Articles – Page 66 – Orange Amps

Innovation, Technical, The World, Voice Of

Orange Tech Director, Ade Emsley: “the Tiny Terror is my favorite amp” (video)

How did you come up with the circuit?
It was during a night of terror. A lizard appeared and looked me right in the eyes. In his deep marble eyes I saw an amp next to an A4 pad of paper. He was a tiny terror. [Adrian wanted to design an amp that could “fit on an A4 pad of paper.”]

What’s the ethos behind the circuit?
Everybody wants to play a show and have a couple of beers without having to drive. The Tiny Terror allows you to do just that because you can easily carry it. Call up one of the other bands on the bill and ask if it’s cool to borrow their 4×12. Play the show with volume on 10, tone on 10, gain around 12 to 2 o’clock and get right into the output tubes. The guy you borrowed the 4×12 from has a 100 watt marshall with the pre-amp on 9 and the volume on 2 sounding like a dentist. Your cranked TT geetar sound is SOOO good that you attract the attention of some of the laydeez :) You wind up going to a party with them, still carrying your Tiny Terror and your geetar and your night suddenly gets even better :)

How does the circuit work?
Simply, it’s this, the first gang of the gain pot increases the gain of the first stage. The second gang of the gain pot increases the impedance of the second stage. This results in the signal pushing into the output tubes evenly all the way up. The phase inverters in a lot of amps is complete snollygoster. The one in the TT is perfect. The EL84s have the best distortion sound, the cathode biasing gives you more smerge swomp. This results in the pancakes being thick in treacle [molasses]. Thicker than the dude you borrowed the 4×12 off of.

Technical Director Adrian Emsley (Left) with
Dr. Damon “I Wear Bike Shorts In The Winter” McCartney (Right)

Interview by Dr. Damon McCartney

11 Comments/by Charlie

Interviews, Rock, Voice Of

Ambassador Interview: Sally Gates of Orbweaver (with video demo)

Amp: Orange OR100 Head and PPC412 Cab

My rig consists of an Orange half stack, several PRS guitars, and a plethora of pedals. Orbweaver has two guitarists, and we like to make a lot of noise, so I run the OR100 on full power (100W) and go straight into the cabinet at 16ohms. In certain situations I might run it on a lower wattage setting, such as recording or home use.

I love the OR100 as it has every feature I need from an amp, without being overly convoluted. It’s just pure tone, without any clutter. I use a dual footswitch so I can run both channels and also use the Global Boost for solos, which boosts your volume without adding gain. Speaking of gain, I don’t use as much as you’d generally expect from a metal band, my tone is more crunchy, and I set the gain knob around 6 and a half. Tone controls I generally run at 7 across the board.

The PPC412 is hands down the best cab I’ve ever used. The day I bought it I AB’d a bunch of different cabinets and it stood head and shoulders above the rest – excellent projection and clarity, while still sounding warm and heavy as fuck.

Main Guitars: PRS Custom 22 Goldtop, PRS SE Navarro Custom 24

My number one guitar is a PRS Custom 22 with a wide-fat neck and tremolo. I’ve been playing it for about 4 years straight now. I have it set up with 11’s, and have found myself playing with higher action lately. I love doing all kinds of ridiculous things with the whammy bar, and lucky for me, it holds tune really well for a non-locking tremolo. My settings on it are pretty simple, 90% of what I do is play through the bridge humbucker, with volume and tone on full. The volume knob rolls off really well, and interacts nicely with the tube amp gain, so I utilize that a lot for swells and strange noises…

I recently acquired the Navarro SE from PRS as a backup for the Goldtop. The neck is a wide-thin profile, so it’s a little more shreddy than the ’22. I put a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge, and kept the coil split on each pickup. It’s a killer guitar and has made an excellent backup, even coping with freezing conditions on our recent winter tour.

