Orange Crush 20 RT. Still a sound buy?

Three-ColourSunburst

Hi all,

My daughter has taken up the electric guitar and is advancing very quickly, so I am thinking of buying her an amp for her bedroom.

She needs something reasonably compact that gives a good sound without messing with computer patches and so on, with the priority being a nice full clean to mellow Jazz sort of sound. Built-in reverb is also a must. I would prefer something that doesn't run off an adapter, with proven reliability and longevity, and (naturally) something that I will also find fun to play with and compliments my Blues Cube Hot.

I know that one can get a 50-watt Katana for under £200, but that is overkill and just too large for her needs. There are also a lot of small Vox amps around but many of them seem to be rather gimmicky to me, having tubes in a modelling amps and so on, and their sound doesn't seem to be very mellow on a lot of the videos I have watched.

Listening to what is on the market the Orange does seem to have a much better than average clean sound, but it does seem to be rather expensive for what it is. Does anyone think that the price of the Orange is justified, and if so why? Any other better options for the same money or less, that tick all the same boxes?

Thanks!

mbe

I have the 35rt and it does feel like a quality amp. I have modellers too, but analog sound even transistor is still better for real feel in my opinion.

GAK have the black version of the Crush 20 RT for £125 if you wanna keep to a budget.

Three-ColourSunburst

Thanks for the heads up on GAK's sale, that's a great price even if they have non in stock right now.

I also think that having one basic inspiring sound and the right feel is much better than having lots of rather 'meh' options. Do I take it that the main USP of the Crush range is that it is all-analogue in a market dominated by digital modellers?

mbe

Three-ColourSunburst said:

Do I take it that the main USP of the Crush range is that it is all-analogue in a market dominated by digital modellers? 

Yes, I think that's pretty much it. I had one of the first Crush 10 amps when they came out in 2000 or so. Amazing then, so I think there is definitely bona-fide lineage there. 

I have had Fender Mustang amps, still got the Mini version, VOX Valvetronix and now I have a nice Pathfinder 15R analog amp scored from @JezWynd. Taking that out tonight to the pub jam, nice and light.

My 35RT is pretty much redundant now, too heavy for me to carry and too much amp for my miniscule studio/mancave. The Crush 20 would be ideal for your daughter's room.

Three-ColourSunburst

Thanks for that mbe. So you think that the Crush does have an authentic feel and decent sound, given the size?

I did have a Micro Cube for a while but I found it to be totally uninspiring and somehow 'unconnected' to play through, so I am a bit wary of buying something with the same drawbacks. This feeling of the sound being separated from what I was playing was even worse when I tried a simulation app on the iPad. In comparison the BluesCube was something of a revelation, both in terms of feel and sound. My daughter also loves playing through it and she seems to have knack of getting some great jazzy tones out of it, which is a bit annoying when I say 'How have you set that up' and she says 'It's just as you left it'.

I think she would really like something such as one of those DV Mark Little Jazz amps, or a Roland JC22, but they are far too expensive. (She is in a music club at school and her pet hate is the 'maximum distortion' sound most of her club-mates adopt.) The Crush just seems to share some characteristics of these amp - a basic, honest amp that doesn't try to be all things to all people.

ThePrettyDamned

You should look into peavey studio pros or bandits. Bigger, louder, great cleans and especially neat for warm, fat sounds.

However,they are dog ugly and that really can matter when you're going out with mates to play  

jonnyburgo

Another option may be something in the ZT lunchbox range, they do a mini one now for around £150 iirc