jomgooz
New Member
It’s been over a year now that I owned an Orange Dual Dark 50. I know there’s some kind of hype/mystery about this amp and I just want to demystify some information.
There’s not a lot of demos and sound clips available and most of the demos on Youtube are making me want’s to puke. When you read at reviews: Best amp in the world! (like every amp…
. So, here’s my experience with this amp. (English is not my first language so bear with my spelling )
I was an Orange amp hater. I thought that they were overpriced and that most people who wants an Orange amp didn’t even know how they really sound like (just for the cool look). I hated the orange sound based on the patches on my POD X3 and later my POD HD Pro. I play metal for over 20 years and I have played/owned/tried a lot of amps since. I mostly play ultrafast riffs with a .... load of palm mute and weird chords.
I bought a Dual Dark on the spur of the moment about a year ago. I was on the market for a Mesa Mark V but the deal for the DD was good so I have decided to give it a try.
For the first week I was in love with the amp, and then I was not so sure. It took a couple of month to get used to it but now it just rips! My main cab is a Recto oversize with v30. I also have a Marshall 1960A.
First, THIS IS NOT A MODERN GAIN AMP. This is not another declination of 5150/6505/5150 III/Dual or triple rectos/Satan/Rev generator/Archon/etc. If you worship that tone don’t even look at the Orange. It has a very distinctive voicing. So you’ll need to be aware that your sound won’t be what you are used to.
What’s the “Orange tone”? :
A massive low end with something “fuzz-like” in the lowhigh frequencies. Orange amps LOVE mids. This is where they shine. When you roll off the mid --> fizzy as hell.
Hipsters vs Gain vs Metal Myth:
Ok, this amp has more gain that you’ll ever need. Orange serves well the hipster crowd so here’s the result on demos: “O! Look, this amp can do metal --> Bass 10, Mid 0, Treble 10, Gain 10, low volume”.
The 2 channels:
This is not a 2 or 3 channel cascading gain amp. There is no boost button, kill mode, xyz toggles… It’s more like having 2 single channel amps that can do clean to fire breathing gainy tones (imagine 2 massively hot-rodded jcm 800). The cannel A is more flexible then the B but you can get similar tone out of them. They both clean up amazingly with the volume rolled off (beefy chug chug to crystal clear).
The bass:
This is where everybody fall into the trap. The amp has a huge amount of low end naturally. It sound like .... when you do palm mute and staccato riffs with regular bass settings (like 13 o’clock on a 5150) with a drop tuned 7 string guitar. At rehearsal volume level, it’s flobby and your cab will literally tells you that he would prefer to die. This is mostly why in all the reviews they tell you that it’s a stoner metal amp where palm muted tight and defined riffs are absent. So, by rolling off the bass everything is tightening up really well. On channel A just drop the bass knob between 8 to 10 o’clock. On channel B, turn the knob counter clockwise.
Mids:
Give this amp mids! The worst thing you can do is to scoop your eq. It’s going to turn in a fizzy .... hell. You won’t even hear yourself in the mix. For tight riffing, I’m boosting the amp with a TC spark with the toggle switch to “Mid” setting (taming the low end at the same time).
Power tube clipping vs attenuator:
Modern metal sound is provided by the preamp tube only. This is why metal players tend to use 6L6, KT88 and 6550 power tubes. They are pretty hard to clip. Power amp clipping is what you want for crunch. The DD has EL34 as stock tubes. I haven’t changed the stock tube on mine yet. That being said, the attenuator on the Dual Dark is a patented PPIMV. It works just like a normal PPIMV but it also change the clipping point of the power tube. It’s pretty neat! I don’t use it at rehearsal volume level but at bedroom level, it does the job pretty well on crunch tone. For metal or clean tones, it’s not a “must have” feature. The attenuator, the volume and the gain controls are reactive with each other. To tame the fizz at low volume, you can roll off the gain, crank up the volume and the attenuator.
Input sensitivity:
The DD is freakin’ responsive. I have played on a Randall Satan and on a H&K Switchblade a couple of days ago and on both amps every pick stroke seems just a bit delayed with the sound. This is where I connect the most with this amp. Even with the gain at 10, you can still hear every single string of your guitar. You can hear a clear difference between guitars you plug in. I used to hate EMG81 but with this amp, they sound great. In this amp, I prefer not to high output humbuckers. My favorite so far: Seymour Duncan Pegasus.
Conclusion:
This amp puts a freakin’ smile on my face every time I plug a guitar in instead of only getting the job done. It’s extremely versatile but you have to know how a tube amp work to dial in the right tone.
Worst demo ever:
Gear gods (https://youtu.be/HRKzKwOCoAo) --> Greenback … really? Too much bass and not enough gain for what he plays.
Guitar world (https://youtu.be/oQJY9s9qfvY) --> Volume is too low! The amp is not breathing. Way too much gain. Fizzy ..... Come on guitar world! You can do better! Garrett Peters nailed it with 1/100 of your budget.
I can’t imagine that somebody said : “Ok sounds good!”
Best demos:
Garrett Peters (https://youtu.be/X46JCl2Ol8o) --> seems to be the only one who knows how to dial an amp.
