I bought a Tiny Terror. And struggled.

shady

Not only that but a non worker, twas cheap though and as it turns out a simple fix due to a knackered standby switch. Just had to scratch an ongoing itch for one of these, aware of the limitations. 

Heh...So that's two small heads I own that get pushed into a corner and have their shortcomings outlined 

I can see why the Terror has it's haters though, superb dirty sound but a challenge to get a sweet spot for almost clean pedal board friendliness. Not into pristine cleans any road, so... 

It's a honky beast that gets weedy and muffled when I turned down the guitar volume, stuck a 5751 in it as that helped my Bassbreaker. Some success with that as a sweet spot emerged around 1 o'clock on the gain and a Creamback definitely helps along with an EQ tweak from a Spark Boost. The Eminence Gov not really doing it for me here, it's a brash sounding amp that doesn't quite suit it I guess. 

Each amp occupies a very different space and they do actually knit together for a pleasing low volume, harmonically rich stereo image. The next step in this ongoing experiment will be a cab upgrade I reckon, but the missus was after Christmas ideas 

Overall then it's very different to any amp I've used before but I do like it in 15w, gain at 1 o'clock, tone straight up for house volume. It's mid focused, brash and lacks the sophistication of a proper EQ, but it has a thing. 

That's my findings so far, hope someone finds it vaguely interesting. 

Barquentine

I have a Bassbreaker 15 combo and love it. How does it compare to the Terror ?

borntohang

Honestly I've had that same issue with nearly every Orange amp I've played. The gain sounds are generally brilliant but I've always found there's a really thick compressed midrange that you can't dial out and it hates pedals. Not necessarily a bad thing but you have to approach them as their own thing rather than trying to get it to sound like an AC15 or what-have-you.

shady

Barquentine said:

I have a Bassbreaker 15 combo and love it. How does it compare to the Terror ?

I have the 007 head which has a feck load more bass, fat round cleans and more versatility over the Terror. 

shady

borntohang said:

Honestly I've had that same issue with nearly every Orange amp I've played. The gain sounds are generally brilliant but I've always found there's a really thick compressed midrange that you can't dial out and it hates pedals. Not necessarily a bad thing but you have to approach them as their own thing rather than trying to get it to sound like an AC15 or what-have-you.

It's that midrange that slots in to the little Fender, if you get me. 

I genuinely thought I was going to have to sell it on, but I got into it's thing like you said. 

monquixote

I had one at a rehearsal studio once and I couldn't get anything other than muddy crap out of it.

My band mates thought it was broken but apparently it was meant to sound like that.

ICBM

borntohang said:

Honestly I've had that same issue with nearly every Orange amp I've played. The gain sounds are generally brilliant but I've always found there's a really thick compressed midrange that you can't dial out and it hates pedals.

Have you ever tried a Rocker 30? They're not like that at all, they love pedals.

I don't really like the Tiny Terror, although the hard-wired one is better (and trust me, I'm not a 'hand wiring' snob at all, if anything the opposite - but it really does).

They all sound better through G12H-30/Creamback G12H-75/Classic Lead 80-type speakers than the V30s all the modern ones come with too.

shady

Just a wee update to my ongoing journey with the little fecker, since I upgraded the cab I decided to try an RFT ecc82 in V2. Big up for Langrex and their next day delivery.

No change in overall mid focused tone but definitely less volume and another reduction in filth. 

I think it sounds less conjested, takes all 3 dirt boxes better. I even got a good heavy tone out of the Jackhammer in distortion mode - that certainly wasn't possible before. 

Still a honky bastid when used on his own with a bridge pickup. Again, both amps blended well for a fat and chimey clean at loud house volume.

Gonna ditch the speaker and JJ EL84 swap, played for hours without tweaking anything and I suspect any further 'improvements' will be minimal. 

My wah sounded fucking awesome today, dunno why.

Biggest difference: 5751

Next: speaker and cab upgrade, I appear to be a closed back + Celestion tart. 

After that: getting each cab off the floor and pointed at me head.

Expect more half cut waffle in a couple of months. It was my burpday last week and I got a really tasty pinot noir and a bottle of Tamnavulin. 

jeztone2

I borrowed one for a band rehearsal and I was just about loud enough & my drummer is louder than God! But yeah, there's a market for a good compact loud pedal platform head. I always wondered what the Dual Terror sounded like? 

