Orange Tiny Terror

This is a tube amp running on el84s. It has a 2 way switch to go from 7 to 15 watts. Settings are simple: volume, tone, gain. Cool carrying bag!

UTILIZATION

Super easy to dial in a great sound! The lack of controls and switches creates a super clean line that delivers Orange tone in spades. I never read the manual as the operation is totally intuitive.

SOUNDS

I have guitars from Gibson, Epiphone, and Fender. They each sound fantastic, but my favorite is the Les Paul going into an MXR overdrive (little gain applied) right into the amp. I put this little head on a 4x12 and played lead guitar in a band where the rhythm player played his Peavey XXX. The XXX is known as a LOUD amp, but this 15 watt amp easily kept right up in practice volumes in a LOUD punk/hard roc band. Very impressive! I had an Egnater Tweaker and a Randall rm20 and this 15 watt terror was clearly more powerful. I guess 15 watts does not always equal 15watts? Clarity and unique Orange british tone is the drawing card on this amp.

OVERALL OPINION

I love the simple great tone of this small beast. throw a 57 on this and you have a great rock tone that cuts through the mix- live and in the studio. Here's a couple of tunes I used all Terror>Marshall 1960>(2) 57s>Roland vs2480
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=8794611
http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=8794615

This tone is unique and may not be for everyone...but it definitely has the signature Orange mids and presents great clarity and articulation.
The value is great bang for your buck for Orange tone seekers. t is not a modern chainsaw machine, so people looking for the rectifier buzz should look elsewhere. There are no channel switching abilities, but using the guitar volume with a pedal boost will give a seasoned player lots of option on stage. Ideally, this amp is for the bedroom player who can carry his amp to practice on a NY subway.

Great sounds at low volumes, enough power to keep up in a loud band, and clear tone make this a great deal. if you need more gain in a metal band, or perhaps cleaner Fender-ish tones, this is not the amp. Straight ahead great rock sounds is the forte here.

The Orange Tiny Terror is a 15 watt tube head that perpetuated the whole "lunch box" amplifier craze. It's been out for a few years now and many amps from companies like VOX, Traynor, Mesa Boogie, H&K, etc have come after. Lots of people like these for the fact they are grab and go amps that forgo tons of versatility for a direct sound in a small package. This amp is 15 watts, switchable down to 7 watts. It's powered by EL84 tubes and is a single channel amplifier with no onboard effects.

UTILIZATION

Dialing in this amp is easy or difficult depending on what you're looking for. I personally found this amp just to sound too loose and fuzzy for what I was looking to do. I understand that's kinda the voice Orange is known for, but still I wasn't much impressed with it. There's very few controls to work with, so if you like the tone of the amp at its core, you really get that sound regardless of where you set your amp controls. However if you're not a fan of the tone of the amp, there isn't much you can do to change it...

SOUNDS

This amp seems to sound closest to how I'd like through a Celestion Greenback loaded cabinet of some repute. The higher wattage speakers I tried with this amp just made it sound a bit too clean for my rock n' roller self (at least for the project I was using it for at the time). However the major issue I had with this amp was that is just seemed to have this fuzzy sort of quality when it was turned up. It wasn't one that I particularly find attractive for standard hard rock tones as it caused the definition of chords to be lost amid the gain/saturation. I had much better luck running the amp fairly clean and using one of my drive pedals to hit it, which keep the amp sounding reasonably smooth with high gain. I could see that loose and saturated vibe working for some people, but it just was not for me.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I think the Orange Tiny Terror is a mixed bag. On one hand I applaud Orange for getting out there and doing something different that really works well for practice and jamming/transport. However the voicing of it just turned me off too much for my liking. I've had MUCH better luck with the VOX Night Train (great clean sounds and a fantastically thick and clear drive sound that was exactly what I wanted the Tiny Terror to be and more recently the Hughes and Kettner Tubemeiser 18, which is even more versatile and offers a dedicated clean channel as well. The Orange is about $550 new which isn't a bad deal, but in my position, I would just buy either the VOX or H&K unless you're after the particular voicing of the Tiny Terror.

Characteristics9/10
For the size of a lunch box this little amp pacts quite a kick to it. This amp looks like something you would walk to school with and be carrying your peanut butter sandwich in. Orange has taken such a small but positive approach to lunch box style amplifiers. There seems to be a trend going on with manufacturers hitting a market that seems like a good entry way into their flagship amplifiers.

The amp has that familiar British grind that you found in the 60's and 70's went they were the leaders in getting high gain sustain from their guitar rigs. This little box does what a full stack can do in a pint size proportion. It sounds fantastic and gets chewier and smoother as you hit it harder with more volume.

UTILIZATION

Features

Controls: gain, tone, volume
Features: 1.5 mm Zintec chassis with steel vented top case.
Includes padded gig bag
Output: 15W 'Class A'; 7W 'Class A'
Valves: Preamp - 2 x 12AX7; Output - 2 x EL84



SOUNDS

Though the Orange amps have a familiar British flavor to them I think that anyone would be surprised at how big and bold the tone is from this small box. Though is is rated at only 15 watts it gets quite loud and will accompany most small clubs or gigging situations quite nicely. There is no compromise of tone or quality in this amp. Is sounds as huge tonal wise as any of the larger more frequented amps that Orange makes.

Try this guitar out with a Les Paul and you be pleasantly surprised out how meaty the tone is from simply a Gain, Tone, and Volume knob. This thing can be dropped down to a 7 watt operation for home use or even recording. It sounds great in either setting you have.

OVERALL OPINION

Many manufacturers have now saw the overwhelmingly positive result that Orange got from this and are now doing the same thing. Mesa Boogie released one last year as well as Vox. Hughes and Kettner is releasing one this year and you'll see that in the trade shows real soon. There has been an untapped market for these little light weight but heavy punch high gain amplifiers. I would recommend this amp to anyone who needs pint size amp with a kick. At new these amps come in at a round $599. Great bang for your buck in these harsh economic times.