best practice amp I have ever heard

[volatileNoise]

As I am sick of setting up my DR at home, and then having to deafen myself for it to sound any good, and only having an old Roland practice amp still kicking around, that hasn't been inspiring to play through for many years, I recently decided I needed to get a decent home amp, for well... home use, and quiet jams with electronic drums etc.

Tried a Blackheart combo as people on forums were rating them as decent, and have to say that the old Roland shitter can come up with more drive, and almost as much tone as one of those **** heaps.

I was interested to try a Blackstar, but with a few experienced players commenting it is all gain, and not so much real tube tone, I was thinking nah it probably won't be for me.

Ended up going and trying out a couple of Orange amps, and was completely blown away! The Tiny Terror series is absolutely the ultimate practice amp, that is if you are a Recto player, and looking to get a similar tone and feel at quiet levels.

I ended up with a Dual Terror and 1x12 cab, as I got it on sale cheaper than a Tiny Terror, and the thing is instantly impressive to play, genuine guitar tone, decent levels of gain on tap, and can be quiet, loud or whatever, it still kicks arse sound wise at any level on the 7w setting, and is two channel to boot, so I can still dial in some vintage style tone too!

Absolutely awesome sound these Orange amps have, I am not sure about the reliability, but at the given cost I don't care!

 

[gonzo]

CLIPS!!

 

[HIgh Gain Junkie]

They are killer little amps for sure. I've had two TTs and would love to try the Dual out so you could actually dial in a good clean sound too. My only complaint was the lack of an effects loop but that has more to do with my sloppy playing, and subsequent dependence on Delays! Enjoy one of the nicest little amps out there.

 

[volatileNoise]

CLIPS!!

Sorry can't make that happen, but go try one out though!

Even with a new LP Traditional "Standard" plugged in at the store it sounded great, pity about the few frets that were out, despite being a brand new Gibson (guitar was as good as ready for the trash, and hey I am a Gibson owner) but I was only there to try out the amp! :lol:

*and it wasn't just intonation, actual misaligned frets (not straight) where the notes were "ok" on the low strings, and then out on the high strings. no joke.

 

[94Tremoverb]

Are you sure it wasn't a too-high nut on the treble side? That will cause intonation problems and is common on Gibsons. It's almost impossible for the frets to be misaligned because all the slots are cut at once with a multi-wheel saw, so the spacing cannot be different as you go across the neck.

Anyway... I like the Tiny Terror too, but the Vox Night Train is more versatile. And the Mesa Transatlantic is probably more versatile than both put together, but also costs more than both put together! (At least in the UK.) The thing I like least about the TT is the single tone control, which won't let you get a good mid-cut sound - sorry, but I do like to do that . But apart from that it's pretty good. I haven't seen any reliability problems with them either... unless you drop it and break the switches off.

 

[volatileNoise]

I kid you not, it was that weird to play, like one fret would be fine on string one, two frets up would be fine, but the fret in between was way out, and only really noticeable on the high E, also noticeable on the B, and only a fraction out on the G...

Like I said though, fret above AND below that fret (9th I think it was) were perfectly fine.

I then found a couple of frets further up the neck that sounded a little off too (fret spacing actually looked too close together right up high on the neck for the last few frets?!)

Have seen this sort of thing with cheap guitars I have picked up from time to time, Epiphones and cheap LP copies, but never on a Gibson LP.

Also noticed the frets to be quite high and narrow, and almost flat across the top of some, horrible to play!

Maybe a setup would help matters but I am doubtful of that particular guitar ever being 100%

 

[volatileNoise]

Anyway... I like the Tiny Terror too, but the Vox Night Train is more versatile. And the Mesa Transatlantic is probably more versatile than both put together, but also costs more than both put together! (At least in the UK.) The thing I like least about the TT is the single tone control, which won't let you get a good mid-cut sound - sorry, but I do like to do that . But apart from that it's pretty good. I haven't seen any reliability problems with them either... unless you drop it and break the switches off.

Cool, yeah the tone thing is not exactly ideal, but the thing I like is the real tube "feel" and decent gain levels, awesome!

 

[94Tremoverb]

They get the gain control in a clever way - it's not one control, even though it only has one knob... it's two. The gain pot is a dual-gang that operates at two different points in the circuit, so the range of gain from clean to full-on is much greater than you could achieve with just one pot in either position. It's kind of like turning both the gain and the channel volume at the same time on a Rectifier, then controlling the final volume with the Output Level.

The master volume is also a dual-gang pot, used as a post-phase-inverter type so you get the phase inverter distortion too. The real let-down is that the tone control is a simple treble-cut across the MV. If only they'd used a dual-gang here too, they could have given it more of a 'contour' control that would let you get a mid-cut as well. I doubt it would have added very much to the cost.

 

[oppgulp]

I've got a Tiny Terror and I have to say it is a great amp. Suits every style of music except maybe metal, but with a decent distortion pedal that won't be a problem either. Also heard about people who run a booster into the amp without a distortion pedal to get a metal sound, but never tried it myself.

 

[droptrd]

The TT is impressive. Ive yet to hear a Transatlantic. Those Blackhearts are garbage IMO. I dont see what all the hype is about. I havent heard the Vox yet either but I see them for sale cheap all the time. I might have to try one of these little amps. The Blackhearts ruined it for me. Yuk

 

[b0nkersx]

The TT is impressive. Ive yet to hear a Transatlantic. Those Blackhearts are garbage IMO. I dont see what all the hype is about. I havent heard the Vox yet either but I see them for sale cheap all the time. I might have to try one of these little amps. The Blackhearts ruined it for me. Yuk

I had one and sold it. You really do get what you pay for with those inexpensive "low wattage tube amps." I ended up running a Tonebone Hot British through the **** thing just to get it to sound decent and realized I could do that with a full-stack at the same volume and it would sound better.

 

[volatileNoise]

That's funny, cause here is oz at the time of purchase the Orange was the best priced option too!

Still kicking arse and helping to create some sweet riffs... Riffs that when played later through the Recto, requires it to be cranked to live up to translating the same feel and energy, that happens with the Orange...!

Makes me think I might have to revisit my settings... The recto I have noticed isn't sounding as crisp since using the loop more often, needs to be brightened up a bit, maybe I should look at some better preamp tubes, I dunno really.

 

[edmiller9999]

I got a Night Train last weekend and it's great for practice. It's not very loud, but you can pull off a wide variety of tones, right up to heavy grind and distortion. Just don't try to do too much with a single channel, EL84, 15-watt amp.

 

[Vogelsong]

I like the new little amp Ibanez has out. It has the ts9 circuit built right in and it has an effects loop.

 

[Gtr_Pkr]

I've got the Tiny Terror too. Great amp, but the two main things I don't like about it are that when you crank the gain, you cannot use a distortion/fuzz pedal. You need to set it clean, then put your distortion in front. Not a huge deal, but that kind of defeats the purpose of the amp IMO. The other is the effects loop. I have heard that it's not too friendly with pedals. A loop would really help out for modulation effects. Of course, there are people who can install an efx loop for you, but again, it sort of defeats the purpose. It's a one trick pony, but it does the job VERY well!