One problem solved, another begins... GAD

[StratMan]

so my RAD, BAD and SAD are totally under control BUT my GAD is not, so I celebrated this with a NAD

What you see below is a Orange Micro Terror amp head with a 8" speaker. Just for context, that is a small iphone7 next to the amp head. Dont let the size of the amp head fool you, it has balls and is not a toy... I wanted something ultra small and portable. Took the gear home and was hanging to hear the tone of my new gear but was very disappointed

The sound coming from the tiny speaker was just that, tiny tinny and crappy, sort of sounded like farting into a shoe box..
This didn't come as a surprise but I was hoping for the best. Plugged my headphones into the amp and WOW!!! incredible sound, and totally blew me away but the speaker had to go.

Went back to the store the next morning to upgrade to a 1x12" Orange cab, and keep the amp.. Played but wasn't sold on amp at low volume levels, you really need to crank it up to get the goodness of the tubes... While there though, another amp caught my eye so I plugged it in and WOOOOWWW!!

This blew me away, full amp combo with head and speaker in the one unit, with a 10" speaker.. and ALL TUBE which gives such a rich organic sound. This amp also has a switch where you can limit the power output from 15W to 7.5W and 1W to 0.5W. What this does is allows you to crank up the tone/distortion knobs at low power which results in an amazingly rich tone as bedroom levels, and if you needed more power/volume no worries with plenty on tap with the flick of a switch.

I left the store will a much bigger hole in my pocket but man it was worth it.. I just cant put the amp down

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Coincidentally I suffer from GAD as well sir. I just so happened to receive an Orange Crush 20 regular today and WOW. Orange amps are a huge bang for the buck, keep tweaking before you spend more money!

The gain on mine is useless anywhere above 11 o’clock. I also find mine really wakes up when the volume is pushed, really makes the cab sound a lot bigger than it really is. These amps really like pedals. I have a Boss SD-1 OD and DD-7 delay in front and this setup has no business sounding as good as it does.

Enjoy!

Edit: I did not thoroughly read your post originally. What tube combo did you end up with?

 

[StratMan]

Nice, congratulations on your Crush 20. Orange make killer amps, got to love that Orange crunch.. I ended up with the Orange Rocker 15, basically all tube with two channels, one clean and one dirty, an FX loop and Attenuator https://orangeamps.com/products/guitar-amp-combos/rocker-series/rocker-15/

I am def planning on some pedals to add to the FX loop section of the amp, for now I have a MI Audio Blues Pro pedal to add to the clean channel and will hopefully soon be buying a reverb and delay switch.. The sound from this beast is already killer and would be more than happy if that is where it stayed, but a reverb and delay will add another dimension to the tone for sure.

Unfortunately (or fortunately - depends how you look at it).. this is only the beginning of my Acquisition Disorder Therapy..

I have an American Standard Strat in Sunburst at home that gets no love and is going to get a major overhaul (soon as I get some funds together). Plan to sand it back and then onto my mate to give it a nice pearl white paint job. Will finish it off with a tortoise shell pickguard and a PUP upgrade. The std PUPs on there now are a bit too clean for me and want to liven them up a bit. Will def retain that legendary strat tone, so thinking of a vintage 50s or 60s from fender or a Seymour Duncan equivalent.

The next recommended course of therapy involves building a custom amp. I have a brand new Eminence 12" speaker at home that I immediately pulled out of a brand new blues junior and its just been sitting at home ever since. I plan to get a custom cabinet in blonde Tolex with an Ox-Blood grill to match the strat.. of course I cant have a cab without a head so I will reluctantly have get one maybe a Marshall.

and I used to think shaving was an expensive hobby

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Tubes are great, I will have to check this amp out at some point! Congrats!

If I can offer some advice on the Strat, as someone who has modded everything to the moon (and even built a few tube amps from scratch)…maybe you’re just not a Strat guy. An American Strat is good at what it is: a clean sparkle machine. And you want to repaint it too? Sell it. Why? Because you might spend a small fortune and still hate it. For me personally I hate the hum from single coils too so all I use are Dimarzio hum canceling pickups that look just like a Strat pickup minus the annoying hum and high G pole-piece. Now if you want a more high gain vibe they also make the rail pickups that sound very close to full size humbuckers.

Some more advice? Get a PRS and forget the rest, amazing guitars, even the cheaper SE’s, with pickup and electronic upgrades of course