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Tag Archive for: Terror Bass

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Interview: Pickle from Frankie and the Witch Fingers

Photo by @pancakesandwhiskey

Orange: Can you introduce yourself?
Pickle: Hey! I’m Pickle from Frankie and the Witch Fingers!

Orange: Can you name five songs you can’t get enough of right now?
1 – “Queen of the Underground” by GOAT
2 – “As Above, So Below” Tom Tom Club
3 – “Cave Crawl” Warm Drag
4 – “Love is the Drug” Roxy Music
5 – “There You Are” Nate Mercerau

Orange: How did you end up playing with Frankie & The Witch Fingers?
Pickle: Oh, I wound up playing music with these boys because they asked me to! I originally met Josh the lead guitarist in 2015 when our former bands did a two-week tour together, and I ended up becoming close friends with the whole Frankie gang over the subsequent years. I was busy playing and touring in other bands, but in my spare time I was always doing whatever I could to support Frankie from behind the scenes. Like, designing show posters and album covers, and making merch for them – plus I did live photography and ran their merch booth on a handful of tours for them. I was already deeply embedded in the Frankie family, so it was a pretty organic transition when they parted ways with their original bassist in 2020 and they asked me to step in.

Orange: Can you tell us a bit about your musical background prior to that?
Pickle: Before I joined this band, I had been playing music on-and-off for about 5 years with another LA-based garage band called Death Valley Girls. That was definitely my longest-running musical group and it’s what taught me the most about touring, but I’ve been jumping around between different LA bands since 2010 when I first started playing music.

Orange: How old were you when you got into playing, and what triggered the interest in music beyond listening?
Pickle: Honestly, I never thought I’d ever be a musician! I grew up in a very musical household, my Dad was a touring keyboardist for Steppenwolf and Berlin among other bands, and he and my uncle were always playing live rock music and jamming around me. In typical teenage fashion I considered it kinda lame. I thought “this shit is for old dudes from the 1970’s”. I loved listening to music, especially classic rock and roll, but I really never considered it my thing – I always planned on changing the world with my visual art instead. I went to college for graphic design and illustration and I never even picked up an instrument. Then, in 2010, I was working as a graphic designer in the marketing department for Guitar Center’s corporate office and everyone around me happened to be a musician. They’d walk around the office with an acoustic guitar and just jam out anytime of day, it was so fun. A friend of mine there taught me to play like 3 notes on his electric bass so that we could jam on some Tom Petty and Green Day songs together for fun, and I IMMEDIATELY ran out and got myself my own bass and joined my first band within like a month or two. I was 27 at the time and hadn’t really touched an instrument before that, and it was like some latent thing had been suddenly awakened in me. I’ve never looked back since!

Orange: Was bass your first instrument?
Pickle: Yep! It’s the first instrument I loved. I had some random piano recitals and violin classes when I was a kid, but I never realized I was actually passionate about playing music until I picked up the bass.

Orange: What’s your experience with Orange and current Orange amp?
Pickle: I remember that a bassist friend who I idolized had taken me to the NAMM show in like 2011 or 2012, and we were so excited about visiting the Orange booth together. The reps were so nice, they let us hang around playing all the various amps and cabs on display there, and he ended up buying a Terror Bass 1000w bass head that we were both so giddy about. Ever since then, I’ve been a fan of Orange. Obviously, you see all these long-haired metal dudes shredding through Orange amps on these giant stages, and I’m like… ME FUCKIN’ TOO, DUDES! Now my Terror Bass comes with me almost everywhere. It’s my secret weapon.

Orange: Would you consider yourself a gearhead who loves to get techy, or are you more of a plug and play kinda gal?
Pickle: I consider myself someone who knows HER gear. I like what I like, and I love getting in the weeds talking about my gear with other people who are also passionate about their tone. I can definitely geek out about the stuff that I like. I think all musicians are like that to some degree. We get really precious about all our little toys, and the cool tricks we’ve learned to do with them. Ask anyone about their rig and they’ll get the same gleam in their eye about it that a 7-year-old does with their favorite set of Legos.

