It’s fair to say that amp modelers are on the rise. Thanks to the success of Neural DSP’s game-changing Quad Cortex and Positive Grid’s Spark amps – and recently released Spark II – Fender has recently thrown its hat in the ring, and Marshall has hinted at its intentions to do likewise.

It’s no surprise to see big-name brands jump on the bandwagon and try their hand in a fast-rising market, but not every brand feels the same. British amp builder Orange, for instance, has no intention of jumping on the bandwagon.

Speaking on YouTube channel Lonely Rocker, Charlie Cooper, Orange's Marketing Director and the son of its founder Cliff, has distanced the firm from the modeling world and equally wants to shrug off any “retro” tags that people banner the company under.

“My dad's not a fan of Orange being called ‘retro,’ when someone thinks like, ‘Oh, you've got an Orange amp. Oh, that's so retro,’” he says. “Because I guess, from our perspective, it's not even tradition. It's what we know.”

And so Orange will stick to its expertise, believing it is in a stronger position as a result.

“We're not even going to pretend or try to dabble in digital amplifiers or digital modeling. Everyone else is essentially. They can do it better. We can't beat them at that. So we just keep evolving amplifier technology.”

That’s a world, the junior Cooper underlines, that’s ever-changing. Hence his father’s resistance to the retro tag.

“The thing that's consistent is the tubes,” he adds. “That's probably the oldest thing. But the design and how they're pushed changes, and how the circuit works changes.”

From Charlie Cooper’s standpoint, amp owners and modeler users represent two distinct and different demographics. His way of thinking isn’t unfounded either. It comes after a lengthy period of monitoring the market and its reaction to Orange’s OPC amplifier, described as a “musician’s personal computer.”

“I think it was 2010. I had officially joined Orange,” he explains of the OPC’s genesis. “I was showing everyone at the company, ‘Look, this modeling stuff can be really cool, and we can be part of it. We can accept that we can't do the software – we're way too late in the game. But we can do hardware around it and we can just do a cool computer.’

“Around that time, we partnered with IK Multimedia. They got a really good tone and nailed it,” he continues. “We're like, ‘This is great!’ And then, over time, it's been getting more and more convenient with modeling amplifiers that you don't even need the operating system or an iPhone or anything,” thus Orange’s short foray into the modeling world came to an end.

“But I kind of see it as different audiences. Now it's evolved to the point where it's not just a race to get the identical tone. The conversation has changed to be more about, ‘It's kind of convenient to get an idea of what all these different sounds sound like.’

“Sometimes you're just doing a small gig [and] you don't really care too much to lug a class A amplifier around with you. So now you’ve got these different ecosystems, and they're cohabiting.”

Ultimately he sees this coexistence and the separate audience streams as positive things for the industry. Indeed, many players will have tube amps and more compact digital modelers in their tone arsenals to call upon depending on different circumstances.

Just like the rise of MP3s, and later streaming services, had some industry experts and consumers ringing the death knell for CDs and vinyl, the two listening experiences have both proved successful in the contemporary market.

Although there are some overlaps, with amp-in-a-box pedals like Orange’s Terror Stamp offering tube-like tones without the need to carry big amps around. It’s been listed as one of GP’s favorite amp pedals and is itself part of a fairly dense market.

Still, with the amp and modeling worlds viewed as different beasts, Cooper says that early “concern in the industry [is] kind of not there anymore.”

And so Orange doesn’t feel it has to enter the modeling game to survive. Instead, it wants to stay ahead of the curve in the separate amp market stream and continue to make waves there rather than split its energy into streams

Often cited as the best blues guitar player to emerge from England, Peter Green began his brief career with the unenviable task of replacing Eric Clapton in John Mayall's band. Recorded in '66, A Hard Road – the second Bluesbreakers studio album – proved Green and his '59 Les Paul were up to the task.

While sharing Clapton's respect for American bluesmen, the 21-year-old Green had his own take on Les Paul tone.

His quick, stinging vibrato; penchant for clean, cutting timbres (often drenched with reverb); acute sense of dynamics; and unmatched melodic subtlety set him apart from all English blues players before or since.

Green's haunting, 10-second-long sustained notes in the instrumental "The Super-Natural" established him as England's new tone god.

After a short stay in the Bluesbreakers, Green left to form Fleetwood Mac, which played its first gig at the '67 Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival.

Green wrote prolifically for the band, penning "Albatross" (rumored to have inspired the Beatles' "Sun King"), "Black Magic Woman," "Rattlesnake Shake," and "Oh Well."

In early '68, the group's debut album, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, reached #4 on the British charts. Soon Green added the 18-year-old Danny Kirwan – whose beautiful playing bore an uncanny resemblance to Green's own – to create a twin Les Paul lineup.

In '70, Green abruptly left Mac and the music biz. He sold his magic Paul – with its unique, snarky honk and mysteriously wired pickups – to Gary Moore, who used it to record Blues for Greeny, a 1995 collection of 11 Green originals rendered with tone and heart.

During his brief career, Green played through a variety of tube amps – including a Marshall head and 4x12 cab (A Hard Road) and Orange half-stacks (early Mac).

Most often, however, he wailed through silverface Fender Twin Reverb and Deluxe combos.

Peter Green’s famous '59 Les Paul – now dubbed ‘Greeny’ – currently belongs to Kirk Hammett who acquired the iconic electric guitar from U.K. guitar dealer Richard Henry.

