u/A_Anonymous_Asshole

I love the Orange Rocker amp series. It's warm, full bodied and punchy as hell when boosted. I love both the classic head with the EL34s (Rocker 30) and the combo Rocker 32 with EL84s. Ive had both at different times.

Pros of each: The EL34 Rocker 30 is loud rawkus classic and more in your face on the drive channel. The Rocker 32 EL84 has an improved clean, a very full saturation texture on the drive channel and the stereo effects loops is really cool for a wet/dry set up. Attenuator built into the Rocker 32 is nice too.

Cons of each: The Rocker 30 cleans are weaker and it doesn't have an effects loop. The Rocker 32 feels smaller due to the EL84s and is very annoying to use with a cabinet due to its bizarre speaker out put set up (2 x 16 ohm outs only, no 4 or 8 ohm outputs). Also why they went for 210 speaker configuration over 212 is a wild choice to me. The amp has great low end when connected to a cab but the 210s sound fizzy and thin.

However, it is incredibly frustrating that you have to take tradeoffs with each of them when they're supposed to ostensibly be the same circuit. I really like the Rocker 32 options and versatility but I hate being tethered to a chunky combo with speakers I don't love and with the Rocker 30 you can only run reverb or delay in front which sounds considerably worse that the great sounds stereo effects loop of the Rocker 32.

Worst of all, even if I were to sell the Rocker 32 and shell out to get the flagship Rockerverb, it's a pretty different circuit and doesn't sounds like the Rocker. I like the Rockerverb, but I like the Rocker better and I think it's kind of overpriced for a pretty simple amp.compared to other flagship offerings like the Mark V and JVM at similar prices. Even having a third channel with concentric pots like the EVH 5150 III 50w would open up the amps options a lot.

I would love if they made a Rocker 32 style head without the stupid 2 x 16 speaker output requirement and even better if they could do it with EL34s instead of EL84s while still retaining the improved clean channel. Why they didn't already think of doing something like that is beyond me though.

The frustration isn't limited to the Rocker series though either, the Terror series is annoying that the Dual terror (my favorite) doesn't have a loop either but the Dark terror does. Especially since an EQ in the loop really opens up most Orange amps tonally.

Anyway, this is all just wishful thinking at this point and it seems like they're going all in on their SS and small amp line going forward so I doubt we'll ever get any of these. It seems like Orange is kind of shooting themselves in the foot with these odd product line choices.

Anyone else love the Rockers but find them frustrating?

I'm a huge Green Day fan and a tube amp enthusiast so I was stoked when I saw Marshall releasing the new BJA signature. I am the target demo for it but when I saw the price tag laughed and will never look at it again. $4k for just the head is crazy.

Why don't companies cater towards the masses more with signature amps? There is a continuous push towards everything being boutique and/or limited run. People across the economic spectrum seem to largely own more gear today than 20 or 30 years ago so there is plenty of market across that spectrum but very few are running out to buy a 4k amp that is just a single channel modded Plexi. There are dozens of kits for this type of thing now at 1/4 the price.

Additionally, these boutique amps have no cultural impact because they just become collectors items and are out of reach or impractical for most gigging musicians. When you look at the OG successful mass market signature amp, the 5150 platform, it has been culture shaping in the rock and metal music worlds largely in part due to its affordability. Everyone has one because why not it's an awesome amp that is still cheap enough for the working man the shred on.

I know it's not novel to amplifiers as there is a lot of catering toward the 1% economically. Why not make a boutique handmade and a mass market version for a longer term strategy though? Seems shortsighted and like another signature that while will be out of reach or interest for most ppl like the Schecter Hellwin, the Marshall YJM and the HJS. No one will be talking about it in 6 months.

Edit: To clarify, my overall point is that it makes better business sense for artists and companies to work towards making affordable novel circuits that offer artists useable tones for other work vs an exact boutique replica of the specific type of modded Marshall that an artist uses that only dentists in Green day cover bands can afford.

I have a Mk1 5150. I got it for a steal but the clean channel volume drop issue is real plus as everyone knows the clean is pretty mid to begin with.

I have been just running a cleanish boost in the front of the amp for cleans and it helps but I had a new idea. I wanted to run a 2 channel preamp that can do nicer cleans and classic Mesa or Marshall kind of crunch to run in the loop of the 5150 to really open up the tonal options of the amp. The Two Note Revolt looks tempting especially for the price and reviews sound good to me but wanted to see if other people had recs for something like this.

I play rhythm guitar in a new (to me) hard rock project with a friend and some of his buddies. I rotate mainly between an Active and Passive pickup 6 string usually playing in Drop D or C.

Bass player has an Ampeg (B2R I think) and our lead is playing a Orange Rockerverb 50. Ive been playing a Mesa Mark V 25 and it's loud enough to keep up volume wise but tonally i feel like I am having a hard time feeling like I'm getting through in the mix. The Rockerverb takes up all the space. I thought a scooped EQ would help and it did a little but still feel like I'm not coming through well compared to the Orange. I am wondering if another amp may be a better fit with the Orange.

Open to thoughts on another amp or pedal geared toward this utility. Appreciate any suggestions.

I don't own one but I love the Rockerverb Mk3 but it is decidedly more modern voicing and would really benefit from a 2nd dirty channel to bridge clean to hi gain.

It got me thinking what my dream Orange amp would be and I came up with the following: a vintage oriented mid-tier flagship that blends the Rocker and AD30, 30-50 w head/112 combo, Clean channel based on the middle ground between the Rocker and AD30, channel 2 of the AD30HTC and then channel 3 based on the Rocker. All my favorite vintage orange tones in 1 head. Solid gold.

Curious what everyone else's would be?

I travel out of state for work about 50% of the work week and I'm tube guy at home but obviously that is near impossible when traveling. After much trial and error, I currently run a Steinberger Spirit GT as my travel guitar and the Positive Grid Mini as my amp but I'm not vibing with the amp. I have a few models on it I am ok with but it doesn't inspire me to play/practice most of the models aren't great on smaller speakers.

I need a small amp or modeler alternative that is preferably analog SS. I tried the Boss Katana mini x and it's better than the PG good but slightly too large to fit in a carry on easily. The regular Katana Mini sounds pretty mid to my ear and I thought the PG Mini sounded slightly better because of the plastic casing. I have been looking at one of the ZT lunchbox Amps and the Yamaha THR5 as they seem like interesting options but I wanted to hear other possible recommendations.

Money is a factor but I'm willing to throw a decent amount at this problem for a solid portable solution.

If you are buying a combo amp used, check to make sure that the previous owner was using the correct impedance for the internal speakers. If they weren't, there's a good chance you could run into issues with the transformers or power amp.