Orange: Your latest album “Data Doom” was released last year, how’s life been since? Have you been working on any new material or mostly busy touring?
Pickle: Yeah, we released Data Doom back in September of 2023, and we toured pretty darn hard around that release. It feels good to be home in LA again for a minute even if we are still busy-busy-busy. Right now, we’re back in the studio writing the next album! We’ll be recording that in a couple weeks and then it’s back out on the road again for spring and summer festivals.

Orange: How’s 2024 looking Pickle, and Frankie and the Witch Fingers?
Pickle: I’m super stoked to get back on the road. As much as I like being home and spending time with the guys being creative and making new songs in the studio, my real passion is performing and I actually can’t wait to get back to the tour grind! We’ve got some really exciting things coming up – like, we’re throwing a big 4/20 show in Los Angeles at this secret DIY spot and we’re also releasing a live album for Record Store Day that day. Then, we’re immediately heading to Austin for Austin Psych Fest and zipping right out again to Europe and the UK to play some sick festivals like Desertfest London and Fuzz Club Fest and like a whole month of shows there!

Photo by @jenziphoto
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Orange Spotlight: WARPSTORMER

Orange Spotlight: WARPSTORMER

Who are WARPSTORMER?

WARPSTORMER is Adam Davies (guitar), Simon Doggett (bass + backing vocals), James Loh (drums) and Richard Morgan (vocals). We’re scattered fairly loosely across London but the band’s nominally headquartered in New Cross. 

The name’s a nod to the science-fantasy universe of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame, in which spacefarers unfortunate enough to be beset by “warp-storms” are sucked into a hellish, messed-up realm of chaos where humanity’s worst impulses are given form as demonic creatures that prey on their souls. Very metal, eh? 

The band started out as a studio project that Richard put together with a couple of pals – original drummer Matt Folley and Green Lung finger-wizard Scott Black on guitar – lending a hand in a temporary capacity. This resulted in the Here Comes Hell EP, which was self-released in 2022 with the intention of using it to recruit a full band line-up. Upon hearing about the new project, Simon (an old pal of R’s)  said he might be interested “if the record doesn’t suck”. Luckily, it didn’t, saving anyone the trouble of singing and playing bass at the same time. 

The EP continued to serve its intended purpose as a recruiting tool – by early 2023 Adam and James had come on board – and since then, we’ve been playing in and around London wherever and whenever anyone will let us, and working on new material as a full band.

While we definitely have one foot in the Sabbath-influenced doomy/stony camp, all the members share a love of punk, hardcore and thrash, and it seems we’re chronically incapable of playing slow enough to stick to the template. Tom Templar from Green Lung once referred to us as “Stoner Thrash”, but maybe we’re Speed Doom – take your pick

What inspires WARPSTORMER?

We all have a ton of influences and quite diverse favourites which, while we might not agree on some things, definitely keeps things interesting and varied when we’re putting music together. Some of the stuff we’ve been enjoying and drawing on recently includes High on Fire, mid-era Mastodon, early Baroness, and Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of War of The Worlds.

As you might expect given the name, we draw pretty heavily, lyrically, on sci-fi and fantasy themes, but in such a way that they serve as a sort of creative vessel for exploring the more psychologically-harrowing aspects of 21st century life. Just the very act of getting in a room and making a dirty great noise through a dirty great amp can be, in itself, an immensely cathartic experience and we’re aiming to harness that in such a way that the form and content of our music complement one another. 

The other great aspect of getting out and playing music with your friends is that it’s nice to get away from a screen for a protracted period of time, and do something fulfilling out in the analogue realm. 

The London Doom/Stoner Scene is in a really cool place right now, and has been incredibly welcoming to us and supportive of what we’re doing. There are a load of sick bands kicking around and that sense of community and creativity is a really inspiring thing to have swirling around.

What Orange gear is important to WARPSTORMER?

We have a pretty eclectic mix of gear we’ve accumulated over the years. The key Orange components of our current arsenal are Richard’s old Bass Terror, a Bass Butler, and a big old PPC412. The Bass Terror might be the MVP of our backline rig – it’s currently serving as one half of our bi-amped guitar setup and, along with the Butler, was the key element of the bass sound on the Here Comes Hell record, which is something we’ve had a lot of compliments about – almost all the dirt and nastiness in the sound of that record came from the bass; for Scott’s guitars we just went with a pretty straightforward overdriven sound. 