“I rolled into London and I called him up and said, ‘Hey, Rich. What have you got for me? Anything interesting?’” recalled Hammett.

“I plugged it in and I checked the bridge pickup. It sounded nice, bright, full. Great tone. The tonal spectrum was very, very smooth from low to high. I checked the neck pickup. I thought, ‘Oh my God. This is so nice.’ It has that full-on Still Got The Blues sound; I recognised it instantly.

“Then, you know, I put it in the middle position and started playing and all of a sudden, I was like, ‘Holy… Lord!’ I looked up at Richard and I said, ‘I’m not giving this guitar back to you guys.’”

Hammett, who regularly plays Greeny live and in the studio, wowed the audience at an all-star Peter Green tribute performance hosted by Mick Fleetwood at the London Palladium in 2020.

“It was amazing,” said Hammett. “It was a full circle thing for me having Peter Green’s guitar and playing “The Green Manalishi.” That song has been with me for a very, very long time. And to be able to play it with Mick Fleetwood and a bunch of other players who just understand that era of Fleetwood Mac was an amazing thing.

“Greeny was so at home with that song, and all the tones were just sitting there waiting to be used inside of her. It was a transcendental experience. When it came time to do the solo, I dug deep. I didn’t know what I was going to play, but having Greeny in my hands and with that Marshall Bluesbreaker and with that band, I knew I was going to be okay.”

Despite the ongoing pandemic 2021 was a fabulous year for gear. With many exciting and innovative products appearing over the last 12 months we guitar players have been spoilt for choice. 

Here are some of the top picks from team GP…

Gibson Custom Shop Murphy Lab Les Paul, ES-335 and ES-355 Guitars

A revitalized Gibson introduced its Murphy Lab extension of the Custom Shop early in 2021, and that thrillingly accurate backward glance proved one of the more exciting new developments from a big-name maker in quite some time.

Tom Murphy has long been recognized as a leading practitioner of the art of aging Gibson guitars, and if someone had told us the 1959 Les Paul Heavy Aged, 1959 ES-355 Light Aged, and 1961 ES-335 Ultra-Light Aged we were sent for testing were rare under-the-bed vintage finds we wouldn’t have thought twice.

And not only did they look great, but Custom Shop build quality ensure they also played superbly and sounded authentic. Stellar stuff. DH

Orange Acoustic Pedal

This is an ideal preamp and flexible D.I. for acoustic guitar rockers after an amp-like tone. It simply makes any acoustic-electric guitar sound bigger and bolder without having to fuss with a bunch of complicated controls.

The main event is the very sculptable midrange along with the requisite bass and treble controls. Tweak them a bit for different applications or instruments, but most players can probably pretty much set ’em and forget ’em.

I was miffed about no mute or bypass button at first but needed a mutable tuner in line anyway. Once the ample-sounding Orange Acoustic Pedal tone colors the signal chain, going without it sounds black and white. JL

Reverend Gristle 90

Guitarist Greg Koch went off-road when creating a follow-up to his signature Tele-centric Gristlemaste, and the result is the Gristle 90, a mashup of Fender and Gibson attributes that features a korina body that’s chambered under the pickguard and has a Firebird-style raised center section, and a three-piece korina set-neck topped with a 24 3/4-inch scale, 22-fret ebony fingerboard.

Steering things further into Gibson territory, the Gristle 90 has a Bigsby vibrato and a Tune-o-matic bridge, and it sports a pair of P-90 pickups – specifically, Fishman Fluence Gristle 90s, which were voiced by Koch and crew for this guitar. They feed volume and tone controls – the latter with a push-pull switch for a Peter Green-type out-of-phase sound – along with a pushbutton midrange boost and a three-way selector.

The Gristle 90 is a great playing and superb sounding guitar that combines classic and cutting-edge technologies to create a T-styler like no other. AT

Mesa Badlander

Derived from a long line of high-gain Mesa Rectifier amplifiers, this EL34-powered two-channel 100-watt head (also available in combo, rack-mount and 50-watt versions) delivers an astounding range of tones courtesy of Mesa’s 3 Mode Channel Cloning system that provides independent switching of the Clean, Crunch and Crush modes on each channel, each of which offers different gain and voicing options.

Dialing in righteous clean and overdriven tones is facilitated by the independent gain, master and EQ controls, and there’s a front-panel switch to select 100-, 50- or 20-watt operation (all class A/B), a tube-buffered series FX loop, a trio of speaker jacks and a bias switch to configure the amp for EL34 or 6L6 power tubes.

The features are extensive, but one of the most significant is the Cab Clone IR, a cab-simulator/reactive load with eight Mesa miked-cabinet IRs that can also be loaded with IRs of your choice. It adds up to a magnificently well-endowed amp that’s also an amazing deal. AT

Epiphone USA Casino

This updated and revitalized USA Casino – the first built in the U.S. since 1971 – absolutely nails what makes the iconic hollow-body Casino great: from big, bold British jangle and punch to sexy, syrupy P-90 jazz guitar and blues guitar tones.

The solid mahogany, 22-fret, rounded-C neck is topped with an Indian rosewood fingerboard, and with its three-ply maple/poplar/maple top, Gibson ABR-1 Tune-o-matic bridge and thinline trapeze tailpiece, it’s a contoured classic in either Royal Tan or Vintage Sunburst nitro finishes.

