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David Sullivan –  Hi I’m David from the band Red Fang and I play guitar. The first time I saw an Orange amp that I can remember, was a band called “Das Damen” sometime in the 90’s and it was in a small club, and they were really loud, sounded amazing. I remember the guitar player reaching back to his amp, I think it was an OR series amp, an older one, and he turned a switch and then it became even more amazing sounding and I didn’t really know much about amps at the time. I mean I was playing amps at the time but it just sounded amazing and the Orange always stuck in my head, and I always remembered the symbols that you guys use for the controls. That was probably the first time in the 90’s, when I saw “Das Damen” and it blew my mind!

What do I look for in terms of an amp? Well I like a nice, you know I want everything to be articulate, so I want to hear everything, the low notes and the high notes all at the same time. I like some beef to it, some “oomph” to it, basically that, articulate but have that growl!

When I first played an Orange it was probably playing a friends Orange, just messing around. But the first Orange I got was the Tiny Terror, the 15 Watt, I love it. Actually on our album “Murder the Mountains” the recordings were done with some different amps but all the overdubs were done with the Tiny Terror. Now I have a Dual Terror, which I love, that’s my main amp I practice on at home. Now I have the CR120, which is the newest amp that I’m playing, I’m used to solid state amps, we have been using the Sunn Beta Leads for years and not that this is the same but it sounds awesome. I know a lot of people are like tubes over solid state, you’ve got to have tubes but I think solid state amps can sound amazing and this definitely sounds amazing.

It just so happened, that our bass player had three or four beta leads and we were all at practice one day and we all said lets see what it sounds like if we all play the same amp. So for Red Fang it’s always been solid state, the solid states are great for traveling as they are rugged, there are no tubes to break but I really like the sound of nice tubes but thats what I love about this, it sounds like a fuckin’ tube amp, it sounds great! I like all kinds of amps, I don’t have to have solid state, I’m not like no tubes at all but I know that a lot of people don’t realise that solid state can sound really good. I feel that there are people who think it can’t be as good as tube amp but it definitely can be.

I like the Orange because it has a nice, little mid bump, it’s just perfect and as I was saying I like it to be articulate, so I like a little extra mids. Well to be honest I don’t have much experience with different cabs, so when I got the Oranges, it was like “there it is”. They sound great, really nice and they are rugged. Oranges has been great to us, Orange is like legendary, especially in like our, I don’t want to put a label on us but in the stoner rock, doom. I consider us hard rock but its great to be representing Orange!

Photo courtesy of Fluffer Pit Parties.

You released your latest album ‘Near to the Wild Heart of Life’ in January, a record I find – not necessarily more tidy, but more polished than a lot of your previous stuff.
I feel like when we started the band we wanted to be one kind of band and make one style of music, and that’s kind of what we did. We’d write a certain kind of song, record it a certain kind of way, play a certain kind of show, and we did that for several years, two records and about 500 shows. I think by the time we finished that we were both older and had been doing it for a while, and we’d discovered new music and kind of just began to be interested in doing things a bit differently. We were looking for a way to keep the band going, but also to keep ourselves very excited and interested in it. It’s easy, when you find success with a certain sound or certain kind of song to continue to do that indefinitely. Most people are glad The Ramones or AC/DC never drastically changed their songs or style of playing, as they’re both bands that do what they do incredibly well, that you don’t want them to stray from that, then there’s other bands that are equally as great, where part of their greatness comes from them deciding to switch things up and explore sonic territory with different kinds of songs, and those bands wouldn’t be as great if they didn’t do that. David Bowie wouldn’t be who he was, if he continued making the same record for 40 years. There’s that adventurous and rebellious nature in making music that can lead to spectacular failures, but also spectacular success, and I think we kind of looked at ourselves and the band and decided that for the third record, we could be going into either of those directions, but we had been in the game long enough to feel comfortable taking that risk.