Mike Martin (https://youtu.be/rbuCWuxcNhY) --> Best demo to demonstrate the versatility of the amp
Hope it’s been helpful to demystify this amp.
There’s not a lot of demos and sound clips available and most of the demos on Youtube are making me want’s to puke. When you read at reviews: Best amp in the world! (like every amp…
. So, here’s my experience with this amp. (English is not my first language so bear with my spelling )I was an Orange amp hater. I thought that they were overpriced and that most people who wants an Orange amp didn’t even know how they really sound like (just for the cool look). I hated the orange sound based on the patches on my POD X3 and later my POD HD Pro. I play metal for over 20 years and I have played/owned/tried a lot of amps since. I mostly play ultrafast riffs with a .... load of palm mute and weird chords.
I bought a Dual Dark on the spur of the moment about a year ago. I was on the market for a Mesa Mark V but the deal for the DD was good so I have decided to give it a try.
For the first week I was in love with the amp, and then I was not so sure. It took a couple of month to get used to it but now it just rips! My main cab is a Recto oversize with v30. I also have a Marshall 1960A.
First, THIS IS NOT A MODERN GAIN AMP. This is not another declination of 5150/6505/5150 III/Dual or triple rectos/Satan/Rev generator/Archon/etc. If you worship that tone don’t even look at the Orange. It has a very distinctive voicing. So you’ll need to be aware that your sound won’t be what you are used to.
What’s the “Orange tone”? :
A massive low end with something “fuzz-like” in the lowhigh frequencies. Orange amps LOVE mids. This is where they shine. When you roll off the mid --> fizzy as hell.
Hipsters vs Gain vs Metal Myth:
Ok, this amp has more gain that you’ll ever need. Orange serves well the hipster crowd so here’s the result on demos: “O! Look, this amp can do metal --> Bass 10, Mid 0, Treble 10, Gain 10, low volume”.
The 2 channels:
This is not a 2 or 3 channel cascading gain amp. There is no boost button, kill mode, xyz toggles… It’s more like having 2 single channel amps that can do clean to fire breathing gainy tones (imagine 2 massively hot-rodded jcm 800). The cannel A is more flexible then the B but you can get similar tone out of them. They both clean up amazingly with the volume rolled off (beefy chug chug to crystal clear).
The bass:
This is where everybody fall into the trap. The amp has a huge amount of low end naturally. It sound like .... when you do palm mute and staccato riffs with regular bass settings (like 13 o’clock on a 5150) with a drop tuned 7 string guitar. At rehearsal volume level, it’s flobby and your cab will literally tells you that he would prefer to die. This is mostly why in all the reviews they tell you that it’s a stoner metal amp where palm muted tight and defined riffs are absent. So, by rolling off the bass everything is tightening up really well. On channel A just drop the bass knob between 8 to 10 o’clock. On channel B, turn the knob counter clockwise.
Mids:
Give this amp mids! The worst thing you can do is to scoop your eq. It’s going to turn in a fizzy .... hell. You won’t even hear yourself in the mix. For tight riffing, I’m boosting the amp with a TC spark with the toggle switch to “Mid” setting (taming the low end at the same time).
Power tube clipping vs attenuator:
Modern metal sound is provided by the preamp tube only. This is why metal players tend to use 6L6, KT88 and 6550 power tubes. They are pretty hard to clip. Power amp clipping is what you want for crunch. The DD has EL34 as stock tubes. I haven’t changed the stock tube on mine yet. That being said, the attenuator on the Dual Dark is a patented PPIMV. It works just like a normal PPIMV but it also change the clipping point of the power tube. It’s pretty neat! I don’t use it at rehearsal volume level but at bedroom level, it does the job pretty well on crunch tone. For metal or clean tones, it’s not a “must have” feature. The attenuator, the volume and the gain controls are reactive with each other. To tame the fizz at low volume, you can roll off the gain, crank up the volume and the attenuator.
Input sensitivity:
The DD is freakin’ responsive. I have played on a Randall Satan and on a H&K Switchblade a couple of days ago and on both amps every pick stroke seems just a bit delayed with the sound. This is where I connect the most with this amp. Even with the gain at 10, you can still hear every single string of your guitar. You can hear a clear difference between guitars you plug in. I used to hate EMG81 but with this amp, they sound great. In this amp, I prefer not to high output humbuckers. My favorite so far: Seymour Duncan Pegasus.
Conclusion:
This amp puts a freakin’ smile on my face every time I plug a guitar in instead of only getting the job done. It’s extremely versatile but you have to know how a tube amp work to dial in the right tone.
Worst demo ever:
Gear gods (https://youtu.be/HRKzKwOCoAo) --> Greenback … really? Too much bass and not enough gain for what he plays.
Guitar world (https://youtu.be/oQJY9s9qfvY) --> Volume is too low! The amp is not breathing. Way too much gain. Fizzy ..... Come on guitar world! You can do better! Garrett Peters nailed it with 1/100 of your budget.
I can’t imagine that somebody said : “Ok sounds good!”
Best demos:
Garrett Peters (https://youtu.be/X46JCl2Ol8o) --> seems to be the only one who knows how to dial an amp.
Mike Martin (https://youtu.be/rbuCWuxcNhY) --> Best demo to demonstrate the versatility of the amp
Hope it’s been helpful to demystify this amp.
