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Tag Archive for: rocker 15

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Orange Spotlight: Son Of Boar

Orange Spotlight: Son Of Boar

Who are Son Of Boar?

We are Son of Boar, a 5 piece Doom outfit from Bradford, we play heavy Boarbaric wool laden Doom, the band started late in 2017, Adam (guitar), Lyndon (guitar), Luke D (Drums) were in the makings of a band. Shortly after they started Gaz joined the band on bass and Luke O joined on vocals. We had all known each other from around the local scene, playing in bands on the same line ups around the city. The music we play would be best described as Fuzzed out Groovy Doom, it’s dirty and loud but gets your head moving.

What inspires Son Of Boar?

We all have a different favourite band, but bands that are prominent amongst all band members would be Pantera, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Misfits, Orange Goblin. Anything with a groove or sounds filthy! We don’t just listen to Metal and Doom, there is a strong punk and hip hop influence on different members of the band.

What Orange gear is important to Son Of Boar?

Across the band we have a few amps, Gaz has a Terror Bass and  Little Bass Thing! Adam has a Dual Dark 50, he does the main bulk of distortion between the 2 guitars, which the Dual Dark does in spades. If we are travelling Adam uses his Brent Hinds Terror, a whole lotta amp crammed into 15 watts of Orangey goodness. On the other side of the stage is Lyndon, He rocks a TH30 and a CR120, both bring a different sound to the table, and a growing number of cabs. We all kind of fell into Orange, a lot of bands we know use them and the are just really versatile, with our new stuff we are wanting dirty dark tones but we also want some nice ambient clean tones, Orange seem to really give us the best of both.

Future Orange amps?

Gaz – I’m happy with my Terror Bass and Little Bass Thing, I like to keep my rig light and save my back and both give enough power for what I need! Though if you want to make me a signature amp I won’t say no!
Adam – Probably a Dark Terror for my travelling rig, and a Rockerverb, I’m a big Slipknot fan and I heard Jim Root playing one and fell in love with that amp instantly. 
Lyndon – An OR30 would be my next choice to add to my arsenal followed by a Rockerverb, but really I would like them all, when I’m going through the Orange Social Media groups I see the old Orange PA systems and it would be ace to get my hands on one of them.

What does Orange mean to you?

Tough question, we associate Orange with a lot of our favourite bands, seeing them on stage, seeing the stacks and the pilot lights, waiting for bands like Monolord, Sleep or Boris to come on and blow our tiny little mind. The scene we are part of shows a huge love to Orange, we have all used other amps and they just don’t cut it for us, the sound Orange gives us can be really clear and bright or really dark and dirty. It adds to our song writing. We see it as family, as cheesy as that sounds, we can turn up to a show and take our amps out and that will strike up conversations with other bands that use Orange, discussion groups online and forums that are out there just add to the community vibe we get.

What’s the most memorable Son Of Boar moment?

There are so many stories from when we have travelled, whether it be having a cool photo taken outside of Edinburgh castle, in our Denim battle jackets, putting our mean faces on and trying to look as cool as possible, for us to look back (When we got home) and see Adam was holding a bottle of Orange Fanta which ruined the whole picture. We have and NEVER will let him forget that. Other memories make us laugh, like Mooning our Tour Mates, Deadeyes, as we passed them on the motorway, or the pagan baptism in Fellfoot Woods at ‘In A Nutshell’ Festival.

What’s on the horizon for Son Of Boar?

Currently we are not touring, we have a few shows lined up throughout the year but we have mainly been focusing on album number 2. We locked ourselves away and spent a lot of time writing and have more or less finished recording it. Once that is done we would like to get it out and tour then. We have spoken about going over to Europe for the last few years but Covid knocked us back, we are back on it now though and will hopefully be making our way out there next year!

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Orange Spotlight: The Lunar Effect

Orange Spotlight: The Lunar Effect

Who are The Lunar Effect?

The Lunar Effect was started by brothers Jon (guitar) and Daniel (drums) Jefford. They were then joined by bassist Brett Halsey and singer Josh Neuwford. After releasing an EP in 2016 the band went into the studio and recorded their first full length album ‘Calm Before The Calm’ in 2018 which was met with critical acclaim. An enforced Covid Hiatus and then later serious health issues with two members of the band derailed their touring plans, resulting in them needing to lay low until making an appearance at Desertfest London in 2021 before heading back into the studio to record their second album in late 2022. Just before the release of this album in 2024 they decided to thicken up their already huge sound by recruiting long term friend and collaborator Mark fuller on 2nd guitar.