When we were tracking bass for our new record, we spent ages fiddling around with all sorts of amp setups, but in the end we ended up going back to the Butler/Terror combo; it just really nailed the clangy, growly attack we wanted. And then just to kick it up a notch even further we chucked a Fuzzrocious Secret C (the limited edition Cave In signature model) in front of that – the results are pretty gnarly.

Future Orange amps?

Since coming into Orange HQ and playing with all those wonderful toys, everyone’s gear shopping list has expanded exponentially. Particular favourites were the OR-30, which really played up to our shared love of classic 80s thrash (which to be honest wasn’t something we associated with Orange amps before then!) and the swirly, psych-y clean sounds we conjured up running the retro Phaser Pedal into a Pedal Baby. Adam also really loved the MK-Ultra – an unforgiving, but very responsive and rewarding amp to play through. 

Our theoretical ultimate Orange amp would be a high-gain monster with a foot switchable second channel – something we currently rely on live to make Adam’s lead parts really pop out with a volume and saturation boost – but that was somehow magically small and light enough to cart around as easily as our Bass Terror – or even fit on a pedalboard!

What does Orange mean to you?

Orange has been synonymous with a lot of the bands we grew up watching and listening to – it’s instantly recognisable onstage even from the back of a big room. 

We never really set out with a gear shopping list, or an intent to use a particular amp or brand, but in the course of cobbling together our shared pool of gear and carving out the WARPSTORMER sound, we’ve found the bits of Orange gear that have made it into that pool to be a significant contributing factor to that sound. 

We don’t get to use our big cab as much as we’d like outside the rehearsal room, as most shows we play has bands sharing backline, and it’s a bugger to move the thing around, but it’s always cool and reassuring to pitch up somewhere and see you’re going to be plugging into an Orange cab as we know it’s going to be able to handle whatever we’re blasting through it.

What’s the most memorable WARPSTORMER moment?

Following some initial line-up setbacks towards the end of 2022 – just as we thought we had everything in place TWO members of the band ended up moving overseas – we brought Adam and James in at pretty short notice. Our first show with them was in April 2023 and they really hit the ground running after only a couple of rehearsals. The show went great and there was a tremendous sense of relief and excitement at landing on our feet with these two guys, which created a wave of momentum that we’re still currently riding.

What’s on the horizon for WARPSTORMER?

We’re currently in the middle of recording our next release with producer Wayne Adams, the busiest man in UK underground music. It’s the first with the full lineup, and we’re pretty excited with the results so far!

Our other current exciting upcoming thing is that the organisers of Desertfest London have been kind enough to include us on the line up this May – you can catch us at The Dev on the Friday night! Building around that and getting the new record out, we’re aiming to get ourselves out of London as much as possible in the coming year, and make as many new pals as we can in the process. See you in the pit!

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Orange Spotlight: Troy The Band

Orange Spotlight: Troy The Band

Who are Troy The Band?

We are a London-based four-piece, composed of Sean Durbin on bass, Sean Burn on guitar, Craig Newman on vocals, and Jack Revans on drums. We are best described as a mix between stoner-doom, shoegaze and post rock. 

We formed in 2021, after Sean Durbin put an ad out seeking members to form the band. Our original drummer, Dan England, who recorded drums on the EP and our album, stepped down after recording the album. After that we were lucky enough to have our friend Jack, who had already been sitting in on our live shows quite a lot, join on a permanent basis. 

We also had a few other guitarists that we jammed with before Sean Burn joined. Sean and Sean actually knew one another from New Zealand, and it was a chance meeting on the street in London at a time when the band was in need of a new guitarist that led to them joining. When you think about it, it was a pretty serendipitous set of circumstances that led to them joining, which in turn had a vital impact on the trajectory of our sound that just wouldn’t have happened with the other guitarists we had initially been playing with. 

What inspires Troy The Band?