But to be honest I'm getting tempted by the Vox AC30S1. They look perfect. 

shady

It's trying to achieve that big sound in my head whilst keeping the rig as compact as possible. Admittedly, owning a huge pedalboard and going stereo is a massive contradiction here - that said the only other way to get that big sound at home with a traditional set up would probably involve a 2x12 with a combination of different speakers anyway. 

I rewatched a couple of TPS videos on the subject of cabs/small amp big sound this morning. In one episode they used a Bassbreaker 15 combo into a Victory 2x12 loaded with creambacks that proves the point well I think. IMO it sounded better than the 4x12. 

ICBM

shady said:

It's trying to achieve that big sound in my head whilst keeping the rig as compact as possible. Admittedly, owning a huge pedalboard and going stereo is a massive contradiction here - that said the only other way to get that big sound at home with a traditional set up would probably involve a 2x12 with a combination of different speakers anyway.

If you want to use a 1x12", try a Celestion Classic Lead 80. I tried a variety of Celestion speakers with a friend and his Rocker 15 Brent Hinds into an Orange 1x12", and the CL80 was by far the best. (Actually an Egnater Elite 80, but Bruce Egnater says the difference is minimal.) With a 2x12" a Heritage G12H-30/G12M-25 pair was the best.

chromatuna

I haven’t used mine in ages but when I did it was with a Strat, straight in, just over the edge of breakup with a tiny home made open back cab and a Celestion OEM Heritage - glorious :-)  Maybe the congested mid thing people mention worked to fatten up the Strat, had me thinking of Blackmore. Was a very early TT which might have been a difference.

shady

Yeah, thanks for the recommendations @ICBM ;. I think you pointed me in the direction of a CL80, G12H30 and H75 previously but they all annoyingly hold their value on the used market.

I spunked all my burpday cash on new fishing rods last week.

chromatuna said:

I haven’t used mine in ages but when I did it was with a Strat, straight in, just over the edge of breakup with a tiny home made open back cab and a Celestion OEM Heritage - glorious :-)  

It's certainly more polite with a Strat, but I'm definitely a double humbucker hombre. P 90's do sound awesome straight in though. 

CarbonCopy

Very interesting.

I was in a rock band a number of years ago and the rhythm guitarist had a tiny terror. I think the ideal rhythm section of a band is one that creates a solid foundation, but with enough space to build upon with the vocals and lead guitar lines.

That being said, the tiny terror did not work at all. It's so mid focused that it trampled over the vocal and lead guitar frequencies and the only way to overcome that was extreme eq settings for lead guitar, extreme volume for guitar and vocals or turning down the tiny terror which then loses the punch of the rhythm section.

I always thought it would work better in a single guitar band (like a 3 piece) but never liked it enough to try it.

What makes you persevere with your experimentation with the tiny terror? Is it the fun of the experience or is there something about it that you really like? It seems with all the variations you are trying, you may be better off with another amp as it seems like a lot of effort! I'm quite lazy nowadays. If the guitar or amp doesn't sound great stock, I'm no longer prepared to spend time and money changing things to try and fix it as it rarely worked out well for me!

ICBM

CarbonCopy said:

I was in a rock band a number of years ago and the rhythm guitarist had a tiny terror. I think the ideal rhythm section of a band is one that creates a solid foundation, but with enough space to build upon with the vocals and lead guitar lines.

That being said, the tiny terror did not work at all. It's so mid focused that it trampled over the vocal and lead guitar frequencies and the only way to overcome that was extreme eq settings for lead guitar, extreme volume for guitar and vocals or turning down the tiny terror which then loses the punch of the rhythm section.

I always thought it would work better in a single guitar band (like a 3 piece) but never liked it enough to try it.

I know someone who uses one for that, with the amp set just on the edge of breakup, a Jazzmaster and a huge pedalboard - and a 1x12” with a V30, which I really don’t like with them... but it sounds fine for him.

I’ve never been able to make that sort of sound work in a one-guitar band though! To me it needs something much bigger and less middy, and the TT sound is really only suited to lead in a two-guitar band - but it’s remarkable how well different things work for different players.