What inspires The Lunar Effect?

Our favourite bands are mostly made up classics like David Bowie, T.Rex, Soundgarden, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. Aside from that, it’s our overall love of writing and performing which inspires us and keeps us going. Can genuinely see us doing this when we’re all grey and old. We also like the current bands Graveyard, The Heavy Eyes and Turtle Skull.

What Orange gear is important to The Lunar Effect?

Currently we are using a TH30 guitar head and AD200 Bass head. We recently also used a Little Bass Thing and a Rocker 15 Head.

Future Orange amps?

We would love to try using a Thunderverb 200 and Rockerverb 50

What does Orange mean to you?

Orange is a brand that you instantly recognise. Whether you are in the front row at a gig or right at the back of the room propped up against the bar, they’re impossible not to notice. You just know an Orange amp when you hear one, let alone see one. Apart from the sound, the fact the gear is made from quality parts and is incredibly hardwearing and roadworthy. That’s a huge plus-point.

What’s the most memorable The Lunar Effect moment?

We’ve had a lot of memorable moments over the years but we’ll never forget our very first gig. It was on a Tuesday night in a pub in Leytonstone, playing to just the bar staff and one punter. He was absolutely spangled and, inexplicably, had a blow-up guitar with him. Throughout our whole set this bloke was dancing like it was going out of fashion whilst headbanging and strumming away on his blow-up fender. It was all for him.

What’s on the horizon for The Lunar Effect?

Well, we’ve released “Pulling Daisies” and “Flowers For Teeth”, our first new releases in five years and first singles from our new album “Sounds of Green & Blue” (out everywhere, available to order via Svart Records now!). We have a huge album launch show at The Black Heart in Camden on 26th April. After that, as well as the usual London shows we’ll be hitting the road going up and down the country, including a couple of overseas shows in the pipeline which we can’t wait for.

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Headroom / Bedroom

1 Watt amps. Remember that craze? Yeah, so do I. I thought they were a bit disappointing too. The thing is, it seems like such a good idea: you love the sound of your big amp running full-tilt at a gig, but it’s just too loud to be practical in the studio, or sociable at home. Enter the 1W amp – often a simplified version of the front end of a big amp, strapped to a push-pull power amp design made from a dual triode preamp valve. You can see the thinking here but, having spoken to Orange Technical Director and all-round amp genius, Adrian Emsley, I get why this concept misses the point.

Adrian is a man who knows a thing or two about shrinking amps in the search for great tone – he completely turned the guitar amplifier industry on its head (no pun intended) with his now legendary Tiny Terror. This pocket-sized 15W powerhouse wiped the floor with its 100W contemporaries and changed the market forever. The reason? You could crank the Tiny Terror up into power amp overdrive (the holy grail of guitar tone) whilst all the big-rig owners had to get their distortion from the preamp – or get thrown out of the venue for making a racket!

And this is the main problem with the 1 Watt amp fad. Sure, you can turn up the volume until the power amp starts clipping, but you’re still clipping a preamp valve and it still sounds like preamp distortion. You’ll have heard the valve-related terms ‘Pentode’ and ‘Triode’ before and, while they’re a bit nerdy to really go into here, they’ll make some great background reading for those who are interested in this very important difference.

The other big downfall of the 1 Watt amp is, while you’re able to crank it up just like your big amp, it’s not your big amp!! Not only are these often-budget offerings lacking the features or character that we love about our gigging rigs, they also mean you have to buy another amp.

This is where Adrian Emsley stepped in with the aptly-named ‘Headroom/Bedroom’ switch, featured on Orange’s acclaimed Rocker 15 head and combo and the none-more-retro-and-cool Tremlord 30. The Bedroom mode drops the Rocker 15’s output all the way to 0.5 Watts (1 Watt on the Tremlord) by manipulating the signal headroom in the phase inverter part of the circuit. This simple control lets you dial in your favourite gigging sounds so quietly you could hear the neighbours banging on the walls…but they aren’t.

Flip to Headroom and it’s back to all-out, stage-filling, trouser-flapping tone. The best part is you’re always making use of those inimitable pentode output valves and still enjoying every feature of your go-to amp, without compromise. In typical fashion, Emsley has managed to tackle quite a complicated question and come up with an answer that just works. You don’t need room for two amps, you just need Headroom and Bedroom.