Pedals: Lots

So right now my pedal board consists of: a Seymour Duncan Deja Vu Delay, Shape Shifter tremolo, BBE Mind Bender chorus/vibrato, MXR Phase 90, MXR Carbon Copy delay, Boss TU2 tuner, and my Orange 2 button footswitch.

I say right now, as our pedal boards tend to be in a state of flux. Especially now as we are writing new songs, I will probably be bringing back my wah, adding an envelope filter, trying out new delays, etc.

The settings vary depending on what song/riff we are playing, we do a lot of tweaking and tap dancing.

Check out more from Orbweaver and order their debut EP…

orbweaverband.com
facebook.com/orbweaver.official
Twitter: @orbweaverband

Orbweaver’s debut EP ‘Strange Transmissions From the Neuralnomicon’ is out now on colored vinyl through Corpse Flower Records – www.corpseflowerrecords.com

by Alex Auxier

Interviews, Orange Embassy

Ambassador Interview: Jason Narducy (Bob Mould, Superchunk)

Give us a brief run down of your career to date and how you ended up playing Orange…

I started playing music 33 years ago when I was 10. So I’m going to skip to 2006 to save us a little time! I was playing bass with Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices) and the guitarist on my side of the stage was Dave Philips. He’s very talented and had already played with Frank Black, Tommy Stinson, and many others. He was using a AD30TC for the whole tour and I couldn’t believe how accurate it was. Very few knobs and they were all set near 5. Sounded perfect.

Because I’m a guitarist too (see my current solo project Split Single), I went home after the tour and ordered an AD30TC for myself from my local guitar store, Guitar Works in Evanston, IL.

Let’s start with a simple one. Why Orange?

Most of my time performing these days is with Bob Mould and Superchunk, for whom I play bass. I had performed on Jimmy Fallon in September 2011 with a band called Telekinesis. The guitarist, Cody Votolato (Blood Brothers), is an Orange endorsee and he put in a call to Alex at Orange to see if they could provide me with a bass rig for the show. Alex took care of me. I plugged in my Roger Mayer Rocket Fuzz into the Orange and the band exploded all the way to number one on the charts. Not really. But it sounded great.

When the Bob Mould tribute show happened in November 2011, I asked Alex again if he could help out. I was to play bass with Bob, Dave Grohl, Britt Daniel, The Hold Steady, and Margaret Cho. He, again, took care of me and we started a good working relationship. I have used the Orange bass rig ever since when available.

What amps are you currently running for your live set-up?

Bob Mould & Superchunk: AD200B MK3 head with OBC410 & OBC115 cabs

Split Single: AD30TC Combo

How about your recording set-up?

Same

What is it about these amplifiers & cabinets that you like? Not only sonically but also any noticeable comments about how they handle life on the road.

They are durable and easy to use. Always plenty of power if I need it.

How do you like to set the amp up?

Everything on 5.

The current Orange amps you are working on, are the tubes stock or do you have a preferred brand? If so, which?

I haven’t worn tube socks since middle school. They make my calves itchy which effects my playing.

Would you like to say anything else?

I got sunburn on my left shoulder in Tennessee last week. It’s blistering now. Should be fine in a week.

by Charlie

Technical

Choosing an Overdrive/Distortion Pedal for Your Orange Amp

As Senior Amp Tech for Orange USA I get a lot of questions regarding which Overdrive/Distortion pedals work best with our amps. As you may well know, our product line is quite diverse, yet each amp we make has a certain common characteristic midrange bark that I lovingly call “Orange Punch”.