While it may cost a pretty penny compared to the Asia-made Epiphone Casinos of even a few years ago, the USA Casino is worth the investment, bringing the model back to the premium U.S.-made dream machine it was always meant to be. JVR

Boss OC-5 Octave

The OC-5 builds on the legacy of the OC-2, introduced 40 years ago, with a spot-on re-creation of the original monophonic pedal as well as a Poly mode that delivers the OC-3’s chord-loving goodness.

It ups the ante with a +1 octave control that adds definition and chime to guitar lines, and a -2 octave that in Poly mode becomes a range control for the -1 octave, allowing you to place the sub on just the root of the chord or over all the notes being played.

Boss’s latest tracking technology delivers lightning-fast, glitch-free performance, producing a natural sound and feel even on bends and vibrato. Better still, its suboctave sounds more natural than that of its predecessors. CS

Eventide Micropitch Delay

The MicroPitch Delay is a stereo delay with controls to independently adjust pitch for the left and right channels, as well as pitch-modulation capabilities courtesy of an LFO, and an envelope that responds dynamically to your playing.

The little red box is awesome for delay, chorus and doubling effects, but that is just the tip of this iceberg. The secondary mod parameter lets you choose from three types of pitch modulation: via LFO, via envelope to raise pitch, and via envelope to lower pitch. These last two methods are great for creating dynamically responsive pitch shifts.

It’s also terrific for creating syrupy chorus and ascending and descending delays via picking dynamics. I found that, at its core, the MicroPitch Delay is a fantastic “always-on” sonic enhancer in my signal chain. CS

Fender American Professional Jazzmaster II

If you’re like us, you’ve wanted a Jazzmaster for years. What held you back was those notoriously wonky vibrato tailpieces and the humpy 7.5-inch neck radius. Well, the American Professional II is for you, with a redesigned Panorama tremolo system that gives you all the bending room of a Strat, updated V-Mod II pickups, and – finally! – a more comfortable rounded-C neck shape, with a modern 9.5-inch neck radius. Hallelujah!

The V-Mod II single-coil pickups kick indie ass, too: clear, punchy and articulate, with a coil-tap option for a beefier sound out of that previously thin bridge pup in most Jazzers. With the American Professional II, Fender has given us all the Jazzmaster’s cool character, with absolutely zero trade-offs. JVR

Epiphone “Inspired by Gibson” Hummingbird

Comparable in nearly every detail to its much-pricier U.S.-made Gibson counterpart, the new made-in-China Epiphone Hummingbird features that classic square-shouldered dreadnought shape, a solid Sitka Spruce top, solid-mahogany back and sides, Indian Laurel reverse-belly bridge with bone saddle, tortoise shell pickguard with Hummingbird and floral graphics, a glued-in, tapered dovetail neck joint, quarter-sawn spruce bracing, ivory-and-black six- and four-ply binding and an Aged Gloss finish.

Specs aside, it just plays and sounds great, with a 24.72-inch-scale mahogany neck with rounded-C profile, a 12-inch radius, and a lovely Indian laurel fingerboard. Finally, a Hummingbird for the rest of us. JVR

ESP MH-1000 Deluxe Evertune

An Editors’ Pick Award mysteriously went missing from this review when it appeared in the November 2021 issue, but the MH-1000 Deluxe Evertune certainly earned one.

This beautifully made guitar offers righteous playability thanks to its three-piece set-thru maple neck with a thin U shape and a 25.5-inch-scale Macassar ebony fingerboard carrying 24 mirror-polished, stainless-steel frets. The guitar swings a pair of active EMG pickups – a 60T W-R in the neck position and an 81 in the bridge slot – and the tone knob pulls for split-coil action.

As the name denotes, this version of the MH-1000 Deluxe features an Evertune bridge that provides rock-solid tuning stability and unprecedented intonation accuracy, and can be easily adjusted for the desired string-bending response. The Evertune is a game changer and the MH-1000 Deluxe an ideal platform to showcase its abilities. AT

Orange Terror Stamp

Perfect for mounting on a pedalboard, this potent little amplifier is a hybrid design that uses a 12AX7 tube in the preamp driving a 20-watt solid-state power section. A single foot-switch toggles between volume 1 and volume 2 controls, and there’s a Shape knob for EQ-ing sounds and a master gain control. The speaker output can handle 8- and 16-ohm loads, and there’s an FX loop and a cab-simulated output for recording, headphones or feeding a FOH mixer.

The Terror Stamp has a wide gain range and its British-flavored distortion is killer for everything from blues guitar to hard rock. It’s a great pedal to keep in the gig-bag in case your main amp goes down, or as a full-time amplifier for players who want to reduce the amount of gear they carry to the gig. AT

Neural DSP Quad Cortex Floor Modeler

When it comes to the industry-leading amp modelers, guitarists have stopped debating whether they sound like the real thing and just started using them. In doing so, many have developed strong loyalties to their DSP delivery unit of choice, which led to some ruffled feathers and muddied waters when plug-in designer Neural DSP unveiled this Quad Cortex floor unit.