Things that never used to interest us we began to find very interesting, changing the way we write songs, how we record them – just experiment more. Try to break out of our comfort zones. It’s our third record but in many ways it feels like our first record all over again, because we kind of just decided to ignore our past and do whatever we thought felt good, sounded good and what we were interested in, and in that process there was a lot of learnings both good and bad, but I think that’s what kept it interesting for us. Now that we’ve got that one record where we’ve started drifting away from what we were doing before, now it’s ok to explore some more. We play in a two piece band, and when a lot of people think of two piece bands, I think they typically think of minimalism, that the songs and recording will be done in a very minimal manner, and I think we’ve always had that opposite attitude where we’ve always wanted to see how big we could make everything sound, even if it was just the two of us, and I think that’s where we’re at now, with how we record those songs now. We did the minimal and lo-fi thing for a while and it was great, but for us there was no more adventure left in that. We know how to do that, and there’s no risk.


“There’s that adventurous and rebellious nature in making music that can lead to spectacular failures, but also spectacular success, and I think we kind of looked at ourselves and the band and decided that for the third record, we could be going into either of those directions, but we had been in the game long enough to feel comfortable taking that risk.”
Brian King, Japandroids


With this album we knew that it would alienate some people who were really into the old records, but at the same time, most great artists alienate people along the way. That’s just what makes their careers as a whole so great, that they’re bold and adventurous artists, and that’s the sort of the company we want to be in. I think my point is, that we don’t want to be that sort of band where you can reduce our sound to one simple song or record. As I mentioned before with David Bowie, not that I’m comparing us to him in any way, but with him – you cant just play someone a song and say ‘this is David Bowie’, you have to play them at least twenty songs as he covered a lot of ground.

You mention exploring new musical territory – I know you recently played a show with At the Drive In, a band which sound is pretty different from yours, is that one of those newly found sounds or someone you’ve been listening to for a while?
At The Drive In is a band Dave and I was really into ages ago when they first were around, so to get to play with them was really cool as they were a band we’ve always looked up to and idolized. Even though our music is very different from theirs, we share a similar ideology behind the music and how we play it. Both bands go out on stage and try to perform as intensely as possible. Dave and I always go on stage and try to give everything we have to give, and those guys do the same thing, the difference is that there’s five of them, and when you have five guys giving their all to their instrument, and giving it as tight as those guys do, it’s pretty fucking spectacular. There’s some sort of release that goes on when they play, they physically let go and give their entire body to perform that song and that set, and that’s what we have in common with them.

Photo by Joao Machado via Fluffer Pit Parties

With you guys only being a two piece, there is a lot of pressure on you as a guitarist – what do you look for when selecting your amps, and what do you take into consideration?
When we first started playing together we had drums, one guitar and one amp and double microphones, very minimalistic, but that’s sort of all you really need. The White Stripes proved that you can be very minimal but still write great songs and put on a great show, and become one of the biggest bands i the world in their time, and that’s how we started. As I mentioned earlier though with us changing up our sound and what we do, we decided that instead of embracing that minimalism, we wanted to sound bigger than we really were capable of sounding. First, we added a second amp, and then a bass amp. After that, a third amp. What you start doing is creating this Frankenstein monster of amplifiers, and the idea is that each one is creating a different sound that on it’s own, necessarily isn’t anything special, but as a whole becomes something really big, really massive. Another thing we take into consideration is if the amps can actually survive to be an tour with us, as we treat our gear pretty rough. We’ve been using Orange cabs for quite some time now and they sure can take a beating.

In a few hours, you’re about to play one of the Fluffer Pit Parties, as show that’s set up completely different than a normal gig, with the stage and band in the middle of the room and the crowd 360, how is your approach to that?
99,99999% of the shows we play this year, we’ll be facing the crowd, so the fact that we have to re-think the way we set up, and the way we perform means that it wont be a typical show. There will be people here who’ve never seen us before and might not ever get the chance to do so ever again, so we’ll be trying to bring our ‘normal’ and proper Japandroids experience, then there’s people who might see us every time we’re in town, so we also want to give them a different experience than what they’ve seen from us in the past. We’re gonna set the amps up on the floor and have the stage pretty clear, which is very untypical for us as it’s normally pretty tight and we’re a bit boxed in, so I guess there will be a lot more room for me to spin around and play. Just given the set up and the fact that we’ve never actually played this way, I cant say how it’s going to go. I think it will very much be one of those ‘in the moment’ situations where you just get up there and get on with it and see where the vibe takes you and lay the land as you go along.