We’re inspired by a lot of different genres and bands; both consciously and unconsciously. Obviously we fit broadly within the stoner-doom genre so there are bands that will influence us from that end of the spectrum, but all of us tend to enjoy a broad array of musical styles which will inevitably make an impact on the way we approach a specific piece of music. To name a few bands whose names often come up for us: High on Fire, Khruangbin, Operator Generator, Acid King, All Them Witches, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Rush, Melvins, Big Business, Jesus and the Mary Chain, Joy Division, Black Midi, Smashing Pumpkins, Bossk, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, The Horrors, Deerhunter, Women, My Bloody Valentine, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra among others. 

We aim to make music that first and foremost we enjoy and find interesting, and then try and bring others along for the ride.

What Orange gear is important to Troy The Band?

Sean Durbin uses an Orange Terror Bass and also splits his signal into a guitar amp, which is currently an Orange Tiny Terror valve amp. Both work well for our sound, and they are also pretty portable and indestructible. Plus they look cool sitting on top of the stacks next to each other. 

This dual setup has evolved over time. Initially, Sean started splitting the signal through a bass and guitar amp because when the band first started we didn’t have a regular guitar player and splitting the signal helped fill out the sound in the rehearsal room more. 

When Sean Burn joined, rather than just mirroring the bass, they brought more atmospheric and complementary style of playing to the existing riffs, so we made a conscious choice to keep the bi-amped bass setup, where the bass is doing the work of a bassist and rhythm guitarist that holds down the main riffs of the songs, while Sean B adds harmonic layering over the the top of those riffs. 

This might be somewhat surprising, especially within a genre that extols the virtue of monstrous amps, but Sean Burn uses an Orange Terror Stamp which is mounted at the end of the signal chain on a very elaborate pedalboard setup. 

They purchased Terror Stamp initially due its affordability, but it has been an incredibly reliable and great sounding piece of equipment. When we went to record our album, even with a wall of mega-powerful tube amps at our disposal, Sean opted to record with the Terror Stamp since it sounded great and all their pedals were already calibrated to it. 

It does have its limitations in some live situations, trying to compete with the other Sean’s Terror Bass and Tiny Terror, but these are easily overcome. We either just mic it up, or use it like a preamp and slave the power section of whatever house backline head is available to achieve the necessary volume. But the tone all comes from the terror stamp and accompanying pedals.

Future Orange amps?

One of the problems with Orange Amps is that they are so bombproof and consistent that there isn’t much need for constant GASing. However, the Orange fur coat fuzz with octave up is likely to replace the current octave-up/distortion configuration on the guitar side of Sean Durbin’s bass signal, and replacing the Tiny Terror with a Pedal Baby might be on the horizon too. 

For Sean Burn, The Orange Pedal Baby or something similar will also likely make its way into their set up to provide the volume we need for our shows.

As much as we’d love to have a wall of big beautiful all-tube heads behind us, it is not always practical for a band that often travels via public transport, so it’s nice to be able to capture the Orange tone that we love in more accommodating packages. 

What does Orange mean to you?

For us, Orange Amps are kind of synonymous with the heavy music we play. They mean great tone and reliability. 

Orange is also a big supporter of the underground music scene in London, providing the backline for a lot of venues and festivals that we’ve been a part of which is great. And we always see Ade and Joe at shows, not as representatives of Orange per se but as fans of the music, which is always nice to see. 

What’s the most memorable Troy The Band moment?

We’ve had a few memorable moments, but perhaps the most memorable was an all-day show we put on to launch a beer we brewed with Old Street Brewery in East London called Troy The Beer. It was an outdoor mini-festival with six bands playing throughout the day, that we held in August. The weather had been great leading up to it, but it’s London so you never really know. 

The morning of the event, the sky was blue and the weather report looked good. There was meant to be some light drizzle in the afternoon, but nothing major so we made the call to keep the event outside and set up some tents for the bands to play under just in case there was a bit of rain. 