Boasting an extremely intuitive interface with touch screen and combination rotary-knob-foot-switch gizmos and the ability to capture and reproduce any amp, drive pedal or cab you throw at it, the main takeaway is that the Quad Cortex simply sounds astoundingly good, immediately establishing it as a serious contender for anything out there. DH

Origin Effects RevivalDrive Compact

When you notice that your pals have the same new overdrive pedal on their boards, you know something is up. With its amp-like circuit design and chewy, touch-responsive sag and bloom, the original RevivalDrive caused a massive stir a few years back, but it’s a big pedal. The RevivalDrive Compact packs that same spongy saturation into a fly-rig-approved form factor, and does it sound good.

Is it the “tube amp-style signal path with Class A preamp”? Or maybe the “long-tail pair phase inverter” or the “reactive overdrive design”? It’s those things, plus EQ options for single-coil or double-coil pickups and a wet/dry control so you can blend your amp’s preamp gain with the RevivalDrive’s tailored gain structure.

Put away your ideas about what an overdrive pedal sounds like, and pull out your wallet. JVR

EarthQuaker Devices Astral Destiny Reverb

EarthQuaker’s line of out-of-this-world ambience pedals grew this year with Astral Destiny, a mind-blowing box that serves up eight types of ambience with and some without octave effects. These huge-sounding reverbs include chorus modulation that makes them sound ethereal or haunting, shimmer effects for upper and lower octaves, and high and low octave effects.

All this, plus a regenerating tail for creating reverbs of extended length at pitch or fifth above, as well as upward and downward pitch bending. Astral Destiny is a welcome new tone enhancer and an inspiring effect for guitarists who seek uncommon reverbs. CS

K-Line Springfield

Just when you concluded that everyone and his or her second cousin is making reproduction S-style, bolt-neck, 25.5-inch-scale guitars, along comes one to remind you how magical this 67-year-old recipe can still be when cooked up very, very well.

Chris Kroenlein’s Springfield model wowed us for its superb playability, authentically played-in feel, resonant and lightweight woods, lusciously aged nitro Lake Placid Blue finish (non-aged available), and trenchant tones.

From the archetypally Stratty mix of bright, glassy, snappy, and quacky, to muscular, rich, and multi-dimensional, it’s the compelling and inspiring performer many players believe they’ll find only in a vintage example costing much, much more. DH

L.R. Baggs Voiceprint Acoustic D.I.

Released in fall 2020 with a significant firmware update in 2021, the Voiceprint D.I. is one of the most innovative products released during the pandemic era. Using Impulse Response signal processing and harnessing the power of an iPhone or Apple Watch via the AcousticLive app, Voiceprint conjures a custom filter designed to augment/replace the pickup signal based on a quick demo performance, essentially creating the best version of your favorite instrument for amplification.

That “Voiceprint” then lives in the pedal and can be further sculpted using the app to adjust EQ or volume, reduce feedback or vary the blend. Store up to 99 Voiceprints for an entire acoustic guitar arsenal. JL

Fender Acoustic Junior GO

This little bugger sounds surprisingly toneful and does pretty much anything a troubadour might imagine. The GO’s got a bevy of effects including a built-in looper, plus Bluetooth connectivity that comes in handy for pumping backing tracks or simply rocking out to tunes sent over from a phone.

Dual guitar/vocal channels with identical setups are easy to understand and operate. A perfectly portable compact brown box housing a powerful rechargeable lithium-ion battery is the GO’s coup de grace.

Robust enough to turn any patch of nature into a stage, it was even the main amplifier for all of the acoustic instruments and even some of the electric ones at our Burning Man camp! JL

Epiphone Alex Lifeson Les Paul Standard Access

Here’s an all-around axe if there ever was one, and it’s attainable to practically anyone serious about acquiring a total tone machine. First, it’s a gorgeous, utterly playable and ergonomically excellent Les Paul with push/pull coil-tap capability on both humbuckers. Second, it’s got a piezo pickup in the Floyd Rose-style, whammy-friendly locking Graph Tech Ghost Tremolo Bridge, and that signal can either be separated via a second output jack, or summed with the magnetic signal in the primary output.

Remarkably, Epiphone and Lifeson realized this dream machine for under a grand. AT

Matchless Laurel Canyon Reverb 1x12

California amp maker Matchless has been at the forefront of the boutique scene since 1989, but the Laurel Canyon and its sibling Coldwater Canyon are the first production models it has released with 6V6 output tubes – to which we say it’s about time!

Announced prior to this past year but put on hold review-wise due to pandemic-related constraints, the Laurel Canyon quickly proved that the high-quality, point-to-point Matchless formula applies equally well to American-voiced designs, while also establishing a new 20-watt club combo to beat.

 From lush blooming chime, to biting mid-rich twang to snarling lead tones, all with outstanding reverb slathered over, it’s impressively versatile and a real joy to play. DH

Way Huge Atreides Analog Weirding Module

Atreides is a stellar reimagination of the short-lived but influential 1980 Electro-Harmonix Mini Synthesizer that Eddie Van Halen used to great effect on Fair Warning tracks like “Sunday Afternoon in the Park” and “One Foot Out the Door.”

A guitar synth, envelope filter, fuzz circuit, phaser, and sub-octave device all in one, pimped out with seven satisfying sliders for sensitivity, brightness, phaser rate, and more, it’s sure to help evoke the hallucinogenic “spice” that brings visions and messianic dreams to its Dune namesake, Paul Atreides. JVR

Carr Super Bee

Dressed in natty two-tone covering and designed to deliver three different flavors of blackface-Fender tone, the Super Bee has a rotary Sting switch that selects “64” (based on Steve Carr’s personal ’64 Deluxe Reverb), “68” (a classic Super Reverb) and “72” (a blackface circuit modded for extra overdrive).