 


 

Tim Commerford: Yo, my name is Timmy C, and I play bass for the ‘Prophets of Rage’ and I did some bass playing for a band called ‘Audioslave’ and I’m the bass player of ‘Rage Against the Machine’, and I’m here to talk about some bass with these kids from Orange amps.

I think I was more influenced by the feeling of bands like the ‘Sex Pistols’ earlier on but then I gravitated to more intricate, progressive rock and became a Geddy Lee fanatic. He actually was playing this amp that I am standing on and I was searching for a certain tone. It sort of came from him, the sound he has is similar to what I was looking for.

I have an Ampeg head, Barefaced 8×10 cabinet and then I have another Ampeg SVT pro with a gain control through a 4×10 Barefaced cabinet and then the Orange head. This head is an incredible head for just going to that next level of overdrive. When I want to push it into a higher end, not going crazy but more into the white noise and the higher distortion; This head is a beautiful amp for that. I have different amps for different tones and there is all different tones, and there is all different ways that you can make the bass sound even better.

I’m a finger player and I feel like it is a sport and that’s the way it is supposed to be played. I’m on that field with those guys who play with their fingers and realize it’s just like a little miniature body on the end of your arm. It’s a deeper, for me, a deeper science, a deeper low end, a different feel.

Because I still enjoy going on the internet and going “Hey, bass lessons” or “advanced bass lessons”, these videos come up and there are great players out there and they aren’t in these huge bands but they are showing you how to do cool stuff. That’s something I didn’t have when I was growing up as a kid, now any song you want to play is on the internet. So it’s actually a good time to learn how to play an instrument and do it the right way. My advice is to put away the computer for everything expect for bass lessons, its killer for that!

Photo by Bennett Raglin

You were very young when you started this band, how did it all come about, and how did you get into this kind of music in the first place?
We got into metal from hearing the background music in anime cartoons like Naruto, and in WWE. Jared was already playing drums at this point, and I had just started having guitar lessons, then Jarad just had the idea of starting a band.

Unlocking the Truth’s first claim to fame was playing in Times Square which gained you a lot of social media attention – who’s idea was it to take the band to the streets?
It was my parents’ idea to take us to Times Square, they knew we had talent and wanted to get us the best exposure, and what’s a better place than being in the center of Times Square with tourists from all around the world? People with cameras and phones taking pictures and recording? It just made sense.

You’ve got some incredible accomplishments for such a young age, is there anything in specific that pops to mind as a highlight, or a ‘pinch me’ moment?
Everything should have been “pinch-me” moment like performing at Coachella, Bonnaroo, opening for Manson, Motörhead, Living Colour and Metallica. I guess we were so young and didn’t know how big of a deal these things were. Now when I look back, I realize most people will never get to say things like they opened for these bands – and we have accomplished all that before high school. It’s really amazing to think about and it keeps me going.

You’ve also had a documentary ‘Breaking a Monster’ made about yourselves, how was the experience of having someone so up and close in your lives, and sharing it all with the world?
I had fun shooting the documentary. The cameras weren’t as personal as you might think. They were pretty much like flies on the wall and sometimes I forgot  they were even there.

Now to the reason we’re both here – Orange Amps! You’re an Orange ambassador, and we’re very excited to have you! What’s your history with the brand?
I’m very excited and proud to be an Orange Ambassador, it’s such a great brand! The first time I heard about Orange was in a tutorial video by Slipknot’s Jim Root, I loved the rawness of Orange, whether it’s the smooth clean or rich and but distorted tones. I also remember skyping Alex Auxier (Orange A&R) back in 2014, where he asked us a bunch of questions about which bands we liked and what sound we were going for to give him a better idea of what we really needed. The next thing I knew, these giant boxes arrived, including the Jim Root amp and speaker cab, and I just screamed! Later I graduated to the Dual Dark 100 and 4 x 12 cabs. My guitar sounded so real, everywhere I perform, I must have an Orange Amp.  It just sounds right – it sounds perfect!

You released your debut album ‘Chaos’ last year, and you recently independently released your single ‘My Chains’, can you tell us a bit about the song?
Yes, we independently released My Chains on August 29th.  This song came about while recording demos at home in my basement, it started out with the main riff and then I built the electronics, verses and chorus around that. After a few days of testing different song structures, we had a solid song idea which was enhanced once again by our producer, Kenta Yonesaka (Germano Studios NY). I love this song because it’s something new and a little different from the stuff we usually do, we’re finding our own sound and I think people can tell, so expect more change and growth from Unlocking The Truth, this is only the beginning.

