.

I run my preamp volume (the gain control) on about 1.5 - 2.

It is a clean sound showing its teeth. And it makes the amp have PLENTY of headroom, and eat up ALL THE PEDALS.

Which is why I run 14 pedals on my board. Because I can.

I can do ANYTHING with my Marshall.

and Because it is a 100w 4x12 Marshall... if you disagree that I can do anything, I will just turn up louder than you.

ye, thats super cool. i might do that... but i feel like i ought to get somethng that isnt designed for one specific thing, and do everythign with it.

ye, thats super cool. i might do that... but i feel like i ought to get somethng that isnt designed for one specific thing, and do everythign with it.

Can't hear you.. I'm Playing a Marshall