Powering this point-to-point wired amp is a pair of 6BM8 tubes that combine a high-gain triode and a power pentode in one glass package. The pair produce 10 watts, which can be throttled down to two watts via the attenuator switch or all the way down to a whisper with the attenuator knob. Two 12AX7s and a 12AT7 handle the EQ (treble, bass, middle) and drive/recovery duties for the lush and enveloping reverb.

The Super Bee offers a cool selection of sounds that range from rich Deluxe Reverb flavors to midrange-forward Super Reverb clean and overdriven tones to gnarly distortion from the 72 setting that’s so dynamic and touch responsive you could play an entire gig on this mode alone. AT

Taylor Grand Theater 811E & K21E

Depending on your perspective, these are either two of the best little big guitars or big little guitars of 2021. Taylor notched out a nice niche between a short scale travel-sized axe and a full scale small-bodied instrument, then made it super playable by lowering the string tension for a remarkably relaxed feel that’s perfect for the beach, the boat or the back porch. C-Class cantilevered bracing helps the Grand Theater’s tone belie its diminutive box, and onboard ES2 electronics make it truly gig-worthy. JL

Damian Probett SG-Teor Guitar

With a diverse background in carpentry and joinery, aircraft tool making and the building of engines for racing motorcycles, London-based luthier Damian Probett shouldn’t have much trouble pulling off a meticulously well-crafted electric guitar – and he most definitely did not on evidence of the SG-Teor that graced GP’s New & Cool pages early in 2021.

Partly inspired by a “what if?” wish list from American guitarist Matte Henderson, Probett captured the spirit and overall sound of a vintage SG in a single-cutaway design that improved balance, eliminated neck-dive and “rubber neck” tuning-wobble issues, and enhanced sonic stability and sustain in the process. The result is a stunning performance tool that’s all the more versatile thanks to stealthy split-coil pickup switching. DH

The Latest in Orange’s line of Micro Terror amps is the stomp-box-sized Terror Stamp, a hybrid design that features a tube preamp and a class AB solid-state power amp that can pump 20 watts into your eight- or 16-ohm speaker of choice.

The compact steel enclosure measures just 2.4 by 5.4 by 3.9 inches, making the Terror Stamp convenient to stick on a pedalboard, and it has dual master-volume controls, a gain control and a shape knob. The front panel has 1/4-inch jacks for input, send and return, headphone/cab-sim and speaker out, as well as a center-positive input for the included 15VDC power supply. It’s nice that the in-line adapter uses a standard IEC power cord, but if you lose the unit you’ll need to find one online that has a standard p1J connector. The enameled enclosure also has cooling vents and an on/ off switch on the left side.

• Our pick of the best pedal amps

We tested the Terror Stamp with an Alessandro 1x12 (eight-ohm) open-back cabinet, and it performed well with a Fender Noventa Strat, a Gibson Historic ’59 Les Paul and a Reverend Gristlemaster.

The Stamp’s volume 1 and volume 2 controls have identical ranges, so you adjust the gain control for the amount of overdrive you want and then set the two volume knobs to facilitate foot-switching between different volume levels. In this way, setting volume 2 higher effectively gives you a boost when you kick it on.

The shape control affects the overall tone, providing a mids-forward sound when turned fully left and a scooped-mids response when cranked fully right. Putting it in the middle and dialing one way or the other made it easy to EQ for the different electric guitars.

The Terror Stamp can deliver everything from very clean tones to aggressive, British-style overdrive with gobs of sustain. It’s dynamically responsive to the electric guitar’s volume, can pump an impressive amount of air and doesn’t feel overly compressed when cranked up.

The Terror Stamp also works great with OD pedals injected into the front – which is the only way to switch between clean and distorted tones without having to readjust the gain control – and the effects loop is handy for delay, modulation and reverb pedals.

We used Universal Audio’s UAFX boxes for these effects, and they sounded excellent in the loop. The send jack also functions as a line out, and there’s a separate headphone/ cab-sim output designed to simulate a miked 4x12 for headphone practicing or running direct into a recording interface or the P.A.

Anyone looking to reduce the amount of gear they have to carry is a candidate for the Terror Stamp. It sounds great and delivers enough volume for gigs, and its multiple outputs let you easily configure it into a grab-and-go pedalboard rig.

Specifications

• CONTROLS Volume 1, volume 2, shape, gain 
• FOOT SWITCHES Volume (selects between the two masters) I/O Input, send (line out) and return, headphones/cab-sim output, speaker output 8Ω/16Ω. Input for the included 15VDC/2A power supply 
• EXTRAS Buffered FX loop. On/off power switch 
• TUBES One 12AX7 
• WEIGHT .84 lbs 
• BUILT Korea

Orange is renowned for its robust British tube-amp sound, and the iconic U.K.-based manufacturer continues to make inroads into the acoustic electronics market with the Orange Acoustic Pedal. 

This design basically takes what Orange accomplished with its complex and compound Acoustic Pre TC preamp and Crush Acoustic 30 amplifier, and boils the essentials down to a straightforward stomp box. The Acoustic Pedal is a single-ended Class A preamp featuring a parametric midrange with notch filter, a balanced XLR output, and a buffered effects loop.  