Nope

While this tonal trait is part of what makes our amps special, it can be a challenge to find pedals that will work with the amps natural tone and compliment it rather than bury it or fight it. Here are a few of my favorites that I have found to work especially well with all of our amps:

1) Fulltone OCD: I cannot overstate how great this pedal sounds! From a subtle boost, to a natural overdrive, to full on high gain, it does it all and it does it without killing the natural sound of our amps. My favorite way to run it is with the drive between 10-11 o’clock and the volume pegged to goose the front end of my Retro 50 and make it cry for mercy. I also like to use it in the studio with the clean channel of our amps as a sort of third “in between” sound. The pedal has two modes of operation, high peak and low peak. High peak can give a little more bass and drive, as well as some extra upper midrange if you need to cut through a dense mix. Low peak is your sound only more, without tonal change. A great trick with this pedal is to run it at 18V, which gives it more headroom and a truly “amp-like” feel that responds to your pick attack and volume control just as our amps do naturally. I’ve tried just about every drive pedal out there and I always come back to this. It works, it’s bulletproof, and it’s relatively inexpensive given the quality and flexibility.

2) Maxon OD808: This one is for Metal, plain and simple! I know what you are saying, “but that’s just a tubescreamer knock-off for the SRV clones out there” and you would be somewhat right. However the Maxon OD-808 has a couple of small circuit tweaks done to the original tube screamer circuit that sets this one apart from your standard TS-9 and TS-808. This pedal does have an EQ coloration, it shaves of a little bit of the sub low frequencies, and adds a nice midrange coloration and compression to the tone. When you combine that with our high gain amp channels, it tightens them up for some extra low-string clarity while also adding some weight to the high notes courtesy of that nice midrange. A ton of your favorite metal players use this pedal with high gain amps for this EQ curve, as opposed to adding a ton of gain from the pedal. The typical settings are drive at off to 10 o’clock with the blend all the way up and the tone set to taste. If you love metal give this one a shot.

3) Way Huge Swollen Pickle: This one is for the adventurous amongst you! It is not subtle, it can make your amp sound like an army of mosquitos or elephants depending on how you set it up. There is also some old school late 60’s/early 70’s fuzzed out goodness in there, think early Black Sabbath, Neil young, T. Rex etc. If you are like me and love the first two Smashing Pumpkins albums, then you need this pedal. It does have a lot of parameters, and can be somewhat of a challenge to dial in perfectly, but when you do you will be rewarded with some of the sickest fuzz tones out there.

4) Pigtronix Class A Boost: If your tastes run more towards the cleaner side of the spectrum, or you need something to just boost the volume of your amp, give this awesome pedal a try. When set up in front of your amp it gives you 30db of pure high headroom volume boost. It is very tonally neutral, giving you your pure guitar to amp tone while just making it LOUD!! It is also one of the only boost pedals designed to work at line levels. This makes it possible to use in the FX loop of our amps for a volume boost for solos. It’s also bonehead easy to use, a single volume control is all you get, set it and forget it!

I recommend you check out some YouTube clips of these pedals, but ultimately the best thing to do is to go to a music store and try them yourself. All of them work great with our amps, are reasonably priced, gig tough, and the manufacturers stand behind their products and offer tremendous support.

Until next time, keep it loud, keep it proud!

Jon Bailey

Senior Amp Tech

41 Comments/by Jon Bailey

Innovation, Opinion, Voice Of

Interview with Ade Emsley – Orange’s Amp Designer

Orange’s lead amp designer and Technical Director, Ade Emsley, is a mad scientist. He’s a self-taught circuit genius and a total rock n’ roller all at the same time. For added “cool factor” he’s also born and bred in South London, which is responsible for that awesome cockney accent and “take no crap” attitude.

Ade joined Orange way back in 1998. In the past 16 years his contributions to the company have been endless, but his most notable is likely the Tiny Terror, which is considered one of the most important amps of all time and set the stage for the entire “lunchbox amp” craze. It’s become a favorite among guitar players of all levels, especially in the studio. Ask Ade which amp is his favorite and he’ll tell you the same.

But we also have Ade to thank for EVERY tube amp we’ve introduced since ’98, including the AD, Rockerverb MKI and MKII, Thunderverb, OR, Dual Dark, and TH series. And while Ade remains coy about his contributions to our increasingly popular Crush PRO series, the fact remains that we wouldn’t have ever made the foray into high-powered solid state amps if Ade hadn’t designed the tube amp they’re based on (the Rockerverb 100).