It turned out the weather report wasn’t entirely accurate and we were hit with one of the most intense thunderstorms we had ever experienced. What was particularly surreal was that the thunder storm arrived while one of the bands, Purple Kong, were playing their song “Blood Lightning” which has the repeated refrain “Blood, Lighting, Earthquake and Thunder….” So it was pretty fitting. All that was really missing in that moment were earthquakes and blood, and thankfully it stayed that way. Fortunately the rain ended up dissipating completely for the rest of the bands but for a minute there we were worried we were about to be responsible for organising Fyre Fest Part 2. 

What’s on the horizon for Troy The Band?

A lot! 

Bonebag Records are putting out our debut full-length album Cataclysm on February 2nd. We are kicking off a tour supporting it on the 9th of February. 

We’re also working hard on getting our second album ready and will head back into the studio this summer to record that, among a few one-off dates that we have in the calendar this year. 

So there is lot’s to look forward to. 

Gear Currently Used

Terror Stamp

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Interview: The Dead Daisies’ Glenn Hughes

Photo by: Pedro Hernandéz / @picfromthepit

Our followers and fans will already be familiar with you through your previous work in Deep Purple, Trapeze, California Breed (the list goes on and on…) and solo career, but they might not all know The Dead Daisies, can we get a bit of an introduction of the band?
Glenn: The Dead Daisies are a musical collective, a family if you will. I’ve been aware of the band for a long time, we had been on a similar circuit around Europe. I was contacted by their management in 2019 in regard to getting together with the guys in NYC to have a little “jam session”. We clicked right away. Of course, I had toured with Doug Aldrich (guitarist in The Dead Daisies) previously as he was a member of my touring band in 2016 – so that was already set it stone. David Lowy is a solid guitarist and Deen Castronovo is a fantastic drummer with lots of flare. It was a natural progression to write together and go into the studio to record.

You just released your single “Bustle and Flow”, what can you tell us about it?
Glenn: We were recording at La Fabrique studios in the south of France, Dec 2019. The studio is an old Chateau set in a beautiful part of the countryside. We had recorded the music and I had most of the lyrics written. The setting of the studio was very inspiring, I could not fail to be influenced whilst living and working there. Find it here.

This year has been quite a bumpy road for most people, how have you adjusted to the ‘new normal’, and how do you stay creative and inspired during tough times?
Glenn: I have tried to maintain my own daily routines and rituals as much as possible. I meditate when I wake up, I like to walk, drink lots of water and read a lot. So personally, I have been able to stay creative within my own inner sanctuary.

Of course, in an Orange interview we gotta do some gear talk! You’ve been using Orange for quite some time, what’s your history and experience with our amps?
Glenn: I was using the AD200 heads live and, in the studio, but for the last 18 months I’ve been using the Terror Bass heads. They really sound amazing. I run 2 at the same time via the Orange ‘Amp Detonator’ pedal. I don’t use any distortion pedals, I use the gain structure of the amps, this allows me to get a far more natural crunch..

You’ve been in the game for a long time, and you’ve influenced a lot of people and musicians along the way. Was there anyone in specific who’s style of playing, way of writing or performing that inspired, of keeps inspiring you as an artist?
Glenn: I think like many people of my generation, The Beatles were a big influence in my youth. Their song writing is still hard to beat all these years later. As for bass playing, my roots are very much set in the early Motown recordings, James Jameson really was the benchmark for groove playing. Of course, more local to home we had guys like Andy Fraser who was an incredibly soulful bassist, he knew when to leave a space or two. I also read a lot of books and one of my favourite authors at the moment is Eckhart Tolle. I always have 1 or 2 of his books with me when travelling.

What would your advice be to aspiring musicians who’s just getting into playing?
Glenn: My advice would be to love what you’re doing, enjoy every moment and don’t take anything for granted. You need to dedicate your time to learning your craft and being the best, you can be. Walk through the fear.

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Interview with Vintage Caravan at Black Deer Festival

This year at Black Deer Festival Orange got the pleasure to sit down with Oskar and Alex from Icelandic rock band Vintage Caravan. The band had just played a set at the festival and chatted about their Orange rigs, the Rockerverb MKIII and the Terror Bass, we also found out about their influences and how Icelandic culture and weather helps to galvanise a band.

Oskar: Hi my name is Óskar Logi Ágústsson, I play guitar and I sing.