The Acoustic Pedal looks quite different from its competition. While most acoustic electronics manufacturers go for a brown, wooden aesthetic, Orange displays its signature color in the form of a psychedelic swirl surrounding six jet-black knobs on a cream-colored box. Traditionalists may scoff, but acoustic rockers will surely like it, as I did. 

I also appreciated the simple setup. The manual is literally a folded pamphlet, and reading isn’t crucial unless you’ve never worked a parametric EQ with a notch filter and a controllable Q. Those are offered for the midrange, which is the money zone for a quality acoustic-electric tone. 

The notch selects the frequencies affected by the middle control in the range of 68Hz to 1.2kHz. The Q factor controls the width of the band. Set narrow, it’s super handy for homing in on a specific frequency range for a sharp boost, or to mitigate a nagging feedback issue. When widened, it’s ideal for shaping the mids. The control knobs are user friendly – that is, they don’t work too dramatically. 

For example, the increase or decrease in volume is subtle as the knob turns smoothly, making it easy to dial in the desired amount. However, I found it rather weird not to have an on/off or bypass. In fact, I can’t remember any similar pedal not having a foot switch. That made A/B comparisons to the original signal cumbersome. 

I suppose Orange figures the player is simply going to have it on all the time. Given that logic, it should have a mute button for when you take breaks or change guitars. (I wound up using a mutable Boss Chromatic Tuner pedal for that function.) 

The Acoustic Pedal’s core tone is downright amp-like. It sounds and feels almost like playing through an acoustic-friendly tube head and a cabinet. That means it does indeed “color” the tone, and to my ears in a good way. 

Why should electric guitar players have all the fun? The Acoustic Pedal brings out harmonic content and adds gusto, gain, and sustain. My favorite thing was to crank up the bass a bit, leave the treble pretty much alone, and dial in the middle range using the parametric equalizer to jazz up a given guitar in just the right frequency range.

My main test guitar was a Taylor 514ce, and I ran it through the Acoustic Pedal with a series of L.R. Baggs Align pedals in the effects loop and the amp output feeding a Fender Acoustic Junior GO, plus an XLR out running to a Baggs Synapse Personal P.A. The Acoustic pedal gave the amp more bravado, and the effects loop worked well and didn’t add noise.

The balanced signal feeding the P.A. was nice and hot, so I hit the pad on the Synapse to rein in the level. Headroom was sky high, thanks to the 18-volt power supply.

The Orange Acoustic Pedal is a convenient control unit aimed squarely at the acoustic rocker, and it hits the bull’s-eye as an all-in-one floor unit with a relatively small footprint and an agreeable price.

Specifications

• PRICE: $169 street
• CONTROLS: Volume, bass, treble, middle, notch, Q factor, XLR phase
• CONNECTIONS: Input, output, FX send & return, XLR balanced out, center-positive 18-volt DC adaptor input
• FEATURES: Low-noise JFET preamp circuit, buffered FX loop, 18-volt power supply
• BUILT: England
• CONTACT: Orange Amps

Some guitarists find large pedalboards difficult to negotiate. But in high heels? While strapped with a reverse Gibson Firebird VII? In front of a massive festival crowd? Hats off to PJ Harvey.

“Yeah, exactly. That was quite a heavy thing, and she’s not a big person,” agrees PJ Harvey drummer and co-producer Rob Ellis.

In this unforgettable performance at the UK’s 2003 V Festival, PJ Harvey goes beyond effortless cool as she outright owns the festival with a rendition of “Dress” from her debut album Dry. 

Alongside Ellis and bassist Mick Harvey it was PJ Harvey returning to form in the guise of a power trio.

You guys are on fire here. What do you remember from this period?

“I remember that tour well. We went back to the original three-piece idea: bass, guitar, and drums. For Polly and I it was like revisiting the original line-up after we stopped being a three-piece in ’93. It was back to basics.

I played the best gig of my life on that tour. The three of us had been watching the Led Zeppelin DVD on the bus just before we went onstage and then we went out and played this blistering performance. 

It was always a very physical thing playing drums with Polly, and I remember I had absolutely no stage nerves for the first time ever in front of a huge crowd. We were just completely going for it. Suddenly everything coalesced between the three of us.

It certainly appears as if there’s some great chemistry happening between the three of you…

I think we all had a lot of confidence, and Polly was a lot more relaxed. It was about five albums in. It was in between Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea and Uh Huh Her. It felt like Polly and I had come full circle, like we were admitting we had this musical relationship which worked really well.

Tell us about the song “Dress” – one of the first things you worked on with PJ Harvey…

Yeah, “Dress” was one of the very first things we did. I co-produced it. That whole recording process was a mixed bag of different people being involved but there was a core of me and Polly and a few others.

It was recorded at The Icehouse in Yeovil [Somerset, UK]. It was [Howard 'Head' Bullivant] Head’s place. He put a studio together in the ‘80s and we used to hang out there a lot. We started hanging out with Polly later on, and that’s where we did those first recordings.

Was the entire Dry album recorded in Yeovil?

We did four songs there initially and one of those was “Dress.” All four ended up on Dry. We actually rerecorded the whole album in London but ended up scrapping it and going back to Yeovil to record the other songs there. 

We recorded in London because Polly had moved there for her sculpture course. I think she was living in Tottenham. At that point, Polly’s rig was very basic. It was just a hollowbody Gretsch electric guitar and a Marshall amp.