With the release of this single we have to ask – can we expect a follow up to ‘Chaos’ in the next foreseeable future?
I don’t want to give away too much information as of yet because we are still planning, but we sure will have more music coming in the very near future, so stay tuned.

Jimmy Gaynor and the East Coast Angels

So, I had this guy around my house earlier this year installing internet, and as soon as he saw my bass and guitar in the corner that regular, awkward forced small talk was replaced by genuinely pleasant conversation:

«Do you like the blues?’» He said.
«If I like the blues? I sure as hell hate feeling blue, but I do love the blues.» Is what I should have said – I said ‘yes’.

He told me about this pub five minutes down the main road called Coach and Horses where they apparently host the best blues nights in town every Wednesday, and before he was off, made me promise that I’d go check it out. I wasn’t convinced as I spend a lot of time up on my high horse when it comes to music and don’t really trust strangers to know what they’re talking about, because I’m a dick like that – Anyway, a few weeks later I finally got a group together to go see what all the buzz was about. There is a £2 entry fee to enter the blues room which has seating on either side, and a blue neon ‘Blues’ sign above the stage that would have way more effect if they at any point of the night dimmed the lights just a little bit – they won’t, and to be honest, the whole living room kinda vibe in there is very much a part of the experience. People, mostly elder gentlemen, starts to arrive, and it’s time for the blues to commence. The band starts to play, and BT wifi guys was right, these guys were incredible. Who were these incredible musicians shredding away at my weekly blues jam? While doing some research at home, I found out one of ‘survivor from the late 60’s Dublin scene’ Jimmy Gaynor. I knew I had to find out more about him, and he kindly agreed to share some of his story:

Photo via the Coach and Horses Blues Jam FB page.

«I was a young boy living in Dublin and had a really good friend Paddy who played guitar, he tried getting me to play as well but I never had any interest in doing so. We used to hang out and play records when his mum and dad was out and this one evening he told me ‘just wait until you see what I’ve got!’, and it was a fuzz box. Now, this was in 1969, so a fuzz box wasn’t something you’d see every day, especially not in Ireland. Hendrix had one, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, all those guys were using them, and when Paddy started playing we couldn’t believe the sound of his guitar! He talked me into giving the guitar a go, and showed me how to play ‘Born to be wild’ by Steppenwolf and I couldn’t believe it – I was playing! After borrowing and playing a few different guitars, my mum lent me the money to buy my own electric one. I had this Gibson guitar that was very Chuck Berry.  I was into Sabbath and Zeppelin, and didn’t want a boring Chuck Berry ‘rock ’n’ roll’ guitar. My dad got my brother and me tickets to go to London, where we went searching for a place I could swap my Chuck Berry for something else. We ended up in the old Orange shop in Soho where Cliff Cooper swapped it for this blue SG, which ended up being the guitar I played for the next couple of years. The next time I came across Orange was back in Dublin when we went to watch Skid Row with Gary Moore about a year later, a band I ended up joining for a bit in 1976. The rest after that is history, I went back and fourth between Dublin and London playing various bands, one of them being The East Coast Angels. We had a song called Punk Rockin’ which had a bit of a Thin Lizzy kinda vibe. Later on I ended up moving to London where I eventually settled and kept pursuing music. My band ‘Jimmy Gaynor on the Tube’ later got featured on the Jools Holland show as well. As for now, I’m doing what I love, I play the blues, and I travel to collect, buy and sell vintage guitar and amps.»


Photo via the Coach and Horses Blues Jam FB page.