Alex: Hi i’m Alex and I play bass.

What inspired you to start playing music?

Alex: I remember starting to listen to ‘Rage Against the Machine’ and thinking that guy sounds pretty fuckin’ bad ass. That kind of propelled me into playing bass and stuff like that, really got the juices flowing!

Oskar: Ugh! I started playing guitar when I was 9, I watched School of Rock and that got me thinking, if they can do it, I can do it.

Alex: I think every kid our age got inspiration from that.

Oskar: Thank you Jack Black! When I head Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Hendrix, there was no turning back.

Tell us about the music scene you grew up with?

Alex: I mean the music scene has always kind of been very strong in Iceland, it’s kind of inspiring to grow up there but also there is not that much to do. The weather is awful all of the time or most of the time.

Oskar: It’s also dark for most for most of the day in the winter time, so you have to do something.

Alex: For nerdy kids like us that meant playing bass and guitar.

When was the first time you spotted an Orange Amp?

Alex: A guy I played in a band with, when I was like 11, he had an Orange combo. I can’t remember the exact model, it was such a noticable brand as there are no other Orange coloured amps. So immediately when you see it you can’t….

Oskar: You can’t get confused with anything else! For me it was seeing Tony Iommi, Paul Kossoff, seeing Fleetwood Mac and Peter Green. Seeing those guys using it, I was associating Orange with great tone and great playing, as they were flying the Orange flag, it was very inspiring.

Tell us about your current set-up?

Alex: I’m running an 8X10 and actually I have be running almost exclusively a new Terror Bass amp. Its cool because I can fly anywhere and it sounds amazing. I’ve tried a lot of these Class D, solid state amplifiers because there is a lot of them out now. Actually I have never tried one that has a weight to the sound, like you get from a really good solid state amp or a tube amp, that you don’t really see in a lot of those other small amps.

Oskar: For me I’m getting the Rockerverb 100 MKIII.

Tell us about why you choose this particular gear?

Alex: In terms of sound I always try to go for something that can stay full and rich but is immensely punchy. Because I have to have a lot of punch all the time, I don’t know maybe i’m compensating for something. Not every amp can do that, I really like how you can turn up the gain on an Orange amp, it seems to do something funny that makes it really fat and powerful, which i don’t see in many modern amps.

Oskar: The Rockerverb just gives me the wings to fly! A cliche yes! I almost teared up myself. It makes my guitars really sing and its super tight, I don’t know really how to explain it but it has that huge body to it and it sings. There is no part of it that is floppy, it is just there and great for the mix.

How does it feel to be part of the Orange family?

Oskar: Being an ambassador of Orange is a dream come true, it’s mind blowing just being part of the huge roster.

Alex: It’s a big honour for us, for sure, we are very happy to working with you guys,

Oskar: Super happy, it’s quite surreal seeing our names on the website. I know that man!

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Orange Ambassadors and the Terror Bass

The all new, re-designed Terror Bass has arrived and it sounds better than ever. With an all valve front end, the Terror Bass is a 500W hybrid bass amp with a valve preamp and solid state power amp, making it closer to the sound of our flagship AD200 than ever before.

Some of the top bassists have made the switch to the Terror Bass. Here’s what they think about this amazing lunchbox-sized piece of kit:

“This amp is wicked. It’s so damn good. The wirey sound and the gain blow me away. It’s enabled me to get a lot of frequencies on the bass I haven’t heard in a while. Sometimes small is better. The Terror Bass is the greatest amp I’ve heard in a long time.”
Glenn Hughes

Watch the video of Sergio Vega with the Terror bass

“The Terror bass amp is cool because it adds a lot of warmth, it adds a lot of detail, it kind of allows me to shape what i’m doing and give it its best possible presentation. A cool feature about the Terror bass amp that stands out to me is the clean switch, it basically allows the cleaner end of the approach to really sing. When I’m playing clean or when I’m playing my bass six, kind of on the higher strings, I still want there to be a lot of warmth. I don’t want it to start sounding too much like a guitar and this amp has really been instrumental in getting across what I want to get across.”
Sergio Vega of Deftones, Quicksand

For background on this pic, and to watch a hilarious video, click here

“I played the original Terror Bass for years. The new one is even better. It’s the only bass amp I want on stage with me!”
Richard Turner of Blackberry Smoke

Watch our interview with Steve about the Terror Bass

“The first thing I noticed about the Terror Bass was the tone that I could get out of something that was that small. I was completely blown away by it. Second, the portability. I remember ETID going on tour and a bunch of people being like:

‘What’s that? Is that head you’re playing out of?’