Buy Dry here.

Making and selling amplifiers was an afterthought for Orange, an act undertaken out of desperation to save the company from eviction. The Orange concept was founded in London in 1968 by musician and would-be all-round empresario Cliff Cooper, who rented a storefront on New Compton Street in the Soho district of London’s West End.

Out of this he ran what was intended to be a recording studio, record label, music publishing and promotional agency business. Unfortunately, business wasn’t very good. When the venture failed to bring in a profit, Cooper displayed his band’s gear in the front window and marked it “for sale,” in an effort to make the rent.

The amps sold the very same day, and soon after, the shop began selling second-hand musical equipment, catering to the needs of local bands who preferred older gear. The effort was so successful that Cooper had trouble keeping amps in stock.

In autumn 1968, he commissioned Matamp in the north of England to manufacture his new Orange amps. Mat Mathias’s creations were known to be rugged and powerful, and were already in use by stars like Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.

Around the turn of the decade, though, Orange established its own manufacturing facility in the southeast London suburb of Bexleyheath, and that’s where this archetypal 1974 OR120 would have originated.

In addition to being robust and loud, Orange amps were distinguished by their orange tolex, although many were also covered in black. They also featured unusual front-panel features, with graphic legends adding to the explanatory control text.

The circuits were likewise quite different from those used in other large amps, giving Orange its own distinctive sound. Although the nifty big F.A.C. knob (short for Frequency Analysis Control) appears first on the panel, after the inputs, it actually follows the gain and dual EQ knobs in the signal chain.

This enigmatic six-position switch taps six different capacitors to revoice the signal between the preamp and output stages. As such, it’s not entirely unlike the “click switch” on popular latter-day boutique amps by Matchless and Divided by 13, although the feature is used somewhat differently here.

The Hz and KHz legends represent the bass and treble controls, respectively, and govern a Baxandall tone stack that is very different from the EQ stages in popular amps from Fender, Marshall, Vox, and the like. The controls are highly interactive, making it a powerful tone shaper.

It’s followed by HF Drive, a high-frequency boost akin to a presence control. The gain knob is the amp’s main volume control and appears in the circuit between the first and second gain stages from the amp’s first 12AX7 (ECC83) tube.

Orange offered models with master-volume controls, labeled OD120 and Overdrive, but those without them, like this OR120, were certainly loud by the time they gave up the grind. This model produces 120 watts from four EL34 tubes, with a lot of sonic bite going into it from the characterful preamp circuit.

These amps did induce some early breakup in the output stage even short of full whack, thanks to the use of a split-load (a.k.a. cathodyne) phase inverter, preceded by a driver stage. Not often used in amps of this size, it’s a topology that largely went out of fashion in all but sub-20-watt amps after the archetypal designs of the ’50s by Fender, Gibson, Valco and the like.

When pushed hard, this stage adds a little more hair to the overall tone, thanks to its own distortion, contributing to that legendary “Orange haze.” Crank it up, and it’s Brit-rock incarnate, and a trouser-leg-flapping playing experience you won’t soon forget.

Essential Ingredients

• Four EL34 output tubes generating around 120 watts
• Two 12AX7 (ECC83) preamp and phase-inverter tubes
• Unusual F.A.C. (frequency) and HF Drive (presence) controls
• Split-load phase inverter

Thanks to Frank Gross at Thunder Road Guitars for showing us this incredible 1974 Orange OR120 amp

Long-admired as one of the UK’s foremost guitar amp builders, Orange sits firmly in the pantheon of classic British designers alongside Marshall, Hiwatt, and Vox. And while Orange currently intends to increase the number of products made at home in the UK, the company also stands poised to release their first ever guitar amplifier manufactured on US soil – the MK Ultra Marcus King signature model.

Ahead of this historic amp's limited release next month, we spoke to Orange founder and CEO Cliff Cooper along with Technical Director Adrian Emsley – the MK Ultra's co-designer – to bring you the inside scoop.

Cliff, you founded Orange back in the late '60s in London's West End. USA-built amps have been a long time coming...

Cliff Cooper: All my life I’ve wanted to make amps in the States, but every time something has cropped up which has prevented it from happening. Ever since I started, I’ve wanted to get amps made in America, so I’m very excited about it. Marcus King is very happy they're being made in the States as well. He showed us exactly what he wants, and we’ve built it exactly the way he wanted it. He’s got incredible ears.

It’s a very simple amp. It’s the first time we’ve used 6L6s, which is an American valve. They have a different characteristic, but that was the sound he wanted. He’s very discerning. It was a long road, but he’s now absolutely knocked out with the amp.

What are the origins of the Orange MK Ultra's design?

Adrian Emsley: It was based on a design I did ages ago. I did a PCB 1x12 version and took it to Nashville and [Senior Amp Tech] Jon Bailey in the States did a 2x10 point-to-point version (I sent him the schematic). Then we had a few players in to see if they liked it. It was intended as a very simple tube amp (which some players really love) for use with pedals.

How did the design of the Orange MK Ultra evolve?

Emsley: The original design got shelved for a bit and then Jon Bailey did some component tweaks. He voiced it until Marcus King really liked it. There’s one volume [control]. The treble is before the volume like on an old Fender, and the bass is after. They labeled the treble control Sing and the bass control is called Deep.

When refining the Orange MK Ultra's design to suit Marcus King’s taste, what component changes were made?