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Interview with Mary Spender

My name is Mary Spender, I play the Orange Rocker 32 and most recently, the Rocker 15 head with a 212 vertical cab. I started playing guitar when I was 12 because I saw some boys at school with a Squire and I was very envious because I was doing classical music! Although i was enjoying it – being in orchestras, playing the viola and singing, playing violin – I found it restrictive in some ways because I wanted to write songs. I was listening to pop music (if I can be honest) as my mum introduced me into things like Jodie Mitchell and I just wanted to sing and accompany myself so I played guitar. I started on electric and bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and it’s kinda just gone from there.

I chose the Rocker 32 because of the stereo features but I’m totally guilty of not having stereo pedals right now! I also chose it because of the 3-band EQ on the dirty channel. Aside from the set-clean tone, it’s useful to change between the two channels for my style of playing. Orange was a strange choice for my style of music but then it’s very complimentary in the same way… it’s just cool having my Rocker 32 on stage. It was on stage for my UK tour most recently and everyone just said how good the tone sounded so I’ll take that as a compliment!

My Vigier GV Rock in revolution green is my favourite guitar. It’s short-scale, I love it, it has a very slim neck and it’s just beautiful. I’m a singer/songwriter and I’d describe my musical style as intricate, slow guitar playing with a little chicken-picking… but not quite… there’s a mixture of influences such as Mark Knopfler… so that sort of style… but sort of failing at it… so I just came up with my own thing!

The Rocker 15 Terror was released in January,  so seeing the Rocker as a head (rather than a combo) was great… and to be honest, It’s all down to the bedroom/headroom switch. Being at home, you don’t want to annoy the neighbours… too much! Although I love the Rocker 32, especially those 2 stereo speakers, I just loved the idea of having a vertical cabinet and a head!

I first saw the PPC212V at NAMM and Charlie (from Orange) actually told me it was lightweight. I tested it, and obviously carrying amps is bad for your back if they are too heavy. That’s why I chose the Rocker 32 rather than a cab and head before hand… but picking up the 15mm ply-wood vertical cab was better… it was so light. Now I just need to buy a bigger car!

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The Case For The Rocker 32 Combo

I recently wrote an article entitled “A Choice, Not a Compromise: The Case for the Rocker 15.” In that article I cited the reasons why someone might prefer the Rocker 15 Combo over the larger Rocker 32 Combo. It’s more portable, it’s being used mainly for practice or recording, and it doesn’t have a stereo FX loop (which adds to the cost and probably isn’t necessary for most players).

Now I need you to forget what I said and consider the reasons why the Rocker 32 the perfect combo for your needs.

Reason #1 – You Want A Combo With A Stereo FX Loop

There aren’t many amps on the market that feature stereo FX loops. So, in the true spirit of Orange’s “make what we want” attitude, Lead Designer Ade Emsley added one to the Rocker 32. It’s valve-buffered and 100% true stereo, which makes it the perfect combo for exploring the possibilities of your pedalboard. You’ll never want to use a delay pedal in mono again once you’ve heard the soundscape you can create in stereo.

Or, try it the “old school” way by patching your pedals in wet/dry mode. One speaker has the effects while the other speaker has the clean tone from the amp. You’ll be amazed at the separation and clarity. While the stereo FX loop has a ton of live applications, just imagine what you can do with it in the studio! (Warning: Do not play with the stereo FX loop while drunk…it’s so much fun you may never want to sober up)

Reason #2 – You Need More Power

While the Rocker 15 has some unique power-switching options (15, 7, 1, and .5 watts) that make it awesome for both the bedroom and the studio, the Rocker 32 kicks up the power to 30 watts so you can get the volume you need for full-band scenarios. Also, with that extra 15 watts of power you’ll get the benefits of added clean headroom and extra saturation when you’re using lots of gain on the dirty channel. Don’t need the full 30 watts? Cut the power in half with the “full/half power” switch and you’ll be sitting at a neighbor-friendly 15 watts.

Reason #3 – Tonal Versatility

In many ways the Rocker 32 is Orange’s answer to more “American-sounding” combos. It’s a direct competitor to the Fender Twin Reverb (of course the Rocker 32 doesn’t have reverb, but that’s not the point). At the same time it’s a combo that can stand up to British amps like the Vox AC30. What we’ve created is an amp that sits perfectly in-between British and American tones. If the Twin Reverb is shimmering and metallic sounding, then the Rocker 32 is shimmering but smooth.

The Rocker 32 is currently on stage or in the studio with bands as diverse as The Weeknd, Guided By Voices, Primus, Gene Evaro Jr, and Rival Sons. It’s picking up steam with jazz, gospel, and even country acts as well. If you’re looking for an amp that encompasses a “little bit of everything Orange,” look no further than the Orange Rocker 32 Combo.

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Tag Archive for: rocker 15

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