‘Yeah, it’s a bass head.’

People were shocked at how much tone and power you could get out of it. Then I remember six months later, almost every single hardcore band we toured with had this head.”
Steve Micciche of Every Time I Die

Watch the video

“Our sound guy actually told me that I’m not allowed to use anything else!”
 Grutle Kjellson of Enslaved

Dan at the Electric Ballroom, Camden. Watch the interview

“With the Terror bass I have found reliability and tone. It’s just flawless in every way.”
Dan Cunniff of Boston Manor

Reading Festival – Sunday – 26th August

“The controls of this amp are very easy to use, there is just a bass, mid, treble, which I like. I never really mess around with graphic EQ’s and stuff like that, so it’s perfect for me.”
Josh Finerty of Shame 

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Interview: Bad Day Blues

Described as the UK’s hottest new rock n roll band Bad Day Blues have supported greats such as ‘The Killers’ and ‘Manic Street Preachers on their way to getting radio play on Radio 2. The band’s bass player Adam came into Orange Amps HQ to go through the Terror Bass and why he thinks it’s the perfect touring rig. Adam was using the Terror bass through the OBC112 which a perfect combination of power and portability.

‘Hi i’m Adam Rigg from the Bad Day Blues Band.

Amps were kind of a necessity so I would us any old battered amp, whatever I could throw in the back of the transit van or whatever they had at the venue I would use. Until that is I started using Orange amps and then I was like ‘Ah, I kind of get the whole amp thing now!’ It sounds ballsy without being thin or weak, it sounds vintage, I like the tubes on it and it has a little bit of natural growl. Which is really hard to fake with any pedals or any kind of plug ins, it’s a very real authentic sounding amp. Which is why I use them. It’s not even about the sound of the amp it’s about the aesthetics of it, the look of it and the feel of it. It’s got that aura about it which is one of the reasons I dig Orange.

I really like the valves on the Terror bass, the fact that it’s small, its portable and i think it is Class D. But the preamp is the tube element, which means you get that natural growl. Which is perfect for the blues you want that kind of authentic vibe, you don’t want anything that sounds too clinical or too fake. I don’t use any pedals, I just plug my bass straight into it. I get a little bit of growl out of it if I want, or I can back it off and get it a bit cleaner with some palm muting. So it’s literally perfect for the blues.

That’s why Orange amps are so great, they are just so easy to use, I’ve never been one for loads of EQ’s and stuff. My bass has a volume knob and that is it and that is what I like about Orange, its an instant good tone. I always think if you get amps and guitars with tons and tons of switches on you are trying to make up for something, if it doesn’t sound great pretty much straight away then why bother with it.

I was surprised by the OBC112 because they are tiny or relatively small compared to the bigger amps next to them. But they are loud and they can handle it, I think they are 400 Watts, which is loud. I usually plug my terror bass into a OBC410 or I have had it in the 810 before and it is so loud. If anyone is wondering about a Terror bass and wondering is 500 Watts loud enough, it definitely is! If you can pair it up with a smaller speaker, you have a perfect rig. If you are jumping on the tube, you could carry one of those in your hands, bass over your shoulder and Terror bass in the other hand.

They are just one of those iconic brands, you have posters up on the wall when you learn how to play guitar of Orange amps. The fact that Orange amps are nice enough to be seen with me is lovely. The gear is great as well so that’s a plus!’

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Voice of Bass – Simone Vignola

Hello everybody, I’m Simone Vignola bassist and songwriter from Italy. Today, I’m here with my best travelling partner – This Orange Amplifier that I use both in live and studio sessions. You just listened to “Naufrago” It is my last album’s title track.