Another guy that caught my eye was John Edmonds, the jam’s MC and a member of the Coach and Horses house band:

«I was 14 years old when I started playing, I heard Duane Eddy’s ‘Peter Gunn’ and I just really wanted to play that riff. I got an old Spanish guitar for three pounds and started practicing. After that, Elvis and Cliff Richards and the Shadows came out, and then a band formed. The next big thing was The Beatles, and we were sort of a Beatles rip off band, and we had this contract with BBC radio that whenever The Beatles would release a song, we’d go record it as well so they could play us on the radio – they couldn’t afford The Beatles, but they could afford us. We stayed together until I was about 24, then the brit blues hit the UK, with bands such as Cream and Eric Clapton so I did that for a bit. After that it went sour as soul was taking over and I hated it, so I gave up and got married.  I sort of drifted back into playing again and ended up playing pop, before I at 39 was fed up of that kind of music, and gave up completely to raise my family. I didn’t play for 20 years after that, not even as a hobby. I put my guitar in the attic – that was it. It wasn’t until my son was 14 and heard Eric Clapton’s Leyla that he asked me to teach him that riff. I was teaching him for about a year after that and we started jamming together. My friend then took me to this blues jam at The Half Moon in Bishops Storford, and I started properly playing again at 59. I had never heard proper blues before and I was just knocked out, I couldn’t believe it. This young kid Matt Schofield walked on stage and started playing, and I just wanted to be Matt Schofield. I practiced and practiced to get somewhat close to the level he was on, before going down to the Hot Hob in Brentwood as a jammer, a jam I now run, as well as being in the house band and MCing this one. I’ve retired from playing in bands, but I’m still playing at various jams about three nights a week and I love it.»

In the video above, you can see both Jimmy and John going at it with the jamming, as, luckily for us, they film every single jam. I’ve been pretty much a regular since I discovered this place and I’ve had friends such as San Diego psych band Sacri Monti’s Brenden Dellar go up and play, as well as Rich Noakes of London based heavy stoner psych band Derelics. I guess the moral of the story is; Support your local blues jam – you never know what, or who, you’ll find.

Kelby Ray: Hi, I’m Kelby Ray of The Cadillac Three – Proud Orange User. I think Orange Amps – the look, is just so classic. It’s super old school, super Rock N’ Roll and something I always thought just looked so cool. The first time I ever used an Orange Amp was at a festival in Nashville as like a backline situation. I plugged into it and it was so easy to use – not a lot of knobs and it just sounded great. I want something that’s going to work, not too much hustle and fuss and something that’s just Rock N’ Roll. Orange is all those things, so that’s why I’ve always gravitated towards them, they’re something I’ve always loved to play.

My influences are from all over. I used to listen to a lot of 80s country, particularly growing up in Nashville, also learning to play the guitar in high school, things like Jimi Hendrix, Metallica, Pantera – little bit of everything. Blues. Influences from all over the place. Hell, I even liked Mariah Carey when I was a kid. The way my set up works in The Cadillac Three, I’m playing lap steel but I split it and play into a guitar amp and a bass amp at the same time. I’m just looking for something that sounds good mixed together. Right now, I’m using the AD30HTC and AD200 and they sound great working together. It’s a cool sound  that you just can’t emulate anyway else. The Orange sound is just well rounded enough it makes MY sound as part of the band something huge and it really adds a lot of depth to what we’re doing.

Orange Amps are so diverse with many different artists that play them. To be a part of that family is just really a cool thing. I’m getting to do something unique and add my own flair into the musical world through Orange and it’s just super awesome.

The Orange 4 Stroke is a versatile, all analogue bass amplifier and it can be used to play a lot of different styles of music. So here is a quick guide to some of the sounds you can get from this powerful and versatile amp!

What is parametric EQ and how can it help?

Parametric EQ can boost or cut certain frequencies to change how your bass sounds. The 4 Stroke has four EQ bands, Treble, High-mid, Low-mid and Bass. At 12 o’clock, nothing is boosted or cut, the amp’s tone is unaffected.

Below this is the frequency control, these affect the bands above right of them.

As an example, if you want more treble you can find the right frequency and boost or reduce it.

Below are a few examples of how to achieve certain sounds with your 4 stroke:

Smooth Motown Sounds

Getting a smooth bass sound is simple with the 4 stroke, as seen below boosting the treble and cutting the lower and upper-mids will achieve this.

Harmonic Fusion Sounds

Cutting the high and low-mid frequencies , while boosting the bass and high-mids will give the tone a smooth sound and highlight the harmonics.

Slap Bass Funk Sounds

Using the built-in compression and boosting the bass and treble while cutting the mids, will give your slap bass a real punchy sound.

Rock Grit Sounds

To give you that real old school punk/rock bass tone, boosting the frequencies is the way to go. Cutting the low-mid frequency around 220Hz also helps the other frequencies to jump out. 3000Hz frequency being boosted to near full, will give a crunchy tone.