With no further adieu we present this fantastic 4 minute interview with Ade Emsley, captured by our good friends at ZZounds. Hear how he describes the Orange tone in his own words.

by Alex Auxier

Real World

Why You Should Be Testing Your Tubes

The Orange VT1000 is the world’s first all-digital, portable tube (valve) tester. But what exactly does that mean? Well, it means that we took all the technology that formerly went into this:

Which looks like it could murder you

And fit it all into this little guy right here:

You may want to ask yourself why nobody else did this already. After all, it makes perfect sense. If 40% of the amps purchased today are tube-driven then shouldn’t the technology associated with TESTING those tubes have, ya know, EVOLVED a bit since the first tube amps were produced? The answer is “not necessarily” and the reasons are many. The assumed difficulty of testing your own tubes. The acquisition and maintenance of a vintage tube tester. These are great reasons not to have previously tested your own tubes.

But the main culprit is the attitude some tube amp players take towards the little glass life-blood of their amps. I asked five guitar player friends why they didn’t test their own tubes and four of them answered “Why would I do that?” These are people who are fully aware that the VT1000 exists and regardless of how many times I’ve reminded them it exists the idea still hasn’t stuck. So I’m going to lay it out for you right now. These are the reasons you should test your own tubes:

It will make you sound better.

You’ve got your amp sounding awesome. You go to practices and play shows and this awesome tone is just as awesome as it can be. Then, one day, you notice it’s started to lose a bit of gain on Channel A, and only on Channel A. You ask your friends if they can hear the change and they’re all “dude, you’re just drunk, it sounds the same.” But you KNOW it doesn’t sound the same and so you freak out about it all weekend, adding pedals and checking cords and changing out guitars. Nothing is fixing the problem!

Here’s the deal: it’s probably a preamp tube, especially if it’s only affecting one channel. With a VT1000 you could test all the preamp tubes in about 8 minutes, identify the bad tube, and throw in a new tube. More than likely you’ll be back at full gain in under 20 minutes total. And here’s where it gets better, because instead of trashing the so-called “bad tube,” testing the tube will allow you to arrive at a number of 1-10 indicating how much strength is still in the tube. That’s called the “matching number” and you can use it to “match” that tube with other tubes like it. The benefit to “matching” tubes is that you can essentially control the gain, and therefore the tone, of your amp. So instead of throwing away what you assume to be a tube-gone-bad, hold on to it for those times when you want to change up your sound.

Watch the demo video for the VT1000 on YouTube

It will save your butt.

You finally got that coveted opening slot for Yanni and your band, Fart Quality Control, practiced for a whole 90 minutes before the gig (hey, it’s hard to be a lawyer, dad, Boy Scout Leader, bird enthusiast, and have time left-over for rockstar-ing). You arrive 9 hours early to the venue to make sure there aren’t any snags. The soundcheck goes well, Dr. Richard Felter is absolutely shredding the uke and the back-up singers, your wife and probably her friend from PTA, are all really on point. This is guaranteed to be the single best experience this group of parents that started a band solely for the purpose of getting away from their kids one a day week has EVER had.

The lights go down. The announcer exclaims “without further ‘o-dor,’ here’s Fart Quality Control!” And suddenly your amp takes a dive. You’re getting no sound. Dr. Felter freaks out. He’s usually so calm and collected when he’s at the hospital performing life-saving surgeries 14 hours a day. But this isn’t the hospital. This is the biggest moment of his life, opening for Yanni, his favorite ethereal pianist, and it’s all come crashing down because you couldn’t test the tubes in your amp before the show.