Emsley: Some cap and resistor values were adjusted to suit Marcus’ taste, and the phase inverter was changed to a concertina. The concertina phase inverter gives it a different take. The original design had a long tailed pair [phase inverter], so it was cleaner. The concertina is a bit more snotty. 

There are two 12AX7s and two 6L6s – cathode biased, so it’s vintage US flavor. That's what Marcus wanted. It sounds creamy. It’s a point-to-point amp (using turret board) made in the USA.

How powerful is the Orange MK Ultra Marcus King signature amp?

Emsley: It’s 30 watts. In the end we used a Trainwreck Express output transformer. It’s a better load for 6L6s running in cathode bias. Because it’s cathode biased, it doesn’t stay clean for long and breaks up early. That was Marcus’ intention. He cleans up on the guitar volume. He’s totally old school like that. It sounds fantastic when you crank it up. And Marcus likes it, which is the main thing. He didn’t want effects loops or anything like that – he just wanted those three knobs: Deep, Volume, and Sing.

Marcus King has been using Orange amps for a long time…

Emsley: Marcus' dad’s got an early Orange AD15 and that’s his favorite amp. That was one of the first amps I did for Orange back in 1998. His dad still plays that so obviously it’s been in the family for ages, but Marcus has had his own thing going on with Orange for a while [including the Rockerverb 50 head].

Are there any more US-made Orange guitar amps on the horizon?

Emsley: Although we’ve made American versions of the cabinets for nearly 20 years, before the [MK Ultra] we hadn’t done an amp from scratch in the US. Which is really something because Orange amps aren’t the easiest to make. But if this amp works out well, we might look at building another amp in the US. I’ve got a few more ideas. Simple stuff. Vintage-flavored stuff.

How did the collaboration with Marcus King come about?

Cooper: I've known about Marcus King for years and I've been to see him play. I’ve personally known a lot of guitarists – from Peter Green onwards – but this guy is a natural, and he’s so young. As old as I am, I still love the sound of guitars. And a good guitarist can make a good amp sound incredible.

When will the Orange MK Ultra Marcus King signature amp be available?

Cooper: We’re building them now, but we’re only doing a limited edition run of 150 to begin with. They should be out in September. I’ve ordered an [Orange MK Ultra Marcus King signature amp] myself! I can’t get number one (because Marcus has it) but I’ll try and get number two!

Buy Orange gear here.

Orange – a pillar of the guitar amplifier industry – has announced an expansion into the guitar-making business with its new OE-1 model.

Designed by Orange's Technical Director, Ade Emsley, and constructed by luthier Jason Burns at Blast Cult in London, each OE-1 will be built to order. Stock features include a two-piece mahogany body, an ebony headstock with a mother-of-pearl, hand-cut Orange logo, a 24.75”-scale mahogany neck, and a 12”-radius ebony fretboard boasting 22 frets with black dot fret markers.

The guitar's neck profile is designed to resemble both a ‘59 Les Paul soft V near the headstock, and a big C shape nearer to the body, with chessboard nitro binding on the body and headstock further distinguishing the guitar.

In terms of pickups, the OE-1 is offered with a choice of a pair of custom Mojo dogear UK Filtertron units, or two alnico Staple soapbar P90s.

Visually, the OE-1 boasts a two-tone Gold and Ivory colorway on the front – with a natural mahogany gloss finish on the back – while additional appointments include Grover tuners, a Tune-O-Matic bridge, Stop Bar tailpiece, and custom-turned brass control knobs.

The Orange OE-1 guitar is available now – with an estimated order lead time of around four weeks – for $5,452. It comes with a Hiscox hard case.

For more info on the guitar, stop by orangeamps.com.

Orange has debuted its new FS1 mini-footswitch.

The downsized FS1 weighs in at less than half a pound, and features a single orange LED indicator, a single foot switch and a 1/4” jack on the back to connect the footswitch to an amp with any length of cable. 

The footswitch can go between channels on twin-channel amps, turn reverb on and off, adjust in-built attenuators, act as a master volume or EQ lift, act as a global and gain boost and much more. 

Though many of those functions are specific to other Orange amps, the FS1's standard latching design and TS jack connection make it compatible with many other kinds of equipment.

The FS1 also comes with a dozen stickers, so you can visually indicate whatever you end up using the footswitch for, plus three blank stickers for additional customization.  

The price and release date of the Orange FS1 mini footswitch have yet to be revealed, though its UK price has been set at £19.99 (~$25).

For more info on the mini footswitch, stop by orangeamps.com.

Orange's first-ever effects pedals, the Phazer, Sustain and Distortion, are wonderfully retro, great-sounding stompboxes. They're also incredibly rare. So rare, in fact, that Orange itself is seeking assistance in locating examples of each one.

Manufactured between 1977 and 1979 at the company's UK factory, the pedals remain a favorite of Orange aficionados, who as of late have been asking the company on social media to reissue the trio.

Though longtime Orange employee Mick Dines located the original, tea-stained schematics for the pedals during a recent round of housecleaning, and passed them onto current designer Ade Emsley, the company has still yet to locate any physical examples of the pedals.

Hoping to reissue the pedals with upgraded internals, Orange has requested that anyone in possession of an original Phazer, Sustain or Distortion unit get in touch with the company.

Those who fit the bill can contact Orange via their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or official website.