I’m playing these songs live just with bass and vocals as an evolution of my solo project which gives me the opportunity to play by myself with bass and vocals along with a complete background sound, the sound I can build thanks to this amplifier. Actually, the head I’m using is the new Terror Bass, a very new model which kind of looks like the Terror Bass 1000s little sister that I used during the last period.

A simple amplifier is what I need, I can control bass, mids and high in an easy and vintage way simply with a little knob. Just volume and gain and I can reach without any other additional gear a sound that seems already compressed and controllable even when I play with my loop station.

Obviously, my followers know that my style is funky oriented and Orange is often considered a rock amplifier but now we’ll try to change this point of view like transforming a cap into a hat and so the transformation of a rock amplifier into a funky one. I’m very very happy to talk about this.

Moreover here we have the isobaric 2×12 cabinet. There are two 12″ front facing speakers in an isobaric way. An excellent product that gives us a full low range covering but also a nice presence for slapping and for those techniques I like to use, so it gives me a great sound support. And today, this amplifier supports the Bellavista’s horse too. It was part of this video.

Goodbye everybody with another song called “Love Song.” A kiss.

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Dan from Boston Manor discusses the Terror Bass.

Hi I’m Dan from Boston Manor and I play Orange.

Well I have always been a big fan of music and bands, I really loved Blink 182 and my favourite member was Mark Hoppus. He was my main influence I think because he sung and played bass and he jumped around a lot and I was really into all that. Picking up the bass as well, I was like this is different from guitar and not that many people I know play bass, so I thought it was a really cool instrument to play.

With the Terror bass what I look for is reliability and tone, it’s just flawless in every way.  I love playing it and being small it fits in the van, under my seat, that’s why I love it so much. The reason I got the new one is it has features of the older Orange AD200 which I used to play quite a lot but they were really heavy and big. I still really enjoyed the tone and sound of them, it kind of has those features all built into this one tiny terror bass head.

My setup on stage is, I have the Orange bass terror, the new one. I have the Orange 4X10 cab and then underneath it is a 1X15 cab and they are paired together. I put it on the clean switch and I also mess around with my pedals to kind of get a grittier tone and it works really well with a couple of pedals on the clean sound. I’m still figuring it out at the moment, I do like to try different things as much as possible. I feel like it sounds better live using the Orange stuff than using it in the studio because I always try to crank more for live, to give it a bit more gain. Once you really crank the gain on those things it really proper drives it and helps the song.

I just think Orange are cool, they have always been that cool, i’ve seen many punk bands using Orange as well. I’ve always just thought they looked awesome as well. We recorded our EP’s and our first record with them and like I said I used it at uni, I always thought Orange were the go to amp head and cabs as well. I’ve always just loved Orange and thought why not have one for myself.

It feels amazing, I never thought growing up, even five years ago when we first started the band I never thought we would one get to this point and two, have Orange who I have always looked up to, support our band and support me individually.  I feel blessed in a way because I never thought it would happen.

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Steve from Every Time I Die discusses the Terror Bass.

Hi I’m Steve and I play bass in the band “Every Time I Die”.

The first thing was the tone that I could get out of something that was that small and I was completely blown away by it. Second the portability, especially I remember ETID going on tour and a bunch of people being like:

“what’s that? is that head you’re playing out of?”.

“Ye it’s a bass head”

People were shocked at how much tone and power you could get out of it. Then i remember six months, a year later almost every single hardcore band we toured with, had that head.

I mean it was the choice of the touring hardcore musician, you don’t have to lug around something super heavy and bulky. It was very user friendly, very low maintenance, it was just everywhere and I loved those heads explode and takeoff and see every band use one.

 

So Dan from Orange brought down the new Terror head and I just tried it out and it is everything I hoped it would be. It has the low end of the AD200 which is fantastic, it’s got a lot of growl to it, the high end is punchy and very clear It definitely keeps up with AD200 as far as tone goes.

So as soon as the new Terror head comes out it will be in my rig stage right. Pairing it with the AD200, which has been kind of been my sound which i have been trying to do live and in the studio, Can’t  wait to get it back on the stage.

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