He takes off his uke and bashes it into the PA. Sweating bullets, Dr. Felter picks up a large piece of the splintered wood and rushes towards the mellophonist. The B-flat scream through the muted chambers of the horn signal his demise. The doctor rampages across the stage and, one by one, the members of FQC fall. All the while you’re still playing with the knobs on your amp.But there is no power…there is no power.

If you had tested your tubes before your show you would have saved a lot of lives.

Seriously though, knowing which tubes are wearing out can make or break a live gig. The smart guitar techs for major touring bands have a reserve of tubes on hand at all times. When they get into a new town and start load-in one of the first things they do is test the tubes in their amps. Drew Foppe, tech for Lindsay Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac, tests and replaces ALL the tubes in ALL the amps EVERY SINGLE DAY. (Is that necessary? If Lindsay asks you to, yes. But still, probably not. Tubes have a “play in” phase and usually sound best after about 10 hours of jamming.)

The point is that tubes can go bad quickly and without any early indication that’s audible to the ear. If you test your tubes prior to a big gig, you might find that what were 4 previously matching power tubes have become 3 matching tubes and 1 tube that’s several numbers off from matching. If you’ve got a Class A amp rated 30 watts or under then it could be as simple as throwing a new power tube in the amp. If you’re playing a 100 watt beast that requires biasing when replacing power tubes, you might just reconsider playing the amp at all that night, or having a back-up plugged up ready to rock in case of a failure.

It will also save you buttLOADS of money.

Literally, and this is not a fake number I just made up, but LITERALLY 75% of the technical service issues Orange encounters on a day-to-day basis are tube-related. That’s not because our tubes are low quality or because tube gremlins actually exist (even though they totally do and I’m tired of being considered an “outsider” for my belief in them). It’s also not a result of the shoddy build quality of our amps. We make the tanks of the amp world. No, it’s because tubes are made of thin glass, are gas-pressurized, and contain strands of metal so delicate they can only be handled by tube gremlins (I’m not letting this go). They are going to break and when they do it is going to cost you money.

Don’t take it straight to a tech or service center. I know you’ve “got a dude,” and he’s the “only guy you let touch your amp,” but if 75% of the tech calls we get on a daily basis are tube-related then don’t you think it’s worth considering a tube as the culprit? Don’t rush out the door with your wallet in hand. If you can identify the tube that’s causing the issue then you’re half way there already. If it’s a preamp tube then you can usually swap it yourself. If it’s a power tube then which one and are the others still good? Knowing the answers to these questions can give you the knowledge to keep your tech from performing unnecessary service. Most of the time when our techs find a single faulty power tube in a customer amp they’re able to replace that tube and that tube only. This doesn’t change the fact that any amp over 30 watts needs to be rebiased anytime you change a power tube. But it might save you significant cash when you can safely answer “no” to the question “would you like me to replace ALL of your tubes?”

Changing tubes is like changing the oil in your car. It’s a requirement. You might be able to go further between some oil changes than others, but inevitably you end up back at the garage.

Do you have any friends that change the oil in their own cars? I do and I hate them for it. Why? Because they’re saving money while I’m getting fat eating biscuits (Note: I wrote biscuit just to appease the UK management). The only reason I don’t change the oil in my own car is because it requires me to change the oil in my car and SCREW IT I JUST DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT CARS! Luckily testing the tubes in your amp only requires you to know how to access the tubes in your amp.

I’m not advocating that you perform any major service on your amp. All you need to know is how to remove your chassis from the wooden sleeve or metal casing or whatever holds your amp together (string?). Obviously make sure the amp is unplugged and if you’re not a tech don’t go touching components that you don’t understand. Some things in there can shock you. But if you can remove the housing then you should be able to pretty easily access your tubes. Here’s a quick video about it.

Congratulations! You can now test your own tubes and reinvest all the money you save into orange-colored amps!