I heard you guys have had quite the day today with flight delays and all that jazz, how does a typical day on the road look like for you?
Jon:
On tour? A lot of driving. We haven’t been back in the UK for about five years, and we expect to be spending a lot of our time here in this van we’re in right now, before rolling up to various venues.
Brad: To be fair, this is a pretty sweet van, and it can actually fit all of us. There’s been a lot of times spent in shitty vans with like double the amount of people the van’s actually meant for. It’s nine of us for this tour and we’re at capacity – ‘3 – 3 – 3 seats, perfect, book it, boom.’

You’ve got quite a cool history with Orange, would you mind sharing it with us?
Jon: I was working for SJC Custom drums who got in touch with Orange, and we ended up building an Orange snare, with Orange sending over the tolex and custom badges to go with it. We premiered the snare at the following NAMM convention in California where we met up with Alex (Alex Auxier, US A&R). In 2011, while still making snares for Orange, No Trigger recorded a new album, so we got in touch with Orange and it ended up working nicely with Alex lacing us up.
Brad: And here we are, still using it, still going.

At the NAMM convention 2012 with Alex Auxier

You had a really long break from recording before the release of ‘Adult Braces’ earlier this summer, what did you guys get up to during your hiatus?
Brad: All just getting up to our own stuff individually, as well as other bands. We all try to play when we can, but when it comes to No Trigger it always feels very much like a special occasion as everybody is so busy.
Jon: We’ve all got our own schedules and lives, buying houses, having kids, getting married – you know, adult stuff, but when the opportunity comes up we all jump on it whenever we can make it work, and we’re really excited about this tour.

What’s your set up for this tour?
Jon: Mike and I are playing Rockerverb 100s, we normally play Rockerverb 50s back home, so we’re pretty stoked about the 100s here, just a little bit more beefier.
Brad: I’ve got the AD200 over here, where back home I’ve got the Bass Terror 1000, and that thing is just a beast. People see it and it’s this tiny little cute thing, and then there I am, unable to play it over 2 without shattering everything else in the room. I remember looking at them deciding between the 500 and 1000 and thought to myself ‘Oh well 1000 must be great!’, and it’s just been the best thing, not to mention it’s saved my spine from having heavy Ampegs or whatever to haul around, I just bring the Terror and I’m good to go.
Jon: We just sound checked the UK backline though and it sounded absolutely incredible. We pretty much got off our overnight flights, and went straight to a rehearsal space to get our chops straight. We’ve got a special guest drummer from The Swellers, and we’re stoked to have him filling in for Michael on this run, although we’ve had very limited rehearsals,
Brad: It happened very last minute, so we only had two practices with him before we left and so far it’s worked out really well, guess we’ll see what happens tonight – We’re all here and we’re ready to roll!

Jon, Brad mentioned why he went with the Terror, why did you decide on the Rockerverb?
Jon: I was over in Australia when I first tried the Rockerverb, my friend had one and let me use it, and I just thought it was one of the best tones I had ever heard. I’ve played the Mesa and I’ve played the Marshall, but never been as stoked about any of them as I have with Orange. And not even just that side of things, but you guys are awesome, you’re just cool and always take care of us, you cant beat that. Having a company like Orange where the sound is as awesome as the people.

Orange Amplification is delighted to introduce two new pedals to their range; The Fur Coat is a vintage fuzz and the Getaway Driver is an overdrive, cab sim, class A type pedal. Both have been designed by Orange’s Technical Director, Adrian Emsley.

The Fur Coat, inspired by the great fuzz tones from the seventies is loosely based on the old Foxx Tone Machine originally released in 1971 which was often used by artists such as Peter Frampton and Adrian Belew. Designed with a foot switchable octave, it is superbly versatile, allowing players to adjust  the level of the upper octave rather than just turn it on and off. In keeping with the era’s vibe, it is built with germanium diodes and is Orange’s only true bypass pedal. When used it puts a ‘dirty, smelly fur coat’ on every note produced giving them a warm, furry quality. The Fur Coat drapes itself over the music; stroke it lovingly to produce grungy, warm effects or turn it up for lots of filthy, shaggy texture. Its tone can be dressed down casual, super modern, funky or wonderfully dramatic.