NelsonP

What about the Orange Rocker 32? 2 channels, with decent cleans and dirt. And it's stereo.

EricTheWeary

My only memory of seeing one in the wild is a local three piece band playing psychedelic blues type stuff. All I remember is telecaster-pedals-TT-biggish cab. My memory of it was they sounded good, maybe a telecaster is a good match with the middy thing. 

ICBM

NelsonP said:

What about the Orange Rocker 32? 2 channels, with decent cleans and dirt. And it's stereo.

I would get an older Rocker 30 1x12" combo and fit it with a G12H-75, personally. Or even better, a head and a 2x12".

The R30 is Orange's best modern amp in my opinion - it's very basic in terms of features but it just sounds fantastic, much better than the Rockerverbs, Terrors, Thunders etc. I haven't actually tried the Rocker 32, but the 15 isn't as good as the 30.

p90fool

ICBM said:

CarbonCopy said:

I was in a rock band a number of years ago and the rhythm guitarist had a tiny terror. I think the ideal rhythm section of a band is one that creates a solid foundation, but with enough space to build upon with the vocals and lead guitar lines.

That being said, the tiny terror did not work at all. It's so mid focused that it trampled over the vocal and lead guitar frequencies and the only way to overcome that was extreme eq settings for lead guitar, extreme volume for guitar and vocals or turning down the tiny terror which then loses the punch of the rhythm section.

I always thought it would work better in a single guitar band (like a 3 piece) but never liked it enough to try it.

I know someone who uses one for that, with the amp set just on the edge of breakup, a Jazzmaster and a huge pedalboard - and a 1x12” with a V30, which I really don’t like with them... but it sounds fine for him.

I’ve never been able to make that sort of sound work in a one-guitar band though! To me it needs something much bigger and less middy, and the TT sound is really only suited to lead in a two-guitar band - but it’s remarkable how well different things work for different players.

Much as I loved gigging with Fender Pro Juniors I found them to be similar, in fact they worked perfectly for a year or two, but when the bass player left and was replaced they no longer worked. 

It's as if they have such a small niche in the mix spectrum that a slight change in any component of that messes it up. 

shady

CarbonCopy said:

Very interesting.

I was in a rock band a number of years ago and the rhythm guitarist had a tiny terror. I think the ideal rhythm section of a band is one that creates a solid foundation, but with enough space to build upon with the vocals and lead guitar lines.

That being said, the tiny terror did not work at all. It's so mid focused that it trampled over the vocal and lead guitar frequencies and the only way to overcome that was extreme eq settings for lead guitar, extreme volume for guitar and vocals or turning down the tiny terror which then loses the punch of the rhythm section.

I always thought it would work better in a single guitar band (like a 3 piece) but never liked it enough to try it.

What makes you persevere with your experimentation with the tiny terror? Is it the fun of the experience or is there something about it that you really like? It seems with all the variations you are trying, you may be better off with another amp as it seems like a lot of effort! I'm quite lazy nowadays. If the guitar or amp doesn't sound great stock, I'm no longer prepared to spend time and money changing things to try and fix it as it rarely worked out well for me!

Purely hobby driven fun so it doesn't feel like effort and it has a 'thing'. I need a compact rig that can be stored easily and now I've gone stereo I can't unhear that, so two affordable small valve heads and 1x12's it is. I did think about the Yamaha THR100HD until I saw how much they are. Egnater was on my list as well. 

liamon

ICBM said:

borntohang said:

Honestly I've had that same issue with nearly every Orange amp I've played. The gain sounds are generally brilliant but I've always found there's a really thick compressed midrange that you can't dial out and it hates pedals.

Have you ever tried a Rocker 30? They're not like that at all, they love pedals.

I don't really like the Tiny Terror, although the hard-wired one is better (and trust me, I'm not a 'hand wiring' snob at all, if anything the opposite - but it really does).

They all sound better through G12H-30/Creamback G12H-75/Classic Lead 80-type speakers than the V30s all the modern ones come with too.

Yep I was gigging with a rocker 30 and a Marshall 1936 2x12 cab about 10 years ago and it was a great rig for sure - took to pedals like a dream (only ever used the drive channel on low breakup). Would only cost you about £500 to get that rig today, total bargain setup for life.