1 Comment/by Alex Auxier

Interviews, Orange Embassy

Ambassador Report: Gabor Sidlovics of Tankcsapda

Hungarian band Tankcsapda is one not just the most popular heavy metal bands to come out of that country in several years, they’re actually one of the most popular Hungarian bands, period. Last year when they released their entire back catalog of albums (14 albums total) they maintained the top 14 spots on Hungary’s record sales charts for two straight weeks.

You read that correctly. They had the top 14 albums for two straight weeks. Entire ALBUMS!

This enthusiasm for Tankcsapda translates to their live shows. They play to huge audiences.

This is not a festival audience. This is their regular nightly audience

Gabor Sidlovics, guitarist in the band and Orange Ambassador, powers these venues with his multiple Orange amps and cabs. Here’s a picture of his rig during the band’s 2013 “ROCKMAFIA” tour. He uses (2) Thunderverb 200 heads.

Backstage, and as a B-rig for live shows in the case of extreme amp failures, he uses a scaled down set-up consisting of a Jim Root #4 Terror.

In addition to being super popular, and quite frankly writing awesome songs, the band also has their own beer in a collaboration with Soproni Brewing. Soproni is basically Heineken from Hungary. So to be clear, they have a beer collaboration with one of the biggest beer companies in the world, not just in Hungary. Here’s the label.

You may have noticed something about the shirt the singer is wearing. That’s right, folks. He wore the Orange Crest shirt. We’re on a freaking beer label!

You might be asking yourself why we’re so enthusiastic about this band’s accomplishments. Well, for one, they’re Orange Ambassadors, so clearly we have a vested interest here. But more importantly, Tankcsapda is just a great band. They blend this sort of old world anthem-style with modern rock and metal. Check out every video the band’s ever made here and you’ll get an idea of how they’ve evolved in the past 25 years.

Enjoy!

1 Comment/by Alex Auxier

Interviews, Opinion

AMPLIFIED! with Mattias Noojd of Galvano

When you boil a band down to it, it very rarely needs more than two musicians. The list of bands that slay with just two members is numerous. You’ve got The Black Keys, Death From Above 1979, Soft Cell…

Ok, we’re kidding about Soft Cell. Hope we didn’t “taint” your opinion of this article.

Moving along…

Today we interview Mattias Noojd. Mattias hails from Gothenburg and is the guitarist and vocalist in the band Galvano. The band are a crushing audible assault mixing frantic drumming, wailing vocals and killer riffs.

Hi Mattias, nice to have you on board the blog! Let’s start with a simple one. Why Orange?

I used to own a OR120 a few years back and loved it, that dark and warm tone. Had to let it go though cause of financial reasons. I’d been missing it a lot and when I started looking at Orange amps again I decided on the Thunderverb 200 for it’s high gain and versatility. I needed something that could stand up against my Model T and I’m loving what the Thunderverb brings to the table. That thick low end and grit really completes my tone. Our band is really loud and that’s just how I like it, I want to feel those riffs, not just hear them.

The Thunderverb isn’t struggling in that department.

What amps are you currently running for your live setup?

My complete setup is a Thunderverb 200 and a -74 Sunn Model T that sits on 2 PPC412HP8 cabinets, I’m also using an Ampeg SVT 3 PRO that sits on an Ampeg 8×10 cabinet.

How about your recording set-up?

I usually use my live rig in the studio as well.

What is it about these amplifiers & cabinets that you like? Not only sonically but also any noticeable comments about how they handle life on the road.

Apart from what I’ve already mentioned I just love how the Orange cabinets sit right on the floor, that really brings out the low end. My cabinets are heavy as hell but it’s all worth it, they’re really solid.

How do you like to set the amp up? This doesn’t have to be exact settings, just what settings you have found work for you, a photo of the setting will also do!

I run my signal through all three amps. They are all are on most of the time.

The current Orange amps you are working on, are the tubes stock or do you have a preferred brand? If so, which?

It’s stock and my Thunderverb came with 6550’s. I might swap ‘em ouf for kt88’s though. I like those a lot.

Would you like to add/provide any additional information?