It sounds absolutely phenomenal’ said Clutch’s Tim Sult and Matt Pike from Sleep said “I’ve tried every fuzz pedal on the planet. This is my new favorite. The Fur Coat is everything I expected Orange would do with an octave fuzz. It’s seriously gnarly.

The action-packed Getaway Driver is an amp-in-a-box type pedal. It has the same transparent, buffered output as the Orange Two Stroke and Kongpressor pedals plus a second Cab Sim / headphone output. This makes the Getaway Driver perfect for silent practice or recording. The three dials, Volume, Bite (tone) and Gain, allow players to ‘rev their engine’. The pedal really excels when played through an amp’s clean channel, even ones with a bright cap. Low gain and high volume makes for a clean boost, pushing amps over the edge into classic overdrive. Armed with one of these, players can be transported back to the fast and furious seventies feeling the heat as this hot rod pedal drives relentlessly forward to produce the closest thing to the buzz of being a real getaway driver.

This pedal is great……..it sounds like vintage Orange’ observed Damon Fox The Cult/ Big Elf.

The Fur Coat can be powered by 9 or 12V DC. Running at 12V increases the headroom and the output volume available. It draws very little current, less than 5mA allowing for a long battery life. The Getaway Driver can be powered by 9 or 12V DC. At 9Vs the pedal has the characteristics of EL84 valves, whereas 12Vs gives it a EL34 flavour.

To find out more about the Fur Coat and the Getaway Driver guitar pedals please go to https://orangeamps.com/ and also check out our new YouTube video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0e7-5zEL5s&list=PLA620E1C3C54EBC0A

 

First of all, you’ve got a pretty sweet deal here tonight playing with Bad Religion at the Kentish Town Forum, how did that all come about?
Charlie: Well, we’ve told our agent about a few bands that we really like, and after that I think she must have worked some kind of magic! Previously we’ve played with bands such as NOFX and Alkaline Trio, and it must have gone well as we’ve been allowed to open up for Bad Religion!

You must be pretty stoked! You just got back from Italy, how was that?
Charlie: Yeah, today is the day of us kickstarting touring again, we just got back from Italy a few days ago as we were flown over there to play Curtarock Festival – we’re a three piece so it’s quite easy for us to travel light. We brought a backpack full of merch to sell so we could get some money for beer, and that was pretty much it. It was 31 degrees, we had a pool.

Damn, this is the first time ever touring’s sounded luxurious, normally I’m used to hearing about bands spending 18 hours in a van, that sorta stuff.
Charlie: Oh, don’t get me wrong, we’ve had our fair share of 18 hour drives, vans breaking down – this Italy thing isn’t how we normally roll.

Your second album ‘Outsiders’ was released in May, how did you attack that whole process of recording the second time around compared to your debut album?
Charlie: We’ve been very used to overdubbing, so this time we really wanted to focus on getting that live sound and did all the songs as a three piece in the studio. Thom literally only did two guitar tracks, one where we all played together, then another one after in the same live room, followed by vocals. We had plans to go to America and record with Steve Albini, but that would have cost us a lot of money, so we ended up getting our friend to do it and use the same process as Steve would have used, which is to have it as live and raw as possible – it’s more about the vibe than the talent, and I think it flows better than the first one. Punk just sounds better live.

 

Well, let’s get down to business, the reason we’re both here is because of Orange Amps, what’s your history with the brand?
Charlie: On our first ever tour as Gnarwolves, my friend was in a band called ‘As We Sink’ and he had the terror going through an 8×10 or 8×10 cab, and I just knew I needed that tone. The fact that you can just pack the terror away as well and put it over your shoulder is so sick. I ended up getting one, and I’ve had it for three or four years now and it’s just great! I love it, and wouldn’t go anywhere without it. People still ask me what my tone and sound is, and all I’ve got is one pedal and the terror. Tonight, I don’t even have my pedal with me, so I’ll be plugging straight into the terror using the gain and treble. I’d say any bassist who’s just started and wants to learn to play, the terror is perfect as it’s only got five channels and is so easy to use. I was originally a drummer and only started playing bass for Gnarwolves with Thom (guitarist) basically showing me how to do it, so for me, the terror worked out really well as it wasn’t scary and just quite easy and fun to play around with.