I’d just like to express my deep appreciation to Orange for taking interest in and supporting our band and me as a guitar player.

Go and check out Galvano, listen to their record, browse some pictures and buy a shirt! Till next time.

http://galvano.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/GALVANOgbg

1 Comment/by Charlie

Opinion

AMPLIFIED! with Arcite

Why Orange?

When using other brands we found that no other could match the clarity and presence that Orange have. Our guitar tones are now presented to the fullest and we can perform live with full confidence that we’re going to sound great, even in venue’s with bad acoustics/PA/sound systems. The gear is so convenient to travel with as well! Cabs and heads are a great size and we were amazed how much power they have. The first time we jammed with Orange we knew we wouldn’t turn back.

What amps/cabs are you using?

Both guitarists are using Dual Terror heads. They are small and deliver more power than a lot of the other big heavy heads we used to drag to shows. Also the two stage preamp makes it perfect for live and studio use. We use PPC212 open back cabs with the heads. The open back with Celestion vintage speakers make our live sound the biggest its ever been. And we were stoked that they came in black!

Our bassist uses the Terror bass 500. All we can really say is since we got this to our back line, our sound got heavy… really heavy. Biggest bass presence we’ve ever felt!

Do you remember the first time you saw an Orange amp?

Not exactly. To be totally honest it was just the continuing amount of bands that we seen live bringing Orange gear onto the stage and sounding amazing that made us take notice of the brand. A lot of those were UK artists and ones we massively respected too: Skindred and Architects, to name a couple.

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/arcitemetal

Instagram- http://instagram.com/arciteofficial

by Alex Auxier

Opinion

AMPLIFIED! with The Guitar Techs of Fall Out Boy

Guitar tech for Joe Trohman of Fall Out Boy, Josh Newton, was once arrested for looking too intense in black and white

I have very hazy memories of having danced danced to many of the songs off ‘From Under the Cork Tree” at the local rock club when I was a student. Now onto their fifth studio album, Fall Out Boy are in the upper echelons of music, selling out tours and touring the world over and over.

Currently keeping these wheels turning are two techs, Josh Newton and Brian Diaz. Josh has been a touring musician for over 20 years in bands such as The Damned Things and Every Time I Die, but only in the tech game for one year. Brian has been a tech for eleven years and has worked with some of the rock giants of our time (Guns N’ Roses, Anthrax, Primus, Brand New, Motion City Soundtrack, Sum 41)

What’s a typical day life for you on tour?

Brian : The day usually starts with me waking up way too early for the backline to get loaded in, so I hang around, eat breakfast and watch the other departments build their rigs whether it’s lighting, video, whoever. Once I roll my gear in place I try to get started with changing strings as soon as I can while I wait for audio to be ready for us to soundcheck. It’s usually at this point that I’ll do any repairs or try to recreate any issues I may have experienced the show before. Usually it’s something pretty easy like a loose pot, or a bad cable that needs to be replaced. Sometimes it may involve re-tubing a head or something more involved. More days than not, there isn’t much to do other than restring and polish up the guitars. Show time is pretty much the same every day: line check, tape down setlists and cables, bring out the water and towels, and then wait for the band to show up to stage. Fall Out Boy tends to be pretty on time everyday. Other bands I have worked for are famously extremely tardy. End of the night it’s a race to get it all in the truck, take a shower and get back to the bus.

Josh: I usually start setting up at around 12pm or so. I get the backline up and running, tweak things here and there. After that I’ll restring the guitars and check the intonation and action. We line check around 3pm, then wait until show time. Post show we get out of there as quickly as possible then do it all again the next day.

Favourite part of the job?

Brian: My favourite part of doing this is the times when you get recognized for the work you do. It makes the long hours that you put in which seem pointless actually worth it. That and the travel. I have always been a fan of exploring new places, and this has given me the opportunity to see the world and get paid for it.

Josh: Getting things to sound good and work correctly. I like the challenge off trying to get things exactly the same every day despite the different conditions.

What Orange Gear are Fall Out Boy using?

Brian: Right now Patrick Stump is using the Dark Terror at 15 watts. Normally this is dumped into a Palmer PGA-04 load box, since we have these elaborate stage sets where onstage backline doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. When we do use cabinets we are using whatever Orange 4x12s we can get our hands on. Just yesterday we got some black 2x12s that we are going to try out today.

Josh: [Joe Trohman] has used several. The Thunderverb 200, Rockerverb 100 or 50, and the Tiny Terror are the most used with us. Cabs are usually PPC412 or PPC212.

What is it about Orange amplifiers & cabinets that you like?

Brian: First and foremost it’s always about the tone. Before this Patrick was using (edit: someone else’s amplifier) that I had done a bit of modifying to so they were sounding just okay. We had these shows where I couldn’t get the amp to stop buzzing and I borrowed a Tiny Terror from Joe Trohman and it was game over. There was an immediate difference in the breadth of sound and the amount of crunch I was able to get out of it. Patrick liked it immediately and wanted to try the Dark Terror because he tends toward a more metal tone. I was into it immediately because of the size and the metal construction. They are so compact and so sturdy.

Josh:I’ve never had one go down on me. They’re built like tanks, specifically the cabs. Solid stuff.

The current Orange amps you are working on, are the tubes the stock or do you have a preferred brand? If so, which?

Brian:I have been using the Dark Terrors stock and they sound great. I do hear from time to time about swapping out the V1 tube for a Tung Sol, but I haven’t got around to experimenting with that yet. We have a couple more heads coming to us for a second rig we are building, so maybe I’ll drop one in and check it out.

Josh: I usually swap out the tubes to JJ’s. Just a personal preference. With the Thunderverb 200’s, I swapped them out to use KT88s. Just a hair more beef with those monsters.

Any stand out products from Orange which you would choose over all the rest?

Brian: I am a bassist so I have always been in love with the Orange bass lineup, particularly the AD200. I haven’t tried out the Terror Bass yet, but I’m thinking about checking that out. For the guitar gear, I really love the Thunderverb 200.

John: I’m a fan of the OR series.

Finally, the question to end all questions. Valve or solid state?

Brain:Valve is always going to win this round. I guess it comes from the time spent listening to bands that recorded with tube amps and hearing it live, but you just aren’t recreating the same sound with a solid state amplifier. My work with amps is fairly limited, but what I do have experience with is valve amps. If I had a solid state piece that went down I don’t think I’d be servicing it myself. I definitely have a better shot with a valve amp as I have a better understanding of them.

Josh: It depends. With guitars, tubes tend to be most pleasing to my ears, but bass can go either way. I’ve rarely had an issue with any of Orange’s products.

“Brian gets to travel the world thanks to music!” is what we would have captioned this if we were bored. But we’re not, so we’re captioning it “Why would Brian send us a picture of him surrounded by kangaroos?”

by Charlie

Orange Tech Director, Ade Emsley: “the Tiny Terror is my favorite amp” (video)

Interview by Dr. Damon McCartney

Ambassador Interview: Sally Gates of Orbweaver (with video demo)

Amp: Orange OR100 Head and PPC412 Cab

Main Guitars: PRS Custom 22 Goldtop, PRS SE Navarro Custom 24

Pedals: Lots

Ambassador Interview: Jason Narducy (Bob Mould, Superchunk)

Choosing an Overdrive/Distortion Pedal for Your Orange Amp

Interview with Ade Emsley – Orange’s Amp Designer

Why You Should Be Testing Your Tubes

Ambassador Report: Gabor Sidlovics of Tankcsapda

AMPLIFIED! with Mattias Noojd of Galvano

AMPLIFIED! with Arcite

AMPLIFIED! with The Guitar Techs of Fall Out Boy

HELP WITH MY GEAR

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